Leather bound notebook containing a diary kept by George Alfred Luffman, 1 October to 9 December 1856. It describes events during a voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne on the steam clipper ROYAL CHARTER (1855), owned by The Liverpool and Australian Navigation Co. Luffman witnessed an accident as a capstan raised the anchor at the start of the voyage and this relates to a newspaper cutting glued in the notebook. Two loose carte-de-visite photographs showing studio portraits of Luffman and his wife are also included. The photographer was Paterson, 8 Bourke Street East, Melbourne.

Administrative / biographical background
Luffman was born on 23 October 1835 (see mention of his 21st birthday on page 23 of the diary). From the relevant passenger list held by the Public Record Office, Victoria, and other records, he can be identified as George Alfred Luffman, baptised in the parish of Saint Dunstan, Stepney, London, on 13 March 1836. He married Bridget Mary Keenan in Victoria, Australia, in 1861. He died at Melbourne in 1915.