Captain T. G. S. Ward collection of letters written from Sydney, 1836-1847

MLMSS 9965

fonds

1836-1847

1009456

0.16 metres of textual material (1 box) - manuscript, typescript

Captain T.G.S. Ward went to sea in 1946 as an 18-year old midshipman and began seriously collecting letters around that time. His particular interest was in the history of the mails between the Australian colonies and Great Britain. His collection eventually amounted to more than 3000 items. In researching the letters, Captain Ward was a frequent visitor to the Mitchell Library.

Reference:
Library correspondence file

Many were acquired by Captain T.G.S. Ward from “some of the most famous dispersals and sales of the 1950s and 1960s.” The earlier provenance of individual letters is included in the catalogue descriptions.

25 manuscript letters sent to England by various writers from Sydney during the 1830s and 1840s. The collection includes Captain Ward’s own typescript research notes and transcriptions on index cards. The letter writers (20 in all) include new and old settlers both men and women, sailors, missionaries and clergymen, merchants, a gunsmith, a coroner, a judge and a former convict. The letters describe many aspects of early colonial life in Sydney, including the voyage out and the difficulties of travel within the colony, business opportunities and career prospects for new arrivals, life in Sydney and the Bush, Sydney society, the 1840s slump, the work of missionaries and clergymen, the work of a doctor, family life and attitudes towards the Aborigines.

1. Letter from James Bradley Atkins to his mother in Hampshire, 7 September 1840. Three pages, cross-hatched. Records details of his life in Sydney and the Bush, including time at Twofold Bay and Port Phillip.

2. Letter from William M. Bannatyne to his cousin Other Windsor Berry, 1 May 1839. Three pages, writes about his business and career prospects.
The Library holds another letter from Ballantyne regarding the Myall Creek massacre (MLMSS 9668).

3. Letter from William M. Bannatyne to his cousin Other Windsor Berry, 10 August 1839. Three pages, cross-hatched. He writes discouragingly about emigration to the colony –“don’t come without money” …”NSW is very far short of what it is represented to be.”. Also describes life on the edge of the Bush.

4. Letter from William M. Bannatyne to his cousin, Other Windsor Berry, 15 May 1841. Three pages, writes about a get-rich scheme to sell copies of Encyclopaedia Heraldica

5. Letter from John Cartledge to his father in Yorkshire, 10 April 1841. Three pages, written by a young sailor on a ship anchored in Sydney Harbour. Describes how he fell down a hatchway and broke his wrist and the loading of the ship with oil and wool for London.

6. Letter from William Pascoe Crook to Rev. W. Binnie, 1 June 1838. Two-and-a-half pages. A former missionary he writes about a bitter theological dispute in Sydney. Provides insights into the infighting which took place between chaplains and missionaries at this time.

7. Two letters from Francis Halked (Halhed) to his cousin Alfred Caswall in London, 12 December 1836 & ca. March 1841. Four pages and a two page fragment.
(a) Describes events during the voyage of the East India ship Neptune.
(b) Comments on business opportunities in Australia.

8. Letter from Patrick Hill to Campbell France, 19 March 1842. Three-and-a-half pages. Written from Parramatta Asylum (formerly the Female factory) by Surgeon Patrick Hill to a fellow surgeon. Full of information about life in NSW and land sales in Moreton Bay. He also writes about Dr James Mitchell and his own work at Parramatta Asylum.

9. Letter from John Lyall to his sister in Scotland, 24 March 1843. Two-and-a-half pages. Written by a Sydney merchant lamenting the collapse of trade and the ruinous effects of the slump. Also laments that his life lacks any novelty and “as for society we have none.”

10. Letter from Charles Bethel Lyons to his sister, Kate in London, 1 June 1847. Three pages. Lyall was the coroner at Parramatta. He writes about the death of his wife and his future prospects. He also describes the marriage of Captain Crozier to Miss Stone

11. Letter from Anna Macarthur to Mrs Leslie in Aberdeenshire, 16 September 1837. Three-and-a-half pages, cross-hatched. Contains details of life in 1830s Sydney and at her father, Hannibal Hawkins Macarthur’s famous home “Vineyard” on the banks of the Parramatta River. Anna Macarthur was the sister of Emmeline Macarthur/Leslie/de Falbe whose papers are held by the Library (MLMSS 6930). Her brother-in-law Patrick Leslie, the son of “Mrs Leslie” and the first settler of the Darling Downs, features prominently in the letter and the Library also holds a number of his letters. This letter contributes important information to the history of the prominent Macarthur and Leslie families.

