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.
December 15 Sunday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea. Shillingsburg writes:
December 14 Saturday – The Clemens party was en route to Sydney in the Mararoa in the Tasman sea. Personal appreciation by writer of “Echoes of the Week,” ran in the New Zealand Times Supplement [Shillingsburg, “Down Under” 30].
December 13 Friday – At 3:15 p.m. the Clemens party (including Carlyle G. Smythe) left Wellington, N.Z. on the Union Co.’s Mararoa. “Summer seas and a good ship — life has nothing better” [FE ch. XXXVI 324]. On board was the “damdest menagerie of mannerless children I have ever gone to sea with” [NB 36 TS 2] who raised Sam’s ire — in his notebook he hoped for a heavy storm. Also on board was the manager of the Greenwood Theatrical Co.
December 12 Thursday – The last full day in Wellington, and N.Z., Sam and Carlyle G. Smythe took a short train ride to the suburb of Hutt, where they enjoyed the gardens of Mrs. Ross, played billiards, and in the evening went to a concert. Livy and Clara likely went along.
December 11 Wednesday – In Wellington N.Z. Sam gave his “At Home” performance at the Opera House. Lord David and Countess Glasgow and party, the Governor of N.Z. were in the audience.
Reviews published: Dec. 11: New Zealand Times; Dec. 12 and Dec. 19: New Zealand Mail.
December 10 Tuesday – In Wellington, N.Z. a reporter from the Evening Post called on Sam at Moeller’s Occidental Hotel. Sam related the nine-hour train trip from Wanganui, the “continual stoppages at little stations, where apparently nothing was done” and the jolting ride.
Livy was reported as saying that she hoped they would,