Letterbook, October 1846-August 1849

Component identifier:

File 4

Content Summary:

Unlike the other letterbooks, this volume contains reflections, notes, diary entries and records of conversations, as well as copies of some of Denison's despatches and letters. The early entries were written in London and on the voyage to Van Diemen's Land. They include occasional diary entries (Nov. 1846-Jan. 1847), a summary of the report of the House of Commons Committee on Transportation (1837), thoughts on a Legislative Council for Van Diemen's Land, an abstract of Kay's account of the public education system in Switzerland, notes on land policy and education in Van Diemen's Land and an analysis of a return on the amounts of land in the colony under cultivation.

The later part of the volume mainly contains copies of despatches to Lord Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and official and personal letters. There are also occasional notes, such as a record of a conversation with the Attorney-General on the crisis in the Legislative Council (18 Jan. 1848). The subject matter of the correspondence includes the conduct of the previous governor, Sir John Eardley Wilmot, and the chief justice, Sir John Pedder, the appointment of a third judge, coalfields in the colony. Poverty and destitution in Hobart, religious education, Crown leases, the charting of Hobart's harbour, the relations between the Anglican and Catholic churches, and Denison's relations with the Legislative Council.

The recipients include Lord Grey, Sir James Stephen (Colonial Office), Herman Merivale (Colonial Office), Sir John Pedder, W.R. Allison, Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, Sir Henry De la Beche, Bishop R. Willson, Bishop F. Nixon, Thomas Arnold and Sir George Grey (Auckland).

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M606

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