12. Letter from John McGarvie to friends in Glasgow, 14 June 1839. Three pages. Writes about the death of his father on the blank pages of “a seemingly unrecorded and locally printed death-notice.”

13. Letter from John McGarvie to his sister and brother-in-law in Glasgow, 12 November 1840. Three pages. Writes about his theological successes and his life in Sydney.

14. Letter from John McGarvie to the Hutchinsons in Glasgow, 13 July 1845. Three pages. Writes “with all manner of comment on NSW.”

15. Letter from Emily Anne Manning to her father, Edward Wise in London, 27 January 1838. Four pages, crossed-hatched. Filled with details of life in Sydney in the late 1830s including events celebrating 50 years of the colony, a visit to the theatre, and a reflection on Sydney’s Aborigines. The Library holds an album of her watercolours (PXB 524) and a collection of her letters (MLMSS 462).

16. Letter from Matthew Felton to Fooks of Dorset, 29 August 1839. Three pages, missing initial sheet. Felton was appointed Government Surveyor in 1829. In this letter he writes candidly about the bad habits of his ward Edward Woodforde including drinking (“the colonial vice”) and extravagance.

17. Letter from John Morris to his sister Louisa Shaw in Yorkshire, 21 March 1841. Four pages, cross-hatched. Writes about the new Parramatta ferry, the Kangaroo (of which he is captain) and his family. He also discourages his sister’s husband from emigrating to NSW because there are no “Manufactories erected” and “labour and material is very expensive.”

18. Letter from Henry Prince to his sister Mrs James Rae in London, 21 March 1841. Three pages. Prince was an influential Sydney merchant. He is newly arrived and gives his first impressions of the colony in some detail. Subjects include Sydney itself, Aborigines, bushrangers, and business,

19. Letter from Ann Rees to Mrs Fanny Wallace in Hertfordshire, 12 February 1840. Three-and-a-half pages, crossed-hatched. Writes a fascinating account of her voyage out on the Lady Raffles in 1839, her impressions of Sydney, her trip by steamer and carriage to stay with her aunt at the Dumaresq family property near Scone in the Upper Hunter and her life there including witnessing a corroboree.

20. Letter from Robert Ross to London, 4 September 1840. Three pages. Ross was a missionary in Russia before becoming minister of Pitt Street Congregational Church and agent for the Colonial and London Missionary Societies. His letter is filled with information about his church, the ministry and future projects.

21. Letter from Robert Ross to Rev. Wells in London, 31 March 1841. Three-and-a-half pages. Gives an account to his superior of his 13 months service in Sydney including the difficulties of life in there. He also reports on the difficulties faced by a missionary in Kororareka, New Zealand.

22. Letter from George Smith to William Dean of Russell Square, 1 May 1842. Four pages, crossed-hatched. Smith had been convicted of forgery in 1831 and transported to NSW. He was pardoned in 1842. He writes of his involvement in the bankruptcy of Supreme Court registrar, John Manning. He also writes how life in the colony generally has been affected by the slump. He is proud of his sobriety since arriving in Sydney and refers to local temperance associations. The Library holds another letter from Smith to Dean (MLMSS 9631).

23. Letter from Alfred Stephen to J. H. Forbes, 23 July 1840. Three-and-a-half pages. Stephen was newly arrived in Sydney when he wrote this letter which deals with the complications of his family’s affairs following the deaths of his brother and his wife. Stephen would eventually become Chief Justice of NSW and receive a knighthood.
The Library holds his letterbooks (A667-67)3 as well as other correspondence and papers.

24. Letter from John Waugh to Walter Dickson, 14 October 1846. Three pages. The Waugh family were pioneers in in the Kiama Valley and in this letter John Waugh writes of his concerns over a loan and describes his idyllic life in NSW.

25. Letter from George Whitfield to Dr Tennant of Belfast., March 1838. Two pages. Whitfield was a leading gunsmith and taxidermist in Sydney. He writes of his happy decision to emigrate and hopes that his nephew William John Whitfield can be induced to follow him to NSW.

Copyright status:: In copyright - this collection has multiple copyright holders
Research & study copies allowed: Authors have been deceased for more than 50 years
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder