William West Woodland's quick Australian adventure

Before his marriage to Laura at age 30, William West Woodland had some interesting bachelor days, including time at the California Gold Rush and a quick trip to Australia. The only mention of this trip down under comes from his life history written by his children:

So somewhere between that window in the late 1850s until his marriage in June of 1862, he had quite an international journey! Trying to pin that down exactly has been tricky. William is in the June 20, 1860 census living with his sister in Salt Lake City, so the best travel window is either right before or right after that. Searching through ship manifests, I did find this potential passenger match:

Melbourne, Australia, was a hub of the Australian Gold Rush that began in the 1850s, so it would make sense that William sailed there. Clipper ships in the day could make the voyage from San Francisco to Australia in about 70-80 days, which matches the account above of two months. He would have experienced rough seas in the "Roaring Forties" latitude winds, and a long journey there and back. If he sailed from Melbourne to Sydney on the ship listed above, City of Sydney, that was a 700-ton steamer operated by Captain Moodie for coastal voyages around Australia and New Zealand, but I'm not sure how that fits with the story of returning on the same ship back to America, which was probably a different vessel. We await further possible details!

Nevertheless, on our recent visit to Melbourne, I tried to imagine his experience.

Arriving at the port of Melbourne, he would have seen the aqua waters of Port Phillip Bay, and the Yarra River leading into town.

but not these buildings...

Few buildings still stand from that era, but the old Customs House is now an Immigration Museum. If he disembarked, he probably would have entered here.

While we were standing there, I looked across the street and there was a W hotel with several big Ws in the window--made me think William West Woodland was saying hi. 

W top left, bottom right

a bridge talking about immigrants to Melbourne from various countries

one of the historic buildings still standing from that ear

Right after leaving the Customs House/ Immigration Museum, I had two more moments connecting with William: we walked past Banana Alley (where bananas were historically stored from ships to ripen)--after his death, William came in a dream to his wife Laura to prevent her from investing in a banana scheme that would ultimately fail. 

And then we saw the heirloom Polly Woodside sailing ship docked in Melbourne--Polly was the name of William's close sister, his aunt, and his grandma.

Polly Woodside

Whether or not this was William's exact voyage and destination, I loved learning more about the Australian Gold Rush and our historical connections there. William was likely our only ancestor to travel to that part of the world before the twentieth century!