The dairy of Ivy Wood. 1787, The first fleet

16th of November, 1785, in the streets of England

Dear diary,
Good day, my name is Ivy Wood. I am 6 years old. I have 2 siblings, Clara and Alice. We are triplets, and life is way to hard for 6 year olds like us. My mother perished of an illness and my father went to jail when he was young by getting farmed of assault. My sisters and I have a job at the mill, but since we don't have any cars, we have to walk and it takes 30 minutes! We get paid very little every week and only get the leftovers which are a few crumbs and very rarely, half a slice.


One day, my sister and I decided to run away. Life was way too overwhelming! We walked and walked and walked until we reached another city, and found an abandoned shed to live in. Later that day, when I plonked my head down on my pillow, something was bugging me. My pillow just seemed too hard. "Guys, I think I found something." I said. I lifted up my pillow and and there! The thing that was making my pillow hard! It was a picture frame. A picture of Mother, and someone else. "Who do you think that is?" asked Alice. "I don't know." answered Clara and I. It was getting dark, so we got to bed.

21st of March, 1785, in the shed

Dear diary,
Today we are walking around endlessly looking for a job, some people hired us, but we left as soon as they did, because it was too tiring. We continued, until we gave up. So we came up with a plan, and agreed. We knew it was wrong, but it was the only way to survive. We were going to become thieves. We entered a 5 schilling shop and stole whatever we could find. We zoomed out and went back to the shed. We stole a pair of scissors, a candle some matches, and 6 bags of potatoes. We went to celebrate with joy, and decided we would do it again.

My sisters and I headed for the 5 schilling shop. We zoomed out once again, but I tripped over a curb in the mud and heard a loud scream... "SOMEBODY! HELP! THEY STOLE FROM MY SHOP!" Everyone turned to stare at us and started to crowd around us. Soon enough, the officers were here. We were going to jail.

The officers walked us to jail, and roughly pushed us in. I'm so scarjuaerfo

20th of January, 1785, in Jail

I woke up with a loud noise. "3 girls have been found guilty for stealing 6 bags of potatoes, a pair of scissors, a candle and some matches," announced the judge. It was dead silent for a moment, to turn and stare at us, then gasped in horror. "And..." the judge continues. "tried to steal 3 aprons and a glass jar from Miss. Chooken's 5 schilling shop!" The crowd gasps even more. Then a lady stands up and screams: "THEY STOLE FROM MY SHOP! YES MINE!!!" The crowd chatters "That must've been the owner of the shop we tried to steal from." I whispered to Clara and Alice. "SILENT!" screams the judge. "There will be a punishment! They will be sent on the first fleet boats for 7 years! Everyone will have to be here by 9th of May!" SMACK! (the judge smashing the gavel). "Oh no!" Alice whaled. Oh, and by the way, about that weird ending yesterday, I tried to finish a sentence, but the guards tried to look for information. (scarjuaerfo).

9th of May, 1787, in London Bay


Dear diary,

I've been waiting for more than 5 hours! I just want them to hurry up and tell us what boat we're on! I could see lots of other people as frustrated and impatient as me. But one of the girls were sitting alone, so I decided to walk up to her. "Hello." I said. "Um, hi." she replied. "I'm Ivy Wood, and I am a triplet with those 2 over there." I pointed to Alice and Clara. "Oh. I'm Elizabeth Wood and..." she stopped. "What's the matter?" I asked. She pulled out the photo that was in my bag. "That was mine! You stole it didn't you?" screamed Elizabeth. "That was yours?! Oh, I'm sorry. And I just have to ask, is that you?" I asked. "Yes," she answered. "And that's my mother." "But wait, that's my mother too!" I said. I stared at her. "That means we're sisters!" Elizabeth screamed. I squealed. "Come on! I need to tell my sisters the good news!" I said, dragging Elizabeth towards them. "Woah! Slow down!" shouted Elizabeth. "Guys, I need to tell something. Something so important.Something we never knew! Something-" Clara cut me off. "Spill it already." "Sorry. Girls, meet our new sister, Elizabeth. "How can you just say a stranger is your sister?" asked Alice. "She's not a stranger." I said back. Once me and Elizabeth explained, Alice and Clara understood.


Then we heard a loud announcement. "Alice, Clara, Ivy and Elizabeth Wood are all on Lady Penrhyn." The officers led us to the boat and shut the door. We saw a whole bunch of people inside the ship. We were below deck, it was so cold, my arms were already numb. There were rats, bugs and all types of pests you can imagine! We found a small corner with the window open. A few hours later, the ship still hadn't started moving, until a young girl like us or maybe older... I'm not sure. All the spaces were taken, so we mad some space so it was obvious for her to see, and she did. She was walking towards us. "I'm sorry, is this spot taken?" she asked. "Oh, no. This spot isn't taken. You're welcome to sit down." I replied. She gave me a smile. I smiled back.



13th of May, 1787, in Lady Penrhyn

Dear Diary,
The girl is starting to talk to us! "Um, hi, I'm Esther Wellington." "Oh, nice to meet you Esther!" said Elizabeth. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" I said. "Make yourself at home!" "I don't have a home." She said. "Oh, what an embarrassment." said Alice. I elbowed her. "Please excuse our sister. She is weird." I said, narrowing my eyes a Alice.. "Lunch ladies?" said a man, and plonked down 5 bowls of porridge. "Eww." screamed Clara. I took a spoonful of porridge. "You're right Clara. Eww." "Let me try," said Alice. She spat it out the window. "I couldn't swallow it." After a few hours of talking and telling about life, the same man opened the door." "Bath ladies?" he asked. "Ooh, yes! I need a warm shower!" screamed Alice and immediately ran out the door. "I don't think Alice knows what "bath" means on a ship." said Esther. When Alice cam back, she looked unhappy. "I thought you enjoyed it." I said. She gave me a fierce look. "Sorry." I rolled my eyes.

The sky was a deep blue, the stars were shining bright, as a shooting star crossed by. "I wish, I wish to go home." I whispered. I took one more look of the deep blue sky. Good night diary.

                                                                 11pm at night

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" "What's that?" I said alarmed, but tired, at the same time. "Is it breakfast already?" Alice asked. "Nope. Now, what's with all that screaming?" Clara questioned. Elizabeth was crawled up in a corner, covering her face with her blanket. "Spider... spider... creepy little insect with 8 legs..." Elizabeth says terrified. "Lets avoid that." I say.

A few hours later, everyone was snoring their heads off. Everyone except Clara and I. "I can't get to sleep! There's just something that creeps me out on this ship. It doesn't feel right." I said, getting spooked. "Oh. I just can't get to sleep. My tummy is just irritating me. The captain didn't give me enough food to eat." Clara said putting on a cheeky face. "What?" I say. "You clearly don't have intelligence, do you?" says Clara. "Seriously?" I roll my eyes. "Now, we need to find something to unlock our chains." Clara and I look around. "How about this?" I ask Clara. "Perfect. Now, we just need to bend it here... and a little over there... all done!" says Clara enthusiastically. Once our chains were off, we headed above deck and tip toed toward the room with boxes we saw when we went on board. We opened the box and stole fresh meat. I ran down stairs. "C'mon Clara! We're going to get caught!" I whisper shouted. "Wait... I'm tired... the guards are sleeping right?" "No they're... RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" I screamed. Clara turned around. "Hey... look like you're coming with me!" the guard says. "CLARA!" I shout. "You;" the guard pointed to the other guard. "keep an eye on her. She might be up to something."

8th of June, 1787, Somewhere in the world...

We are literally in the middle of nowhere right now. It feels like this is going on forever! And I have a terrible case of sea sickness. This boat is the worst. I never should've stole the candle the matches and... EVERYTHING! The thought of mother dying is scaring me. I don't know what to do. My tummy is twirling around, my arms and legs are full of rashes, my eyes are filling up with tears... what else? I just really, really, really want to go home. But even if I went home, Mother and Father wouldn't be there anyway. "Are you okay?" asked Alice. "Just a bit sick and..." I burst into tears. "I just want to get off this boat, and I never should've had the idea of becoming thieves, and... this is all my fault!" I sobbed.

Then, the ship stopped all of a sudden. "What's happening?" Alice asked. "I don't know..." answered Clara worried.  The door to above deck opened, "I think we have arrived at the next stop, Tenerife." I said. A guard walked in and unlocked my chains. "Come with me."said the guard, groaning. I followed and could finally breathe in some fresh air. As I continued walking, I could smell the delicious food the captain got. I mean, just because he's the captain, doesn't mean he get better quality food! I continued walking. But at the corner of my eye, I saw some corn. It was just sitting there, like it wanted me to pick it up. I used to eat corn all the time with mother. She would make the best corn soup. Anyway, lets talk about what's happening right now. I walked very slowly towards the corn. Then I snatched it off the table. "Hey! That's the main ingredient for the captain's special!" shouted the chef. "Well, not anymore!" I shouted cheekily. The chef picked up a butcher knife. "Uh oh." I said to myself. I started running in circles and took a tight turn to the captain's room. But the door was locked. I... was... trapped.

8th of June, Tenerife, outside in the rain☹️

Dear diary,
HELP! I'm outside in the rain tied with chains... but I can somehow write. Anyway, COME RESCUE ME! Oh wait, I'm writing in a dairy. You can't save me then.

23rd of July, 1787, Rio De Janeiro

Dear dairy,
My arms are so sore from exercising above deck, they don't give us water! ( unless you want to drink the sea water). Geez, those guards are harsh!

29th of December 1787, Van dieman's land

Dear diary,
Happy Christmas! Or was it Merry Christmas? Whatever. Anyway, the presents we got were horrible. The guards were like, "Merry Christmas." and gave us a glass of water. I was so shocked I screamed: "THAT'S IT?????!!!!!!!" I don't usually scream, so it was a bit awkward. They also let us on board for 10 minutes- which was a lie. I was timing it- approximately 3 minutes and 12 seconds.. At least the chef was nicer... until I was talking to her for too long she got distracted and burnt her salted roasted potatoes. Now she hated me even more! But she should've appreciated my talking skills.

 Tonight, on the Menu was Salted uncooked meat with rotten pumpkin gravy, Salted porridge with sweet potato or fresh uncooked salted fish stew. Everyone chose something different so we could all taste everything. I ordered  salted uncooked meat with rotten pumpkin gravy. I hope I don't get food poisoning.

22nd of January 1788, Botany Bay

Dear diary,
We have arrived at some place called Botany Bay and BONK! The ship stopped all of a sudden. I looked out the window... "Guys! Guys! Guys!" I squealed. "What is it Ivy?" said Alice. "Look!" I said. Alice looked. "We're... we're... we're here!" Clara screamed. There was lush green grass, a cool breeze and the sun was finally out. The boys started to build huts and the girls went to find food. We were also harvesting crops. All was good, until one of out huts collapsed. We all turned. It was some monster that shot our hut down with his/she arrow! Well, it could also possibly be a bear... no... hmm... wait... it could be... no... it couldn't be... it couldn't be... a human... right?

1 month later

The monster/bear/human (probably not) gave me a piece of meat. Is it a gift? Or is it some sort of trap? I could get food poisoning. When I was just about to take a bite, I heard a noise. Some sort of painful noise. A dying noise... I haven't been seeing Esther around. That thought can't be real. She must have, hung out with another group of people... or she just doesn't like us. I'm going to go check it out.

As I walked through the trees, I could here the voice getting louder and louder. I saw Esther lying on the ground. I gasped. "ESTHER! ESTHER! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" I shook her. She wailed. "I... I...I can't..." She hesitated. "Can't what?" She fell on her back. Pure red blood spewed out of tummy, an arrow hit her right in the heart. It was hard to look at, but I couldn't just leave her there. I needed to alarm Alice and Clara. "ALICE! CLARA! ALICE! CLARA! COME!! HELP!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Alice zoomed towards me. Clara was tired so she was sleeping. Alice was so shocked her mouth kind of grew bigger. "What happened?" said Alice worried. "I don't know, but I can't just leave her here!" I said tearing up. "Ivy. Look at me," she up her arm on my shoulders. "It's okay. You have me... and Clara!" Alice said trying to cheer me up. "Okay. Just, help me get her to the doctor." I said, wiping my tears away.

Once we carried Esther to the doctor, we went to our hut and starting sleeping with Clara.

23rd of January, 1788, Botany Bay

Dear diary,
It's a new day today and all was better. I woke up early. Usually Alice would wake me up, but looks like today I'm going to wake her up. "Alice!" I whispered."Alice!" She opened her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ivy." she said. "What? Why?" I asked. She showed me her arm. "Small pox. No. Alice, NO! Alice, don't die, I'm here with you! Like you said with Esther! Please, Please don't die!" But it was too late. My very own sister had died. This morning. I couldn't bear to think about the thought. I wanted to cry, but I had to suck it in. Be brave, strong.

3 days later

Dear diary,
I think Alice spread some small pox to me... looks like Clara's on her own. Okay. So this is how Alice felt like when she had small pox. It feels like... fever. And then all of a sudden my arms and legs just feel so itchy. If you were me, you would understand what it would feel like. Just like...fading... into white... blank... "Ivy! Ivy!" I opened my eyes. And right in front of me was Alice. "What... but you died... small pox?" I said confused. "No silly, we're in heaven! Where everyone has eternal happiness!"

                    And my sister and I lived happily ever after, 
                                           (in heaven)