Key Dates

 

Early 1879                  

George and Sarah Louisa Bracher return from Echuca to live in Footscray

March 1879                

George Henry Bracher moves to Geelong for work

Mid 1879                    

Sarah Fanny Bracher transfers from Dunolly to Epsom to teach

June 1879                   

Birth of Fanny Victoria in Footscray to George and Catherine (Kate) Bracher

 

The following two years in the Bracher family were undoubtedly their busiest: George Henry’s marriage to Kate Herara-Smith and their move to Geelong, Sarah Fanny’s career progression, and their parents new career as hotel keepers and farm managers in Echuca. They were separated by many miles, so the amount of correspondence between them increased dramatically. It is this period of their lives that provides us with the greatest insight into their personalities, especially the tensions of four strong temperaments living under the same roof.

 

Even before George had married Kate, his mother’s regret and lamentations had begun. This was a feature of her letters to her daughter for many years.

 

“ I am very much disappointed about his (ie George’s) decision and I really think I should not have left Sandhurst if he had insisted on marrying so soon. Our brightest hopes are doomed to be blighted. I have done what I could to prevent or postpone the affair without quarrelling and now I must leave all in the hands of a Wise Providence..I don’t wish to get into Kate’s black books or she might wean my dear boy from me entirely.”

 

Sarah Louisa began to show her disposition as a loving but indulgent mother, who may have been transferring disappointment about her own life onto her children. Mother and sister had a very strong attachment to their son and brother. The feeling that no one was good enough to partner him is obvious from time to time.

 

George Henry’s relationship with Kate is a curious one. It was possibly based on convenience rather than love. Even during their courting period George expressed doubt about Kate in letters to his sister. Her fluctuating temperament worried him, though he appears to have done little to understand the possible reasons for it.

 

“…It is uncertain now whether I shall go to Sandhurst now or not at Christmas, but I want to have a long chat to you about affairs generally. Perhaps K may not like all that I shall tell her tomorrow night, if not she can do the other thing. She nearly sickened (??) me last night with her melancholy (??) manner..sometimes takes a fit of melancholy that can make her out for hours and then after a good flow of tears she is as lively as ever again, but that sort of nonsense will not do me for I read of too many suicides which come of during a fit of melancholy so if she does not mind I shall waste no more time over her. That is the straight tip she will get tomorrow evening about this time. “

 

A year into their marriage, George was at least acknowledging Kate for her household skills.

 

“…..I have found her very useful in more ways than one. She is busy tonight crocheting a toilet cover so I have not got her bothering around me while I am writing. Mrs Berry and her are very thick. I think Mrs Berry and you will get your head into the noose about the same time. Mind you let us know when it is coming off. Kate has polished up the furniture and has the house so clean that I have not the cheek to spit on the floor”.

 

According to his mother’s letter of August 1878, there was friction over the wedding plans:

 

“…We have just come home from church and George from Kate’s. He is rather upset with her tonight because she would like him to spend 20 or 30 pounds on the wedding and he intends to do no such thing and says if she does not come to his terms he would sooner break it off and be free to see a little of the country. Miss Kate will sooner give in to anything that he proposes than lose such a good chance I fear. I am deeply grieved that he thinks of marrying so young. I told him how sorry Robert is about it and that he was not giving himself half a chance to make a fair start. George says “that’s alright but what good has Robert done by waiting till he is 30. Love so blinds these hobledy-hoys that there is no reason in them. I shall never have a proper understanding in the presence of another party as Kate may not turn an angel…”

 

The following month, after settling into Echuca, Sarah Louisa had lost none of her venom and, it would seem, was beginning to wallow in self pity.

 

“….I never left a place with more regret than I did the cottage at Footscray. I had just begun to feel at home and settled but when I saw how anxious George was for me to give this a trial, if only for a few months, I thought on the whole it was the best to do so at any cost of discomfort or grief to myself. I had a worrying time, so many things to unpack and repack..”

 

“…if you have not heard from Kate you will be surprised at the contents of her note about dear George. I am very anxious to hear again of his state. What unforseen trials await us he seems to have begun his troubles with his married life…

​

There is no outward sentiment expressed by George Henry for his wife in any of his letters over the years. This may simply reflect the more conservative emotional approach adopted by fathers and husbands of that era. However, even during his older age, when living in Footscray and visiting his children and grandchildren in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, no-one recalls any display of affection between the two of them. The comment that he treated his wife poorly in their old age is widely held among his grandchildren.

 

One thing clearly emerges from the letters. George Henry Bracher had a fairly self-centred personality and was also determined to make a success of his life. His extensive speculation in the 1880s, his wanderings, and then his departure from home to live in the West for six years, perhaps indicates that he often placed his own pride and fortune ahead of family relationships. Perhaps the desire to achieve economic security became his driving force, especially after 30 years of watching his parents wallow from one financial disaster to another. 

 

Despite their reluctance to leave Footscray, Sarah Louisa and George threw themselves into their new roles after arriving in Echuca during September 1878:

 

“ Everything is going on well with us with regards our position. I believe the Matthews Brothers are very well suited for the present. Pa went out with Mr Dan to the native farm which is their own property. They treat us with every confidence and kindness so I feel that we could not have been with

more suitable people.  ..your father is keeping very well and I think he likes the change. We have no arrangement yet about how he is to be paid, but I think he will be doing much better than he could in dear old Bendigo. We don’t lockup until after the Sandhurst train comes to give people time to come for bed, so that it is nearly quite 12 before I get to bed….This is a very great change and it seems so queer to be doing for others… You will wish to know what fatigues me, it is not hard work but long hours and looking after everybody and everything, paying and taking all the cash, and Mr M and everybody else coming to me on all occasions…”

 

“…Mr M. told me that every week for the past 12 months he had been losing over 2 pounds per week by this place and it is the same now I fear so we want a speedy change for the better. You will conclude that I do not look on this place as a home for that it will never be for me. We have several dropping in for meals but only 2 boarders in this large place….I think M likes your father, he treats us very nicely. He is at the farm till tomorrow. He is always driving friends out. He is going to take Fred out for a few days and Pa and me sometime….The Hesters were down this afternoon, they only live about a mile away…”

 

“…The business is improving. Boarders and casuals about 12 pounds last week. Pa has about 6 pounds to receive for cider which he will get out of what he sells. I shall be very glad for the holidays that you may be with us and then you can better understand our position here.” (November 1878)

 

The business seems to have developed well and their relationship with the owner, Daniel Matthews, appears to have been sound. However, for no stated reason, in just under 18 months, they had returned to live with their son and daughter-in-law in Footscray. In Footscray, George Senior resumed packing onions for the Darling region, making cider and, in May 1879, decided to become a small-scale pig farmer at their rented suburban property.

 

“…Pa is going heavy into the pig line. He has brought home ten young ones today and intends selling to a profit. I hope he will. The sow and the two pigs and the fat one take up a good deal of his time and he seems as contended as though he was driving his buggy. I am not.”

 

George Henry’s work at Eytons was also a bit spasmodic during 1878 and by October he had decided to leave them and to temporarily do saddlery work from home:

 

“…I have left Eytons last Friday week…..Since I left Eytons I have been working from home. I sold one saddle of my own to Hawkesworth the Saddlers Ironmonger in P.O. Place and he has given me a job to make a lot of strapping for him so far I have made about 1 shilling per hour out of his work. As long as that lasts it is not so bad and it is a nice change for me. I am afraid Eyton is gradually going to the dogs…I have written to a man in Stawell about a billet which if I should get it would be a good one. I think about 3 pounds per week…..I had a letter from Uncle J some time ago with 12 pounds in it and he gave me instructions how to proceed”.

 

The notion of spending any more time under the Footscray roof with his parents, coupled with the need to seek new work, sent George packing to Geelong three months after George and Sarah had returned from Echuca. Kate was left to endure the critical surveillance of her mother-in-law:

 

“ ..I shall have some serious talk to George before I consent to go to Geelong. He may be disappointed and suppose because it would suit him, it ought to suit me. Kate wishes she had even a 2 roomed cottage there instead of having to stay here and she is continually niggling over the merest nonsense and often quite in the wrong. She is very unlike most young mothers, for making the baby clothes seems to be quite a nuisance and bother. They are not intending to get a respectable bedstead or anything else at present. Such downright folly and meanness I detect. Taking care of money is quite right but under their circumstances their beggarly and over reaching practice completely astonishes me…...”

 

Kate had probably endured enough of Sarah Louisa, because by May 1879 she temporarily followed George to Geelong, with the sound of her mother in law echoing after her down the Geelong Road !

​

“…We have lived on our own resources since Kate was away, for she left I may say an empty larder and I knowing their expenses would nearly double did not like to run them in debt here or look so poor myself. I was almost hoping they would arrange the affair to come off in Geelong but it is not so and I must be in it however reluctantly. My mind is too often on the rack as to the future. I own it is foolish as life is so uncertain and I for one should take comfort in of thinking more of a better and more enduring home than I can ever possess here..”

 

George’s early times in Geelong were equally as uncertain as they had been at Eytons, but he survived on a number of short term engagements:

 

“George went down to Geelong last week to make an extra good saddle for Pryde. He would not have gone to the expense of such a tip and paying for his board but Pryde likes him so well and always behaves like a gentleman to him. George charged him 30 shillings for the making. Pryde was so well pleased that he gave George a cheque for 35 shillings and told him he could give him a fortnight’s work and hoped soon to take him on permanently.” (June 1879)

 

“ ..he says that he does not see any chance of settling in Geelong. He is now working by the week @ 2 pounds, 5 shillings and may be there for months or perhaps not many weeks. He said he was anxious to be doing something that Pa and he could work together for he could feel confidence in him. George told Pride that he did not work for such low pay but as things are quieter he would take it for 4 months certain, so whether he will be there for that time or not we don’t know. He says there is nothing there for us and he does not seem to have any idea of taking Kate over…..he has 400 pounds at a fixed deposit and says he intends to add the interest to it so there will be nothing for use, only the odd 70 pounds and his pay. He says he should have got Kate several things but she won’t hear of it for she is determined to save all she can and he thinks he might have done far worse than having her. He says she is far more anxious about the money matters than he is and being a tea-totaller she is very near perfection. Sometimes he does not forget to tell her she has much to learn and her common breed (??) “.

 

Employment was more steady for Sarah Fanny, although her relationship with Robert Disney Jones was strained by distance and the foibles of the Department of Education. In March 1878 Robert wrote to her that “ the uncertainty of affairs was one of the chief reasons for me being afraid of going into matrimony at Easter”.

 

In June of that year Sarah Fanny’s head teacher at Dunolly, David Hobbs, wrote to R. Clark, M.L.A. “ Dear Sir, I have the honour to inform you that the bearer, Ms S.F. Bracher who has been for over two years the first assistant in the above school is anxious to obtain an exchange or removal to a school in the Sandhurst District. I have much pleasure in testifying to her ability, energy and high moral character and feel assured that she will give satisfaction in any school to which she may be appointed….”

 

The strain of separation and a prolonged engagement were taking its toll by the end of the year, when Robert wrote to Sarah Fanny from Kyneton:

 

“…We have indeed had some deep sorrow since we have known one another, but our Heavenly Father has been very good to us and though we were not due to have everything as we wished, still there is too much to be thankful for.. I do sincerely hope that our long vigil is nearly ended now and that we will be able to bring our own very long engagement to an end. It is well for George that he was able to find out the state of Murrays affairs before getting entangled with him in business. It is also a source of satisfaction to him to get employment. It must be pleasant for Kate to have him away so soon after being married. How would you like your husband to go away six weeks after you were married for an indefinite period..”

​

Sarah Fanny sold her Kangaroo Flat cottage for a small amount in November 1878, presumably in preparation for joining Robert. She was teaching in Dunolly during 1879 and was in Huntly in 1880. Her steady Government salary meant that she was not short of money. In fact, during mid 1879 George asked Fanny for financial assistance to help support the ‘Old Folks’.  It wasn’t until mid 1879 that Fanny managed to obtain a transfer to Epsom. There is mention of a postal order being sent from Dunolly to Epsom on Sarah Fanny’s behalf, to pay for board and pew rent.

 

It was a time of great sadness for Sarah Louisa. Her sister, Letitia, had died in Perth, her brother, Shakespeare Hall, had been all but blown away in a fierce hurricane at Cossack in the far north-west of Western Australia, and her favourite brother, Henry Hastings Hall, died of cancer in Perth hospital during August. The one bright spot in her life that year was the birth of her first grand child, Fanny Victoria Bracher, in June 1879. She wrote enthusiastically to Sarah Fanny about the traumatic birth and the child’s development:

 

“ It is with great pleasure and thankfulness I am in a position to send you such good tidings for yesterday noon I scarcely expected less than Kate or the baby to die, it was a dreadful bad case as you will know when you hear all. It is a fine girl and at present very good and hearty….when Kate’s life was in danger I sent a gentle telegram to Matilda and she came and sat up with George all last night and kept the baby..” (June 29th, 1879)

 

Sarah Fanny replied….

 

“…I was very much surprised at the news and very sorry to think that poor Kate had such a dreadful time. What an anxious time you must have had. I am so thankful that you and papa were with her, I do not believe that she could have been saved if she had not had your kindness and love. Poor George, too, I suppose he thought the train did not go half fast enough in his anxiety to get home…” (July, 1879)

 

With George still working in Geelong, most of the work in assisting Kate with the new baby fell to her mother-in-law:

 

“Kate came into the parlour for the first time on Sunday and is wonderfully well considering all she suffered….(?) Spanish are far more hardy than English, but not so patient or perservering, this is my experience. …George’s experience is the same as my own, only I have a worse time and longer hours and more to do than he, so I can’t say at present that “it is nice to be a Grandma” tho I like the little pet very much…she puts me very much in mind of my own darlings when they were helpless babes. I think Kate’s and George’s eyes are opened a little as to the experience, work and trouble. They seemed to think that married life was all smooth and pleasant.  I can hardly write I feel so giddy for want of sleep. George left for Geelong on Monday 6.30am. Will be over again soon….I am up most of the night for baby unfortunately..(??) the great mistake of turning night into day and Kate cannot or will not try to keep her quiet and of course she is not strong yet so I do my very best for all and George is very pleased with me…” (June 1879)

 

“ I am sure you will be pleased with little Fanny. She is a real nice good little thing, just now talking in her way and choking herself with her fingers as she is lying in the cradle near the piano. She often looks like a wax doll of plump and sound proportions…she takes nearly a cup of food twice a day and very often refuses it from her mother although raging with hunger, so Grandma comes to the rescue. I wish I could like her mother half as well as I do the dear little babe.” (June, 1879)

 

However, George Henry was not so enamoured with the new addition, as he reported to his sister in July, and perhaps further highlighting his self-centredness:

 

“ It has been said and sung that “it’s nice to be a father”, but with my short experience in that capacity I hereby flatly deny the truth of such a statement. I don’t call it very nice for a fellow to have to sit up the first five nights in succession for  the sake of pacifying a squalling kid, but I’m told it is a remarkably good child, then I say bad is the best of them. Kate has decided to have it named Fanny Victoria and she wishes me to tell you that if you only had a slight conception of what might be in store for you, you would never dream of getting married. I have stayed at home all this week but I return to Geelong tomorrow, where I hope to have the pleasure of 2 or 3 weeks sound sleep, which I am very much in need of just now. Kate is going to get up for an hour or two today, she is wonderfully strong considering her case.”

 

In the midst of Kate’s trauma of a difficult birth and being a first-time mother, with her husband living in Geelong, and sharing a house with an interfering mother-in-law, an issue exploded in the Footscray household over a friendship she had made with a Mrs Greenfield. It provides further evidence of her husband’s erratic temperament:

 

“…George is still in Geelong, he is very much out of sorts with Kate for keeping up her friendship and love for Mrs Greenfield, whose society is really worth having, she being a truly Christian woman in every way – a true friend and warmly attached to Kate, who is in great trouble on account of George’s absurd demands. He wishes her to write to Mrs G and to say that she is to drop all acquaintance and correspondence for ever with her and this for no cause only to suit his whim and prove her love and obedience to him. Is it not absurd ?, I call it a sort of malice. I never thought dear George could be so stupid or unreasonable. His letters to her for the last fortnight have been very unkind to say the least…I am very sorry for him for although he does not say it I think he is sorry that her married quite so soon in life or perhaps into a family so beneath his own.  June 12th – George came home quite unexpectedly last night just to have it settled with Kate. He told her before us that if she still continued to keep up any sort of correspondence with her friend Mrs G. as soon as her little affair was over and she was alright, he would pay her off and she could spend the rest of her life with her friend. I have done all I could by writing and reasoning to alter his purpose, but to no avail.”

 

By the late 1870s the tension within the family was very noticeable. Sarah Louisa was not happy with life without a home of their own, Sarah Fanny longed to marry Robert, and George Henry was not only unable to gain secure work, but he also resented having to support a father who had squandered so much over the years:

 

“… I am already 40 pounds or over out of pocket by them through money lent to and paid away for them. Pa is such a good hand at borrowing and not returning and a good sprinkling of bungling that I am quite sick of him and of course he is as happy as a king and is quite satisfied as long as he can borrow a few shillings occasionally to go pig jobbing and losing by them..I would do anything for ma because she is willing and truly deserving of more than is in our power to do for her, but Pa is always standing in her way.” (August 1879)

 

George Senior appears to have been oblivious to his role in the difficulties of the family. He provided his brother-in-law, Shakespeare Hall, with a version of recent events in a letter of  July 1879:

 

“ …we have been very close pushed for a long time and at present time we are doing very little, in fact we are living by our wits. 12 months ago we came down here to live with George as he was apprenticed in Melbourne and at the time had a few more months to serve, but last September we had an offer from a gent at Echuca to go there and manage a restaurant, he living himself living on a farm 16 miles on the New South Wales side. The agreement was we were to be found in everything, Sarah was to have a pound a week and I was to have a commission or salary which was to be agreed upon after we got there, but we had to pay our own expenses up. A fortnight after he went away to Sydney and remained 5 weeks. So when he came back he made no offer of commission or salary. What I had to do was superintend the house and sell vegetables wholesale and retail which he grew and brought in from the farm twice a week. Well then he thought I could make more of them by talking them round in a trap 3 times a week, so then I struck and said I would not agree to anything of the sort until I knew how I was to be paid for my services. So I demanded 10 shillings per week for 5 weeks whilst he was away and 7.5 % of all future sales, so that was agreed upon. I paid myself out of the proceeds. I went once around with the trap, which as I told him beforehand would be a failure and so it was. My commission only averaged about 6 shillings per week, but I made it up another way. We had a large underground cellar which was not used for anything so I set to work and made a lot of Effervessing Cider from essence of apples, bottled it in pint bottles, which I bought at 2/- per gross, corked, tied, labelled and capsuled. Labelled it Bracher’s Superior Champagne Cider and it sold wholesale at 3/- per dozen. This I did on my own account. I used to make a Hogshead at a time, let it stand to ripen to 3 weeks, then bottle and lay the bottles on their side 3 weeks more. To get up in addition to what I sold wholesale, I used to sell it retail in the shops 3d per large glass, but I bottled the whole of it. I used to take from between 7/- and 15/- per week in this way. Altogether I sold in the season between 200 and 300 dozen. It paid very well. It stood me in a little under 1/3 per dozen for which I got 3/-. I did all the work myself. We were engaged for 6 months, but trade was so bad that we could not make the house pay expenses, so when our time was up he was owing Sarah 11 pounds and he wanted me to take something off, but I could not...for it cost us 7 pounds to get there and 4 pounds to come back again, so we waited 3 weeks without Sarah’s pay until he let the place, then there was about 4 pounds due which he tried to humbug me out of, so last of all I told him I would not go out of the house till I was paid and he handed me the amount in less than 10 minutes…so last March we came back to the house we left. When we went to Echuca we left all our furniture with George and he got married, so he got the house already furnished to bring his wife into. When we came back George’s wife was living in it and he had just gone to Geelong to work at his trade, where he still is for the present and his wife is with us….I am feeding and killing a few pigs for bacon. The other day I bought a lot of small ones to sell to my neighbours at a profit…In addition this we make Tomato Sauce and a few pickles, but the weather is cold at present for much sale”.

 

The following month the relationship between the parents and their son and daughter in law became vitriolic, as Sarah Louisa explained in a letter to her daughter:

 

“…I do not consider that (if I could) share the rent with George for surely the use of all they want and more for the 12 months in the way of furniture and cider is worth more than our house accommodation, for they both act always as tho there was no one in the house but themselves. They are both selfish and greedy in the extreme. Of course, in my heart I blame George the least, but he, like his worse half, is completely devoid of sympathy. I am sorry I have lived to see him married in the way he has. He has made a (??) mistake and I am grieved for him. She will never help him to get on for she is anything but industrious or clever and he knows it. George’s expenses cannot be anything alarming for we all know that we all lived for about 30 shillings per week rent included before we went to Echuca and since we came back we have every week spent several shillings for food. I would soon get something for myself but I don’t want to leave the furniture to them again. We still have enough for a cottage and they can and ought to buy for themselves. I should feel very different if George had chosen a girl I could love or admire…..They will find out the difference if I am away. George seems to cling to me for nearly everything now, of course does not make anybody jealous for she is only too glad to shirk her work he tells her often. George has just proposed that she should get up and have her breakfast at the same time with us instead of creeping out all of a heap at 9 or 10 o’clock, so we shall see if there is any improvement…This morning we called to see if we could get an answer respecting Frankston, but could not for two weeks as the house was not finished. We went on to Balaclava and spent the day with the Revd Mr and Mrs Sharm (??)…”

 

“…Our wedding day anniversary passed very quietly over. We intended visiting the Botanic Gardens as they are well worth seeing just now but George said we must postpone it till times are a little better. He went back yesterday to Geelong for a fortnight. Perhaps by the end of that time things may look up a little and then Mr Pride will keep him on. This state of things is very unsatisfactory, but it cannot be helped, Baby is growing nicely and is quite a pet with grandma and grandpa I’m afraid she stands a fair chance of being spoiled. They are both very fond of her. I hope you will be successful in your efforts to get to Sandhurst as you so much desire it.  What a pity you can’t get a remove without so much trouble. …I quite dread spending another summer in this house now that our family is larger, yet it is scarcely worthwhile to exchange this for another in Footscray..” (September, 1879)

 

“..Your kind note with the enclosure came this morning. I did not tell George or Kate for they might think I should spend it on the house and I can explain to you why I do not think that necessary just now, as all my time is taken up with extra work and the baby and what we cost them is really very little which I will also show you some future time I hope. Pa feels very discouraged for the bacon, though very good, is quite a (??) as the market is overstocked everywhere in Melbourne. Yesterday he took into an auction about  200 d ½ (??) and could only get an offer of 31/2 for fore quarters and 6 ½ for fine hams smoked and well cured. I don’t know what Melbourne is coming to and strange to say we can’t buy bacon under 10d or 1/- in the shops. Our family half live on the above and as pa bought a dozen fowls we have our own eggs..George has some thoughts about taking a trip to Adelaide if he does not get something worthwhile staying here for soon…. (September, 1879)

 

“ My very dear one, George wrote you on Sunday and doubtless told you of projected changes and separations. I am anxiously awaiting for an answer to an application for the management of a Temperance Hotel which I am to get about the end of the week…Kate is hoping to leave for Geelong in three weeks. I wish you would decide to have the piano for I think I could make something by it by letting a young lady give two or three lessons on it. I feel if possible a strong wish to keep a house of my own, for might guess I have had many a heart ache through George’s thoughtlessness and Kate’s want of breeding. A 3 roomed cottage appears to be the height of their ambition at 3/- or 4/- per week and George told me it would be best for us to look out for one in Melbourne at the same rate. I said rent is only so low as that in the nasty low right of ways and besides the bad neighbours, the filth and vermin is so dreadful. He said I would have to put up with Kate or bugs or anything else to suit circumstances. This was a private chat. He said he would send me 10/- per week to help us. Pa does not think he will do it long, we shall see.  George hopes I will help them all I can with bedding and furniture he said as Pa and I will want so little when we are alone. I told him if I did not get something better I saw no way but trying the old one and take a house in a respectable part and getting a few lodgers or borders and then I should not only want what I have but a little more. He has never given me the dress or slippers he promised or returned 2 pounds I lent him sometime back and very likely never will for he has so many expenses with life assurance, machine, travelling and his interest is to be adding to the 400 pounds as deposit so that poor fellow he is a voluntary (??) for struggling on with very little. Kate enjoys all his shifts for she knows the less he spends the more she will have..she said as much to me the other day….I cannot hear the idea of Kate  (???) and wasting her time as she intends and letting her make a plaything of the dear piano that you and our dear Louie had so much pleasure with. …I don’t think George wishes to be encumbered with the piano but Kate’s pride would like it no doubt…” (October, 1879)

 

“…we often think our case hard, but I know of so many so much worse off in every way that I feel ashamed of my murmuring sometimes…Pa is very mopish poor fellow for he sees no chance of anything to do at present and Kate will likely be leaving for Geelong soon. I am rather in hope that she may not go for a few weeks for certain reasons. George wrote yesterday and sent her 2 pounds – he is very good to her. Baby is getting quite fat and sometimes screams to come to me from her mother. I am glad she is so good night and day…” (October, 1879)

 

“…She (ie Kate) is very anxious to get to Geelong, I fancy more so than her better half, who by the way hopes that you will never marry for he thinks you can be more happy and comfortable as you are. I said that was strange advice for him to give, for I should have expected him to say there was no state like the matrimonial as he had been in such haste to get into it. He quietly said that Kate to him was a necessary evil – a nice compliment ….” (November 1879)