Name/TitleJohn F. Mann letter to Mr Larnach, 1886
About this objectLetter dated 20th March, 1886 and signed by John F. Mann of Neutral Bay to Mr. Gordon G. Larnach, member of the Victorian Council of the Geographical Society of Australasia.
Mann's letter is in response to Mr Larnach's written request for information about the papers of Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (1792-1855). Mann had worked in the Surveyor-Generals Department under Thomas Mitchell from 1848, after arrival in Sydney in 1842 at the age of 22. Mitchell was also previously John Mann's father-in-law, as Mann had married Mitchell's daughter Camilla in 1857.
John Mann thanks Mr Larnach for sending him some historical papers, written by Larnach himself, about firstly John Batman and secondly about the English-born Australian landscape painter and artist, Conrad Martens, the latter whom Mann said he knew well.
Mann tells Mr Larnach that after making inquiries he has learned that Mitchell's maps were returned to England after his death. However Mann has copies of some of Mitchell's plans and sketches (lithographs) which he is sending to Larnach, including ones of old Newcastle and also of Western Victoria.
John Mann also goes on to describe two books he has been recently loaned of a historical nature. Firstly a large old book of Voyages to New South Wales which described the original settlement at Botany Bay. This book Mann praises highly and describes in detail. The second book was Cobletts Annual Register for the years 1802-1803, which he has found lacking of interest.
Letter includes pen drawings made by Mann of tall ships in Botany Bay Harbour and two people in a rowboat that Mann has copied from the first book of voyages that Mann has judged as so valuable.
The letter has been transcribed in full and is in the file.
MakerMann, John Frederick, 1819-1907
Maker RoleAuthor
Period1880-1890
Subject and Association KeywordsMann, John Frederick, 1819-1907
Subject and Association KeywordsMitchell, T.L. (Thomas Livingstone), Sir, 1792-1855
Subject and Association KeywordsBotany Bay (NSW)
Subject and Association KeywordsLetters (Correspondence)
Subject and Association KeywordsRoyal Geographical Society of Australasia (Victoria)
Subject and Association KeywordsSurveyors General Department
Subject and Association KeywordsHistorical societies
Subject and Association KeywordsDiaries and journals
Named CollectionManuscripts Collection
Object TypeDocument
Object numberMS 000609 (Box 061-5)
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved