At 17 he took a working passage to Australia on a Dutch sailing ship which he left at Port Melbourne (Frost and Boddington,Jennie Boddington (1975) J. W. Lindt, photographer (1845–1926) Art Bulletin of Victoria, #16 basing their accounts on Cato, incorrectly have him disembarking—even 'deserting'—his ship at Brisbane). Taking up work as an itinerant piano-tuner, he traveled amongst towns in Victoria and New South Wales before settling in Grafton in 1863 where he became assistant and apprentice to photographer Conrad Wagner (c.1818- 1910).
