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Charlotte Godley's Unfinished Journal

Of Visit to New South Wales after leaving New Zealand, on the Voyage Home

I Must go back to January 23rd, 1853, Sunday; we were on board the Hashemy, on our way from Wellington to Sydney. We had, of course, had many speculations as to the day of our arrival; Indeed, is it not always the most interesting of speculations during the weary hours of any sea voyage! On Sunday morning it was lovely, even I felt nearly well; but it was calm, and we could see nothing but sea and sky, and though within a few hours' sail, we might still be for days in expectation. Lord Robert's¹ "Well, will you go on shore to-day?" as a derisive salutation to my husband, before breakfast, did not promise much. Even our good-natured captain and his wife could only hope, until after breakfast, when we found that certainly a little breeze was puffing us along; and after Morning Service "land" was distinctly seen from the masthead. Then, indeed, we could all come on deck, and as it freshened, we began to make out first, the very heads of the harbour, then the lighthouse, and then we dashed into the waters of Port Jackson, and straight up to the very cove under the Fort, with the most lovely scenery round us, and anchored at about 5 p.m. I suppose there is scarcely in the world a more beautiful harbour than that at Sydney. An arm of the sea runs up several miles into the country, which goes by the name of "the River"; and from the very heads there is a succession of really innumerable little bays, running along each bank with trees growing down to the very water's edge, and in some, a beautiful little beach of fine white sand, and in others, the deep water, merely bordered with perpendicular rocks, making a perfect natural dock. In the "cove" we page 325were in, which goes by the name of the "Circular Wharf", this is the case, and it looks very curious to see large ships of 1,200 or more tons lying close alongside the rocks.

We were, of course, all anxiety to be on shore, and John and I started for just a walk, as soon as we could call a boat, and get on something like tidy shore clothes. I am by no means fond of any kind of travelling, and I think a sea voyage with children no light or small disaster to occur to anyone; but if you can leave all thought and care of them on board, I cannot imagine anything more delightful and exciting than the first sight of such a place as Sydney, after even a few weeks at sea. The first effect of the town is very good indeed; its very situation must make it beautiful, and then the mixture of trees with the buildings, the parks and gardens, which have been very judiciously laid out, and the water, and crowds of ships, make up lovely pictures whichever way you look. We walked into the "domain" about the "Government House", and then, hearing a church bell, followed the sound till it brought us to St. Philip's, where we went for the seven o'clock Evening Service. We did not know it at the time, but this was the first church built in the Colony; and a very ugly one it is, curiously ugly, and deformed even, according to one's Ideas of a church. The old Archdeacon, who is about eighty, and almost unintelligible, read the prayers; he was, I believe, the first clergyman who settled in the Colony, as he certainly is the oldest now. We had to hurry on board as soon as we came out, but managed to take with us a small supply of fruit, more especially peaches, of the excellence of which, at Sydney, we had heard much. They are very cheap too, and nectarines, etc., all at 6d. or 9d. a dozen; but in my opinion they are not to be compared with English fruit in flavour. Everything in the streets attracted us, so that we were most reluctant to put off seeing more, even till the morning, though I was so much tired that I could scarcely walk; but it was so like home to us to see stone houses, and to walk on pavements, see rows of shops, and still more, a cabstand! As we sat at tea in the cuddie, talking of all we had seen, who should walk in but Mr. Maunsell, whose name you must remember amongst our Canterbury friends. page 326After the first exclamations were over, it was explained that he, and Mr. Fitton, and Mr. de Bourbel, who had left Lyttelton about a month before us, were still there, waiting for the Sarah Sands by which they had taken their passage home to start at the end of that week. We then discussed the Canterbury news in all its details, and afterwards began our inquiries about Sydney. Small was the prospect of getting any lodgings. He assured us it would be most difficult; even as bachelors they had found it so, and they had only been comfortable at last by getting into the "Australian Club", which is a most creditable thing of the kind, and where you meet everyone in Sydney that it is desirable to meet. I, of course, began to ask about Mr. Denison; I should have been so very sorry not to see him, and yet I had been puzzling much as to what I could do, I have always asked all the Sydney people I knew about him, and from what I had heard, pinned all my hopes of finding him out if he were in the town, or this club. My satisfaction was great when he said: "Oh, yes, I know him, a very nice person, and he's very anxious to see you." At last we retired, very well pleased with our first impressions, to bed, but not to much sleep. We were now to be initiated into the delights of a real mosquito country. I was in the stern cabin, sharing a sofa bed with Arthur and Baby, and I need not say had neither mosquito curtains, nor anything which we could use as such, and during the whole night we fell easy victims. Poor Baby went to sleep looking, though I say it, quite pretty, and with a fair little face and two pink cheeks; she woke the next morning completely speckled with small bright red spots, making her look ill, pale, and ugly, and my motherly vanity suffered not a little in consequence. Arthur, too, who had got quite pale and thin from being so unwell during the voyage, was devoured and disfigured beyond measure, and neither of them recovered their looks during the whole of our visit at Sydney; what with the heat, the reiterated attacks of these monsters, and the influenza, which we all caught soon after. I should only weary you if I were to attempt to detail our annoyance from this cause, but it is enough to say that we were, page 327comparatively, almost glad to find ourselves seasick again, and on board this ship, to be free from them.

Our Canterbury friends came to fetch us next mornings to show us the way to the "Botanical Gardens", where we spent the day sitting under the trees, and enjoying the extreme beauty of the whole scene; while John rushed about the whole time, looking for lodgings, which we soon found to be indeed most difficult to get. The hotels are not at all pleasant places for ladies or children to be at, but not even there could vacant rooms be had, for love or money. To my great satisfaction, Mr. Denison had joined us on our way to the "Gardens"; looking and talking exactly as he used before he left England, thirteen years ago, only he is a little older, a little fatter, and, if possible, a little more thoroughly English. He was most kind in trying to help us in every way, and even went through the wearisome task of walking all over the town, here, there, and everywhere, to find some place, however small, into which we could be put, just to get on shore; taking our chance of moving afterwards, if we could get anything better. All Monday was spent in this way, and a great part of Tuesday. At one place they wouldn't have us because we had children, at another the master of the boarding house (which it was) was so repulsive-looking and disagreeable in manner, that my husband could not bring himself to undergo the communication we must have had, at dinner, etc. He was, he said, very nervous, and could not bear hearing objections made, so that they must be stated at once, and we might make up our minds quickly, either to come or not. Sydney was thronged with visitors, no one had ever known it so full; so that those who had lodgings to let were more in the position of patrons of livings than in that of people about to enter into matters of business, and shillings and pence, with others, for their mutual advantage. At one place they would have let us have two little rooms, rather larger than ship cabins, for six guineas a week!! But as they could not undertake the cooking for us, that would not do. At last, Mr. Denison and my husband communicating their distressed condition to a hatter, in whose shop they were, he said, his house was much too big for him, and he wouldn't page 328mind letting us a part of it. His offer was most gratefully accepted; and when I came on shore in the afternoon, to hear the band play, they took me, after the performance was over, to see a very imposing-looking dwelling, where for the sum of £4 a week we were to have a sitting-room, and two bedrooms. John had been made, forthwith, an honorary member of the Australian Club, where he could have lived altogether, and I was very glad to find that these lodgings were close by, within a few doors almost, so that he could pop in and out at any moment.

The next day was spent in packing up on board the Hashemy, and seeing what we could of the gay doings in honour of the sixty-fifth anniversary of the first settlement of Port Jackson; which consisted almost entirely of a variety of water races. The harbour looked beautiful, as usual; great parties on board, dancing in the evening, and so on. We went to see what we could at the Fort, on our way to the Gardens, and by doing so fell in with a crowd of the lowest kind of people; the first I had been in for three years. In the Gardens we met Mr. Denison, with all General Wynyard's party, to whom we were introduced, Mrs. Wynyard is so thoroughly English and good-natured, and the General so pleasant and such a complete specimen of an old English officer, that it quite did one good to talk to them, although I myself could not feel much in tune for society. It was weary work walking only a short distance, or even nursing and looking after Baby, in what appeared to us such great heat; and the mosquitoes would not let us sleep at night, so that this was the case throughout nearly the whole of our stay at Sydney. Powles, Baby, and William went straight to our lodgings, from the ship, and it was a triumphant moment walking in there to take possession, and have tea, and a tea on shore; which is no small treat after even a short voyage in most ships. Besides our being very fortunate in getting anything, we were glad to find that we had a capital sitting-room about twenty-five feet square, and high in proportion, and also with the advantage of a window looking out to the back, so as to give us through draught; moreover, a view of the flagstaff, where they signalled, by means of various flags, every ship as it enters page 329the town, long before it can be seen, even by the few people who can see the harbour from their windows. They tell you the kind of vessel, and where it comes from; and to us, who were accustomed to think the arrival of an English ship a very great event, it was very exciting to see sometimes two in one day. It was an almost constant occupation, too, for Arthur, to watch the flagstaff and make out the meaning of the flags from the Sydney Almanac; and he soon learned to look at them through the little telescope, and to distinguish them better than I could. Our front windows opened into a deep verandah, and beyond that was a garden, full of large shrubs, or rather trees, which make a delicious shade, and gave a cool darkness to the room that was very grateful to our eyes and feelings. Large trees of yellow jessamine hung over with festoons of passion flower, dark green pomegranates with brilliant (double) scarlet flowers, and at one side a trellised walk of vines, a little greener and fresher than the rest; for, after all, what is more beautiful than a vine? A large loquot tree grew up peeping into our bedroom windows, and in the garden next door we had two fine Norfolk Island pines, I ought to make honourable mention, too, in our garden, of a smaller tree, with a beautiful long white flower, as large as a wineglass, and which was, at night, sweeter than I can describe. It went, as far as I could hear, only by the name of the bell-flower tree. I cannot at all give a notion of the beauty of the little scraps of verdure about Sydney. By all our home rules they ought not to grow, not even exist, through such burning sun, dust, and want of water; and yet every little bit of garden, or corner of a verandah, seems hidden and overgrown with the freshest and most vigorous green. Willows, which in our damp climate are generally almost shrubs, and creep close to the water, there shoot out into large trees, so full of leaf and vigour, that it is evident that, like many of the human transportations from the Mother Country, the transfer has been very much to their advantage. You must not fancy our house to have been altogether a palace; the rooms were large, but in rather bad repair, the floors sinking away from the walls upstairs so much that if poor baby was seated on the upper side of the room, her balls and playthings page 330always rolled off immediately to the other; and there was, throughout, a somewhat dilapidated look, down to the horsehair furniture of the drawing room. I believe all Sydney swarms with bugs. Mrs. Stewart told me they had great trouble in keeping them out of Government House, although a new house; so we were not surprised at anything but the rapacity of the fellow-lodgers whom we had involuntarily disturbed in their strongholds. In our bed, the first morning, we captured more than twenty, and I averaged two every night that I was there, in my own, or Baby's, bed. The Indian matting on the floor was full of the more lively sort of tormentors, and then the mosquitoes completed the picture, and left us very little peace after the candles were lighted. My husband wore gloves, and a pocket handkerchief over his head, and even then could hardly sit still to write or read; and though he slept in them, it was of little or no use. I was at last so sleepy from continual short nights, that I could scarcely keep awake if I sat down anywhere for half an hour.

I do not know whether everyone can say the same, after a visit to Sydney, but certainly we never met anywhere with more civility and kindness. Mr. Denison and the Wynyards were a host in themselves, and seemed never tired of taking all sorts of trouble about us. A few days after we had left our names at Government House, we met the Governor, Sir Charles FitzRoy, as we were walking, one Sunday evening, in the Botanical Gardens, and were forthwith introduced, and invited to dine there on the next Tuesday, with them en famille. He explained that his cook would object to dinner-parties, then, as he had a ball supper to provide for Friday; and in those times at Sydney help in such matters is not to be had. Sir Charles is an iron-looking old gentleman, tall and portly and very much " got up ", and I thought his countenance had something very disagreeable, and his bushy black eyebrows and hair—evidently dyed—do not at all improve it. He was very civil to us, but from most people we heard that he is very unpopular, and gives great offence. I suppose all Governors are unpopular, though, for their subjects are quite sure either to think them Interfering, or incompetent, and must find fault with some-page 331thing. For instance, on that very Sunday evening, after speaking a little, we went to sit down on a bench in the gardens, and our united parties making too many for one seat, some man near us offered to bring another. Sir Charles said yes, and he brought another which was very near, from which three little girls got up as he went near. On the evening of the ball, the Governor told me, when I came in, that he had had a very "stinging" anonymous letter, to find fault with his conduct in turning people off their seats in the Gardens, to make room for himself and his friend! Mr. Denison, who had literally been remaining in Sydney some little time, to see us, was going out of town on Monday evening, and my husband was to have gone, at all events, part of the way with him; but Sir Charles would take no denial, and made him promise to meet us at dinner on Tuesday, and also stay over Friday, and so we got a few more days of him. We, or rather I, found the family dinner somewhat stiff and formidable, for they are a very silent party. You may probably remember, some time before we left England, seeing in the papers an account of Lady Mary FitzRoy's (née Lennox) being killed on the spot, from the carriage being overturned, as Sir C. was driving her from their country house into Sydney. Their only daughter is married to Captain Keith Stewart, Lord Galloway's brother, and as they are quite poor, and have no particular home, Sir C. then wrote to beg her to come out to him, to act as lady of the house and so on, for him; and a very good one she makes, but she is not nearly so much liked as her mother was, who seems to have been singularly lovable and amiable. She has six children, the youngest about as old as my baby, and is tall and very striking-looking, although rather inanimate and heavy in conversation. Then, Captain FitzRoy, the eldest son, is aide-de-camp, and another is private secretary, both good-looking, but very much like "fine young English gentlemen"; only somewhat Colonial in the matter of hair, which is allowed to plant out their faces to a great amount. There is a third, also at Sydney now, in the Navy, and at present in charge of their old friend, the Acheron, who is considered no longer fit for a long voyage, but, with a small complement on board, lies in the harbour, page 332and does anything that is wanted. Government House is a very imposing-looking castellated building, which has not been finished many years, and the rooms downstairs are very large and good, and everything is well done, but gave me the impression of a country house; something like Penrhyn Castle, but with very few servants, and very few rooms, comparatively; drawing-room, and a ballroom, and some others smaller. The dinner hour, eight o'clock, seemed very late to us barbarians, accustomed for years to dine at two, and have heavy tea at seven! and altogether, I had my fears that we might commit some solecism, from our long primitive spell, and patriarchal life, having made us forget the smaller conventionalities of late dinners, etc. We were to get a cab, or fly (in Sydney it is the same thing), and were to call at the Club for Mr. Denison; himself the most exact and correct of men, and who had charged us on no account to be late. I triumphed over all the difficulties of dressing in time when your things are all in a packed-up state, and when a child, and a baby, must be disposed of and left; and when I went down John met me with the news that there was no carriage, and might be none to be had; and in short, if we had to walk, we ought to start at once, although it would not take more than ten minutes. We did start, and got as far as the Club, where we were overtaken by William, with a cab, in which we were safely conveyed without further delay. It appeared that William had brought one a little before the time to the door, to make sure of having one there, and then went into the sitting room where my husband was writing a note, and said "that the man meant to charge us fifteen shillings for taking us there, only "; so John said just "I shan't pay that"—and merely intended to give him something more like his real fare. But no sooner did William, like a goose, report his answer, than the cabman just drove off, and said he should not take us. They are not always easy to get, after dark, though we had a stand close by; and so came our little delay. What we did pay was just half that charge, but the real thing would have been five shillings, and only so much as that since this terrible gold fever, which, with one or other of Its effects, meets you at every turn in Sydney, now, and makes it a page 333thoroughly uncomfortable place to live in. It has in fact quite altered the state of society and put an end, comparatively, to all gaiety; made the rich in many cases poor, and the poor very rich. Men come back from the diggings, after a little good luck; buy, at fancy prices., a horse, and a brand new saddle, and ride—perhaps in their digger's clothes—up and down George Street (the Bond Street of Sydney) for several hours together. Or they get into a cab, two or three together, and give the driver ten pounds, desiring him to give them ten pounds' worth of driving about; and when his horses are tired, and he stops, saying it is over now, they either give him another ten pounds, or go to someone else, quite contented at the idea of getting rid so easily of such puzzlingly large sums of money. You hear endless stories of their spending for the very sake of spending. One I heard of, but I think it was at Melbourne, who went with his wife into a shop, and asked for a gown, the most expensive one they had; one was produced, of which the price was eighteen pounds; but he said that was not enough, had they nothing of a higher price? They said no, really nothing, but if he liked, they could charge twenty pounds for that one!! This was actually accepted, and the gown purchased. When tradespeople and cabmen can make such a harvest by these sort of customers, you can imagine that they much prefer them to anything like gentlemen; for instance, our friend who asked fifteen shillings for our drive; and in some of the shops (indeed all I went into excepting one or two), your dignity must take up an extremely low position in your pocket, or it will suffer proportionately. Domestic servants are, however, I believe, the people who make the difference most felt to the dwellers in Sydney. Hardly a man is to be found contented to remain where he is, unless you can get an unsuccessful digger, whose health has suffered, or who has no luck at all; and the women, who always found it easy enough to " get a husband ", are now, as Johnson's American book says, quite at famine price, and you hear endless stories of ladies who have been used to large establishments, and giving parties, now obliged to give up all thoughts of appearance, and open the door even, themselves, or make their daughters page 334do it; give up their carriage, etc., and thankfully receive the services of any dirty girl who will come and help. Our landlady, during our stay of five weeks, changed both her servants, and the new ones were going away when we left. Mrs. Wynyard was, however, in quite a different position, for they could supply the want of servants with any amount of soldiers, who could, in a great measure, clean the house, and cook for them. "When they had a dinner-party, they had a man in for the day, and they had one or two treasures who had come from England with them.

The General was, during our stay, expecting and wishing, most earnestly, to see his successor arrive, or at all events to get some news of him, and had been waiting for months; but we left him still waiting, and at great inconvenience to himself. He was, moreover, most anxious to go home in the Anglesey, with Captain Thorne, who brought them out, and would have made every kind of effort to do so, even taking downstairs cabins, in the event of the others all being taken. It was no small temptation to us to go by this ship, even for the chance of being with them, and their accounts, I think, decided us (i.e. John) to take our places, or rather cabins in her. We went to dine with them on Thursday, February 3rd, to meet Mr. Denison; and then at night, or rather early in the morning, I began with a sharp attack of Sydney influenza. The doctor arrived at about 7 a.m., and came again twice after; however, the last time, he said that I was so much better that as he would be there himself, there was no reason why I might not try going to a great ball at Government House, which I was rather anxious to do, as it was likely to be my only chance of seeing anything of the kind. General Wynyard's carriage took us, after they came themselves, and it then went for Mrs. Jenner, their daughter married to one of the aide-de-camps, and took me home very soon after her arrival. My husband stayed a little. I must say, it was well worth going to see; everything was so well done, and the rooms are so very handsome. There is a ballroom of a very good size, which opens out of a very large, and well-furnished drawing-room, which is the reception room; and there are a variety of smaller ones in use for tea, cards, etc., and the supper is served—as the page 335books say—in the large dining-room; but I was at home long before that was open or visible. I was quite astonished at the show of ladies, and their dresses and general appearances. Of course, there were some funny figures; but I scarcely ever was at a ball in London where there were not one or two. It is true that I was fresh from New Zealand, and things of the kind probably would appear to me in rather an imposing light; but allowing for that, I must still own that I was surprised. Mr. Denison, too, who is not much in the habit of admiring anything Australian, evidently thought it good as a show, and yet I think it is difficult to believe that he has lived so long "in the country" when he seems impressed with such very disparaging notions of its advantages. When we were there we were much struck with the tendency of all the people to abuse the country, the society, and all belonging to them, I have no doubt that the gold and its consequences was the reason of this in part. Every family is made to feel its inconveniences, in one shape or another; high prices for everything they want to buy, no servants to be had, and many of the best and pleasantest families literally driven out of country by it. All agree that the change in Sydney, since the last two years, is very great, and very much for the worse. Almost all the best families there, members of the Council, even the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Thomson (among those we knew or heard of), are going home to England, and taking this opportunity of getting out of the country; most of them hoping to return when things have returned into something like better order, when ladies will not be obliged to open their own street doors, etc. Such an enormous influx of people as is now pouring weekly into Sydney, must, one would think, soon bring a little unemployed labour into the market; especially as a very large number of those who go to the diggings are altogether unsuccessful; but these are less talked of than the number of fortunate hits, which are of course in everyone's mouth.

After the Government House ball, our next piece of gaiety was dining with the Chief Justice, Sir Alfred and Lady Stephen. It was a family party, and not particularly lively, His Judgeship being, though remarkably gentleman page 336like and refined looking, somewhat egotistical and pompous. Lady Stephen was the governess of the elder children, who seem to like her very much; one of them, a pretty little "Jessie", was engaged principally in an "undercurrent of thought" with a Mr. Leslie, officer of Marines on H.M.S. Calliope, who had paid us a visit at Ricarton, in N.Z., and to whom she is to be married (D.V.) in a few months. This did not impart much vigour to the general conversation, and presently, over some specimens of gold ore, and Australian wood furniture, I saw my husband's eyelids begin to droop in a most suspicious manner. This at least kept me most effectually awake, and after many ineffectual nudges and exclamations, I got to the subject of some music. Lady Stephens then sang and played, and Sir A. fluted some very pretty German songs, which, however, I could not half enjoy, from having before always heard them sung by the Fitzgeralds in our dear Lyttelton, John "listening" with closed eyes, behind a friendly window curtain. At last we went home and to bed, or rather to our mosquito war; but I must also add that I think the sleepiness was undetected, as Sir Alfred was equally civil the next day, and did all he could about getting my husband in to see the courts, and the gaol, and so on. We had, on our way to the dinner at Sir A. Stephen, been overtaken by. a "brickfielder"——as they call their strong South winds in the summer. They come, I believe, invariably after some hours of great heat, and northerly wind, and raise a most frightful dust. As we got out of the carriage, in Lyons Terrace, we literally could not see across the road, and I have no doubt that my hair, when I appeared in the drawing-room was a good deal redder, if not brighter, than you have ever seen it. This was the first burst of it, and we found them rushing about the house, in spite of the heat, to shut up every window and corner where wind could get in, and very soon the lightning began. It was very bright, lighting up the whole room, but I think I have seen storms at home as bad, and worse, than any we saw in Sydney. I always look back to one night when we slept at Liège, in 1845, as the worst thunderstorm I have ever seen. In Sydney, they have sometimes very severe ones, although we were fortunate enough to escape them; even page 337Lady Stephen owned to feeling afraid of them, and she said she had known, in one summer, four people killed, as they sat in their houses, by being struck by lightning. During our whole stay in New Zealand we had only one thunder-storm, a few days after our arrival at Lyttelton; and now and then in the evening a little summer lightning. Perhaps our great winds there purify the air sufficiently? I think, too, that an earthquake is incomparably more awful than any storm of thunder and lightning; so that if we should begin to boast of our immunity from, the one, we might probably be reminded of what had occurred at Wellington; but at Lyttelton the shocks have hitherto been so very slight that very few people have been aware of their occurrence.

The going to church at Sydney, on Sunday morning, is rather a difficult undertaking. There are no free seats in St. James's, which is, in other respects, the pleasantest to go to, and it is a chance whether you can get one unless you are there very, very early. We were offered the use of the Bishop's pew, for he himself was in England, and his daughter lives out of Sydney; but although we were there before the Service began, we found that the verger had already filled it. However, we were received into the Colonial Secretary's pew; and on other occasions, we went to the "military seat", where all the stray officers, Army and Navy, go. Colonel McArthur told us we might always go there, and there was always room, but it was a very staring sort of position, much like a box in the Hanover Square concert rooms. The Church is altogether of an original form, and seems to combine all the worst peculiarities of the London Churches. The pulpit and reading-desk, and clerk's pulpit, stand, in all their dignity, opposite the principal entrance, and are backed by a very short transept, entirely filled by an organ, with a gallery full of school children over it; the other three sides have a deep gallery all round, and some men singing, and a good many children sit also just opposite to the organ. There is no chancel, or any East window, but good high pews, nailed and baized, all round, and all over, the interior of the building; about the centre, three-fourths up the church, there is an open space, with the Altar standing in the midst of a circular page 338railing!! The incumbent, Mr. Allwood, seems an excellent person, much liked too by all who know him. He took my husband over the schools, which are at present exciting much interest, as a political question of how the matter of the religious part of the instruction is to be decided. Mr. Allwood was a great friend of Lord Robert Cecil, who stayed with him while he was in Sydney, and sailed with him for England in the Windsor some days before we had to go on board; which we were glad to hear of, as Ld. R.'s health seems so delicate, that it appeared to us a great matter that he should not undergo so long a voyage, without anyone who took an interest in his fate. Mrs. Allwood is in England with her children, on account of the health of the eldest girl, and Mr. Allwood hopes to be in Sydney again with them in two years. St. James' is the largest church in Sydney, and rather imposing-looking outside, with a spire, which, standing on high ground, is seen to a great distance. The Cathedral is left in the most hopelessly unfinished state, and no one seems even to care about its being finished, as they usually say that they want clergymen much more than one such large building. We went and saw the part that is built, and did not admire it much. Some of the tracery in the windows was handsome enough; but the rows of buttresses looked as if they were built of gingerbread! The Roman Catholics, who are very numerous, have two large Churches, and one, which is, I believe, their Cathedral, was being much enlarged, and surrounded with other ecclesiastical buildings, while we were there. They had, moreover, a peal of bells, and it was no small treat to listen to them. On the eve of St. Paul's day, when I was sitting on the deck of the Hashemy, for a short time, late in the evening, I heard them ringing first, and almost thought I must be dreaming, so like old times did it sound, while everything else was so different. There is only a single bell at St. James'. However, they have daily Service there, very early, and at 7 p.m.; times when I could not manage to go there myself, without putting both Powles and Baby too much out.

On the Monday next, February 7th, my husband started, by the evening mail, for the Bathurst diggings; and then, except driving once or twice with Mrs. Wynyard, I retired page 339into strictly private life. One of these drives was to hear the band play, which we did in a mild brickfielder; and Arthur, who had been invited with me, either there, or somewhere else, caught the horrible influenza, and was very unwell next day, and some days afterwards, and then Baby got it. I thought of little else but nursing the two all that week. Nothing particular, indeed, occurred, excepting that I had a few visits from Mr. Denison, who told me one day that at last the Melbourne had arrived. She had been expected so long that people had begun to give her up, and imagine that something had occurred; she had been very unfortunate, and had had to put into Lisbon, and there wait till a new captain could come out to her, as the first went mad! One hundred of the passengers had also returned to England, refusing to go any further in her. Captain Phillimore was on board, as Admiralty Agent, to see to the well-being of the mails, and that they were carried according to contract. It was funny that Mr. Denison (his brother's wife's brother) was nearly the first person to go on board, and as neither had ever seen the other, Captain P. began to ask whether "he knew anything of a Mr. Denison"! They came together to see me, and inquire after the Percevals at Lyttelton, who are related to Mrs. Phillimore. This arrival detained Mr. Denison again, for a day or two, but he was actually gone before my husband got back, which was, to my great satisfaction, on Sunday morning; as usual, a little sooner than I could possibly have expected him. Such a dirty way-worn looking creature it was, that arrived. The colour of hat and clothes all indistinguishable, from a thick coating of red dust, which would make the results of a dusty Derby Day look like nothing at all. After a great deal of soap and water, and a little breakfast, he began to relate the adventures of the way, and they seemed sufficient to deter most people from undertaking a similar journey, when mere curiosity, and not gold digging, was the impelling power. The box, which he had carefully secured, implied sitting on a miserable bar, which he had to hang on for life or death. But I shall not attempt a description of his travels further than to say, in his own words, that human discomfort could go no further, and all aggravated page 340by unvarying rudeness on the part of all the people along the road, so that at last tired of being "snubbed" he dared not speak to anyone. The very girl who waited, and brought in some dirty breakfast at one of the inns, answered a question he put to her by saying: "You're not such a fool as not to know that?"—and vouchsafed no other reply. He was very glad indeed, though (as who would not be) to have seen "diggings", and brought me back two little nuggets, unluckily not, though, of his own finding. The Bathurst gold is not quite so fine, or of so beautiful a colour, as that from Mount Alexander, the Port Phillip digging; but it is infinitely superior to the poor little specimens that have hitherto been found in N.Z., and from my experience of successful gold regions, I can only say, long may it be so, and longer still before N.Z. becomes one. We liked Captain Phillimore very much, and he used to fraternize with my husband immensely about bathing. There are Public Baths at Sydney, where for sixpence you can get a capital swim (in an enclosed part of the sea, so as to be safe from sharks, which is a very necessary condition), and a dressing cell, towel, etc., in an old hull of a ship. There is also a private establishment, where you can have warm or tepid baths at any time, and here we used to go, about this time, and dip in tepid baths for the good of the children, who were still rather miserable after that horrible influenza. We had to get up very early, and start soon after six, as if we went late it became unbearably hot for walking, being nearly a mile of sunny road, and I confess that between stinginess at the high price, and fear of the rudeness of the drivers, if any remark is made, I never got into a cab unless it was quite necessary. It seems to me that a great mistake is made by keeping up London hours and habit of living, as far as is possible, in so very different a climate as that of Sydney. The men dress, too, just the same, even to the inevitable "chimney-pot", instead of the straw hats, which we had been so long used to in New Zealand that John almost mutinied, but he was obliged to compound by getting a white one, of some light kind, in which he considered himself quite a martyr to public opinion. I never saw Mr. Denison (but once in a hot wind for an hour or two) page 341in anything but shepherds' plaid trowsers and a black cloth or tweed coat, some light waistcoat and a black hat. The ladies wear about such light things, white muslins, and so on, as people in London used to go to breakfast in, and it looks very nice and cool. Neither are they, as a common rule, at all afraid of mixing the very brightest colours. I believe there is large quantity of such light goods manufactured on purpose for the colonial market, and the show of muslins, etc., in the shop windows appeared to me infinitely prettier than I have ever seen it in England, and I am told not very dear, in general. The only dress I had occasion to buy there was at the least half as dear again as it would have been at home, and so are ribbons, gloves, etc., and they were all rather bad. We used often too to lament, in such a climate, the total absence of ice. In India, America and other hot places, it seems now to be considered quite a necessary, and it might so easily be equally abundant at Sydney, that we wondered much that no one had it. The water, while we were there, drawn from the coolest taps standing in the shade, or at night, or first thing in the morning, was always above seventy, which is a tolerably tepid drink, and wine only tastes hotter still. The butter was almost uneatable, and there was great difficulty in keeping anything, so that the butchers are obliged to kill in the night, for the meat that is to be eaten next day. In spite of this, however, the meat was always excellent; the roast beef as fine as it was in N.Z., which is saying a good deal.

Some of the villas and gardens, just out of Sydney, are very beautiful. I went to one, with Mrs. Stewart, where there is a very choice collection of flowers, with green-houses, hot-houses, and beautifully arranged grounds and walks with a great quantity of bananas, which I specially admire. It is to me very graceful, as it stands waving its lovely green arms, while it makes you feel at once that you are in some climate very different even from our N.Z. frosty evenings. The fruit is very like a large, very rich, fig, but without those little seeds; but I mean to let you off descriptions of individual plants. This garden belonged to a very rich auctioneer, a Mr. Mort, who, like almost everyone in build-page 342ing in Sydney, has made mints of money since "the gold" began. I went to another, afterwards, with Mrs. Wynyard, much greater in extent, and much more beautiful, but everywhere shewing the present want of labour in a most melancholy way; every walk and bed littered over, and overgrown, and the whole place so untidy. But the show, both of flowers and fruit, was wonderful. There was one beautiful walk between large high orange-trees, from which, though the season was long past, the master managed to extract for us half a dozen such oranges! The peach trees, principally standard, stood about as thickly as gooseberries at home, loaded with fruit, and with more strewed about under each tree than would furnish half a dozen desserts, and wonderful pear trees, also carpeted underneath with loads of fine fruit. Mr. McClay, to whom all this beauty belonged, explained to us that the shaking of the trees had been the work of a little animal called the flying fox, which is something between a bat and a flying squirrel; but I never saw one myself. Mr. McClay has literally no way of disposing of his fruit, as he doesn't sell it, and is said not to be very fond of giving it, except to one or two people. I suspect, by the look of the garden, that it is much trouble for the few people he employs, even to gather up what has already fallen. He too talks of selling that beautiful place, and going back to England, so much does he complain of the present state of things, socially. As we were getting into the carriage, we saw one of the Australian curiosities, the wooden pears. They grow on a very different-looking tree, but resemble that fruit exactly, in shape and colour; you would fancy it some variety of fine brown winter pear; and lo and behold, no wood is harder, and when they split, as the one he gave me unfortunately did, they show no sign of pip or seed. I must not omit to mention the beautiful butterflies, as large as our English bats, which were chasing each other all about the ground, more especially among the blossoms of some great lemon trees, where a double row made good shade. Very funny, too, are the grasshoppers which, when they hop, spread out bright yellow wings; thereby converting themselves into butterflies, for a moment or two, and subsiding again, when the spurt is over, into humble page 343hoppers. We had been some time in Sydney before we got accustomed to the noise of the locusts, a very disagreeable sound, like an exaggerated singing in your ears. In the gardens, too, the little attempt at a stream, which is dammed up into green and stagnant importance, is quite noisy with the croaking of the frogs, a very loud and fierce croaking, quite unlike the noise that frogs make at home.

My husband was not many days after his return from the diggings, before he went off to Camden, about thirty miles, or rather more, from the town, where the two Mr. Mc Arthurs live. It is a very large concern, altogether, as they have a large estate let out to tenants, a very large amount of land in their own hands, large vineyards where they make a very considerable quantity of wine (of a kind, in my opinion, something between a light Rhine wine and a common Marsala), and very large flocks of sheep. It ought to be noted, under this head, that their father was the first person who directed his attention to the producing of wool of such quality as to be valuable for exportation. The sheep of the country, brought from India, gave rather hair than wool; and to him, Australia owed the introduction of the fine merino sheep, which, when duly crossed and recrossed with the old stock, seem to give the very best, or at any rate the finest, wool known in the world. We in New Zealand are not without an idea that our own wool, either in strength or length of fibre, is even superior, but I fancy the Australian wool is quite good enough for the London market. My husband was fortunate in having a tolerably cool day; it was fine, of course, and having Captain Phillimore for a companion, and a hired horse instead of that deplorable Bathurst mail for a means of conveyance, he had a very pleasant expedition; saw some of the country about there, which is beautiful in one or two places, and especially admired the herds of beautiful horses, galloping about as if they were wild. Great pains and expense have been expended upon the breed of horses here, and they flatter themselves not without effect. Colonel McArthur, who is another brother, and now Deputy Quartermaster-General, or Assistant General in Sydney, had one beautiful creature, which I went out to admire one morning. It is, I believe, page 344much approved of by better judges also. My husband knew the old Colonel well, when he was quartered, years ago. in Ireland, very near Killegar, and he was more than good-natured, like all our other Sydney friends. He has a little place in the country at Paramatta, and another house, where he does not live himself, but where he has a very fine garden, and from this he used to send us fruit, more especially melons—peculiarly fine in flavour, I believe, from being grown in virgin soil—large bouquets of flowers, etc.; and every morning at six he was ready, and had a horse ready, for my husband to ride with him for an hour or so before breakfast, and although the riding was rather slow. it was a great improvement upon walking. We went to meet him and Captain Phillimore, and several others, at dinner, at General Wynyard's, on the evening of John's return from Camden. There was, too, a small party, in the evening, to witness the performance of Mr. Daly, a "party" who had been for some time giving public exhibitions of "Electro Magnetism" in the town, to crowded audiences. It was quite the rage, and Mr. Daly himself being a very good-looking young gentleman, with a very polished, if not gentleman-like, manner was a great object of attraction, We heard that he left England, not exactly to try the diggings, but his fortune generally, hoping to get some gentlemanlike place with £200 or £300 a year; but that during the voyage out he studied the subject of Electro Magnetism, to which something had attracted his attention, and discovered many of its mysteries; and, amongst others, that he himself had the power of magnetizing. On his arrival in Sydney, he gave one or two public representations, and by degrees so fully awakened the public curiosity, that his powers were put in constant requisition; and they say that he is now making money at the rate of several thousands a year; ten thousand, I think we heard. He dined at Mrs. Wynyard's, looking and acting very much like other people until dessert; when a young officer, who had several times before been "influenced", was sitting near him, having been specially asked to meet him that we might make sure of our victim; and as he was carelessly talking about it, and just going to drink a glass of claret, Mr. Daly looked page 345at him very authoritatively, and said: "I command you not to drink that, now I defy you to do it", and poor Mr. Clarkson, after that, in vain endeavoured to quench his thirst. His arm, too, got stiff, and his face had a somewhat livid look, as if the circulation was stopped by some violent effort. It was the first time I had ever seen any exhibition of the kind, and if I had had any doubts as to the reality of the magnetic influence, whatever it may be, would most completely have removed them. I need not go through a list of the performances, but some of them were almost painful, from the entire mastery that seemed to be obtained over the victim, in spite of his violent efforts to resist them. His face always changed colour, and gave you the impression of pain. This, however, Mr. Daly assured us was by no means the case. On the contrary, he seemed always wishing to be acted upon in some fresh way. A few of the gentlemen (John was one) offered themselves to be operated upon, but not under favourable circumstances, and I believe the first time requires a good deal of preparation, manipulation, etc.; but Mr. Daly was not possessed of the influence in any high degree, himself, nor does he profess to be so, and there are consequently only a few people over whom he has great power. He could make Mr. Clarkson's arms and legs perfectly rigid, and oblige him to stay in one corner of the room, and so on, but he could exercise no power over his mind or vision, while one or two persons are so completely under his power that he made them believe that they saw all kinds of things, were fighting with some ferocious beast, etc. Old Sir Everard Home, Captain of H.M.S. Calliope, was there that evening, and we had a visit, a day or two after, from Mr. Mostyn, one of his mids, and from Mr. Nugent, another, whom you remember my mentioning paying us a visit when we were at Riccarton; a very nice boy. Of course, we offered to take anything home for them, and Mr. Mostyn charged us with a good sized deal box for Lady Harriet M., as Mr. Nugent informed us, much to the amusement of his messmates. " I should think he had a dozen digs in the ribs as he wrote that direction." I could fancy the party well. The Calliope was making preparations for going to sea, when we left, for a ten months' page 346cruise among the islands; and old Sir Everard wanted a servant for himself, which we hope our William may now be. We only heard it at the last moment, from Captain Phillimore, and we do not know how the negotiations ended; but he was, I hope, likely to suit, and would have preferred it to any other situation that could have been offered to him. If he did not get it, he was to go to the editor of one of the Sydney papers, who is making, as we were told, £6,000 a year by his paper, and who would give him £45 a year as a beginning, and if at any time he should either tire of Sydney or wish to visit England again, he will have nothing to do but to offer himself for a situation on board any ship going home, where he can undertake almost any minor office, such as cuddie-servant or even cook.

The Attorney-General and Mrs. Plunkett, who had been very good natured in their offers of horses and carriage, at last insisted very strongly upon our taking theirs, for one day, as it was really then not in use while Mrs. Plunkett was on a visit, and suggested our taking Parramatta for our object. This we were very particularly glad to do, as, besides our wish to see the place as a sort of insight in the country about Sydney, we also wished much to pay a visit to Mrs. Gore, there; a very nice old lady, a great friend, and connection, of my husband's family, and who had known him as a boy. She had been twice to see us when anything brought her into the town, and was most anxious that we should return her visit, that we might be able to give a full account of them all to friends at home; but as I could not leave the children, it was rather difficult; the steamers coming from there in the morning, and returning at night, being intended for the convenience chiefly of people there who have business in Sydney, and prefer a country life. Of course we could have taken a cab, but then the price was rather an obstacle to that. As it was, one fine morning in the last week of February, Mrs. Plunkett's open carriage was at the door, a little before nine, and off we started. The drive was really very pleasant, till within a mile or two of Parramatta, when it became very hot. The road is pretty enough, and very wide and good; every now and then we came to a public-house, with a number of bullock page 347drays standing outside, while the drivers were inside, making themselves unfit to drive. They are curious-looking machines, piled up with bags of sugar, chests of tea, and every imaginable variety of goods, for the supply of the diggings, and "up the country" generally; or, on the down road, merely heaped with wool, and perhaps a native or two, seated on the top of all. The wild, primitive-looking teams are very picturesque, but most "unhandy", to the eye of a stranger, and clearly explain the reason and necessity of wide roads. The houses, both in Sydney and on this road, are extremely good; even the smallest cottages look habitable, and as if the people in them were well to do, and any faults of architecture (and they are not very often pretty) are fully concealed and atoned for, by the screens of all kinds of beautiful verdure, often very dusty, it must be owned, immediately on the much-travelled road at the hottest and driest time of the year; but still growing with perfect luxuriance, and wanting only a good thundershower to set all to rights. No one can help having a garden there, and some of them are beautiful. The large trees of the country are however quite at variance with this remark; they are, I believe, all of the gum tree description, and as ugly as it is possible for trees to be; the stems, at that time of year, being perfectly bare, every morsel of bark being shed from them, and from the branches, although they are hung about with ghostlike looking leaves that give no shade. This great peculiarity in all the species which Mr. Denison made us remark, is caused by the leaves, not at best very plentiful, being hung on perpendicularly, each leaf hanging down from its spray, not shooting forwards or upwards, as well-behaved leaves should. However, I believe that the trees about the town which are mostly young, do not give anything like a fair specimen of their proper appearance and beauty; up the country, along some of the few streams, there is to be found very beautiful bush scenery. Of course, nothing about Sydney or so near as Parramatta can deserve this name. But the country about there is very well wooded, and looks at first sight very English, all covered with villas and gardens. Although there are a great many inhabitants, it looks more like a quiet English village, page 348as there are gardens about nearly all the houses. We found our friend Mrs. Gore in quite a small cottage, which was almost more than filled by herself and two daughters, one a very young widow in deep mourning, with a little girl of two; and the other, Mrs. Singleton, with her husband, a very Irish man, and one little boy, was only there on a visit from Adelaide, where he holds some Government appointment; one of the few reasons, I should think, that could induce anyone to settle there, near so many pleasanter places. He, by the by, had known our N.Z. Governor in Chief, Sir George Grey, during his rule in South Australia, and related several things of his doings there that would have taken considerably from any good opinion that we might have entertained of him formerly, if there had been any left to go. We spent altogether a very pleasant day, talking over old friends, and going about in an inside Irish car, to see the lions of the place. The Governor has a country house there, which we went to see; it has a beautiful view from the front, but is small, and not at all imposing in appearance. He likes it very much, I believe, and gets out there whenever he can; indulging a little in farming, and so on. Mrs. Gore's son is the parish priest at Parramatta, and married to the sister of a lady that we knew in N.Z., and their mother, a nice old lady of whom I had heard a great deal, lives with them. We went to pay them a visit in a very irregular, but not an ugly, house, with a very pretty drawing-room, and an organ in one corner. John went off to see the school, and in the evening, after early dinner, we went another drive to Colonel McArthur's very pretty garden. Like all other Australian gardens that I saw, it was wanting in neatness, and attention to individual plants, but I never saw anything more beautiful than one nook in it, divided from other nooks, and the garden at large, by really large trees, which do not interfere there, but cast a very salutary shade; and the mixture of flat beds of what would be treasures at home, and larger shrubs round and above them; creepers of magnificent size crawling far up the large trees that edged it, growing near the banks of the water, made such a picture and bank of verdure as I hardly hope ever to see again. There ought to be very pretty walks page 349down by this water, which is, I regret to say, an uninteresting stream enough, something between a ditch and a canal; but our further researches in that direction were put a stop to by a regiment of our old enemies, the mosquitoes, who attacked us violently, and all the children who had joined us; bit us through gloves and veils, and last drove us off with loss, not I hope of our tempers, but we were glad enough to get away. The inside car as natural-looking enough, and is a particularly suitable carriage where you are so little exposed to being caught in the rain. Mrs. Gore told us she used this very car—driving, though, four-in-hand—to go up across country to her son's station, where she lived for two years. Then she reduced her team to a pair, and is now glad to find a steady man who will take charge of, and drive, even one. Like everyone else, she has had much trouble and discomfort from bad servants. Her own cow was being milked, when we got back, in the little green at the side of her cottage, and we soon had some most refreshing tea; and then started on our drive back, which was much pleasanter than going in the morning; no sun, nor dust, but a bright moon, and both the children asleep, so that they were quite happy.

I had another evening drive, one night that week, in Mrs. McArthur's little open pony-carriage, to Wooloomooloo (the Fulham of Sydney), where a good many people live in very good houses. We were going to Sir Charles Nicholson's, which is one of the best, to an evening party. My husband had gone to dinner, to which only gentlemen were invited, but there were afterwards more than a hundred people, I should think, and some music and singing, and a little dancing. There is a handsome hall and staircase to the house, all done with the dark cedar of the country, which looks nearly as well as oak; and a very fine library, too, very lofty, and so cool, and yet with a fire, and a large screen, it could, in winter, be made to look as snug as the English heart could wish. There was a sit-down supper in the dining-room, before we came away, which was not very late. Sir Charles had only returned a few days before, from. Melbourne, and he gave us a wonderful account of the way things were going on there. He said that he did not feel page 350quite sure what to give the "boots" at the hotel that he stayed at, and on asking some questions it appeared that that officer was receiving £1,600 a year! Melbourne is much more bouleversé than Sydney from the effect of gold; both from the diggings being very much richer, and more extensive, and from there being a much less settled and established population there, before it was discovered. Sir Charles N. was, like all our Sydney friends, as kind and good-natured as it was possible to be. We were told that he had got up this party chiefly on our account, and a day or two afterwards he came in his own carriage to take us for a drive to see Botany Bay, which we were anxious to do, of course, though you may perhaps know that no convicts, or free people, ever effected a settlement there. Only the first ships went in there, and began to unload and build huts; but in, I think, a fortnight or so, some of the party in walking over the hills, came upon the harbour of what is now Port Jackson, or Sydney; and the situation was immediately recognized as being so far superior that every thing was forthwith moved over there. There is, indeed, nothing very interesting about Botany (the place, I mean, not the science), but it makes a very good day's pleasuring to drive out there, when it is altogether a voluntary movement; and it is for this purpose in great request amongst the "Sunday people" of Sydney, and other holiday seekers. We were again fortunate in our day, for it was by no means extremely hot; we should have felt it very much, if it had been, for the road there is, after leaving the suburbs of the town, almost entirely amongst low sandhills, in some places so soft that the wheels sink in many inches deep, and send showers of sand round by the centrifugal principle in a way that greatly delighted Arthur, but must be rather trying to encounter in a strong wind. There are several houses, in all, at Botany, but the principal one is a pretty-looking hotel with a verandah and terrace, and grassy slope and then a good flat piece of turf, which I have come to consider a very beautiful prospect. Beyond that there is an extremely pretty garden, stretching quite down to the edge of the sea, more carefully kept than almost any other that we were in, and in a pond with black swans, and some young kangaroos; page 351beyond the garden there is an attempt at a menagerie, with a fine tiger, two or three bears, a very young elephant, and some emus, which everyone pays a shilling for looking at, and thus greatly assist the funds of the establishment, at all events. The most amusing part of the exhibition was a little enclosure containing a little wallaby, who laid quite still, two young emus, and a monkey, with a pole and a tolerably long chain. We kept throwing bits of bread in, which the emus were very anxious to eat, but we threw them within the monkey's range, and very seldom did they manage to secure one. If they did, they were sure of a pinch or scratch as they went off, and their way of running was most laughable. There is a small aviary under part of the verandah, where they have a number of beautiful parrots. Their plumage is perfectly dazzling, and some few are also perfectly graceful in shape; the little budgerigars always first and foremost, they are the most lovely little creatures I ever saw, both in colour and shape. The Australian parrots are very handsome, but alas! they cannot be caught or obtained, even in Sydney, without paying a good price for them. About one pound each is the usual price, but if they are at all accomplished, or of a rare kind, they are much more than that. I would, however, have invested a small portion of my available capital in that way, if I had had any idea that they could be so easily carried as the event has proved. I had always understood that the passage round Cape Horn was almost certain death to them, and that they would be nearly as troublesome, altogether, as an extra child. Our evening at Botany concluded with drinking tea (a truly colonial and praiseworthy custom) in the saloon, a very large room intended for grand occasions in the hotel; and the drive back was cool, and very pleasant, after we got through a little bit of scrubby bush, where the mosquitoes abounded so much as to attack us in the carriage in passing. I suspect we were close upon what they call the "Botany Swamps", where the supply of water for the town comes from, which is by no means superabundant.

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