| Description | She is taking the opportunity to write since in a day's time there is ship which is due to depart for England. She writes of gladly arriving at Hobart on 6th January and of having liked the ship (The Fairlie ) very much, where there were 80 children on board and more than 40 cabin passengers. Disagreeable weather after the Cape with several gales meant they did not have much dancing, and that the clergyman, Mr Mayres, instead gave lectures on the Jews. A young lady passenger on the ship married soon after their arriving at Hobart to which all were invited, which was the first wedding Eleanor Isabella had seen. She had also attended a 'fancy fair' held for the benefit of the Infant school (word 'Orphan' crossed out). It is their shortest day of the year whilst in England it will be the longest day, and they have had snow for the first time since their arrival, but that it melted as soon as it fell. She therefore supposes that they will have not experienced quite so severe a winter as her Aunt, adding that there is generally snow upon Mount Wellington. She enquires about her health, hoping that she is recovered from her cold and that it was not the Influenza so prevalent in England. She would have liked to have been in England during the snow since she never remembers as having seen it very deep, and that Hobart winters consist generally of rain, but because they 'have verandahs to walk in it does not signify whether it rains or not , to us' . It is the month for sowing seeds and she and the Maconochies have each sown in their respective gardens. She likes the Machonochie girls; Mary Anne who is the eldest at 14 years, and Kitty who is 12 years: there are four unnamed boys. the eldest between 10 and 11 years, the second 9 years, the next nearly 6 years and the youngest 4, whom she considers 'a very nice little boy'. She likes Hobart very well, the streets being at right angles, sone of them very good. There are 'tigers, kangaroos, wallabies "a small species of kangaroo", duck billed platibuses, and wild cats 'not at all like tame cats', whales and shark; there are parrots ('difficult to rear'), "Cockatooes", penguins, hawks, robins (larger than those in England); she herself, owns a laughing jackass which 'when young can be taught to sing any tune'; geraniums grow wild and plentiful, particularly the scarlet variety, "heaths" of white and red, and other flowers she is unable to name; the most common trees are the wattle or mimosa, the peppermints and the gum trees; there are few shells near Hobart Town, but they are plentiful elsewhere, only knowing names of the Multon shell and the "Muscle". Sends love to her uncle and cousin Sellwoods. PS. Mama sends her love. |
| Sender Location | Government House [Hobart, Tasmania] |