'Doing a Good Stroke…'

Chapter 3

‘Doing a Good Stroke…’ 1852

January, 1852 – Back to the diggings on the Meroo. The gold escort brought just 459 ounces of gold to Sydney between Christmas and New Year. So many diggers were taking the opportunity of the festive season to return to their homes, that the diggings were said to be all but deserted. No doubt many took the opportunity to tell their stories, tall and true, and to get back to civilisation and their families. When the festive season came to a close, though, all available means of transport to the Western Goldfields were once again in strong demand. A little over six months had elapsed since the first canvas tents were pegged out along the western streams by miners, mostly men, in search of fortunes. Now those same men were making arrangements for more permanent settlement with wives and children being sent for to establish homes in more substantial slab huts at Sofala on the Turon diggings. Permanent settlement was not yet a feature of the Meroo Goldfields; however, miners were still eager to ply their trade at the various diggings on offer and over 100 were in operation at the beginning of 1852. Success stories continued to attract fortune hunters, and the Louisa Creek diggings were still living up to their reputation for large nuggets as news trickled out that a 90oz specimen of matrix gold had been uncovered. Miners arriving back in Maitland were a regular source of intelligence for those in the Hunter Valley curious about the diggings, and news of good returns travelled quickly. Average daily earnings were reckoned to be in the order of 15 shillings per man at the commencement of 1852, though, there were exceptions on either side of that yardstick. One party of nine from Port Stephens had made £700 each in a four-month stint on the Meroo Goldfields including a haul of 75 ounces of gold on one day alone. With good news on the prospects at the Meroo Goldfields reaching towns all over the colony numbers continued to swell, and, by the end of the first week in January, there was estimated to be 500 people at Meroo and its rich tributary, Long Creek, and another 1000 around the famed Louisa Creek. January, 1852 – A Correspondent at the Campbell’s Creek Diggings By January 1852 the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser had heard enough from returning miners to justify sending a reporter to the Meroo Goldfields for first-hand reports on the conditions and prospects on offer to adventurous locals. It was in fact the correspondent’s second visit to the goldfields thereabouts and his intended destination was the Turon, but with a budget that didn’t extend to the purchase of a hole, decided instead to head to the Meroo where a

prospector could find his own means to wealth. Tossing up between World’s End on the lower Meroo and its tributary, Devil’s Hole Creek, he was ultimately enticed to the latter after hearing all about it during his overnight stopover at Mudgee. His Victorian sensibilities being enlivened to the horror with which his audience might receive such a moniker, the correspondent offered an apology, holding out hope that a local proposal to re-name the satanic Devil’s Hole Creek, ‘Kennedy’s Creek’, might yet prevail. From the correspondent’s descriptions of the diggings at Devils Hole Creek, Upper Meroo and nearby localities, a picture emerges of the increasingly established, though still growing, goldfields. The miner’s life as described by the journalist was one of monotonous drudgery for even the most successful of parties with a description of one party sufficing to cover the experience of any other save for names and dates. Nonetheless, upon arriving at Devil’s Hole Creek during a typically hot summer’s day he was greeted by the site of hundreds of white canvas tents erected all along either side of the creek with all the best places taken up. Claims were neatly pegged out on the bed of the creek from ‘one end of the settlement to the other’1 and deep holes were sunk into the creek bank or on nearby alluvial flats. On the slopes, ridges and higher flats, the dry diggings proliferated. Here the going was harder with the requisite supplies of water for washing spoil more distant and twelve to eighteen feet (4-6 metres) of hard white clay, quartz pebbles and shale needing to be extracted to find the precious commodity. Even among the rich pickings to be had among the Meroo Goldfields, the luck of individual parties varied considerably. Some at Devil’s Hole Creek were able to make 1 to 20 pounds per day whilst others were making nothing and going broke fast, though, luck was bestowed randomly and could strike anyone – the very motivation that spurred them on. The correspondent estimated that average clear earnings were at least 10 shillings both at the Devil’s Hole and Meroo but noted that many came away with nothing and a fortunate few with much more. One in five was his estimate for the holes adjacent to the creek that paid well. At the Upper Meroo, he again encountered numerous holes among the dry diggings and parties making small fortunes in the small auriferous tributaries of the Meroo River itself. Here, too, the dry diggings were an uncertain prospect requiring good fortune and perseverance. Betraying the social position and economic standing of many on the goldfields, the correspondent noted the dry diggings, despite their vagaries, provide ample opportunity for the poor man to better his position. The reputation of Louisa Creek was enough to encourage the intrepid reporter to make a pilgrimage of sorts to the site of Kerr’s Hundredweight’s discovery as well – complete with a kneeling search for any ‘nugget-picka-ninnies’2 that might be left behind. The gold found in Louisa Creek itself was described as angular in nature and not at all waterworn. Despite the goldfields being in operation for over six months and the requisite tools and work ethic by now well known, many were turning up ill-prepared to rough it on the goldfields – some were just plain ill-suited for life in the bush. The correspondent drily noted such men would do well to re-consider the comforts of home.

January, 1852 – The Chinese problem. The rush to the goldfields had created a shortage of labour that saw proposals developed to import a sufficient number of suitable immigrants. One such scheme involved the importing of ‘Chinamen’ for engagement in un-filled occupations. The Duke of Roxburgh had disembarked a number of Chinese at Brisbane at the beginning of January who remained unengaged. In a statement indicative of the poor opinion held by most in the colony of the Chinese, the Moreton Bay Courier suggested it had commented on their plight only in the hope they might be more readily disposed of, ‘consider[ing] them rather a nuisance’ and hoping it may ‘help to get rid of them’.3 Such racial prejudice would soon boil over into conflict on the goldfields. January, 1852 – Conflict on the goldfields between capital and labour. As January unfolded, and growing numbers of men organised in small parties of three or four men set to work on the alluvial flats and quartz rich ridges of the Meroo goldfields, disquiet was growing over the rumoured intrusion of capitalised joint ventures forcing them off their claims in the bed of Louisa Creek. The Great Nugget Quartz Ridge Crushing Company had enjoyed similar favouritism from regulators to the disgust of many, and there were fears the small man was to suffer again under the weight of moneyed privilege. Commissioner Hardy was quick, though, to placate the fearful miners assuring them their claims on the alluvial plains and creek bed were safe, but the quartz ridges would be made available to those operations best equipped to return a commercial yield. With the matter resolved, confidence was building that even more miners would flood the goldfield as yields continued to be profitable. The best returns were being obtained by those willing to sink deep, and new locations were being discovered regularly across the tableland and alluvial plains. The draining of waterholes all along the creeks was becoming a profitable business with 130 pounds of gold yielded from the efforts at one hole. Meanwhile, congregated parties were also reported to be turning a nice profit at diggings on Devil’s Hole Creek and Richardson’s Point. Richardson’s Point, today a wire bound series of quiet paddocks along the creek, was proving particularly remunerative in early 1852 with hopes high that it might match the Maitland Bar diggings for fame. Claims were being worked across the creek flat. One party had the good fortune to be on a claim with a vein about a metre below the surface. Being too afraid to tunnel in from the creek for fear of the loamy soil collapsing on them, they were forced to remove the overburden laboriously with pick and shovel. Once down, they had about half a metre of gravel and dirt to wash to find payable gold. On a nearby claim a man by the name of Solomon, later a gold buyer, was leading a party that was growing its yield from one and half ounces per day to three. Others were finding up to five ounces. With those yields, they were earning between fifteen shillings and one pound a day and could afford to employ men to labour for them at the rate of three pound a week and rations.4 For those without the start-up capital, this was their entrance into the gold rush. After saving up enough money, they could then purchase the necessary equipment, miner’s licence and a claim. Others found ways to make money on the goldfields that came with a greater degree of

certainty. One enterprising blacksmith had arrived to set up a forge at the centrally located Richardson’s Point with a view to servicing the needs of the diggers from the nearby Devils Hole Creek and Long Creek. January, 1852 – Gold discoveries continue. January saw the discovery of gold announced in Van Dieman’s Land at Hobart’s Battery Point and in New Zealand confirming the ‘whole of this side of the Pacific is studded with goldfields’.5 January, 1852 – £5 Reward offered. The egalitarian nature of the goldfields and regular presence of troopers under the administration of the Gold Commissioner were not enough to maintain a crime-free community on the goldfields. Crime existed, as it did elsewhere, and the storage of gold in camps all over the goldfields provided ample temptation for those so inclined. On the 23rd of January, 1852 William Ward placed an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald seeking the apprehension of Richard Husband who was alleged to have stolen found 40 ounces of his hard-won gold from his camp at Long Creek on the Meroo Goldfields. Husband, 42, and a native of Nottinghamshire, had come out from England a free man aboard the Agincourt and had presumably thrown his lot in with Ward on the goldfields. As far as Ward knew, though, he was now in Sydney on his way to Port Phillip with a bag full of his gold. Described as being about 42 years of age, 5 feet six inches in height, with greying dark hair, full-eyed and having resided in Bathurst for a time, Husband was wanted by Ward badly enough to offer a £5 reward for his apprehension and lodging with the police. January, 1852 – Bathurst Quarter Sessions. On Friday the 23rd of January, the Bathurst Quarter Sessions were sitting with two cases from the Meroo on the books. Peter Page was accused of stealing sundry items from the store of Samuel Lomax and Hugh Kelly was to answer charges of stealing a watch from John Barry. Page was alleged to have entered Lomax’s store tent at Meroo Creek on the 14th of December, 1851 after negotiating passage past a lively guard dog and commencing to throw about various goods, including tossing outside 10 pairs of trousers, 11 bags and 10 pounds of tobacco. Apparently the two had been drinking together earlier in the day and Lomax invited him to sleep in the tent, though, two of Page’s mates, Cranky Dick (Richard Riddlecombe) and Michael Shannon, provided evidence that he had been asleep in their tent on the night in question and couldn’t have absented himself without their knowledge. The jury saw through the noble, though feeble, attempts of Page’s mining mates to protect him, however, and he was promptly found guilty and given 3 year’s hard labour on the roads. Later in the day, Hugh Kelly was called to account for the charge of theft laid against him by John Barry of Devil’s Hole Creek. Barry claimed to have been awoken about 3 am on the night of the 8th of December, 1851 by the side of his tent falling in on him. Immediately alarmed, he observed Kelly running off with a box containing about £10 in gold and silver which he soon

dropped when Barry raised the alarm. Kelly had the hide to approach Barry’s tent just after sunrise the next morning innocently enquiring about the night’s excitement. Barry, though, was sure of his man and had identified that a watch to the value of £2 13s. was still missing so had him arrested immediately. Kelly fell back on the time-honoured defence of a spiteful prosecutor, choosing to defend himself, and called two witnesses both of whom failed to appear. The jury was predictably unmoved by his defence and found him guilty without even leaving the box whereupon he was sentenced to two year’s hard labour on the roads. January, 1852 – ‘Died by a visitation of God’. On Friday the 23rd of January, Henry Tebbutt, local publican, shopkeeper and newspaper correspondent, was riding through the bush in the vicinity of Devil’s Hole Creek. It was a hot and humid day holding the promise of relief from the dry summer weather that had been good for business but was starting to make its mark on local pastures and water supplies. As he listlessly followed the bridle track to his destination, he chanced upon the lifeless body of a man holding a halter whom he recognised to be a local digger by the name of Richard Husband. Tebbutt turned his horse and rode back to the Devil’s Hole where he sought out the deceased’s digging party. Upon finding them, he accompanied the party back to the dead man where a search of Husband’s pockets revealed two pounds of gold. The men took their mate’s corpse back for examination and the requisite inquest into the unexplained death of the man. Evidence was proffered at the inquest that Husband had been suffering from a heart condition for twenty years. The presence of a halter firmly in the grip of his corpse, coupled with his heart condition, led the jury to a verdict of ‘death by the visitation of God’6 whilst out searching for his horses in the heat. January, 1852 – Receipts of Gold by the Western escort and Mails. In January, the Meroo Goldfields accounted for 17% of the gold sent to the Colonial Treasury from the Western Goldfields with 388 oz. (ounce) 11 dwt. (pennyweight) 14 gr (grain) received from the gold escort and through the mail. The Turon, by comparison, sent 1393 oz. 18 dwt. 0 gr. Among the consignees were Berney, Newcombe, Gregory, Crowley, Croft, and notably, Mrs. Henry Tebbutt. Some miners were evidently still paying their way by offering the Commissioner gold in lieu of payment for their licence fee with 4 oz. 10 dwt. 0 gr. forwarded as well. January, 1852 – Stutchbury continues his survey of the Wellington district. On the 26th of January, Stutchbury busied himself with attending to his reporting obligations. In camp at Wellington, he described the geological formations encountered on his leg from Burrandong and in the surrounding district. From the sandstone of Burrandong he proceeded along the south-western side of the river describing schistose formations interspersed with quartz which he believed would ultimately be proven auriferous. Stutchbury continued past Mount Arthur and followed the Macquarie downstream of its junction with the Bell River discovering limestone intrusions and inspecting the caves at Wellington previously discovered and described by Mitchell.

Stutchbury’s investigations then took him south-east as he investigated the origins of Lahey’s Creek at ‘Eumbi’ (Uamby) and descended onto the Cudgegong River in search of gemstones. Hopeful of uncovering quantities sufficient to augment the prosperity promised by the discovery of gold, he recovered diamond, emerald, sapphire, garnet and topaz from the river bed as well as what he considered a promising amount of gold dust. Stutchbury detailed the geology through Ponto and on to the Little River wistfully comparing the sandstones and ‘pitchstone’ to that of England and Scotland respectively but not noteworthy for his present purposes.7 February, 1852 – The ‘River-god’ arises and dons his robes of state. The second half of January had been dominated by typically hot and dry summer conditions. Miners were busy working claims in the dry creek beds and tunnelling into their banks whilst adjacent river flats were becoming increasingly parched. The diggings at Devil’s Hole Creek, Louisa, Meroo and Long Creek were busy with active and content parties in good spirits there and in the adjacent and extensive dry diggings. As the end of the month closed in, though, the weather became increasingly sultry presaging summer storms. In the days leading up to February, humid days built up to afternoon thunder storms and showers. Two days of constant and heavy rain followed with thundery storms in the evening keeping the drenching going. Miners, used to the predominantly dry conditions of the past six months, were suddenly alive to the full potential of the newly demonstrative creeks upon which they’d been relying for their livelihood. Accordingly, the Meroo River welcomed in the new month in full flood as ‘the River-god arose, donned his robes of state and was regarded with some degree of pleasure mingled with awe.’8 Miners awoke to cries of ‘the river – the river is up’9 to witness the raging torrents of muddy water threatening to break the banks of the previously placid river. Rafts of woody debris containing logs and mining equipment piled up in the river; an indication of the destruction visited upon the landscape by the voracious diggers. New plans were made as the realisation soon dawned that their bed claims would likely be unworkable for some time. On the nearby Turon goldfield, heavily dependent upon bed claims, miners were said to be ‘wear[ing] a more suicidal appearance…than ever,’10 as the Turon River once again rose into flood. Fears grew over the wellbeing of those camped in canvas tents on the sodden and muddy diggings around the Meroo. The canvas tents provided little comfort from the heavy downpours, and those with families and small children were felt to be most likely to suffer from the illnesses that would inevitably follow. At nearby Sofala, illness had already become a feature of the diggings, as dysentery started to claim lives, and the town was felt to be in an inexorable decline. Crime was rife, and now many miners were unable to work as bed claims were awash, tunnels collapsed, and equipment was washed away. Numbers started to dwindle, as the miners sought livings on the dry diggings elsewhere including the Meroo goldfields; no doubt, bringing their ailments with them and contributing to the growing misery of the tent dwellers on the Meroo.

