History Notes - more on Henry Williams

History Notes
Henry Williams returned to Australia from New Zealand on a small sailing ship- he did not enjoy the trip and was glad to reach Sydney but before we continue with the final section of his life there is more of his English life to be told.
As Henry began his first diary in 1844, it seems that is when he began medical training. He spent quite a bit of time in London visiting friends and also doing some medical jobs under supervision. This section is hard to follow with lots of different names and we have no idea whether they were relatives or friends.
It seems that Henry's medical training may have begun about 1841 when Mr. Alnutt presented him with a bible. This bible came to Australia with him and in later years he added details of his family birth dates.
In June 1845 he caught the steamer to Yarmouth. Here he appears to do chemistry work between walking around the district for the first few months. Gradually he took on more doctor's work which may have been his training.
As the diary progressed through months of medical operations - limbs such as arms or legs amputated, prescriptions made up and vaccinations given. Then on 2nd May Henry attended the bridge collapse which helped date the year of the diary.
There are a couple of years missing from Henry's diary collection -the reason for this is unknown although they may have been with some of his belongings left with a friend when he travelled to France in the later 1840s. Finally, he took a job as medical officer on the barque "Cornellia" in 1849 and left England for the duration of the voyage to Australia and New Zealand and return. As mentioned last week he left the ship in New Zealand and returned to Australia where he lived for the rest of his life.
His diary in Australia is much easier to read although his life was not much easier for him. He took a job on a property up in the New England and walked from Sydney with the bullock wagon and camped under the wagon at night. They eventually arrived at the "Moonboy Mountains" where there were a number of drays and wagons helping one another up the mountain. Henry remarked "It was a novel spectacle to me to stand on the summit of one of the steep places and look down on a dray to which was attached between 30 and 40 bullocks toiling up the mountainside."
Henry stayed in the New England working on a couple of stations before he returned to the Hunter Valley and stayed with Mr Dangar, who was trying to find a job for him. I will finish this next week. There is a copy of these diaries in the museum.