December 25 Wednesday – Christmas – The Oceana arrived in Melbourne in the morning. The Clemens party was driven to the Malvern home of John H. Wagner, whom they’d spent many hours with in October. They had an afternoon tea with the Wagners and visited at Lloyds’ large home at Stoningham. Christmas dinner was enjoyed at Highgate-on-the-Hill with the R.S. Smythe family.
December 24 Tuesday – The Clemens party was en route to Melbourne on the P&O Co.’s Oceana. Shillingsburg writes Sam “Evidently working on the Australian poem in his notebook, adding verses first recorded in Melbourne in Dec. 26 performance” [“Down Under” 32].
While en route Sam wrote three letters of introduction for Justice Sir William C. Windeyer to Laurence Hutton, Henry C. Robinson, and Chauncey Depew (the first two survive). He then enclosed these letters to Windeyer.
December 23 Monday – In Sydney Sam sent £200 to H.H. Rogers through Dibb’s Bank. At noon Sam wrote a short note to Cyprian A. Bridge:
We sail in an hour: I have been so rushed that I got no chance to acknowledge the honor of your visit till a quarter of an hour ago…I am sorry I missed you…[MTP].
At 1 p.m. the Clemens party (including Carlyle G. Smythe) sailed on the P&O liner Oceana for Ceylon.
December 22 Sunday – In Sydney the Clemens family visited the Hawkesbury River National Park with H.S. Chipman, who later gave Sam an illustrated book on Australia. A sightseeing boat usually left the Market St. Wharf for Hawkesbury. Sam was contacted by a member of the Bulletin staff, possibly J.F. Archibald. In Livy’s Dec. 20 to Sue Crane, she added a PS that William Windeyer called.
December 21 Saturday – In Sydney in the evening Sam repeated his “At Home” lecture from the previous night, except he used his remarks on the war scare as an introduction, and also included the Australian poem. Shillingsburg, in quoting local newspapers, writes: On Saturday night, “the hall was packed, and the great humorist met with a splendid reception,” and at times “the whole audience was convulsed.”
December 20 Friday – Sam and Smythe left Scone, Australia by train at 11:25 a.m. While on the train Sam kept notes of town names, possibly for use in a poem he included in FE.
December 19 Thursday – Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe left Sydney on a train at 11:25 a.m. for Scone, a country town some 125 miles northwest and the farthest north the tour reached in the Australian leg, arriving at 7:15 p.m. Sam noted the war scare between England and America [NB 36 TS 1, 6]. Livy and Clara remained in Sydney, and may have gone to the National Park with Justice Sir William Windeyer.
December 18 Wednesday – In a Dec. 20 letter to Sue Crane, Livy wrote that she made two social calls on families in Sydney, only to discover that everyone was just about to leave for Europe or England. Sam likely visited the Sydney Botanical Garden, and may have gone fishing at Bondi, where he heard several stories of sharks. His notebook entry gives several anecdotes about watches, money, and even prayer books that people found in sharks.
December 17 Tuesday – The Mararoa reached Sydney Harbor at 9 a.m. Sam’s notebook records that the weather had turned cool [NB 36 TS 3]. Immediately after his arrival Sam was interviewed by Herbert Low about his impressions of New Zealand. The interview ran on Dec. 18 in the Sydney Morning Herald. Low may not have been the only journalist pestering Sam for his impressions of N.Z.
Shillingsburg quotes Sam’s notebook (no # or TS page no. given):
December 16 Monday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea.