TURNBULL’S TUCKERBAG: A SURVEY OF AUSTRALIAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 10, Issue 1, 1 May 1977, Page 17

TURNBULL’S TUCKERBAG: A SURVEY OF AUSTRALIAN MANUSCRIPTS IN THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Sharon Dell

Recent articles in the Turnbull Library Record on the Library’s scientific manuscripts 1 and the journal of John Boultbee 2 have drawn attention to two areas with strong Australian interest. This article surveys the contents of Turnbull’s tuckerbag and it is hoped that it will increase awareness of the assistance New Zealand institutions can give in documenting the Australian experience.

Alexander Turnbull’s policy and progress in collecting Australiana are outlined in Eric McCormick’s biography. For some years he had wavered between confining his collecting efforts to his own country and widening their scope, until in 1899 he stated that his purpose was to gather ‘all literature relating to the Australasian Colonies and South Sea Islands’. 3 The manuscript collection is therefore only part of a range of research materials including books, pictures, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals and photographs which bear witness to the success of his aims. Most of the Australian manuscripts were gathered by Turnbull himself, but in later times, with a narrower collecting policy, reference to Australia has been an added bonus in several items acquired primarily for their New Zealand content.

Excluded from consideration here are items mentioned in the previously cited articles and a number of literary manuscripts which will be described in a later issue. The items discussed here, together with a number of others of interest, are listed at the end of the article.

The earliest and perhaps most notable manuscript in the collection is a 17-page statement by Captain John Welbe written in 1722 from King’s Bench Prison, consisting of copies of letters and petitions written by him in pursuance of a scheme to exploit Australia’s natural resources and protesting the falseness of charges which had resulted in his imprisonment. Welbe had accompanied Dampier on his voyages of 1703-6 and in James Williamson’s edition of Dampier’s A Voyage to New Holland 4 reference is made to a document dated 27 May 1715 which had been found in a volume of miscellania at the National Maritime Museum. The document which is printed in full outlines Welbe’s ‘Scheme for a voyage round the globe for the discovery of Terra Australis Incognita’. The manuscript material at Turnbull shows that although nothing came of that attempt, Welbe did not relent in his efforts and changed his original plan in favour of a Charter Company and continued to petition His Majesty concerning the ‘Barbarious and Unjust Usage that the Said Capt. hath met with for . . . offering to undertake to discharge the Nations debts and inrich the Nation upwards of one hundred Millions

Sterling’. That Welbe had been influenced by the success of the exploitation of South America is obvious from the reasons he ‘humbly offers for granting him a charter of three millions for carrying on a trade to Terra Australis and settling colonies there’. As well as the petition quoted by Williamson further documentation of Welbe and his activities can be found through his own references to his various approaches in letter and person to Lord Townshend, Robert Walpole, Governor Pitt and South Sea House which may be contrasted with the material in the Sloane Papers (noted by Mander-Jones 5 ) and the Townshend Papers. John Masefield, in his 1906 edition of Dampier’s voyages, considers correspondence in the latter collection shows that ‘Welbe was a man of little truth and evil temper’, 6 perhaps an overreaction to Welbe’s undoubted eccentricity.

Charles White, writing on convict life, admonished those who would (by the possession of documents recording a convict’s sentence or pardon) ‘cast into the face of another a father’s shame for the sake of satisfying morbid taste or glutinous curiosity’. 7 We risk this rebuke by mentioning the Convict Lists and Documents collection which contains individual records of conviction and the return to accompany a prisoner on his removal from a Government prison (1848-1861), certificates of transportation (1818-1848), conditional pardons and certificates terminating the transportation sentence (1826-1861) and passenger lists for the ship Friends 1811, Lady East 1824, Duchess of Northumberland 1842, lists of men removed from Newgate prison October 1820 and September 1821, passengers transported from Ireland on the British Sovereign 1840 and the Emily 1844. There are also miscellaneous documents generated by the transportation system, supplemented with the Engagements of Probation Passholders which give particulars of hiring ticket-of-leave holders 1841-1857 in Van Diemen’s Land and the accounts of convicts assigned to Gang 13 Settlement Sawyers which record the type and amount of work done, conduct and rate of pay for each man covering the period roughly 1863-65.

John D. Loch in a study entitled Van Diemens Land and other Australian Colonies discusses the selection of that colony as the only penal settlement and the changes made in the management of convicts at that time, the management and state of female convicts, the system of education adopted in day schools supported by the government, regulations fixing minimum price for land, the change from prosperity to deep depression which had recently occurred in all the colonies, emigration in general and the administration of justice. This study was enclosed in a letter of March 1843 to a relative James Loch, asking for his assistance in obtaining an appointment in the colony and presumably was intended to demonstrate the writer’s abilities.

The case of Mary Bryant who, with her husband and two children escaped from Port Jackson in 1791, is frequently referred to and indeed a whole book has been devoted to her story. 8 After capture she and four surviving companions (her husband and children had died on the way) were returned to England to Newgate prison where they awaited trial and an almost certain death sentence for their crimes. It is not clear how their case claimed the attention of James Boswell, but he exerted himself on their behalf, writing to and visiting Henry Dundas to plead their cause; in the collection there is a letter from Boswell to Dundas dated 10th August 1792. His intercession seems to have succeeded; ten months later according to D. B. W. Lewis, 9 Mary Bryant was released by royal clemency which in a further six months was extended to her companions.

