Discovered in America, a 150-year-old letter from Yass is a once-in-a-lifetime find for local historian Alf Cantrell, bringing with it a moment in time previously lost to Australian history.
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The letter brings back the hope felt by Banjo Paterson’s father and uncles as they began their pastoral business in Australia, only to be beset by drought and tragedy. Now it will be analysed by experts at the Mitchell Library to see what else it might reveal.
The greatest mystery is how it ended up in America before it was sold to an avid NSW stamp collector who realised its value and phoned the museum.
Posted from Yass in 1854 (ten years before Banjo Paterson was born), Paterson’s father Andrew and uncle James wrote to withdraw money to buy and stock two more properties: “Buckinbah” at Yeoval and “Stainbourne Downs” near Longreach.
The extraordinary 86-day journey of the letter itself can be traced back to the hour of arrival.
“It was fate... I doubt if such a thing could happen... I could not believe such a treasure of Australian history would still be alive in the world.”
He said it was sad knowing that drought would take hold. Andrew tried to bring the sheep back south, but they drowned in floodwater. In the days after selling all three properties, Paterson’s father Andrew continued to manage Illalong but died in 1889, of an overdose of arsenic, the cure-all of the day.
“The letter is the most significant exhibit we hold,” Mr Cantrell said. “It starts telling the story of Banjo before his father and mother were even married.”
