In 1989, as part of the centenary celebrations of the death of Fr Julian Edmund Tenison Woods, Sr Evelyn Pickering rsj compiled a booklet of correspondence between Mary and Julian for the years 1862-1868.
We are grateful to the Sisters of Saint Joseph for preserving and publishing these letters, and I am grateful to Sr Jan Tranter rsj for providing me with a copy. Although this book is not readily available now, I am happy to draw from it a glimpse of what these letters offer.
The correspondence covers a period when Fr Julian was trying to work out his name. This could have been a simple exercise to distinguish himself from others with the common name Woods – or it might show a sense of deeper searching about his identity.
Here is a list of the dates of the letters, with his signature:
| 13 May 1862 | Julian Edmund Woods |
| 14 June 1862 | Julian Edmund Woods |
| 7 September 1862 | Julian E. Woods |
| 8 November 1862 | Julian E. Woods |
| 27 December 1862 | Julian Edmund Woods |
| 14 January 1863 | Julian E. Woods |
| 18 February 1863 | J.E.T. Woods |
| 26 March 1863 | Julian E. Woods |
| 30 April 1863 | Julian Edmund Woods |
| 23 May 1863 | Julian E.T. Woods |
| 27 July 1863 | Julian Edmund Woods |
| 30 August 1863 | Julian E.T. Woods |
| 15 October 1863 | Julian E. Woods |
| 27 December 1863 | Julian E.T. Woods |
| 27 February 1864 | Julian E. T. Woods |
| 19 April 1864 | J.E. Tenison Woods |
| 9 June 1864 | Julian E. Tenison Woods |
| 9 July 1864 | Julian E.T. Woods |
| 1 August 1864 | Julian E.T. Woods |
| (circa) 11 September 1864 | J.E. Tenison Woods |
And from then on, he is named consistently as J.E. Tenison Woods. There are three instances in 1868 when he used the title ‘Father Director’.
Why the change? Fr Julian’s own Memoirs do not refer to this, and most of the biographies available to me at this moment also do not mention the reason. In my view, the best biography is by Margaret Press rsj titled, Julian Tenison Woods: ‘Father Founder’. On page 71, Sr Margaret does address this question, while providing some background to Fr Julian’s active research and publishing while in Penola. 2
“It was at this time that Julian began to use his third name in his signature. There were at least two other clergymen-scientists publishing then, the Reverend J C Woods and the Reverend J E Woods, so that he adopted the distinctive signature of the Reverend J E Tenison Woods to distinguish himself from them.”
It is in this period that Fr Julian first published not just learned articles, but also books. His first, Geological Observations in South Australia: Principally in the District South-east of Adelaide (1862), has as its author REV. JULIAN EDMUND WOODS. His second book, the two volumes of A history of the discovery and exploration of Australia, or An account of the progress of geographical discovery in that continent from the earliest period to the present day (1865) has the author as REV JULIAN E TENISON WOODS. My own view is that there seems little need to seek a more complex or psychological motivation.
Recently an old friend wrote to me about Fr Julian: “He clearly was an amazing man and a faithful priest”. A lovely summary of an extraordinary life.
Fr Roderick O’Brien
In recent times, Father Roderick O’Brien has spent time sharing about our co-founder Father Julian Tenison Woods and has written a book titled, Julian Tenison Woods – A Pioneering Journey in Science and Faith. On Sunday 21 June, Fr Roderick will be presenting for the Australian Catholic Historical Society. The presentation, titled Still Relevant? Fr Julian Tenison Woods in the Twenty-First Century, will be in the Crypt of St Patrick’s at Church Hill [Grosvenor Street], The Rocks, New South Wales. Find out more here.