Thomas Muir in a letter to a friend in December 1793 also presents a case which evokes much sympathy from the reader. He was convicted of sedition in 1793 and sentenced to 14 years’ transportation. The letter written from a hulk on the Thames is that of a deeply religious and well-educated man voicing his despair at his situation. In solitary exile he says ‘There is dignity, there is a conscious pride, which even independent of philosophy, may support the mind; but I question ... an exile such as mine, surrounded by the veriest outcasts of society, without the aid of religion and the example of Jesus’. Muir’s philosophic resignation and submission to the will of God cannot have stood the test of life at Botany Bay for a note pencilled on the letter states that he escaped in 1796. An interesting letter is from Sir Robert Peel who wrote to Sir R. J. W. Horton, the Under-Secretary of War for the Colonies, in 1827 asking to be informed

What are the circumstances in New South Wales which render it so important to that Colony that Convicts should be sent there in order that they may perform the functions of labourers? ... I certainly know of no other destination of a Convict, which as a punishment to him or an example to others, answers its purpose so ineffectually as transportation to New South Wales. I cannot reconcile the extraordinary demand for Convict labour with the amount of bills drawn from New South Wales for Convicts subsistence. If the speculators from New South Wales have without any direct sanction from the Government, entered into contracts in the mere expectation of the usual supply of convicts, I see no claim that they have to dictate the policy with respect to the penal influtions which this country is to pursue. He continues to argue for diminishing as far as possible the supply of convicts to New South Wales.

An early glimpse of the physical landscape of Van Diemen’s Land comes from Alexander Mcßae on board H.M.S. Dromedary which in 1819 brought a shipment of convicts to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. A collection consisting of two handwritten transcripts of his sea diary, notes and maps on New Zealand, shows that he was nothing if not impressed with his first sight of Hobart: Nothing could exceed the beauty of the scenery on the Derwent. This fine river winding its course amongst mountains which rise with a gentle Slope from its banks and are covered with wood interspersed here and there with a hut or patch of cultivated ground—the abode of some industrious Settler, which gave additional Beauty and interest to the scene —certainly one of the finest I ever saw . . . On the 11th went ashore and paid my respects to His Excellency Lieut. Gov Sorel and afterwards traversed the Town which consists of three streets composed of a number of wooden huts in general pretty well built but irregularly situated there are also some excellent Brick houses the property of the more opulant settlers. The public buildings also Government House and Church Barracks etc, are neat and commodious—Called on Revd. Knopwood the Chaplain to the Colony and one of the first settlers at this place who obligingly shewed me his garden here I saw all our English fruits and vegetables growing in the greatest perfection and Peach and Apples in particular the trees were all propped to support the weight of the fruit.

Although Mcßae then sailed on to New Zealand several other collections continue the description of Van Diemen’s Land. Soon after his arrival in Hobart the new Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin wrote to his sister on the state of the Colony: The newcomer may have fewer difficulties but he cannot hope for the same advantages —Now the power of giving grants of land has been revoked and the cattle and sheep are treble the price they were before. The sale of wool is the principal source of wealth and next the breed of horses and oxen, but the proprietors of these cattle require much less space than the feeders of sheep ... I have found several men of intelligence and general information among the Settlers—and among all of these I have been happy to witness a desire for the increase of the means of Religious and Rural instruction . . . from these statements you will perhaps say V.D. Land must be a happy place and so it might and I trust will be but for years there has been so much distraction among the colonists owing to political differences that all social discourse seems to be at an end. . . .

The Franklin Family papers contain several letters written by Sir John concerning his duties and the problems he faced, but much of the collection concerns the Gell-Franklin dispute over Sir John’s will. The correspondence of R. C. Gunn contains about 30 letters from Lady Jane Franklin and 5 from Sir John during the time that he was their private secretary. The letters discuss travel arrangements and document Lady Franklin’s interest in political affairs, particularly the plight of female convicts, as well as the interest she shared with Gunn in natural history.

Transportation is the predominant theme in the papers of Henry Chapman who had a short career as Colonial Secretary under Sir William Denison. They include letters relating to the extension of Denison’s term of office, general correspondence on the administration of the Colony and several memoranda summarizing the events which led to Chapman’s dismissal in 1853. Two further collections, those of Thomas Arnold and T. B. Collinson, offer descriptions of Hobart Town and its inhabitants at the time. Arnold records his first impressions on taking up his appointment as inspector of schools in Tasmania: The Governor he says ‘is rather short, but strongly built, and with the solid compact brow, and intelligent but unimaginative eye, which you see so often in men of science. He has a straight forward decisive manner of delivering himself which I like. . . He is brave and truth telling’. Bichens, the Colonial Secretary ‘is an immensely fat jolly looking old man, rather a bon vivant I believe, but with literary tastes. . .’

Later in a letter to Collinson he describes a tour Governor Denison took around the island which so greatly increased his popularity that a demonstration of loyalty was arranged by the inhabitants of Hobart on his return: On the evening of the day that this took place a demonstration of the ‘native youths’ and others took place, against transportation. There was a great bon-fire on Knock lofty, and Lord Grey was burnt in effigy. Certain parties unknown burnt Sir William in effigy also, though this had not been intended by those who had got up the demonstration. Mr Knight the barrister, whom you may recollect, was present as a spectator during the affair, taking no other part in it than to join in the cheers for the Queen, Sir William Molesworth and Mr Gregson; which perhaps he had better not have done. A few days after he was rather needlessly I think, officially called to account for his having been present at the meeting: and after a long interview with the Governor, he sent in his resignation ... in a thundering letter which I dare say will be published.

Arnold’s letters home during the next years describe not only the personal details of his family life, his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith and his work visiting schools, but the issues of the day—the salary of Government employees, the prospective arrival of prison ships, the state of the colonies following the discovery of gold. Commenting on colonisation in general he says that ‘A great and wise government in England would treat the colonies very much like children; give them what was good for them and withhold what was bad’ (February 1852). Henry G. Swainson, an officer on board H.M.S. Havannah and H.M.S. Bramble visiting Hobart in 1851 mentions many of the same people in his journal. He was also in Sydney at various times during 1850 and 1851; his comments on social life are always lively and entertaining. His departure from Australian waters is a convenient place to mention other seamen who entered them.

A recently acquired collection is that of Lieutenant C. G. S. Foljambe, later 4th Lord Liverpool, comprising letters written home to his family while serving as midshipman in H.M.S. Curacao May 1863 to February 1867, some 32 of which are written from or deal with Australia. Although the letters were privately printed in 1868, 10 their style has been formalised for publication; sometimes personal comments are omitted and there is a tendency to stress the official view. Requests for new clothing, discussion of future career possibilities, details of mail arrivals and departures, of other ships in port and naval and navigational matters are also deleted.

Two ships’ logs give less colourful information but are nevertheless valuable records. W. F. Garnet was midshipman on H.M.S. Pelorus and records his activities from January 1859 to May 1860. The ship saw service in the Red sea and then sailed to Melbourne where it took on provisions for the British troops in New Zealand. The entries are generally confined to standard statistics of weather, rigging, assignments of crew etc. Robert Jenkins includes in his log of H.M.S. Miranda 18611863 rather fuller entries for some events involving either Jenkins himself or the ship, which spent most of 1862 in Sydney. Jenkins describes, for instance, a coal mine at Wollongong belonging to Mr Hale which he visited in September 1862, including details of projected improvements to it.

Sir John Franklin and Sir Ralf Darling are not the only Governors who figure in Turnbull’s collections; there are also letters from Grose, Hunter, Paterson, King, Bligh and Fitzroy. A document signed by Francis Grose is particularly intriguing. He appoints Williams Leeson as his attorney to receive the Lieutenant-Governor’s salary, but it is signed and sealed 15th April 1796 —almost two years after Grose had resigned from the said post of Lieutenant-Governor.

A letter from John Hunter to Mr Stockdale in January 1794 replies to rather severe criticism levelled at his published journal in the November Monthly Review of new publications. A letter of February 1802, written to Lady Howe shortly after his return to England upon resigning from the Governorship of New South Wales, justifies his conduct in writing for distribution among his friends an account of his situation in that Colony in order to remove some of the odium which had been cast upon his reputation by the manner of his return. Lord Howe and Sir Joseph Banks had not approved of his action and the letter seeks to explain to Lady Howe the pressures which forced him to act with such imprudence.

Hunter is also represented in the Sir Joseph Banks papers. In an undated letter he discusses with Banks some pearls which he is sending, stating that he hoped shortly to get some at least as large as his thumb. William Paterson, who was for a time Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, was chiefly noted for his botanical research and this he discusses in three letters to Sir Joseph Banks. Two are written from India in 1784 and one from Cape of Good Hope, mentioning shipments of specimens. He says ‘Your letter . . . inspired fresh botanical courage in me, so much so that my exertions in the sun brought on a disease in my Liver’.

A rather more illuminating collection is a series of letters from Captain William Bligh to Sir Joseph Banks when he was waiting for his appointment as Governor. One written in January 1805 describes his present duty as Captain of the Warrior which was taking part in the French blockade; another dated 7 March is mainly concerned with alleviating an uncomfortable situation with his Lieutenants whom he wants removed, but also contains a fascinating piece of self-analysis:

I have been bred up in such a state of watchfulness and care and under such a high sense of professional duty, that perhaps I may be too particular in the execution of it; but I could not exist if I thought we were not equal to anything, and I have thought from the natural feelings of my mind that my moral character was as high as any mans. Instances of my doing good and rendering service are numerous since my youth to this moment, but I defy the world to produce one act of malevolence or injustice & all but four, Officers in the Ship, & the whole ships company declare the late charges infamous & illfounded.—But we have such a set of low Men crept into the Service that to govern a ship is not an easy matter altho a Captain’s responsibility is as great or greater than ever; and a great charge he has if he at all looks forward to what it is possible public duty may demand of him, —to this I am always prepared to succeed, and hitherto I have never failed.

A further interesting item in the Banks papers is a letter from Banks, dated 22 July 1793, to Mr Nicholl who published Watkin Tench’s books, criticising those publications, saying that he . . . misrepresented the circumstances in which the new colony at Port Jackson then was and it was for that reason that I was sorry that you are the Publisher of his present work lest the representations contained in it should be in direct opposition to those of Governor Philip on whom the Government place a full reliance and whose perfect veracity I never had the smallest opportunity of calling in question. . . .

The next group of items can best be thought of as travellers’ tales and first impressions of Australia. The problems faced in the early years of settlement in New South Wales are eloquently outlined by Richard Burke in a letter to the Hon. George Byng in 1835. He says . . . Here we are thank god very prosperous. The wools of this fine country and the kindness of the whales in furnishing a large quantity of oil at no great distance to our Coasts have raised the condition of the Farmer and Merchant in a degree which I believe no new country ever before witnessed. . . . We want more many more mechanics and labourers to assist in the many works both public and private which the general opulance of the Colony demands, ... I have not given the forgoing detail to induce you to weild the trowel or hammer —but if you want 10 per cent for your money you may offer it here at present on indubitable security.

A letter from an unknown writer received by J. G. Grieve in 1841 a detailed description of Adelaide and its aboriginal inhabitants: The Australian natives are a miserable set. They have no huts but live entirely in the open air. Most of them go about naked. In colour they are entirely black. The young children are all grown over with hair. . . . . . . they are exceedingly indolent with the exception of occasionally felling a tree, they will do no work, in the neighbourhood of Adelaide they are harmless but in the interior they are beginning to be troublesome. Both males and females are horrid gluttons. If they see a dog picking a bone they will chase him until he drops the bone, they will instantly take it up, pick all the flesh and break the bone for the marrow I have seen the young ladies frequently do this.

The writer also describes the physical features of the countryside and the town itself:

It looks more like a village than a city. There is only one stone building in the town, all the rest are of bricks or wood but the greatest number is of wood. Some of the houses are got up with great taste & notwithstanding their diminutive dimensions, they have rather an imposing effect. ... Edward Ashworth, an architect and surveyor in Exeter, was in his twenties when he sailed for Australia in May 1842. After a few months in Melbourne he went on to Auckland where he stayed until February 1844, then returning to England via Sydney where he stayed a further three months. Ashworth comments in great detail about the places he visited and the life there. He was interested in all aspects of the physical environment, taking particular note of architectural features and vegetation whether wild or domestic. On 29 September he first saw Melbourne ‘much resembling an English brick built town with wide streets . . .’ noting the regularity with which the streets were laid out in contrast to the irregularity of their appearance:

a brick house of 3 stories often alternates with a wood edifice of one, at the N end of Elizabeth St. is the Roman Catholic chapel, near it the theatre a plain boarded front with 3 green doors, the post office which has plenty of business, at the west end of Collins St. is market square occupied by a few boarded boxes as vegetable stalls, near it is the protestant church, a small prison guarded by a soldier, also 2 steam flour mills with tall circular chimneys. In the outskirts of Melbourne there are some very tasteful dwellings, with verandahs, projecting rooms, trellises, and other fancies of ornamental architecture [see plate IV] the sash doors open from the sitting rooms into the garden plots in front. . . . Melbourne is certainly a wonderful place for its age viz 4 years, but trade is quite overdone, the shops seem too numerous & showy: the plum cakes & pound cakes, tarts, cheesecakes, gingerbread & gingerade & lemonade of the pastry-cook ill accounts with the simple tastes of the inhabitants of the bush. There are plenty of smart ironmongers, linen drapers, grocers, stationers & outfitters whose names Levy Alexander &c remind us of London. . . . The principal cart traffic in the streets consists in firewood, oxen simply yoked with an iron collar, are used much more than horses.

Thomas Collinson also commented on Sydney in his reminiscences: The aristocracy of Australia were, are & will be the sheep and cattle farmers. It is a business that requires capital and intelligence and a good constitution of mind and body; and therefore specially suited to the English gentleman. In 1846 some of them were little princes in their dominions, like the patriarchs of old; producing

everything for themselves but metalwork: made their own shoes and clothes and wine and candles. The principal people in Sydney then were the Merchants supplying the sheep farmers with European goods and taking wool in exchange. But the tone of society was given by the Government officials & officers of the troops stationed there.

Collinson’s impressions of Sydney were recorded in a letter to his mother written when he reached Auckland in September 1846, and were supplemented by a sketch (see plate V) of the scene which he took from his window in Colonel Gordon’s house:

To make it complete you must imagine the water and sky blue, the earth white & the trees dark green, & the whole seen through an atmosphere of the most astonishing clearness that gave to every colour a supernatural brilliancy to my eyes; it was a positive enjoyment to sit still and admire the colouring of the landscape all around: there is also the Emily Jane in which we came from China & the Terror schooner in which I came to New Zealand; lying in Sydney Cove surrounded by this scenery & as calm as a lake.

September 1863 saw the arrival of Mr and Mrs Charles Kean, their niece Patty, Mr Cathcart and members of their household ready to embark on a theatrical tour of the Australian Colonies. In a lengthy series of letters to their daughter Mary they give a graphic account of the fortunes and misfortunes attendant upon their tour, during which they were welcomed by Governors and members of society and varied their itinerary with inland tours and visits to the goldfields. Their descriptions are given in the fullest, frankest manner and are supplemented with rough sketches. The temptation to quote at length from this eminently quotable collection must be resisted and the reader referred to J. M. D. Hardwick’s edition of the letters in Emigrant in motley. 11

Robert Shortried Anderson in a two-volume autobiography describes in great detail his early life in Edinburgh, a five-year stay in and around Melbourne and various travels before settling in Auckland in 1857. Anderson worked as a clerk, draughtsman and labourer and comments in great detail upon Melbourne itself, his employment, his excursions to the goldfields, his social life, and the events of the day.

George Bennett’s descriptions of Sydney and the surrounding townships are vivid and perceptive. He was disappointed in his first view of Sydney Harbour, having confused in his mind reports of the fine harbour with a vision of fine scenery:

As we entered it is true on every hill & vale was placed some pretty smiling villa with its garden & green veranda, but the soil around was parched, arid & barren, & nothing but these eternal shrubs, the gum tree & swamp oak stared me in the face.—the latter as much resembling our oak as I do an oyster. . . The town itself . . . has still all the faults of its early youth—for instance ... a row of handsome stone houses stand in juxta position with a row of the worst of wooden huts—then a handsome church some more huts, a barrack, houses, a market place & so on but without any order or regularity in any part. . . The principal buildings are the Governor’s new house built in the Elizabethan style, but it is heavy and quite out of character with the climate, as of course the style admits of no verandahs, without which it will be an extremely disagreeable residence—Sir G. G. does not inhabit it, as it would cost too much to furnish—indeed it is not yet completed, but they must send some person of greater rank and riches than a Capt. of Eng rs if he is to live in such a place as he should. . . Sir George Gipps is rather pompous & brusque but a very good man of business, to which he devotes his whole time —Lady G. wants dignity but makes up in kindness in heart for all wants —she is much loved by all Sir George is more feared than loved—this is perhaps as it shd be.

The Rev. Richard Fletcher, a Congregational Church clergyman who was brought out to Melbourne at the request of the Colonial Missionary Society, graphically describes his arrival in Melbourne and his attempts to find his son in March 1854.

Filthy sights of slaughter houses, tallow rending shops, and dirty wharfs distinguish the approach to the far famed city. It rained hard and we found Melbourne awfully dirty—Here we parted from the Captain . . . and we set off to look for Richard. Wading through rushing rivers of water and picking our way through bogs of mud we at length reached the Victoria Chambers, which to our dismay we found were burnt down! Nobody near could tell us where Richard had removed to.

Charles Denton describes a voyage round the world including scenic descriptions of Sydney and surrounds which he saw by coach (‘Another of Cobb’s infernal machines’) and Melbourne ‘A wonderful place for its age and with all the go of the American towns’. He fancies however that ‘lt has more pretensions than requirements, and the high rents I am at a loss to know how they are paid’. George Tennant Carre, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Artillery, made a tour through the colonies after a term of service in India in

1889. His journal records scenic descriptions and accounts of the social life which he fully entered into, particularly anything of a military or sporting nature. His first impression of Australia was not however auspicious for as they approached King George Sound at night ‘a few oil lamps on the buoys did not prepossess us with the resources of the great continent we had reached’. While Turnbull was collecting published works about Australia he was also interested in acquiring authors’ manuscripts. Although most are literary there are several general items. Robert Dawson had been a farmer and estate manager in England when he became Chief Agent for the Australian Agricultural Company and was sent out to Sydney. As he travelled up through the bush to Port Stephens where he founded a settlement he had excellent opportunities for observing the conditions in the area and amongst the assigned convicts and aborigines he worked with. In 1830 his Present state of Australia was published. 12 The Library holds his private journal which is incorporated as Chapter Two of the book. The journal was obviously adapted for publication; several pages were not used and the text was refined and expanded in places.

In 1850 Benjamin Peck published a limited edition of his Recollections of Sydney; capital of New South Wales. 13 His manuscript journal is an odd mixture of copies of letters to his family and friends, financial accounts and examples of his attempts to transform the daily Collects into verse. In his letters to a friend J. H. Gregory of Sydney he includes extracts from his manuscript recollections. There has been some rearrangement of the wording in the published form and some material from published sources has been included to give a general background. Peck’s journal is of importance in providing biographical background and the bibliographic history of the book. Letters to publishers and friends soliciting subscriptions are included. Although the papers and proceedings of the South Australian Parliament 1868-1870 14 contain reports on the progress and results of the Surveyor-General’s survey of the Northern Territory, a copy of G. W. Goyder’s rough journal provides additional useful information, demonstrating how necessary his organizational talents were to co-ordinate the many diverse activities involved.

The Fisher family papers contain a section of letters from Australian politicians to George Fisher, the Mayor of Wellington and M.P. W. A. Watts in a letter to Fisher of October 1914 says: privately I can endorse your sagacious diagnoses of our situation Fusion is in disrepute, its only hopes of recovery are either the failure of the Labour folk to redeem their prodigal promises, or the death or removal of some leading old hands of our crowd

Other letters are from Edmund Barton, Alfred Deakin, J. Fuller, R. E. Groom, G. King Hall, F. W. Holder and W. A. Holman.

The papers of Sir Henry Parkes contain 8 letters to the poet Robert Browning, 3 to Professor Richard Owen and about 50 to Henry Halloran (1866-1880). The latter mainly concern routine administrative matters but several are memorable for the way they illuminate Parkes’ attitudes towards his work and issues with which he was concerned. On a letter from H. McLean to Halloran asking whether Mr Parkes would have any objection to a sentence of flogging being passed on a prisoner who was being particularly difficult, Parkes’s directive was T think in cases of obstructive resistance to the Authorities accompanied by abusive and unseemly language, flogging may with great caution be resorted to’. Later in June 1879 he writes to Halloran: If I could persuade myself that it would not be a wicked injury to you —I would say take my seat in the Assembly. I should be glad at heart never to set eyes upon that place again. The ties formed may be too strong for me to sunder it is not easy to break through the meshes woven round one by the toils and associations of 25 years, but service in Parliament is now an irksome bondage to me. That you yearn for such a life must be that you little know what it is.

In fact Parkes continued on in political life until the 1890 s. His letters to Browning, however, show the reverence he felt towards the great poets and the part his own literary endeavours played in his life. Agnes Bennett’s extensive collection of diaries, correspondence, medical papers, reports, lectures, broadcasts and printed papers reflect her Australian origins. She received her early education and first degree in Sydney and returned there after medical training in Edinburgh to spend several years in private practice and as Medical Officer at Callan Park Hospital. During this time she lectured for the Ladies Sanitary Association, St John’s Ambulance Association and other organisations. She then moved to New Zealand to a full and influential career, taking particular interest in maternal and neo-natal care and the establishment of St Helen’s hospital. After she retired she joined the Australian Inland Mission’s flying doctor service and in 1955 was again associated with Sydney University over the endowment of the William and Agnes Bennett Supersonics Laboratory. Throughout her life Dr Bennett kept in close contact with her family in Australia and although some family material was given to the Mitchell Library more is included here. This survey concludes with the records of Australian institutions. There are specifications from the Department of Home Affairs, Works Branch, Sydney and a collection of documents preserved by J. A. Dowling (son of Judge J. S. Dowling) on the establishment of Sydney

College, which came to him from the estate of Mr B. G. Rodd. Dowling notes that ‘Mr Mitchell has other papers on the subject but not so complete as these’. The documents were bound and annotated by Dowling and are supplemented by a matching volume of the printed prospectus and annual reports. Included amongst the documents is a copy of the original prospectus dated 1825 with manuscript annotations and the printed minutes of the first meeting of the college trustees with a manuscript sheet recording their individual votes on the adoption of the plan. With this are manuscript plans of the proposed school buildings and grounds, together with the final printed plan.

Finally, there is a collection of correspondence relating to the formation of the Melbourne Public Library and Art Museum and the acquisition of books and works of art for that institution. The letters dating from 1859 to 1864 are mainly from Judge Sir Redmond Barry and H. C. E. Childers, trustees of the Library, and Augustus Tulk its first Librarian. In early 1859 the Parliament of Victoria voted £2,000 to the Library for the purchase of works of art and the letters concern the establishment of a committee to discuss what ought to be bought and arrangements with Mr R. E. G. Waters in London who was to act as their agent. Their aims are outlined by Barry in a letter to Waters of 25 August 1860:

Our desire was to form not merely a miscellaneous collection of casts and busts but to bring together a comprehensive and well balanced series of groups to illustrate Natural characteristics and exhibit the history of the growth of refinement and intellectual excellence represented in the arts. To form not merely a museum for amusement but the rudimentary basis of a School of Design the different departments of which might be enlarged as means at our disposal allowed. Their work did not progress without difficulties and many of the letters concern shipments of statuary from a Signor Brucciani which arrived broken. Letters fly between trustees, agents and insurance agents. However the trustees were delighted with their endeavours and Barry shows this in a letter to Waters thanking him for his exertions on their behalf in . . . having procured for us objects of such beauty and value to persons living so far from the seats of art, of science and art excellence. The trustees hope that no time will be lost in expending with equal judgement the balance of money remaining undisposed of in London, as it has become necessary to force upon the Government of this country that the public demand a further addition to our Building and this can be best accomplished, by our having multitudes of such treasures as you have already sent, which we have not space to exhibit with justice to them.

By 1863 a grant of money was available to purchase pictures and Mr Waters was informed that Sir Charles Eastlake, the president of the Royal Academy was to act as a consultant advising him which pictures ought to be bought. The collection above all shows how fully Sir Redmond Barry entered into his role as trustee in guiding the development of the institution and concerning himself with the smallest practical details to ensure that the best possible results were achieved.

Only an overview of the collections has been possible here; descriptions have indicated in general terms a particular item’s potential use, and quotations have emphasized first impressions of the scenery and people encountered. The Library’s staff will provide specific information on the contents of collections together with any inventories and guides that are available.

A SELECTIVE LIST OF AUSTRALIAN MANUSCRIPTS

MS 1851-9 ANDERSON, Robert Shortried, 1833-1874. Autobiography, 1851-1859. (Reminiscences of a draughtsman-clerk-labourer in Edinburgh, Melbourne, Wellington and Auckland.) MS 1852 ANN ABELL, Joseph, 1815-1893. Journal, 1852. (Kept on journey from England to Australia.) MS Papers ARNOLD, Thomas, 1823-1900. 231 Papers, 1847-1860. (Correspondence to and from his family.) MS 1841-45 ASHWORTH, Edward, 1814-1896. Journals, 1841-1845. (Includes 3 months in Sydney.) MS Papers AUSTRALIA. Dept, of Home Affairs. Works Branch, 285 Sydney. Specifications for construction jobs, 1912-15. (Typescripts and some MS specifications in small locations around Sydney.) MS Papers AUSTRALIAN Gold Mines. Reports on the operation 1253 of several West Australian gold mines giving detailed descriptions of the mines and mining techniques, 18971899. MS Papers BANKS, Sir Joseph, 1743-1820. 155 Letters and journals, 1768-1810. (Includes correspondence with Hunter, Paterson and Bligh.) MS Papers BENNETT, Agnes Elizabeth Lloyd, 1872-1960. 1346 Papers, 1847-1960. (Diaries, correspondence, medical papers, reports, lectures, broadcasts, photographs and printed material.) MS 1838-45 BENNETT, George, 1808-1845. Journal, 1838-45. (Describes experiences travelling and surveying in Ireland, voyage to Sydney, a brief stay there and voyage to New Zealand.) MS 1911 BERTIE, Charles Henry, 1875-1952. Old Sydney, 1911. (Author’s typescript, with MS corrections, of his Old Sydney .) Misc MS BIRTLES, Francis. W 3 Motoring across Australia. (Extracts from a diary motoring Fremantle to Sydney, ca. 1912.)

Misc MS BOSWELL, James, 1740-1795. 514 Letter to Sir Henry Dundas, 10 August 1792. (Re case of Mary Bryant.) Misc MS BURKE, Richard. 119 Letter to Hon. George Byng, 1835. (Describing the state of New South Wales.) MS 1889 CARRfi, George Tennant. My journal of travels, 1889. (A Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Artillery on tour through the colonies.) MS Papers CHAPMAN, Henry Samuel, 1803-1881. 53 Papers, 1834-1929. (Includes material relating to term as Colonial Secretary, Van Diemen’s Land, 1852-3.) Misc MS COLLINGRIDGE, George E. XI Autobiographical notes. (The artist and author of Discovery of Australia.) MS Papers COLLINSON, Thomas Bernard, 1822-1902. 1038 Letters, 1846-1869. fMS 1892-94 Seven years’ service on the borders of the Pacific Ocean, 1843-50, written for the information and satisfaction of my children 1892-4. Misc MS CONQUEST, F. A. C. 125 Letter to Hepworth Dixon, 1 May 1877. (Concerning Chinese immigration to Queensland.) MS Papers CONVICT Lists and documents. (Relating to transit 15 portation to Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales.) MS Papers CRAWFORD Family. 1001 Papers, 1811-1939. qMS 1826 DARLING, Sir Ralf, 1775-1858. Letter to Archdeacon Scott, 24 April 1826. (Referring to despatch from Earl Bathurst announcing the appointment of 5 chaplains to New South Wales.) qMS 1826 DAWSON, Robert, 1782-1826. Private journal. (Part published in his Present state of Australia. . .) MS 1872-3 DENTON, Charles Lord. Narrative of a voyage, 1872-3. (Diary of a voyage around the world including scenic descriptions of Melbourne and Sydney.) qMS 1867-71 DRAFTS on Australian merchants, 1867-71, by clients in Pacific Islands.

qMS 1846-64 ENGAGEMENTS of probation passholders. (Giving particulars of hiring of convicts, 1846-1864, Van Diemen’s Land.) MS 1877 FIDDLER, Margaret. Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne on the Lautrago and thence to Dunedin on the Arawata, 1877. MS Papers FIRTH Family. 1491 Papers, 1861-1947. (Includes items relating to mining interests in Australia, 1890 s.) MS Papers FISHER Family. 103 Papers, 1869-1915. (Letters from Australian politicians to George Fisher, Mayor of Wellington (1881-4) and M.P.) Misc MS FITZROY, Charles Augustus, 1796-1858. HI2 Oaths taken by Captain Fitzroy on his taking office as Governor of New South Wales and GovernorGeneral of Australia, 1846 and 1851. MS 1853-4 FLETCHER, Richard, 1800-1861. Journal of a voyage from Greenock to Australia in ship Thomas Filden, December 1853-March 1854. MS 1837 FRANKLIN, Sir John, 1786-1847. Letter from Hobart Town, 1837. (To his sister in Boston.) MS Papers FRANKLIN Family. 375 Papers, 1833-1856. MS 1863 GANG 13. Settlement sawyers. Accounts of work done, conduct, etc. of convicts. qMS 1859-60 GARNETT, W. E. Log of H.M.S. Pelorus, January 1859 to May 1860. (Record of service in Red Sea, thence to Australia and New Zealand.) qMS 1868-9 GOYDER, George Woodroffe, b. 1824. Copy of rough journal, 23 December 1868 to 28 September 1869. (Account of a trip to survey the site of what was to be Darwin.) Misc MS GRAHAM, Sir James. 485 Letter to Earl Dalhousie, 11 April 1843. (On the subject of a convict, David Bowie.) Misc MS GRIEVE, J. G. 799 Letter to J. G. Grieve from Adelaide, 16 August 1841. (Giving a description of the town and aboriginal inhabitants.)

Misc MS GROSE, Francis, 1754-1814. 013 Original power of attorney signed by him in respect to his salary as Governor of New South Wales, 1796. MS 1838-80 GUNN, Ronald Campbell 1808-1881. Correspondence, 1838-80. (Includes letters from Sir John and Lady Franklin.) fMS HUNTER, John, 1737-1821. 1794-1802 Letters, 1794-1802. Misc MS IRWIN, Frederick Chidley. 250 Letter to General Sir George Murray, 16 August 1836. (Enclosing first report of the Western Australian Association.) qMS 1861-63 JENKINS, Robert. Log of H.M.S. Miranda, 1861-3. (Movements around Sydney and Auckland.) qMS 1863-4 KEAN, Charles John and Ellen. Original manuscript journal of Mr and Mrs Charles Kean descriptive of their theatrical tour in the Australian colonies and of the social life there. qMS 18- KERR, Alexander. Reminiscences; an account of the Australian and New Zealand goldfields. MS Papers KING, Philip Gidley, 1758-1808. 334 Letters (two), 1799, 1807. MS Papers LIVERPOOL, Cecil George Savile Foljambe, 4th Earl, 1283 1846-1907. Letters, 1863-1867. (Letters giving an account of his service in South Seas on H.M.S. Curacao, published as Three years on the Australian station .) MS 1837-43 LOCH, John D. Van Diemen’s Land and other Australian colonies. Misc MS LONGWAY, W. H. M 4 Description of his drawings of native weapons, South Australia, 1838. MS 1911 McKAY, Alexander, 1841-1917. Fragments of the life history of Alexander McKay, 1911. (Includes several years spent on the Australian goldfields.) qMS McRAE, Alexander. Diary and notes on New Zealand. (Includes diary of voyage to Australia on H.M.S. Dromedary, 1819-20, carrying convicts to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land.

MS Papers MANING, Frederick Edward, 1811-1883. 625 Papers, 1844-1917. (Includes correspondence re his father’s Australian property and will.) MS Papers MOTHERWELL Family. 1242 Letters, 1894-1899. (Includes some letters from relatives in Victoria.) Misc MS MUIR, Thomas. 234 Letter to a friend from Muir, 3 December 1793. (Written from a hulk on the Thames while awaiting transportation.) MS Papers PARKES, Sir Henry, 1815-1896. 469 Correspondence, 1866-1887. (Mainly with Henry Halloran.) MS Papers PARRY Family. 262 Papers, 1853-1902. (Personal letters written to Charles and Alice Parry in England from relatives in New Zealand and Australia.) MS 1849-50 PECK, Benjamin Clark. Manuscript journal. (Includes part of his published Recollections of Sydney .) Misc MS PEEL, Sir Robert, 1788-1850. 164 Letter to Sir R. J. W. Horton, Undersecretary of War for the Colonies, 14 January 1827. qMS 1852 REBECCA (Ship). The barque Rebecca and the Kangaroo dog. (An account of the wreck of the Rebecca on the Australian coast, 1852.) MS n.d. RIGBY, T. Out and home. (Reminiscences of a trip to Australia.) Misc MS SELECT Committee on Aborigines. Draft report, 1837. Z 7 MS 1878 SHERIDAN, John Beal. Copy of Fox, R. B. The unsuccessful colonist .. . annotated by J. B. Sheridan and James Sadler. qMS c. 1916 A SKETCH of Australia. (Article written during First World War, apparently to give readers in Britain an idea of Australia and New Zealand.) MS 1850-1 SWAINSON, Henry Gabriel, 1830-1892. • Journal, January 1850 to December 1851. (Kept on board H.M.S. Havannah and H.M.S. Bramble, containing detailed descriptions of social life in Sydney and Hobart as well as New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.)

MS n.d. SWIFT, John William. A New Zealand gold seeker’s adventures in Australia between 1886 and 1901. qMS n.d. SYDNEY College, New South Wales. Miscellaneous papers relating to the founding of the college. Misc MS TOUCH, P. 177 Letter to Lord Kinnaird, 3 October 1781. (Relating to a position as Chaplain to the garrison at Botany Bay.) qMS 1853-60 VARNHAM, John, 1818-1868. Account book, 1853-60. (Book of a Wellington shipping agent; includes passenger and cargo lists for ships going to Australian ports.) qMS 1859-64 VICTORIA Public Library, Museums and National Gallery. Original correspondence relating to the formation of the Melbourne Public Library and Art Museum, and the acquisition of book and works of art. qMS 1722 WELBE, John. Petition to the Secretary of State, 1722. (Contains copies of correspondence and petitions.) MS 1850 WELLS, George W. R. Key to Wells’s map of Sydney, 1850.

NOTES 1 Hoare, Michael, ‘Turnbull Library manuscript holdings in the history of New Zealand science; a review’, Turnbull Library Record, 9 (n.s.) (2), 1976, pp. 4-19. 2 Starke, June, ‘“Journal of a rambler”; John Boultbee in New Zealand, 1825-1828’, Turnbull Library Record, 9 (n.s.) (1), 1976, pp. 18-30. 3 McCormick, E. H. Alexander Turnbull; his life, his circle, his collections. Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library, 1975, p. 180. 4 Dampier, William. A Voyage to New Holland, edited with introduction, notes and illustrative documents by James A. Williamson. London, 1939. 5 Mander-Jones, Phyllis, ed. Manuscripts in the British Isles relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Canberra, 1972, p. 11. 6 Dampier, William. Dampier’s voyages. Edited by John Masefield. 2 vols. London, 1906, vol. 2, pp. 585-93. 7 White, Charles. Convict life in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. Bathurst, 1889. 8 Rawson, Geoffrey. The strange case of Mary Bryant. London, 1938. 9 Lewis, D. B. W. The Hooded Hawk: or The case of Mr Boswell. London, 1946. 10 Liverpool, Cecil G. S. Foljambe, 4th Earl. Three years on the Australian station. . . . London, 1868. 11 Kean, Charles J. Emigrant in motley; the journey of Charles and Ellen Keen ... as told in their further unpublished letters. Edited by J. M. D. Hardwick. London, 1954. 12 Dawson, Robert. The present state of Australia. . . London, 1830. 13 Peck, Benjamin C. Recollections of Sydney; the capital of New South Wales. London, 1850. 14 South Australia. Parliament. Proceedings . . . 1868-9 (v. 3) no. 10; 1869-70 (v. 2) no. 31, (v. 3) no. 57, no. 161, no. 203.