I remain,

Your affectionate son,

William J. Wills.

. . .

Flagstaff Observatory, Melbourne, September 15th, 1859.

My dear mother,

I was rather disappointed at not receiving a letter from any one by the last mail.  I have not heard from my father since it arrived.  I conclude he has not sent me your letters to him, thinking that I have received some myself.  I suppose you are all glad that the war has ended so unexpectedly.  It is to be hoped that the peace will be a permanent one, although people here generally appear to think that it will not prove so.  The election of members for our lower house will soon terminate.  Judging from the results already known, we are likely to have a curious Parliament this time.  Our winter is nearly over.  Last night there was a festival held in honour of Alexander von Humboldt.  It was unfortunately a very wet evening, which prevented a great many from attending who would otherwise have been there.  I hope you are all in good health.  It would have pleased you much to have seen the two splendid auroras, of which I have sent Charley a description.  At one time it was light enough to read a newspaper out of doors, after the moon went down.  I must now say adieu.  With much love to all,

Believe me, my dear mother,

Your affectionate son,

William J. Wills.

. . .

Melbourne, September 15th, 1859.

My dear Charley,

I send you by this mail two accounts of auroras, which we have had the pleasure of observing here, one on the 28th ultimo, and the other on the 2nd instant.  I would recommend you to take care of these papers, as you may find it very interesting to refer to them at some future period.  You will perhaps be so good as to let me know by return of post whether anything of the kind was observed in England about the same time; and be careful to state the dates and hours, etc., as exactly as possible.  You will find much, in the reports I have sent you, to object to, in the manner of expression and the words used; but you must make due allowance for their having been written by a German (Professor Neumayer).  I have corrected some of the most prominent errors in the second.  I wish you would look out for every description of auroras that may appear in the newspapers, as well as for the phenomena themselves.  You might always cut out the paragraphs, and put them in a letter; and in the event of your seeing one yourself, you might write a description, being particular to note the time of the different phases as nearly as you can.  By just taking this small amount of trouble you will be rendering a much greater service to the science of magnetism than you imagine; for one of the most important points is to establish or prove the existence of a simultaneity in the Northern and Southern Lights.