In this letter, Fr Julian expresses his appreciation for the enjoyable time he had spent with the Archer family the month before. He is now in Sydney en route to Bathurst.
Fr Julian describes the ship, the Wotonga, in which he journeyed from Melbourne to Sydney as “one of the very best boats you can travel in”. Maybe this was because it was relatively new, only built in 1876. The Wotonga was owned by the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company in Sydney but was wrecked on rocks off Port Macquarie on 2 January 1882. A very descriptive newspaper article about the wreck can be found in the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser on Tuesday, 10 January 1882, page 3: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/846157/38505
In this letter Fr Julian speaks candidly about church personnel in Sydney – his scientific interests hardly rate a mention. It sounds as if he has been busy about more social pursuits.
View Letter 18 written from Sydney on 13 February 1877: