‘I do believe that is our transportation to Melbourne,’ Annie decided, and wondered where they would all sit. The vehicle had only one seat across the front, and the driver occupied half of that. Once the trunks were in position the driver steered the wagon around in a loop and brought it alongside the hotel verandah. Frank came striding across the sand on his long legs, a sheen of sweat on his face from the growing heat of the day.

Maree cocked one eyebrow at the wagon and turned to Frank. He must have noticed the look of disdain on her face.

‘You ride up on the seat with the driver, my love. The girls and I will make ourselves comfortable in the back.’

Maree drew a sharp breath and Annie thought her mother about to protest, but when she spoke, she said, ‘I suppose this is the best we can do.’ She held out a hand and Frank steadied her as she climbed onto the seat beside the grinning driver and settled her skirts around her legs.

It took them about an hour to reach the migrant camp. Here, a veritable city of tents had been erected on the south bank of the Yarra Yarra River. Annie could see no way into their midst and thought the driver would surely have to drop them off on the fringes, but the lad had obviously been here many times. He found a street of sorts that ran right up the middle of the settlement and steered the wagon onto it.

Children played on the street and in the labyrinth of lanes formed by thousands of tents. Some of them stopped to look up at the wagon and wave at the occupants. Annie and Betty waved back, hugging each other and giggling with delight as the children laughed and ran off, playing a game, the rules of which only they understood. Some of the tents had signs erected over them, advertising the trades of their occupants. There were butchers, laundries and storekeepers and quite a few coffee houses.

Near the centre of the camp their street met an even wider cross-street and it was here that the driver stopped. Annie looked down the street and saw that near the edge of the camp it crossed a bridge and entered the permanent structures of Melbourne town itself.

Their driver must have noticed the direction of her gaze. ‘That’s Prince’s Bridge,’ he said, then turned to her father. ‘If I were you, sir, I’d buy my supplies on the other side. Prices on this side of the river can be a little hefty.’

Frank thanked the man and paid him for the journey. The driver helped him unload their trunks then wheeled the wagon around the square and headed back the way they had come without looking back.

‘What do we do now?’ Maree asked.

Frank stood between their trunks and pushed his hat back on his head. He pivoted in a circle, but could find nothing to answer her question. ‘I really don’t know,’ he said.