Guide to the Papers of James Coutts Crawford (as filmed by the AJCP)

Account of Crawford with B.A. Cunningham and J.R. Wilkinson, 29 July 1840 (File)

Concerning purchase of cattle, valued at £138.00.

William Hardy (Melbourne) to Crawford, 23 February 1841 (File)

Purchase of 2500 wethers; predicts that Sydney will 'go to Hell' if Port Phillip is separated from New South Wales.

Sir James Dundas to James and Sophia Crawford, 9 April 1847 (File)

Death of Crawford's mother; estates of Crawford in New South Wales and New Zealand should be settled; death of Sir George Gipps.

J.C. Bidwill (Sydney) to Crawford, 9 October 1848 (File)

Urgent need to receive Crawford's report on mine; encloses plan on tracing paper; another report suggests existence of gold as well as silver.

J.C. Bidwill (off Cape Byron) to Crawford, 25 November 1848 (File)

Salary of Gother V. Mann; refers to John Darvall, Stuart Donaldson, W.M. Rothery, Macarthur, White and Thomas Icely.

Henry P. Hill (Wellington) to Crawford, 10 March 1849 (File)

Doubts if Hervey will take [Miramar] Peninsula; advises planting grapes on flat reclaimed from Burnham Water; tunnel has suffered no damage in recent earthquake; improvements to the race course; news of race meetings; marriages of Miss Swainson and Miss Fitzgerald.

William Hardy (Muttamar) to Crawford, 11 August 1849 (File)

Thanks for help with Eunananarina; has found a station in 'The Levels' country north of Gundagai; De Salis has a station in this country; entertainment at Yarraminga; acquisition of terriers.

Gother V. Mann (Molong Mining Company) to Crawford, 1 May 1850 (File)

Acknowledges receipt of £60.

List of the original shareholders in Fitzroy Mine (1p.) (File)

Receipt signed by John Poynter for £33.18.0 received from David Monro acting for Crawford for land in Waitotu Town, 1 June 1858 (File)

Capt. William Loring (Sydney) to Sir James Dundas, 8 September 1858 (File)

Has traced William Page; plans to see Crawford in Wellington; difficult and dangerous cruise; difficulties with Governor Sir William Denison.

Capt. William Loring (Wellington) to Sir James Dundas, 10 March 1859 (File)

Meeting with Crawford and his wife; describes Crawford's property and Wellington.

James W. Balfour (Wellington) to Crawford, 27 February 1868 (File)

A dry dock; sends a sketch of the Imperial Graving Dock at Sebastopol

Laidley Mort (Sydney) to Crawford, 12 August 1868 (File)

Dry docks.

George Aickin (Auckland) to Crawford, 5 October 1870 (File)

Floating dock designed by Aickin.

E. Thackeray (?) (Kaikoura) to Crawford, 21 April 1872 (File)

Eradication of rabbits.

B.W. Mountfort (Christchurch) to Crawford, 30 July 1872 (File)

Uses of concrete for building.

Crawford. Draft of a letter to the Wellington Independent on concrete (File)

Herbert Wardell (Featherston) to Crawford, 31 August 1872 (File)

Sending information on 'the Peninsula' and the fight with Te Rauparaha.

B.W. Mountfort (Christchurch) to Crawford: concrete for building, 26 September 1872 (File)

W. Montagu Rothery (Carcoa, NSW) to M. Fitzpatrick, 6 April 1873 (File)

Belubula and Fitzroy Mines and interest of Crawford and J. Bidwill.

Receipts for goods purchased by Crawford in Wellington (3), 1872 - 1875 (File)

Description of Richmond Hill Silver Mine, Parapara Stream, discovered by James Washbourne in 1875 (File)

Sydney Harbour, with the steeple of St James's Church (File)

Woolshed, Eton Vale, Darling Downs (File)

Forest Lodge, Glebe, Sydney (Crawford's home), 1844 (File)

Views of the Glebe (6), 1846 - 1849 (File)

Views of 'Glendavar', Burnham Water and Port Nicholson (5) (File)

Mr Bidwill's house, Wairarapa (File)

Church at Taranaki (File)

Wharekaka Station, Clifford and Weld's station, 1846 (File)

Views of Mt Egmont (2) (File)

Diary, 23 November 1837 - 2 December 1837 (File 1)

Diary kept on a voyage from Campbelltown, Scotland, to Londonderry, Ireland, and while travelling in Ireland, including references to Sligo and Boyle.

Diary, 16 December 1838 - 23 April 1839 (File 2)

Diary kept on an overlanding journey from Sydney to Adelaide with a herd of cattle, including cattle belonging to Captain Charles Sturt. The expedition, led by Crawford and his overseer Coutts, travelled to Berrima, Goulburn and Gundagai, and then followed the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and sometimes the tracks of Edward Eyre, who had made an overland journey several months earlier. There are references to visits to pastoral properties, books, an encounter with bushrangers, purchases of cattle, the landscape and geology, meetings and conflict with Indigenous Australians, continual searches for missing cattle, and the accidental death of one of the bullock drivers. At the end of the book is a listing of the expenses of the journey.

Autobiographical notes and diary, 1817 - 1845 (File 3)

The volume contains Crawford's reminiscences of his life, beginning with his birth in Scotland in 1817 and ending with an account of his voyage from Liverpool to Sydney on the Elizabeth (12 Dec. 1844-31 March 1845) and his impressions of Sydney after an absence of three years. The memoir covers his first visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1838-41 and includes a very detailed record of his return voyage to England (Dec. 1841-Sept. 1842), including lengthy stops at the Philippines, Singapore, Bombay and Cairo and his journey across Europe. It also refers to his return to Scotland and his marriage to Sophia Dundas.

Diary, 29 April 1845 - 20 October 1848 (File 4)

The diary continues on from the previous volume and describes his life in Sydney, news of warfare in New Zealand, a voyage to Newcastle and Moreton Bay (Nov. 1845), a visit to the Darling Downs and 'Eton Vale' and the departure of Crawford and his family to New Zealand (Jan. 1846). The New Zealand section refers to their arrival at the Bay of Islands, the destruction of Kororareka, visits to Auckland and Wellington, movements of troops and warships, fighting at the Hutt Valley, the building of a tunnel from Evans Bay to Burnham Water, meetings with Maoris and visits to their villages, travels in the North Island, visits to New Plymouth (Feb. 1847) and Nelson (March 1847), travels with Governor George Grey, Grey's interference in the military campaign, and the topography and geology of New Zealand...

Diary, 12 October 1857 - 26 October 1859 (File 5)

At the beginning of the volume are memoranda, copies of letters and extracts from newspapers, 1854-57. The diary describes the voyage of Crawford and his second wife from Portsmouth to Wellington (12 Oct. 1857-20 Jan. 1858), with stops at Malta, Alexandria, travels in Egypt, Aden, Ceylon and Melbourne, impressions of Wellington on his return, a visit to Burnham Water, land purchases, the commencement of work on a tunnel (March 1858), General Assembly elections, and visits to Lyttelton and Christchurch (Aug. 1858) and Dunedin (Sept. 1858). The 1859 entries are very brief.

Diary, 9 October 1861 - 31 December 1861 (File 6)

Written in very faint pencil, the diary records visits to Wairarapa and Rangiora and includes notes on the Wanganui River.

Diary, 8 January 1862 - 14 February 1862 (File 7)

Written in pencil, the diary covers a journey from Wanganui to Lake Taupo and back.

Notebook and diary, 1 March 1862 - 14 March 1862 (File 8)

Written in pencil, the diary contains notes on Manawatu, possibly for a geological report, and a few diary entries written in Wanganui.

Diary, 28 June 1862 - 22 December 1862 (File 9)

The diary records Crawford's work in his first six months as Government Geologist.

Diary, 26 December 1862 - 26 January 1863 (File 10)

Written in pencil, the diary records a journey from the Upper Hutt to Waikanae and the return journey following Beetham's Line.

Diary, 21 March 1864 - 16 May 1865 (File 11)

Written in pencil, the diary describes travels in Southland, including visits to Christchurch, Invercargill, the Bluff, Waipori and Lyttelton, and a voyage to Wellington and Napier.

Australia, 1838 - 1841 (File 1)

Recollections by Crawford of his first visit to Australia in 1838-1841, referring to the voyage to New South Wales, a detailed description of Sydney, a journey to Berrima and Braidwood, overland journeys to South Australia in 1837, the diary of his overland journey from Sydney to Adelaide in 1838-1839, his impressions of Adelaide and economic conditions in the colony in 1839, the naturalisation of German immigrants, an encampment at Mount Crawford, encounters with Indigenous Australians, and his visits to Melbourne and Adelaide in 1841. The manuscript was probably written when Crawford was writing his recollections, published in 1880, but only the account of the overland journey appeared in the book.

New Zealand, 1838 - 1841 (File 2)

The lengthy manuscript focuses on Crawford's first visit to New Zealand in 1839-41 and deals mainly with his observations of Maori society and the relations between Maoris and Europeans, particularly in the Wellington and Queen Charlotte Sound regions. It also refers to the topography and resources of these regions, early whaling settlements, the purchase of land by Colonel William Wakefield at Port Nicholson, relations between the first European settlers at Port Nicholson, Francis Molesworth and other early settlers, the literacy of the Maoris, and the town of Auckland. The last part of the manuscript is a detailed account of Crawford's journey back to England in 1841-42. This journey forms a chapter in his Recollections (1880), but his other early experiences in New Zealand are dealt with cursorily in the published work