February, 1852 – Mudgee begins to prosper. Meanwhile, in nearby Mudgee, business was booming and the population growing. On the back of increasing traffic to the Meroo Goldfields shopkeepers were prospering from the insatiable demand for equipment, accommodation and supplies. Characteristically, though, the pace of the gold rush had outstripped growth in other parts of the economy and government services. The local postal service for instance still consisted of a local lad on horseback carrying the mail unsecured in a canvas bag slung across his mount. Given that large sums, and quantities of gold, were now being sent via the post this was considered most unacceptable. Businessman also lamented the absence of a bank in town, and moves were afoot to entice one of the banks to set up a local branch to accommodate the amount of business now being transacted locally. February, 1852 – A new discovery on the Meroo near Avisford. The heavy summer storms and resultant floods brought many mining operations to a standstill, but to the enterprising they also brought opportunity. Once the floodwaters had started to recede, many diggers went prospecting along the creek for new opportunities exposed by eroded river banks and in accumulated sediments on rock bars. The Sydney Morning Herald soon came across information of a rich new discovery on the Meroo as a result of the renewed prospecting. William Blackman, an early identity in the Mudgee district and son of the explorer, James Blackman, had written to a Sydney firm advising of the find made possible by the recent torrential rainfall who had then passed the news onto the newspaper. The find was just downstream of a property held by Henry Lewis near Avisford on a ridge on the southern side of the Meroo River near the junction of Warrawong Creek and Meroo River. Lewis, who had benefitted from the patronage of the Coxes for whom his father and uncle both worked, had long been grazing stock in the vicinity and ultimately purchased 892 acres in freehold some years previous. Blackman claimed over £2000 worth of gold had been dug up in under 17 hours by the three to four hundred diggers who’d eagerly descended on the new find with nuggets being found weighing anything from 2 pennyweights to 5.5 lbs. Other reports had the figure at £1500, but all reports confirmed the existence of a rich new digging where large nuggets could be obtained from just below the surface. As the days passed, it was soon realised that the diggings were not as extensive as first thought and that the gold, whilst plentiful, was to be found in clusters. February, 1852 – The theft of Dickson’s Avisford Nugget. One waterworn nugget found at the site between Maitland Bar and Avisford, and containing very little quartz or stone, weighed in at 31.5 oz when purchased on the 2nd of February by John Dickson, a Mudgee storekeeper.11 The nugget, said to be almost round and the size of a man’s fist, was proudly placed on display on the shop’s scales at the end of the counter by Dickson after showing it to several customers. Dickson then left an employee by the name of John Punyer (later reported erroneously as Kinner) in his shop while he ducked next door to another store. Returning five

minutes later he noticed Punyer walking out the back of the store and the gold nugget gone. The finger of blame was quickly pointed at Punyer who, having left the shop only to return moments later, was promptly apprehended and accused of being drunk. Punyer denied stealing the celebrated nugget, and others present were then also searched. Given the short amount of time Punyer had been absent from the store it was believed the nugget must have been secreted somewhere close by; nonetheless, an enthusiastic search failed to recover it. The next morning the suspected thief was committed for trial on the 19th of February in the Bathurst Circuit Court. February, 1852 – Tragedy at the Louisa Creek diggings. The wet end to January had many miners re-assessing their plans, and for some, it was the final straw. On the Turon diggings the river had fallen, but constant freshes after regular storms meant that many claims were effectively unworkable. Many, particularly the married men, had decided the goldfield’s life of privation was simply not worth it. Gold digging was recognised as hard work by all on the goldfields, certainly more arduous than hut-keeping or shepherding,12 and many returned to their families, disillusioned, to take up their original occupations. Others, though, fired by glowing reports of success on the Meroo and Dirt Hole Creeks, pursued the opportunities made available by abundant water for working the dry diggings on the Meroo Goldfields. Consequently, they loaded up their horses, wheelbarrows and swags in caravans of up to fifty men and made the short trek along the muddy tracks over the ridge to try their luck at the Louisa and Dirt Hole creeks and other back creeks and tablelands. There they settled in to work out the season until their claims on the Turon Diggings were able to be worked more productively. As a consequence of the influx of refugees from the flooding Turon River, the diggings on the Meroo, Louisa and Campbells Creeks were of a particularly cheerful and bustling nature. The diggings were all returning good yields with upwards of 30 ounces per day being spoken of as average earnings. New diggings were also being discovered by those seeking new claims away from the Turon effectively opening up unexplored pockets of the countryside. Optimism was riding high; however, a pall was cast over the community at the Louisa Creek diggings after ‘a melancholy accident’13 which claimed the lives of a woman and her three little children. On the night of Friday the 6th of February, a fierce thunderstorm turned Louisa Creek into a raging torrent. Attempting to seek better shelter for herself and her children in the absence of her husband, the woman rushed from her tent only to take the wrong direction amid the confusion. Surrounded by her children, she found herself in the floodwaters which quickly deepened and swept them all to their deaths. February, 1852 – Absconded: believed to be at the diggings. The power that the goldfields exercised upon the minds of those longing for a better deal, or even perhaps to be their own man, continued to entice them to break their bonds of employment. In early February, a fast-talking Scot by the name of James Smith decided he’d had enough of working in the service of Richard Reynolds at Mooki in the north-west of the colony. Doubtless, he’d heard

