Letters from Edmund James Banfield to Charles Barrett, 1920-1922, 1927

MLMSS 8156

fonds

1920-1922

950502

0.03 metres of textual material (1 folder)

Edmund James Banfield, author and naturalist, was born in Liverpool England in 1852. He migrated to Victoria in 1854 with his family, joining his father who had migrated two years earlier. Banfield’s father was a co-founder of the Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser and established the Ararat Advertiser. Edmund became a reporter and printer’s assistant for his father, before working on the Melbourne Age and the Sydney Daily Telegraph in the 1870s.

In 1882, Banfield became reporter and sub-editor with the Townsville Daily Bulletin in Queensland however by 1887 he had resigned this post and moved to Dunk Island off the Queensland coast near Tully, with his wife Bertha. Banfield died in 1923, and was buried on the island.

Charles Leslie Barrett, naturalist and journalist, was born in June 1879 at Hawthorn, Victoria. At an early age he became interested in natural history. He published numerous works of travel and natural history, some aimed specifically at youthful readers and in 1953 he was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion. He died of cancer in Melbourne in 1959.

Typescript letters presenting a personal correspondence from the last years of Banfield’s life. Written to fellow author and natural history enthusiast Charles Barrett, and relating mostly to his own publications and to natural history matters. They provide an insight into Banfield’s life on Dunk Island. Also included is a 1927 handwritten letter to Barrett from Banfield's widow, Bertha, concerning the forthcoming sale of Dunk Island. And one of E. J. Banfields' calling cards.