He had regular correspondence with Sir Henry Parkes, Edmund Barton and George Black. During the 1880s and 1890s Astley did some free-lance work for The Bulletin in which four series of his stories of the convict days were published.
During the 1880s and 1890s, Astley engaged in correspondence with notable figures like Sir Henry Parkes, Edmund Barton, and George Black. Additionally, he contributed to The Bulletin by publishing a series of four stories about convict life.