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Correspondence, initially between James Hoey, who migrated to Victoria in 1852 with his brother Thomas, and the Brown Family, describing life in Melbourne. Maggie Brown travelled to Australia in 1854 to marry James Hoey and their letters to the family in Scotland relate domestic news and tell of conditions on the goldfields at Bendigo and Eaglehawk, where Thomas and James Hoey began prospecting in 1856 with their brother-in-law John Buckie. Jane Hay Brown arrived in Australia in 1859 on the Royal Charter to care for her sister Maggie, who died later that year. All correspondents refer to activities of fellow Scots in Australia.