Reporting on his activities at the observatory in Sydney, mentioning that much of his time had been employed 'in matters quite foreign to astronomy', and that while he had estimated the track of the comet, he had yet to see it. Dawes also reports that he intended to stay in New South Wales for a further three years, on the basis that he could not leave until a suitable person was sent out to take over: 'I think it would be a great pity to lose an established observatory in this Hemisphere' [RGO 14/48: 287v].