Scrapbook of Cockburn-Hood, ca 1845-1885

MLMSS 9843/Box 1X

item

1845-1885

1001287

1 box - 23.5 x 14.4 cm - manuscript

The letter included from Wallace, the British naturalist, was written in response to Cockburn-Hood’s comments about Island Life, Wallace’s seminal work on natural selection. The book surveys the biogeography of islands around the world including Australia and New Zealand. Island Life was reissued in 2013 and is considered “one of the great works of 19th century scientific literature, in which [Wallace] explores his ideas on selection and evolution, and how these might have occurred from an environment-driven perspective" . Wallace’s book is also discussed in the letter from Sir John William Dawson, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Royal Society of Canada.

The letters from Sir William Denison, Sir Alfred Stephen, and Henry Stafford Northcote are a record of the relationships Cockburn-Hood maintained while in New South Wales and after he returned to Scotland. They show how involved Cockburn-Hood was with the politics of the growing colony.

The letters written by Jemima and Susan Nobbs document Cockburn-Hood's ongoing relationship with the family of George Hunn Nobbs, the Pastor of Pitcairn. Cockburn-Hood encountered the Nobbs family on Norfolk Island while on a journey he documented in Notes of a cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific which departed from Sydney in 1862.

The scrapbook includes letters written to Cockburn-Hood from notable scientists including Alfred Russel Wallace, Richard Owen and Sir William Boyd Dawkins. It includes a letter from Wallace, the British naturalist, one of the pioneers of natural selection. Wallace’s book "Island Life" is also discussed in the letter from Sir John William Dawson, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Royal Society of Canada.

There are also letters from prominent colonists Sir William Denison, Governor of New South Wales (1855-1861) Sir Alfred Stephen, Chief Justice of New South Wales (1844 – 1873), and Henry Stafford Northcote, governor general of Australia (1904-1908).

There are letters written by Jemima and Susan Nobbs.

In addition to his correspondence the collection also includes a number of news clippings from Australian periodicals and newspapers. These clippings relate both to Cockburn-Hood’s scientific interest and also topical subjects.

Copyright status:: In copyright - this collection has multiple copyright owners
Research & study copies allowed: Author has been deceased for more than 50 years.
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Hand-written print on cover reads "autographs of friends and correspondents. newspaper clippings. Scraps".