Diaries (for the years 1887 and 1888, volumes 1-2) of Charlotte A. Besley of Bleak Hive, Port Augusta, the daughter of a Police Inspector. As well as the diary entries, volume 1 also contains newspaper clippings which have been pasted in the front, as have two pages of typescript, a biographical note on her father, and a military sports handbill. A transcription (1985) of volume 1 by Pat Glenie is also included. See details of items below.

Charlotte Besley was the eldest daughter of Police Inspector Bryan Charles Besley, who was appointed Inspector in charge of the Northern Police district in 1881. Initially the family lived in Melrose but in 1883 decided to move to Port Augusta.

Born in 1836 in Oxfordshire, Bryan Besley arrived in South Australia in 1851. With his brother he spent two years unsuccessfully on the Victorian goldfileds before returning to Adelaide in 1854. He joined the Mounted Police Force and was subsequently posted with others to Overland Corner on the River Murray to establish a police station. He served subsequently in Mount Gambier, Naracoorte, and Wallaroo before being appointed to the Northern Police District in 1881 as Inspector. Initially based at Melrose, the station was later removed to Port Augusta.

The Northern Police District was the largest in Australia, extending from the New South Wales border at the Barrier Ranges to Port Lincoln in in the west, and reaching into the Northern Territory

Inspector Besley died in Port Augusta on 8 May 1894.

Charlotte's diary describes the domestic side of life in Port Augusta at Bleak Hive including going to church, lessons, shopping outings and the weather. Also of interest is the opening of the new town hall in May 1887 and Charlotte travelling to Adelaide for the Great Exhibition in September 1887.

Charlotte Besley married John Nicholson at the All Saints Cathedral in Port Augusta in January 1891. By reading this diary one can make out the beginnings of this courtship as far back as April 1887.

Port Augusta (S. Aust)

Besley, Charlotte A.

Schmaal, Jean Dead men do tell tales, Police journal, vol. 57, no. 7 (May 1976), p. 17, 18

The late Inspector Besley Adelaide observer, 12 May 1894, p. 31, col. c-d

The funeral of the late Inspector Besley Adelaide observer, 19 May 1894, p. 15, col. c

The late Inspector Besley Adelaide observer, 13 October 1894, p. 30, col. b