[WESTERN DISTRICT] Manuscript letter written on behalf of the Trustees of the estate of Adolphus Sceales, late of Merrang Station, 1868.

Manuscript letter, octavo bifolium (203 x 127 mm), written on the first side only; headed ‘Weronggurt – Warrnambool, 11 July 1868’, and signed at the foot ‘R. H. Woodward’, the letter is addressed to ‘E. G. Yorke, Esq., Belfast’ [Port Fairy], and regards Woodward’s claim, as the executor of the estate of the late Adolphus Sceales, against the estate of the late John Austin for a mortgage debt, plus interest, amounting to over £840; the last side annotated by Yorke ‘Austin’s Estate: claim of Sceales Trustees, amount of Mortgage and interest’; some toning and old folds.

Grazier R. H. Woodward, in his capacity as executor of the estate of the late Adolphus Sceales (d. 1854) of Merrang, was essentially acting on behalf of Sceale’s widow, Jane Hood (née Paton, 1821-1910), when he wrote this letter of demand to Mr. Yorke at Port Fairy. Yorke was responsible for the estate of Western District landholder John Austin, recently deceased.

In 1855-56 Robert Dowling (1827–1886) had painted Mrs Adolphus Sceales with Black Jimmie on Merrang Station (now in the collection of the NGA) as a tribute to Adolphus Sceales. Two years after her first husband’s death, Jane – still in her early thirties – married pastoralist Robert Hood, of nearby Bolac Station. Hood then purchased the Merrang property and all its stock from the Sceales Trustees, and Merrang became Robert and Jane Hood’s marital home.