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JDH informs his father, William Jackson Hooker, that [Ronald Campbell] Gunn has left Hobart [Tasmania, Australia]. It is winter & the only plants are Cryptogamia, the summer was hot; shrivelling vegetation & causing fires that burnt the woods, seeds have been dispersed & some plants are flowering for a second time e.g. Epacris impressa & some Acacia. Recounts a trip up D'Entrecasteaux Channell on the River Derwent to the Huon River with Captain Briggs, to see Huon Pines. The D'Entrecasteaux Channell reminded JDH of the Kyles of Bute, but surrounded by gum trees, Asters & Leucopogon richei & long cutting grass. The plants on the Huon are more alpine with tropical vegetation in deep gullies. He describes some of the ferns, which incl: Allantodia australis, Polypodium vespertilionis, Pittosporum bicolor, Anopterus glandulosus & Sassafras. Also describes some beautiful, very large tree ferns giving dimensions & describing the character of their growth in the valleys. Tree ferns are covered with Psilotum triquetrum, Asplenium laxum, Polypodium grammitidis & Grammitis australis. Mosses in the valleys abound: Hookeria pennata, H. quadrifaria, Hypnum cochleariformis & a new Anomodon. Mentions an island in the mouth of the Huon made completely of fossil shells in sandstone, & on which some Asplenium species grow. Letter also includes a coloured illustration of a new species of Hookeria. The Hookeria was found growing on Dicksonia arborea on the Banks of the Huon River opposite Port Cygnet.

JDH received his mother, Lady Maria Hooker's, letter of 1 Feb through Sir John Franklin. He reacts to the news that his youngest sister Mary [Harriet Hooker] is dying of a pulmonary disease, it will be a sad return if she is not there to see the curiosities he collected for her, incl. albatross eggs from Lord Auckland's Islands. The arrival of HMS 'Erebus' & 'Terror' in Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] was announced in a Feb newspaper, he hopes this is not the only word his family has had of him as he has written many letters. He does not know how news of their arrival in Kerguelen's land has spread, possibly a whaler carried a message from Kay to Lady Franklin. Post in the admiralty bag on the 'Hebe', including despatches for Captain [James Clark] Ross, has been missent to the China fleet, JDH hopes to get this mail at Sydney. JDH reports that he is very healthy & the work on ship is making him strong. Is pleased that his father, Sir William Jackson Hooker, will likely become Director of RBG Kew - though ministers are currently preoccupied with a likely [opium?] war. Hopes his family are thinking of him on his birthday. He has received a letter from his Aunt [Elizabeth] Palgrave. JDH expects his mother's earlier, unreceived letters contain accounts of Jersey. He has a messmate named Yule from Jersey whose father was a Lieutenant of Nelson's at the battle of Trafalgar. JDH describes the climate of Hobarton [Hobart], he prefers the cold weather of the Antarctic Circle. Describes the societal delineation between descendant of convicts & other individuals. There are many wealthy families of old & new money but culture, such as literature & music is lacking. JDH hopes for more mail by the incoming ship 'Persian'. JDH thanks his father & grandfather [Joseph Hooker senior] for books & [Walter Hood] Fitch for a sketch. Briefly describes reaching the ice for the first time & the expedition's imminent return to it. Mentions Isabella [Hooker] & her child Willielma Dawson Hooker.

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JDH writes to his sisters, Elizabeth [Bessy] & Mary [Mary Harriet] Hooker, describing the colony of Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] & the town of Hobart. JDH explains the system of governance by military & civil power: a Lieutenant Governor & council subservient to Sydney, a General Officer to oversee the Army & Navy, & a Commissariat department to provide for the convicts. Describes the division of the island into districts governed by police constables & police magistrates. Describes the ships used to transport convicts, which he says are run strictly but with attention to order & health. Explains that convicts are given different duties depending on the severity of their crime with rewards or punishments depending on their behaviour. Those who aren't dangerous work in households as servants. Female convicts all work in factories. The system is vulnerable to uprisings & escapees. Escapees, known as bush rangers, often turn to murder, theft & cattle rustling. There are many colonial tails about the bush rangers, who are occasionally portrayed as romantic, popular figures like Robin Hood or Rob Roy but are mostly villains. The population has grown quickly & many of the emigrants have made their fortune by keeping sheep & buying & selling land. He describes the typical life of a poor emigrant, living in a hut with a convict servant & surviving on damper bread, kangaroo hash, salt pork, tea & sugar. He explains how they can become rich by clearing land & quickly increasing their livestock to the point they have excess to sell in rich markets such as Sydney, Port Philip, Adelaide, Swan River & New Zealand. They can then employ more people, such as a grubber to pull up tree stumps. It is also profitable to sell potatoes & wood. Shop keepers can make good money but are often 'ticket of leave' convicts & looked down on. Replies should be sent to JDH at Berkeley Sound, Falkland Islands. At the end, the letter bears a second sender address & date: Sydney, New South Wales, July 15 1841.

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JDH congratulates his father, William Jackson Hooker, on his appointment as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He heard the news from Clowes & it was in the March papers. Has also heard that his sister, Mary Harriet, is still very ill. He speculates about the salary & housing arrangements for WJH & family at Kew & what will happen to [William Townsend] Aiton. Arnott & [Walter Hood] Fitch will assist WJH in the move from Glasgow. In consideration of WJH's new position JDH has asked [Ronald Campbell] Gunn to cultivate Tasmanian plants that could be sent to Kew. Gunn used to a have an amazing garden in Launceston. Mr Levy[?] has also offered to send Kew things from Port Jackson & new parts of the colony e.g. Moreton Bay, McQuarrie [Macquarie] harbour & the McLeay [Macleay] river, incl. live specimens of the moss; Dawsonia. Mr Bidwell, a merchant who has recently returned from a tour of the North Island of New Zealand, including ascent of the volcano Tongadido, has sent specimens from the expedition to Lindley & others. His specimens of Dawsonia compared to Gunn's & a figure in the MUSCI EXOTICA have made JDH wonder if there are 3 different species or not. JDH has met Captain King, who gave him a letter of introduction to [William] Colenso & told him all about [Allan] Cunningham's death. Clowes' health has improved & he plans to settle at Hunter River, he has been looked after by the McLeays. William Sharpe is engaged in horticulture & has laid out a garden of 25 acres full of Australian & East & West Indian plants growing alongside European species such as snowdrops & Jonquils. Fruits grow very well in Sydney, except for Gooseberries & Currants, as do palms, conifers & tropical Orchids. The 'Erebus' is leaving for Bay of Islands, from where JDH will write again. He does not expect to receive more mail until they reach the Falkland Islands in 8 months. He has a cabin filled with bottles & buckets of animals to work on.

JDH is sad to hear from his sister Maria, that their sister Mary has been very ill. He hopes that a summer spent in Jersey has improved her health. He has sent her a picture of Madeira. JDH understands their grandfather [Joseph Hooker] is on his death bed. He is sure that their other sister, Elizabeth, will fully recover from her illness. JDH has just heard of their father, Sir William Jackson Hooker's, appointment as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. JDH has not been homesick but thoughts of home & family often distract him from his duties. He must concentrate however as they are to sail south to unknown latitudes again. He is glad that his niece Willielma is thriving. It is midnight & JDH is sitting in the Captain's cabin with a tom cat called Phantome for company. The only sounds the tide & chronometers, as snorers on ship are soon 'cured'. In the cabin there are portraits of the Queen, Washington, Christ & Peter, John Franklin & Captain Parry, also a scene of Weddel's ships in the southern latitudes. There are also books & instruments, clothes & specimens everywhere. There is a large table in the cabin for JDH's particular use & he defends it for himself by leaving his microscope out, which nobody dares move. JDH explains that he was up writing during the night whilst on watch: taking meteorological observations & maintaining the peace on ship. JDH recounts some things he has read in an issue of the ATHENAEUM: an advert for a copy of Greville's Cryptogamic Flora, which JDH asks be bought for McLeay; an account of a cylinder which exploded during an experiment to solidify carbonic acid gas; an extract from 'Dodd's Thoughtage' which mentioned JDH's presence on the Ross expedition. Since writing the above JDH has been on expeditions around the Bay of Islands with Dr Sinclair of the HMS 'Favourite'. Next they sail to Chatham Islands. Mentions some plants have been sent home to the Admiralty via Sydney. Compliments his acquaintance [William] Colenso.

JDH informs his father, William Jackson Hooker, that since last writing to the family through Captain [Francis] Beaufort he has been busy collecting in the Bay of Islands. His collection is rich in mosses & phaenogams, including some not in [Allan] Cunningham's flora. JDH has been on excursions with [William] Colenso, who is otherwise busy with printing & other missionary business. JDH has a mixed opinion of missionaries but likes Colenso. Colenso has given JDH some curiosities of New Zealand, incl. minerals & a paper nautilus. The HMS 'Erebus' will travel straight to the ice without stopping at Chatham Island. The last letters JDH received from England were on 1 Feb. JDH's letter will go via Sydney on the HMS 'Favourite' & he hopes for return letters when he is in the Falkland Islands. [Joseph] Dayman wrote to JDH from Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] with news that the latest communication with [Joseph Henry] Kay' contained no news of the Hooker family. Lady [Jane] Franklin has written to inform Captain [James Clark] Ross that part of his journal & one of JDH's collections of plants were lost en route from Hobartown [Hobart], he hopes it is not the collection including illustrated notes from the Auckland or Cape [Verde] Islands, he suspects it is the Kerguelen Island plants & luckily he has duplicates of most, unlike Sir Stamford Raffles, [Robert] Brown or WJH who did not. JDH wonders how WJH's situation has changed since being appointed as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & what has become of his friend [G. A. Arnott Walker-] Arnott. JDH finds botanizing in New Zealand lonely & hopes his work is worth it. Mentions some distinctive species of New Zealand moss: a Polytrichum, a Hookeria that resembles H. cristata, a Phascum, a Splachnum, a Trematodon & a foliaceous species with similarities to Jungermannia.

JDH apologises for not writing sooner to Mrs [Mary] Richardson [wife of Dr Sir John Richardson of the Royal Hospital at Haslar where young naval surgeons awaited assignment]. He thanks Richardson for her letter & the news of family & friends at Haslar. In answer to her query JDH states his feelings about going to sea in naval service to pursue science, & how the service suits him. The HMS 'Erebus' is currently alongside the HMS 'Favourite', JDH likes the officers but thinks the Navy offers little financial reward or future security. Mentions Richardson's account of the Daguerrotype in her letter & her account of the usefulness of the penny post to naturalists. Thanks Richardson for her congratulations to his father, William Jackson Hooker, on his appointment as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Mentions his sisters & alludes to their uncertain state of health. JDH explains that on ship he spends more time on botany that on his actual profession: medicine, & Captain [James Clark] Ross has made comfortable provisions for his natural history work. When he can explore there are always many specimens of the lower orders of the vegetable kingdom to collect in New Zealand [moss, lichen, fungi etc] & he & Ross also make zoological collections & observations: of birds, insects, fish & shells. He notes that Dr Richardson would be interested in a kind of tunny known as a yellow tail, a beautiful salmon & several Ribband fish from the Antarctic circle. The marine life found in the towing nets is diverse, including crustacea, & has much in common with life in the Arctic seas. JDH writes of his friends Kay & Hepburn in Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania], the latter has a garden enriched with gifts from the Government Garden at Hobart Town, given by Miss Craycroft & Miss Franklin. JDH praises Sir John Franklin, the Governor, very highly & JDH is flattered by his interest in himself & the expedition: Franklin always asks for news of them from Dayman at the observatory.

JDH last wrote to his father, William Jackson Hooker, by the HMS 'Favourite' via Sydney & got replies addressed from the Athenaeum. Mentions his sister, Mary Harriet Hooker's, health. Congratulates WJH on becoming Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Dr Sinclair arrived en route to Auckland & Port Nicholson with news from home & will collect plants for WJH. JDH has sent Bay Island plants on the ship 'Jupiter'. The New Zealand specimens are still drying & notes being written up. At Bay of Islands JDH has got insects & shells for Captain Ross & minerals & bird skins for WJH incl. 'Tui' or parson birds & Columba spadicca[?]. Has found 70-80 mosses, Cunningham's Gastrodia, a new plant resembling Milligania & Gunnera, a complete set of seaweeds, & monocotyledons not mentioned by Cunningham. Describes a new sp. of Holoragaceae & a distinct Limosella. Praises Colenso, his work with the indigenous people & his botanical collecting in Paihia, the East Cape & Thames district. Mentions 2 plants collected by Colenso; a Pisonia & a Coprosma. JDH is sending a Wardian case of plants & ferns to WJH on the 'Exporter' via Mr Mcleay. He lists its contents, which incl: Corokia buddleioides, Haxtonia furfuracea, Pterostylis Banksii & Hymenophyllum sp, & describes how he packed the plants. Received letters from James Mitchell. Lady Franklin told Captain Ross that some Kerguelen Island plants sent from Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania] were lost at sea. JDH has written to: his sister Maria Hooker, Mitchell, Dr Robb, Mrs Richardson, Mr Children & Mr Ward. Expedition goes next to Chatham Islands, 'the Barrier', Deception Island, the Falkland Islands & home via the Cape. JDH is writing a Flora of New Zealand & studying German. Asks WJH to send a barometer for Gunn & a Hygrometer for him. Dayman wrote to thank Aunt Ellen & communicate that the Governor [John Franklin?] takes an interest in the Antarctica expedition. JDH sends WJH a fungus growing on a caterpillar from Rev Taylor of Waimate.