diary "Friday, August 22: Today the weather is fearfully hot, everyone lying about in the coolest place he can find, all appetite for food gone, but great run on the lime juice and other drinks." He wrote also of the deaths of three young children aboard the ship. "Wednesday, August 27: Last night we had a death on board, a young child about nine months old. It was committed to the deep this morning. "I am not about to quote this in support of an old superstition that when there is a death taking place on board, a shark is sure to in the ship's wake, but certain it is we had the company of one yesterday morning long before the child died.

"This morning another death of a child nearly three years old ... it does seem a shocking sight to see them sewn up in a shroud of canvas. "Thursday, October 6: Our supply of fresh provisions is nearly out. Don't mind how soon we draw near to land, having killed our last pig." On October 30, three months after leaving England behind, the Sultana's passengers saw Queensland's Moreton Island appear on the horizon for the first time. "I cannot describe the feelings of pleasure at the first sight of land ... after being so long at sea without any external objects to look upon," Mr Bird wrote. "Feel thankful that we have got within sight of our destination in safety."

After finding work and a place to live in Brisbane Mr Bird continued writing in the diary for a time. He began another entry on January 17 but never completed it. The following year, Mr Bird's diary was sent home to his mother and step-father, Margaret and Charles Webster, in Plymouth, . There it was passed from generation to generation, until John Webster – a descendent of Mr Bird's step-sibling – began investigating his family history. He discovered Mr Bird had married Elizabeth Smith in 1867. The couple had seven children.

"Sadly, Tom didn't see his family grow to maturity and prosper, but he become a prominent citizen and the Brisbane Courier printed a glowing tribute to him when he died at the age of 50 in 1881," Mr Webster said. "It's now evident that Tom decided to send the journal back to his parents. That I know anything about him and many other ancestors is down to that decision." Mr Webster's investigations led him to Mr Bird's great-grandchildren in Brisbane. He returned the diary to them last year. They, in turn, donated the diary to Brisbane's John Oxley Library, where it can be read by members of the public.