From what his diaries tell us, Alexander Goodall must have been a delightful young man. He was in his early twenties when he kept these volumes in 1895, 1896 and 1897; they record his social and working life in Geelong (where he was employed in the Telegraph Exchange), his frequent bicycle excursions and his trips to visit his family in Mortlake and Meredith. Tragically, Alexander Goodall died in 1901, still in his twenties. His family treasured these diaries for decades, finally presenting them to the Library in 1985.