My dear Mother I received your kind letter and was glad to hear from Mary that you was better though sorry to hear that you would be obliged or talked of being an out patient at the brompton hospital but sincerely hope that you will soon regain your usual strength I hope dear Mother that you do not want for anything, the first rise that I get I think I must have you out here but I should like to get a permenant home or fixed way of living first the climate of Australia would I am sure agree with you though the society of home you would miss at first though we are growing more civilized every year Mary would do as well out here if not better than at home I do not think the little journey would improve her situation in life but of course when one comes all must come you know dear Mother while one has health you can never want in this colony meat & flour being as cheap as at home meat 4d lb flour 30s 200lb Tea 3d sugar 6d per lb so what we call being hard up out here is having to do without bread & meat & Tea & Sugar butter is a Luxury Cheese & Bacon also butter 2s per lb Cheese 1s 9d Bacon 1s & 6d per lb vegetables are dearer then at home you would buy 3d at home you would lay out 1s here the season are very precarious out here the dry weather at time destroys everythink farming they say does not pay out here but the real money making business is the breeding of sheep always sale for the tallow & wool ultimately this will be one of the richest countries in the world the vine and the Olive will flourish Cotton will grow in some parts Tobacco also the Gold fields will when things fall down to the level of at home in price or in fact they ought to fall lower,, will start with renewed vigour, in fact this country if properly managed ought literally to flow with milk & honey, it will do so some day I am sure, though it may take years to accomplish it, I only want one middling start of about 200£ or I would not say no to one but with the two I think I could soon rear a good home over my head and be able to welcome you all to Australia it does not take a very rich claim to do that if you are only lucky enough to find it, one of my neighbours has made 500£ this last 9 months had that have been my luck I would soon have had you out here but hope on,, the next letter I send will please God contain our portraits that is if no unforseen accident occurs I am still at the Sludge Drain my contract expires July 13th it is pattys birthday today she is 3 years old the children are all quite well and send their love and lots of kisses to their Grandma & Aunts dear Mother I want to ask you somethink about my little willie he is tolerably healthy and very active sharp & quick at learning but his stomach gets large at times medecine does not reduce it in fact he always had a large stomach the doctor here could not tell us the reason but you might have heard or seen some such case,, if you have please let us know I will write to Mary the next mail give my love and Matildas to Mary & Fanny and accept the same yourself dear Mother wishing you health and renewed strength & God bless you all I remain your affectionate son William Wallis.
PS We are well in health the lot of us thank God.

My dear Fanny I received your kind letter & 3 Illustrated Papers with the coloured Pictures but no little tale Book it has miscarried, but thank you kindly for the Newspapers & Pictures indeed it made my heart leap with joy on going to the Post Office two letters & 12 Newspapers a double Allowance from dear Mother, your news did indeed cheer my heart, right glad was I to hear such favourable accounts of dear Mothers health and both you & Mary will be blessed here and hereafter for your kindness and thoughtfulness towards her and your brother thanks you and blesses you as tis my place by rights, to guard & tend my Mother the time may come when it may Please God that I may be able to do so well dear Fanny I see by Mothers letter you hardly recognise your brother, tis the beard and Moustache that changes ones appearance the next one I send I will shave and then perhaps you will know me but I suppose I must be changed for I was only a boy when I left home, but I knew your dear face directly I saw it though one would have thought you would have changed more than me though changed in form I knew you by your smile still the same as in the days of merry childhood, you must send this letter to Mother as I have to write to Mary this mail as she has sent me out our new brothers portrait I like the look of him but shall expect your opinion in the next letter he is stouter then you old brother but then your country is not quite so hot as this he looks young how old is he, I hope them all the joy that this world can afford and may God bless them and prosper them in health and wealth and if thay place their trust in him most assuredly he will that must have been a fearful young scamp that tore your dress, I should thought that boys of that description would be sent to where there was masters it must have alarmed you greatly but I am happy he did you no harm. Beyond the tearing of the dress, you talk about a letter from Willie but I am afraid you will have to wait for her writes so badly though quick at learning his books I send Harry to school but neither gets on so fast as I should wish the schools are very roughly managed out here I am afraid . I shall have to take to give a little teaching of an evening I have no news to send for I see by the papers I have from home that tell you more than I can Matilda will write some of these times to someone of you but she is to busy this mail the cold weather is with you now, the hot with us a Merry Christmas & happy New Year to you all from us all, Matilda, & the children send their love to Mother & Mary not forgetting yourself they are all well I am thankful to say, I am also gald to hear such a good acount of your own health and sorry to hear of Mary suffering with boils but hope they are better ere this when I have any I poultice with Linseed of a night and use Holloways Ointment in the day time, and now with kind love to dear Mother & mary and dear little Fanny I remain your affectionate brother W Wallis PS I had almost forgot it is ten thousand kisses from the little ones. That I shall be able to do so I shall never forget it when my children gets a little older I shall not be tied so heavily down and I may then with the blessing of God go ahead the New Zealand diggins are very expensive for a poor man to start at,, but the Gold is not all taken out of Victoria yet we will have our time yet patience & perseverance as made your son a good hardy little man and will yet make his pile a big chap tried my sludge drain for one week & could not keep it and though little I can do it in ease at ½ the days work sometimes 3 hours the stalwart Puddlers look on the little sludge contractor with respect for we pride ourselves on being good men at work,, Puddling machines is the heaviest work in the colony requiring pretty stout men and willing to,, the shovelling in my Drain is very heavy but then I know at what part of Drain to do the work and the sludge does the rest and they seeing me do so easily imagined a big fellow would do it in less than no time twice the big men tried it and the sludge beat them and the Drain choked,, so they say I am the best little man they ever saw excuse me this Colonial blowing but if I did not tell you no one else would at least not just yet With kind love from Matilda and the little ones to you Mary and Fanny Love to you all from me I remain your affectionate & Young son William Wallis
May God Bless & prosper you all
Kind love to Aunt Betsy hope she is well
Love to all Uncles & Aunts
Cousins &c

My Dear Sisters I received the registered Box with dear Mothers watch and the Brooch for little Paty quite safe may the time come when I shall be able to repay you for your kindness in sending it out to me we shall value the precious relics highly. I thought when I gazed on the watch, had you a tongue to speak what you might be able to tell me about my dear Mother.how often has her dear face looked upon yours mayhap had you the sense of hearing you might have told me of the deep heartfelt sigh that arose as her thoughts wandered to Australia’s shores, but that dear old Brooch brought my mother more before mine eyes often have I seen her wear it as we wended our way to church sole ornament in our early troubles. many thanks to you dear Mary for sending the watch and brooch I hope your dear little girl is getting along nicely I am thankful to say we are all well everything is very dear owing to the dry weather but I hope it will please God to send us wet before long Flour is £3-8s per 2 hundred pounds 4d per lb by small quantities meat is 6d per lb such as it is being very poor owing to there being so little feed for the cattle Potatoes 12 shillings per hundred pounds Butter 1/6 per pound the gardens all dried up there will be little or no fruit this year in our district but it is not quite so bad else where I have no sludge Drain now nothing but the Pick and shovel as there is no work to be got in fact I am hardly fitted for the heaviest kind of labour in the colony even if I could get it but those that are able are not always sure to get it at least not for any length of time. I hear meat is very dear in England but I hope the cattle Plaguewill soon be stayed. Wilie will write next mail but we delayed to long this give my love and thanks to Aunt betsy for the papers. I am glad to hear dear Fanny you have such affectionate scholars may God Bless and prosper you and them and may God Bless and prosper yourself and husband dear Mary in this world and that one to come the mail was late this time and I am somewhat hurried so I must conclude with kind love from Matilda and all the little ones to you dear Mary and you dear fanny I was very much pleased to hear of your kind reception by your friends at Cookham dear dear Fanny give my love to all Uncles and Aunts I hope Uncle William is alright as you have said no more about his illness and now goodbye and God bless to you both my best respects to your dear husband dear Mary with fervent wishes for your welfare I remain your affectionate brother William Wallis, dear Fanny and Mary my love to you also the watch one of Maffysand Windhams Cornhill,, No 1931 Silver lever may you soon see it again for I or Willie will not be far off.

My Dear Aunt Fanny I received your kind letter with the card quite safe and sound for which we all thank you kindly with our love Dear little Fanny thought it was something to eat when I showed it to her she put it into her mouth little Fred was very pleased with his; and Patty sends her love to Dear Aunty and thinks her picture the prettiest of them all harry does not care much about his because they are all little girls Dear Aunty I like mine very well indeed Dear Aunty you wished to know how far I was in arithmatic I am in compound addition I am in Geography and Grammer and I am in the fourth class Now Dear Aunty I must say something about Henry he has been through the second book once and he his in seven lines of addition and he reads very nicely patty is in ba freddy is learning his ABC Mother has but little time to teach them they are not so forward has they ought to be Mother thanks you kindly for little fannys lace she is such a fat little girl and always laughing but she is not so fat as freddy is, we all send our love and a kiss to cousin Edith I must now conclude with harry and Pattys and Freddys and Fannys and Mothers and my kind love to Dear Aunt Mary and yourself and remain your affectionate Nephew William John Richard Wallace
McIvor

My dear Fanny
I received your kind letter this mail and was much pleased to hear you all were quite well as I thankful to say the whole of us are the same I think dear sister those inspectors of yours must be terrible fellows as you seem to dread their visits I do not think they are so particular out here but my little sister that was when I left home must not worrie herself about their visits, but do her duty to the best of her ability and leave the rest in the hands of her heavenly father none ever asked the God of Jacob for a blessing that did not receive it I never saw the seed of the righteous begging his bread you honour and glorify God by your action in this life by ______ in tribulation Moderation in the hour of success by love and charity in the Judgement of the carracter of those around us,, but as mans Judgement is so liable to Err and in our own strength we can do so little right,, hence the use of prayer by prayer we ask the supreme being to direct and guide us through this life and to give us strength to withstand temptation and energy to do our duty in whatever situation in life we find ourselves as the israelites could do nothing in their own strength neither can we in ours all glory to God and none to ourselves howsoever well we do and if adversitiy steps in be sure tis his the rol of a merciful father we have erred somewere tis time to examine well ourselves and see what in I have suffered in this life but I have known others more so,, amd I know I have deserved far worse but I know if you call on God at all for help however you may err at times he will not cast you quite away,, by action when rightly employed man Glorifys his Maker by prayer we ask to have that action directed aright,, taking no honour to ourselves but give all the thanks to him,, without whose help we can do nothing aright our God is loving kind and merciful witness his only son dying to teach us love and mercy and truth to each other who or how few among mortals would do the like some there are who arraign the the decrees of providence,, but poor short sighted man could he obtain every wish or I should have said many of his wishes they might lead to his destruction here and hereafter,, us in our neccessity give us what we need knowing our ignorance in asking,, is one of the prayers in our church service and I pray that both my dear sisters may so Glorify God by their actions thoughts and love Trust in his mercy never murmuring or repining always cheerful always endeavouring to say not my will but thine be done I know tis best,, you might not think so at the time or in the hour of affliction but to wait before you pass judgement on the Lords doing may I also be enabled constantly to do the same and then dear sisters,, if we meet not here we may hope to meet in that Bright Land of spirits whither our dear Mother has gone and know dear Fanny I hope this Junes examination has passed successfully for next to my dear sisters health I like to hear of her wealth and the inspectors good report would be a large item in the last and also benifit the first,, an now dear Fanny the way they do with the Nuggets our is to have set just as they are taken from the ground without any alterations at all on a ring or the centre of a brooch what constitutes their worthy of their being left in the state of nature Give my love all our loves to Mary and her little ones best wishes to her husband accept the same yourself from the whole boiling lot of us we are first rate health I am keeping the sludge Drain again just now I have not made the Pile yet love to Aunt Besty all Uncles Aunts an cousins a small parcel kisses Willie Henry Martha send little Frederick Fanny you are not suppose to ---- pack them,, Matildas love and best wishes to yourself and dear Mary may we be able to give you some real kisses some of these days good bye God bless you both sisters mine your affectionate brother

My Dear Aunt Fanny and Mary I received your nice letter and also the Book for which I thank you kindly you wish to know which boy I thought the best I think James was the best boy although like myself they both had very bad tempers but I will try like them to govern mine, there was a Concert at the Town hall for the Amataur Band we could not afford to go in but a friend of Fathers was at the door taking the tickets and he saw Harry and I and he passed Mother and Harry and I in patty went home I liked it very well I am not away from home now am working with father but we have not got any gold for a long time Dear Aunt Fanny will you please to enclose the little piece of paper to Aunt Betsy for Mother, Mine and my Brothers and sisters love to my Cousins and to Aunt Mary and except the same Dear Aunty from your affectionate Nephew William John Richard Wallace

Dear fanny will you pleas to send the little Note to my sister Betsy I am sorry to be so troublesome but I cannot think why she has not written nor you either Dear fanny when I wrote to my Sister I enclosed yours in hers has William did not write that Mail because he was not in very good spirits I must now conclude with my fond love to Mary and yourself from your affectionate Sister Matilda Wallace

My Dear Sister Mary the years roll by and age comes on, but it will be sweet if we meet beyond bye on the Golden Shore of heaven for I fear we shall meet no more in this world but if we meet on the banks of the Beautiful River the greeting will be all the sweeter after so many years absence from each other, I did not think when I left England that I should never see you again this side of the grave but it is a blessing that we can write to each other occasionally I hope you received my portrait safe, you will percieve by that the grey hairs are coming fast I hope my brother and my nieces are well yourself also for health is a great blessing,, I enjoy very good health though my life at times is rather more solitary than I should choose if I had the power to choose, I am thankful to say Matilda and the girls, Boys,, Grandchildren are all in first class health, I hope trade is prosperous with you,, the Girls get plenty of work,,but the pay is very cheap out here My two sons Harry and Fred are shearing they make very well at it Fred is a first class Shearer,, Willie has left the police force through his accident his pension is 89£ per year he has started Hotel keeping at a place called Tallangatta he is doing very well he has a good business wife he rents the house and tells me has laid away lately between 900 and 1000£ lately but now he is quite clear and hopes to see Europe in five years I wish his hope realized and then you will have the pleasure of seing my son youur nephew and one of the boldest Troopers of Victoria,, at least was at one time a young man universally liked a good son and kind brother. But my other Boys are good, a little of the Wallace temper in them is their only fault the Girls are two good Girls too My two nieces by their kind loving letters to their cousins are real Good also I am sure forgive this prattle about my children,, I think the Bush man is getting old I hear you may say but the welfare of our children is I am shure all in all both to yourself as well as ourselves I know I wish my two nieces a safe journey through life,, you will see by this though I have not made money in the Colony one of my children is in a fair way to do it Fred has a little money also but Harry with his three children the Girls and myself our account at the bank is very small,, but thank God for good health a good house to live in and plenty to eat,, and we may still hope for the pile Claim yet while Health hold Good and now good bye God Bless you all Love from Matilda and the whole of us to the whole of you I remain dear Mary your loving brother.