After her death, they decided to emigrate to Tasmania, Australia, where in 1884 he became Town Surveyor in Hobart.
He had 5 children, 2 dying young, the other three were a son, Austin and 2 daughters, Dorothea Kate and Daisy Winifred.
Richard and Catherine were buried in the Booroondara General Cemetery, Melbourne, Australia In Tasmania, Bastow became interested in bryology.
Bastow found self-employment a task he was not suited to and being employed allowed him the time he felt he needed to follow his true passion "seaweeds and mosses".
He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London between 1885 and 1889 After his death, his son Austin donated to the National Museum of Melbourne his collection of more than 10,000 molluscs.