Guide to the Papers of Bunbury Family

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MS 8098

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Bunbury Family
Title
Papers of Bunbury Family
Date Range
1824-1872
Collection Number
MS 8098
Extent
0.42 metres (3 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The Bunbury Family Papers contain 215 letters written by Hanmer Bunbury to his wife Sarah, Hanmer and Sarah Bunbury to their parents and letters received by Hanmer and Sarah Bunbury. The letters described Hanmer and Sarah Bunbury's voyage to and life in Australia.

The collection also includes a few miscellaneous documents belonging to the Bunbury Family.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1574404).

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Bunbury Family, National Library of Australia, MS 8098, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Provenance

The papers of the Bunbury Family were acquired by Mr Graeme Powell, AJCP Officer, London in 1986.

This collection is also available on microfilm (M 1909 - 11).

Biographical Note

Captain Richard Hanmer Bunbury (1813-1857), youngest son of Lt. General Sir Henry Bunbury (1778-1860, 7th Baronet, author of works on military history. Served in Royal Navy. In 1838 married Sarah Susanna Sconce, son of Robert Sconce, Chief Commissary of Navy at Malta. Bunbury and his wife, together with Robert K. Sconce ( later Anglican minister at St. Andrews, Sydney) and his wife, emigrated to Port Phillip on the Argyle, arriving in March 1841. Bunbury was appointed a magistrate in 1841, Superintendent of Water Police at Williamstown in 1842 and Harbour Master at Williamstown in 1844. He returned to England in 1857.

Item Descriptions

Letters of R. Hanmer Bunbury to his wife Sarah, 1840-1857 (41 letters) (File 1-2) - Box 1

Most of the letters were written when either Bunbury or his wife were visiting Sydney. They refer to preparations for their departure from England, family matters, friends, travels in Victoria, Government House at Parramatta, meetings with Sir Charles Fitzroy, the Wynyard family and Bishop W.G. Broughton, church affairs, C. J La Trobe, growth of Williamstown, Victorian gold discoveries, gold discoveries, gold sales, robberies in Melbourne, journeys to goldfields, visit of Sarah Bunbury to England in 1852, shipping, increase in population and social problems, sale of properties, railway construction, recall of C. J La Trobe, preachers, and the departure of the Bunbury's from Australia in 1857.

Letters of R. Hanmer Bunbury to his father Sir Henry Bunbury, 1840-1850 (52 letters) (File 3-5) - Box 1

The letters deal with the voyage to Australia in 1841, impressions of Melbourne, C. J La Trobe, purchases of land and stock, family news, explorations in Victoria conflict with Aborigines, financial matters, flora and fauna, property at Mt. William, Sir George Gipps, farming, appointment as Superintendent of Water Police at Williamstown in 1842, B. Boyd, servants, crime, sale of Shipping at Pt Phillip, prices, bushrangers, closure of banks, Bishop W.G. Broughton, kangaroos, appointment as Harbour Master in 1844, land regulations, proposed separation of Pr. Phillip from N.S.W., explorations in Grampians, horse races, balls, plans of returning to England, gold discoveries, Rev. R. Sconce, migration of labourers from Van Diemen's Land, Bishop C. Perry, 1851 Great exhibition.

Letters of R. Hanmar Bunbury to his step-mother , Lady Bunbury, 1840-1844 (5 letters) (File 6) - Box 2

The letters describe the voyage to Australia, first impressions of Melbourne, bushrangers, C. H La Trobe, economic conditions, and family news.

Letters of R. Hanmer Bunbury to his father-in-law, R. C Sconce, 1839-1840 (7 letters) (File 7) - Box 2

The letters refer to the voyage to Australia, impressions of Melbourne, and business matters.

Letters of R. Hammer Bunbury to George Repton, 1842-1843 (3 letters) (File 8) - Box 2

The letters refer to business matters and to his appointment as Superintendent of Water Police at Williamstown.

Letters of Sarah Bunbury to her father R. C Sconce, 1840- 1846 (54 letters) (File 9-11) - Box 2

The letters deal with the voyage to Australia, C. J La Trobe, family news, Rev. R. Sconce, Bishop W. G Broughton, prices, economic conditions in Melbourne, farming, bushrangers, landscape, sharks, flora and fauna, shipping, Bunbury's appointment as Superintendent of Water Police, Georgina McCrae, Sir George and Lady Gipps, plan of house at Williamstown, Oxford Movement, Visit of HMS Beagle and Fly, conflict with Aborigines, social events, dismissal of Judge J. Willis in 1843, visits of Lady Franklin, thoughts of returning to England, shipwrecks, travels in Victoria, servants, land regulations, and her visit to Sydney in 1846.

Letters of Sarah Bunbury to her mother and to Sir Henry and Lady Bunbury, 1841-1850 (8 letters) (File 12) - Box 3

The letters refer to family news, properties, prices and wages, Rev. T Sconce, visit to Sydney, and separation of Victoria from NSW

Letters of Hanmer and Sarah Bunbury, 1840-1843 (18 letters) (File 13) - Box 3

Written in Malta, the letters contain occasional references to the activities of the Bunbury's in Australia.

Letters of Rev. R. K Sconce to R. Hanmer Bunbury, 1844-1846 (4 letters) (File 14) - Box 3

Written in Sydney, the letters deal mainly with business matters and also the erection of a parsonage and the education question.

Miscellaneous letters to R. Harmer Bunbury, 1824- 1856 (7 letters) (File 15) - Box 3

Letters of Sir Henry Bunbury, H. E Bunbury, C. Fox, J. Henderson, E. H Bunbury and Sir William Denison referring to the deaths of Bunbury's mother in 1824 and R. Sconce in 1846, naval matters, a legacy, plants, and Bunbury's voyage to England in 1857.

Miscellaneous letters to Sarah Bunbury, 1843- 1870 (16 letters) (File 16) - Box 3

Letters of Georgina McCrae, Lady Bourchier, Mary Repton, Harriet Sconce, Sarah Clarke, Charles Bunbury and others. Mainly undated and dealing with family and personal matters.

Miscellaneous documents (File 17) - Box 3

The documents include the baptismal certificate of Robert F. A Bunbury (1841), will of R.H. Bunbury (1852), warrant placing R. H Bunbury a captain on the retired list (1856), will of Sarah Bunbury (1872), passports of Sarah Bunbury (1870, 1872), list of their children, and a poem by a steam boiler, addressed to the united flocks and herds of New South Wales


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