Major James Boosé became Secretary of the RCI in 1909 and was associated with the development of the branches during 1909-10. He made three overseas tours, and after his retirement in 1915 owing to ill health, two more as travelling Commissioner before his final retirement in 1922.

Duplicate of ARCS 17/1/6.

Two copies of a letter written from Port Phillip, 2 May 1836, discussing the foundation of the settlement at Melbourne in 1803 and its bright prospects. The collection comprises a manuscript copy (7 pages), which may be contemporary, and an undated typescript duplicate (4 pages). There are two accompanying pieces of correspondence, 1945-1946, regarding the gift of the manuscript copy to the R.C.S.

A letter from Thomas Hocken, Dunedin, to Stanley Edwards regarding a Maori name for the town of Gore. The location appeared to have no prior place-name, and Hocken suggests several Maori words suitable for this purpose.

Photographs of two letters concerning land claims, written from Mount Isabel to the Revd John Hobbs, Methodist Missionary, 14 and 20 December 1842 (8 pages), the originals of which are kept at Trinity Methodist College, Grafton Road, Auckland, New Zealand. The letters are accompanied by the pamphlet 'Some letters of Baron de Thierry' and correspondence regarding the collection between the R.C.S. and the Wesley Historical Society and the Revd L.R.M. Gilmore, 1949-1952.

Three manuscript letters to George Frederick Young, M.P., regarding political issues, with typescript copies. There is also a printed paper on the Society for the Reform of Colonial Government.

Three undated copies of letters written to settlers who had gone with the early expedition to Wellington and Nelson: James Kelham, 13 November 1842 and 22 March 1846; Henry St Hall, 13 November 1842; and Captain Arthur Wakefield, 13 November 1842.

Letters from Rowland Childers to H.C.E. Childers from Australia, 1878-80, 1884-6, including draft and copy replies (5, 6, 13, 14, 24); letter from Rowland to J.H. Were, 1880 (19); map of the Yanko station, Jerilderie, N.S.W., 1880 (21); ? Macartney, son of the Dean of Melbourne to Rowland Childers, 1886 (26).

A volume entitled 'Australian emigrants letters 1834-5' containing six inserted letters, probably all sent to Alexander Macleay.

Letters to Childers from his cousin Emily Hammond from Australia, 1879-81, 1884-6, with draft replies (93, 98); enclosed are letters to Emily Hammond from J.H. Were, 1879 (70) Rowland Childers, 1879-81, 1884-6 (75, 78, 86, 90, 97, 104), Sir William Stavell, 1879 (76), A. Fisher [?], 1884 (82).

[View from the sea].

[View from the sea].

[Jetty].

View of the town and harbour from above.

202 x 135 mm. A view looking along the waterfront at Levuka, from the other end of the town to the preceding plate, showing the narrow built up area along the water’s edge and ships and boats in the harbour.

193 x 141 mm. A view showing the Bank of New Zealand building in Levuka, a small one storey wooden building with a verandah. In front of the building stand three Fijians and four uniformed Europeans, presumably naval officers. Levuka was the site of the first white settlement in Fiji, a trading post which grew up after 1801 when the first Europeans arrived seeking sandalwood, but which was later abandoned in favour of Suva.

External view of the front.

223 x 176 mm. A view from a hill behind Levuka looking along the waterfront and showing shops and warehouses, and the town in the foreground. The capital was moved to Suva in 1882, and Levuka as a commercial centre lost most of its attraction. After a hurricane in 1886, many of the destroyed buildings were not replaced, and a comparison of photographs taken in 1880 and 1906 shows the town actually contracting in size.

[No print]. [Missing].

200 x 154 mm. A view from Swanston Street showing the front façade of the building. The library, opened in 1856 with a classical pillared exterior, also houses the Art Gallery and Museum.

210 x 152 mm. A view of a corner of the library, with bookshelves lining the far wall and various trophies and cups on a centre table. The Library pictured here is not the more magnificent Fisher Library, which was not opened until 1910.

A view showing Lieutenant P.V. Landsdale (in white uniform) posing for the camera with a gatling gun crew from an English ship. Landsdale was probably killed during the same action as Angel Freeman of H.M.S. ‘Tauranga’, when an Anglo-American expeditionary force was ambushed on 1st April 1899 (not 1898 as the caption states) outside Apia and seven officers were killed. Print number 32.

35 mm colour transparencies. When planning the exhibition 'Commonwealth in Focus,' the Library requested material from Commonwealth Governments and these slides, with the photographs listed at Y308E, were sent in response. A continuous slide show was prepared to portray contemporary aspects of the countries of the Commonwealth and twelve of these slides were copied for inclusion (Numbers 113-124 of list at Y3011GGG).