the stories and read the newspapers and had his imagination fired by the possibilities. Slipping a bridle and saddle onto one of his master’s horses, a seven-year-old bay, he stole away from the property bound for the diggings. Described as five-feet-ten-inches tall, dark-haired and of ruddy complex, Smith was pursued by Reynolds who offered a reward for his arrest and the return of the horse saddle and bridle. James Lawler, a newly arrived immigrant, had the same idea. Having taken up indentured employment with Patrick Ward, the 25-year-old Lawler had absconded without his employer’s permission and was also supposed to have gone the goldfields. Like Reynolds, Ward was keen to see his employee fulfil his obligations and had offered a £2 reward for his arrest. February, 1852 – Receipt of Gold for mid-February. The movement of miners from the Turon to the Meroo is evidenced by the significant rise in gold received from the Meroo at the treasury for the middle of February. The Colonial Treasury received just over 1075 ounces of gold from the Meroo for the first two weeks of February; up from the 388 ounces in the previous fortnight. The Turon, conversely, dropped slightly to 1289 ounces.14 Not that the official figures were relied upon at the time as being an accurate account of the productivity of the goldfields; many believed much more was finding its way to Sydney by means other than the government escort.15 Another delivery from the escort in February also carried nine bags of gold that was unaccounted for with no list of consignees attached.16 February, 1852 – ‘Astounding if true’17 - £3000 worth of gold in a day. Great excitement was precipitated in Mr Walford’s store at Sofala when a digger’s letter of three men had obtained £3000 worth of gold in a single day. Not long after, reports noted the seizure by Commissioner Hardy of £3000 worth of gold from an unlicensed digger - unsympathetically judging the miner to have been working on the ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish principle’.18 February, 1852 – News from the Diggings. The excitement over the new find near Avisford was almost exhausted by the middle of February. The rich deposits of gold on the ridge adjacent to the creek had been quickly worked out by the 500 or so diggers first on the scene and had not proved as extensive as originally anticipated. Any further finds there would require much harder work than that employed by the original diggers who’d found clumps of gold just below the surface on their small claims. That hadn’t dampened the ardour of those employing their labour elsewhere on the Meroo, though. The population on the upper Meroo, Dirt Hole Creek and Pyramul Creek was large, and growing, as their rich yields continued to be reported around the district. One party claimed to have yielded 60oz from two days labour on Dirt Hole Creek. The diggings at Pyramul were opened up after Suttor threw open his land, on commercial terms, to parties of diggers many of whom were escaping the misery of Sofala. In addition, a host of claims were being worked on the Louisa Creek flat near the ‘celebrated quartz ridge’19 with some extending onto the claim of the quartz crushing company itself.

Commissioner Hardy displayed an egalitarian streak when called in to arbitrate between the interests of the Quartz Crushing Company occupying the ridge and the numerous small parties trespassing on their claim. Deciding that they should be able to co-exist in the short term, he allowed those that had commenced a hole to continue until they’d worked it out. After that, they were to leave. Elsewhere, Hardy and his retinue of mounted police continued to diligently occupy themselves staking out claims, checking for miner’s licences and chasing licence fees. Not that he was meeting with much success. Miners would commonly claim that they couldn’t afford it to which the standard reply was ‘pay or leave off work’20. In response, the miners would cry that they either worked or starved putting the Commissioner in a no-win position.

February, 1852 – Henry Tebbutt in Sydney loading for the Meroo Goldfields.

Advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald, 19/2/1852, p.4. February, 1852 – Receipt of Gold 26th of February. oz. dwt. grs. Turon - 1144 13 0 Meroo - 555 9 0 Tambaroora Ck - 400 17 0 Bathurst - 381 19 12 Gold received at the Colonial Treasury from the western escort for the third week in February revealed the increased prominence of the Dirt Hole Creek and adjacent tablelands on the Meroo Goldfield. Figures were now large enough for it to be distinguished by name from the previously agglomerated figures of the Meroo. In addition to the gold being transported by official means, preference for the mail service saw another 1361oz sent from Bathurst and Sofala. February, 1852 - Bushrangers about on the Meroo Diggings. The hot and sultry weather that had ushered in February had given way to cooler breezes toward the end of the month resulting in drier and more pleasant conditions for the diggers. On the Turon, work was once again proceeding as parties delved in the receding flows employing new technology in favour of the time-honoured cradle, such as the Long Tom, to sluice greater quantities more efficiently. The improvement in the weather and prospects of the miners also enlivened those so

inclined to take to the tracks around the goldfields in search of an easy mark. The warning went out - ‘bushrangers are about’ - as encounters on the road between the Turon and Meroo Goldfields started to pour in. In one case, a gentleman leaving the Meroo Goldfields on horseback one morning was confronted by two bushrangers on the track who requested that he pull up. Instead, the horseman put spurs to belly and made off with great haste, whereupon the two would-be bandits both took unsuccessful pot shots at the departing figure. Arriving safely in Sofala, he immediately reported the matter to the Commissioner who then despatched two policemen in plain clothes to the area in a bid to lure them into the long arms of the law.21 February, 1852 - William Munnings Arnold prepares to depart for the Meroo. In a continuation of the trend for Hunter Valley businessman to further their business interests on the goldfields, the esteemed William Munnings Arnold of ‘Stradbroke’ began to prepare for his departure.

Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 28/2/1852.

Having previously travelled to the Meroo Goldfields and established that a venture would likely succeed, he placed several advertisements in the Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser on Saturday the 28th of February 1852. The first of the advertisements sought ‘two steady sober men’,22 suggesting this to be the exception rather than the rule, to work as bullock

drivers on his teams going to the goldfields. According to his next advertisement, the successful applicants would find themselves employed in the carriage of 12 tons of goods to the Meroo diggings commencing the second week of March. His third advertisement suggested he wasn’t only going to the goldfields with the intention of making money off the diggers; he also wanted a piece of the action in the holes themselves. Arnold made himself available to join a party of men, ‘not more than five in number’,23 and to fully kit them out at his own expense on terms to be advised upon application at ‘Stradbroke’. Like other Hunter businessman trying their luck on the goldfields, Arnold clearly had intentions of returning to take up where he’d left off arranging for the lease of his property in his absence. February, 1852 - Return to the Turon Diggings. As February closed, diggers returned en masse to the Turon Diggings. Despite the glowing reputation of the dry diggings on the Meroo and new finds at places such as Dirt Hole Creek, men were discovering they could be a hit and miss affair. Those lucky enough to be on a good claim were making plenty; however, many, if not most, were reaping scant reward at all. Nonetheless, at the diggings on Dirt Hole Creek and Stockyards the number of miners was still estimated to be between 800 and 1000 in total. Many were also continuing to do well at Pyramul Creek finding gold at depths of just three feet. None of this, though, was enough to stop a drain of diggers from the Meroo Goldfields back to their bed claims in the receding Turon River. There the scene was a resurgent one as parties employed all manner of paraphernalia to search for the gold more reliably found in its sediments. Competition for labour to supplement the incomes of the storekeepers and associated industry meant that the Turon was again being bragged about as the ‘the most permanent, as well as the most profitable, gold field’.24 March, 1852 - James Keppie arrives at Richardson’s Point James Keppie had decided some months ago to establish an inn and store at Richardson’s Point; a location central to the diggings that collectively made up the Meroo Goldfields. As 1852 dawned and the news of continuing success on the Meroo Goldfields kept filtering back to Maitland with returning diggers and storekeepers, Keppie stepped up his preparations. On the 12th and 21st of February, Keppie placed advertisements in his local newspaper, the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River Advertiser, still seeking to let out his steam mill. By March, prospective customers were being urged to settle their accounts at Keppie’s Flour Mill with Mr J. Longbottom. He was now able to uproot his family and establish himself at the Meroo Goldfields after placing his local business interests in the hands of lessees and family. James had married Elizabeth Powell at the Presbyterian Saint Andrews Scots Church in Sydney on the 15th of March 1839. Together they had at least three children, Walter, James and Sarah, before Elizabeth’s death at Paterson at just 26 on the 28th of May, 1846. James married Margaret Stirling in 1850, though, there is no record of children from this union. She died just 13 years later

aged 35 years on the 6th of January 1863.25 Later that same year James married Elizabeth Tucker and went on to have a further five children, though, no mention is made of his first family, or previous marriages.26 The end of February 1852 saw two horse teams and drays loaded up with all that would be required to establish themselves, and along with the drivers and young man named McIntosh, they started the trip up the valley. They soon fell in with a number of other parties making the trip as well and enjoyed their company as they made camp that night. Making good progress, it wasn’t until they neared Cassilis that they had their first stroke of bad luck. About 18 kilometres from Cassilis, McIntosh attempted to jump off the dray only to land awkwardly and fall under it in the process having his leg run over by one of the wheels. The result was a badly fractured leg which was tended to as best it could be by one of the drivers as while awaiting the arrival of a doctor. When the doctor arrived, he declared there was nothing more could be done, so they left McIntosh at Cassilis to recover in the company of James’ son Walter. Thereafter, they made good progress despite the numerous wet crossings in the absence of bridges and the rutted tracks that passed as roads. They crossed the Cudgegong River and entered Mudgee passing by the stores kept by John Dickson and Mrs Lamont, and William Blackman’s pub. From there, they made their way through the grazing country around Grattai before climbing the range and, ultimately, descending onto the goldfields. Once at the goldfields, they were greeted by the sight of miners of all descriptions colourfully decked out in the gear favoured by the diggers, bustling about their search for gold.27 Some may even have been wearing the many coloured Ophir or Turon hats on sale at B. Mountcastle’s French Hat Factory in Market St, Sydney.28 By early March, Keppie had established himself well enough to post a reward for the return of some horses that had been lost or stolen for which £1 and 10 shillings would be payable. The horses could be returned either to himself at the Meroo Diggings or his brother, Peter, at the Plough Inn, Paterson.29 March, 1852 – Californian miners on the Western Goldfields. The diggers represented a diverse population drawn from all over the globe, and, inevitably, tensions arose over the different perspectives, beliefs and lifestyles they brought with them. The miners drawn across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco were generally classed an unruly, lawless and boastful bunch, with few of the civilising traits common to those born into the British Empire. They carried with them an air of superiority borne of experience in their own gold rush, and their supposedly superior breeding – being of free men rather than convicts. Their ‘San Franciscan morality’30 was viewed with suspicion by the British subjects of the Colony of NSW who felt they would contribute little to the generally good conduct on the goldfields. The experience of a ‘respectable resident of Bathurst’31 was cited in the Empire on Friday the 5th of March as a prime example of all that the San Franciscan miners represented. Embarking on the mail coach from Sydney, bound for his home town, the Bathurst man settled himself into the box seat next to the driver only to discover the coach was otherwise wholly

occupied by some half dozen rowdy Californians. Their appearance was the first thing noted by the new passenger particularly the ostentatious display of bowie knives and revolvers tucked into their belts. One of their party felt aggrieved at the seating arrangements claiming to have made a prior booking for the same seat. They commenced badgering the Bathurst man, bringing into question his parentage, supposing him to be a convict, or at the very least, the son of one. Upon being reprimanded by the young coach driver at the next stop, the Californian took matter into his own hands. To demonstrate how they did things in his homeland, the leader of the party, described as a ‘rough, brawny, savage looking fellow’,32 grabbed the driver by the collar and threatened in language coarse to give him a ducking in a nearby watering trough. With his pals egging him on, the Californian was only swayed by the profuse apologies proffered by the cowed driver. As the trip progressed west, the Californians intermittently kept up their tirade amusing themselves by singing ballads derogatory of their host colony and its penal settlement history. In addition to pointing out the local shortcomings they were keen to extol the virtues of their own way of dispensing justice. Several of the party made much of their membership of the San Francisco Vigilante Committee and made clear their belief that local laws meant little to men such as them. Upon arriving at Springwood, they disembarked briefly to rouse the local constabulary from their beds to impart their grievances about the seating arrangements. Ultimately unsuccessful, the rest of the trip was spent in silence, at least on the part of the locals, who decided the only way to handle the situation was to ignore the various threats and epithets emanating from the cabin of the coach. Reaching their destination, the Californians made their way immediately to the Turon diggings no doubt leaving behind two much-frazzled Australians. March, 1852 – A mail service from Mudgee to Meroo. Diggers working the pickings around the Meroo were gratified to hear of the establishment of a mail service between the diggings and Mudgee. The mail service may only have consisted of a laden horse, but it was, nonetheless, an improvement on the ad hoc arrangements in place up to this point. Questions were soon asked, however, about the lack of transparency in government procurement that saw the contract awarded without a proper tender process. No advertisement was apparent upon scrutiny of recent issues of the Government Gazette, and the awarding of the contract in the absence of due process ‘smack[ed] of favouritism or jobbery’.33 March, 1852 – The inflationary effects of the Gold Rush. In despatches reminiscent of public discourse 160 years later, concern was being expressed at the inflationary effects of the 19th century mining boom that was the gold rush. Just as the 21st century minerals boom put pressure on those not directly benefitting from the opportunities, the impacts of the 19th century gold rush were being felt by the residents of Mudgee in increased rents for both domestic and business premises. In one case, a business property was lent to a Brisbane identity at the rate £100 per year that has previously been let at just 10 shillings per week.34

March, 1852 – Another Meroo nugget. A nugget weighing in at 251/4 oz was found on the Meroo on one of its famed quartz ridges by a man who’d been searching fruitlessly for his horse. He quickly realised the value of his luck by selling the nugget to Mr Thomas L’Estrange of Mudgee. Turning it up with the toe of his boot, the accidental prospector managed to unearth a nugget almost devoid of impurities save for some small lumps of quartz. Needless to say, once news got out of his extraordinary luck, the site was descended upon by the masses and yielded its riches to many more.35 March, 1852 – Conveyance from Mudgee to the Meroo Diggings. In addition to the recently established mail service, the Meroo diggers were also about to benefit from a newly announced commercial venture of Mudgee businessman, Thomas L’Estrange. Advertising in the Bathurst Free Press & Mining Journal’s Saturday edition of the 13th of March for the benefit of its Mudgee, Meroo and Maitland subscribers, L’Estrange detailed his new service. His two-horse carriage had a seating capacity of six and would run between Mudgee and Richardson’s Point. Named ‘The Miner’, he described it as a ‘commodious conveyance’, and in a sign of the intemperate times perhaps, added that it was driven by a sober and careful Coachman. It was scheduled to leave his New Welcome Inn at Mudgee on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9.00 o’clock. It would leave Richardson’s Point at 9.00 o’clock on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. For a fee of 10s 6d each way, passengers could be assured of a journey free of accidents and with public safety of the utmost consideration. Luggage would be carried free up to 14lbs with 6d charged for additional pound. March, 1852 –The fluctuating fortunes of the Meroo. Diggers returning to Maitland were a source of news for those still to make up their minds as to whether they should try their luck. By the middle of March, however, many were returning with less than encouraging news about the diggings discovered at Dirt Hole Creek in February. They were telling all who would listen that many rich holes were to be found, but they were interspersed with plenty of country that had failed to yield the much hoped for riches so eagerly anticipated. While a strong population remained in situ, numbers fluctuated as the Turon continued to dry up and men were driven to chase after rumours of new diggings. March, 1852 –The bushranging menace again. Rumours of bushrangers terrorising travellers on the goldfields route beyond Coolah had been raging around Maitland all month. It was rumoured that a gang of 14 well-armed bushrangers were firmly ensconced in the seemingly inaccessible caves that dotted the cliff face along the route. They were well supplied and even had a fleet of drays they used to carry off the ill-gotten gains. They were being accused of all manner of outrages, including the murder of travellers to the goldfields, leaving the roadside littered with their victims. Their depredations were alleged to extend to the murder of a well-known landholder from the Coonabarabran district, Mr Weston, along with his

wife and daughter. All fears were soon allayed, however, when the mail arrived on the 11th of March carrying letters from the supposed victim himself. His letters contained no mention of the alleged gang of bushrangers or the prevalence of murder and robbery north of the Erskine (Talbragar) River. With that, the matter was considered closed, though, bushrangers of all stripes would continue to ply their trade in the district for at least another 25 years. March, 1852 – The new diggings at Devil’s Hole Creek. Parties of miners had been at it for over a fortnight along Devil’s Hole Creek favouring ground behind the pub that had been worked before and abandoned. Many of those endeavouring to go one better were soon discovering precisely why the first on the scene had been quickly discouraged. Some, though, were digging down from ten to fourteen feet and finding themselves well rewarded for their efforts with returns of 2 to 7 ounces a day. The lot of a miner was long hours of hard physical labour; the sort of labour that generates a thirst. It was, therefore, not surprising that where the miners went, so too the sly grog tent appeared soon after. The diggings at Devil’s Hole Creek were no exception with the miners soon getting a reputation for their consumption of alcohol and flagrant disregard for the sanctity of the Sabbath. A legal drink could soon be had at George Miller’s White Conduit House, opening on the 1st of April; however, in the meantime men favoured the sly grog tents with their custom. One fine morning, the police raided one such tent and seized seven kegs containing rum and wine the sly-grog sellers later being fined £30 for their sins. Another party found guilty also received the same penalty. Gambling, a favourite pastime of the diggers, was rife on the goldfields in the absence of other recreational pastimes and the abundance of gold to hand. At Devil’s Hole Creek, the more respectable were ill at ease with the prevalence of gambling and were particularly aggrieved at the boldness of those indulging in the pastime on Sundays. March, 1852 – The doings at Richardson’s Point. Richardson’s Point was quickly establishing itself as the heart of the Meroo Goldfields with its commercial lessees establishing themselves as indispensable to the miners in the surrounding diggings. Three stores were in competition for the miner’s business in obtaining provisions resulting in healthy competition keeping prices at levels described as ‘pretty cheap’.36 Enquiring miners would find bacon from 10 pence to 1 shilling per pound, flour anywhere from 25 shillings to 30 shillings per 100 lbs, tea at 2 shillings per lb., beef at two pence per lb., tobacco at 3 shillings per lb., and soap for 6 pence per lb. The price list reveals the rudimentary and repetitive diet of the diggers on the goldfields one high in protein but low in fibre. Richardon’s Point’s blacksmith may have been aware of the rumours of bushrangers along the tracks to the goldfields reported in the newspapers, but, for him, the dangers were soon realised to be much closer to home. Whilst out and about, he had his tent robbed of his takings, gold and a saddle on the evening of Friday the 12th of March. Testimony to the difficulty of securing a calico

tent against the nefarious intentions of some on the goldfields, he lost fourteen £1 notes and half an ounce of gold in the robbery. Others on the Point were having a better time of it in their search for the fine-grained gold typical of the locality. Claims were active in the bed of the Meroo, and its banks were the subject of investigation as well. Among the many miners, some were doing very well indeed while others were making a living and some having no luck at all. Of those parties finding gold on the flat, yields of 45 ounces in just a few days were being reported. Many parties were making 1 to 3 ounces per day from their claims in the bed of the river. One party even turned up a nugget weighing one ounce, rare for the Point, where the gold was mostly fine grained. Working a claim on the flats and banks of the river meant excavating with pick, shovel and crowbar to a depth of about twelve feet (approximately 4 metres) to win gold-bearing soil for washing. Cunningham and his party, the beneficiaries of the 45 ounces mentioned, took three days to excavate their claim and spent the next three washing their spoil. March, 1852 – Death at Devil’s Hole Creek. The primitive methods employed by the amateur miners on the goldfields of the early 1850s meant that cave-ins and tunnel collapses were not uncommon along the loamy banks of the creeks. On Monday, the 16th of March, tragedy struck at the claim of Maitland boys John Long and Fred Tucker on the Devil’s Hole Creek diggings. Having already dug out their claim to create a hole ten feet deep, eight feet wide and ten feet long, the two men commenced undermining a further portion of their claim. Long had the idea of clearing off the top of the remainder of their claim and throwing the soil back into the worked section. He commenced tunnelling under the bank of dirt digging away at the sides for a distance about three feet. Next, he went at the earth with a crowbar in a bid to break up the overburden, serving only to crack the bank of earth and failing to drop it into the hole. Deciding he would need to undermine it further he went back under the newly excavated section and had been at it for only three minutes or so when the whole lot fell in upon him. The Fitzpatrick brothers in the next claim instantly downed tools upon seeing the earth give way and jumped in to lend a hand. Fred Tucker was lucky. He’d been trapped but not covered by the earth. His mate, though, was not so fortunate. With Tucker pointing them in the right direction, the Fitzpatrick boys dug for half an hour before they found the crushed and lifeless body of John Long. It was later estimated that about 20 tons of earth had landed on him when it collapsed. Long’s body was taken into Mudgee where he was buried the following day.37 March, 1852 – Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations. The tragedy of the previous couple of days wasn’t going to dampen the spirits of the diggers on Saint Patrick’s Day. Indicative of the makeup of the mining population on the Meroo, the popular Catholic day of celebration was marked with gusto by many of the miners around Richardson’s Point and Devils Hole Creek. As ever, gambling featured large in the festivities with prices offered on competitors in a number of hastily arranged running matches. That other vice common on the

goldfields, drinking, was also ‘going on to a great extent’ culminating in about thirty or so men ‘having a jolly good fight among themselves’.38 Celebrations continued into the next day with a boxing match organised for a purse of £20. Peter Bradley and an unnamed Aboriginal fought each other bare-knuckled over 26 rounds lasting one hour and two minutes. Bradley prevailed in the end to claim the purse no doubt satisfying a good number of side bets into the bargain. March, 1852 – Prospecting and digging on the Meroo Goldfields. At Hunter’s Point, opposite the stockyard on Devil’s Hole Creek, the newly-opened diggings were proving highly remunerative for many of those employing their labour there. Parties of two to four men were making between two to seven ounces of gold per day from their claims. The White brothers of Parramatta had employed two Aboriginals to assist them in their labours and were said to be doing a ‘first rate stroke’ while others were ‘making good wages’.39 Typical of the time, there were many other parties wandering about the creeks and flats prospecting for new opportunities no doubt hopeful of being the first upon a rich new field ripe for the picking. The respite from the wet end to January had been welcomed by the miners who’d eventually been able to return to their bed claims as flows receded. As darkness fell upon the diggings on Friday the 19th of March, though, the humidity was broken by more rain. Initially welcomed, it continued throughout the night and soon the miners knew it would bring them grief. And so it was, that as day dawned the next morning, they were greeted by the site of collapsed walls, holes full of water, and an energetic creek. The Meroo River had risen six feet by midnight and swept all before it, taking cradles, troughs and sundry other equipment in its fury nor was there to be any respite. The next night, a fierce thunder storm followed Friday’s heavy rain bringing strong and gusty winds upsetting many calico tents leaving the inhabitants with another problem to overcome. March, 1852 – Receipts from the Gold Escort for the 18th of March. oz. dwt. grs. Turon - 1050 3 0 Meroo - 904 7 0 Ophir - 223 2 6

In addition to the officially delivered gold, travelling by private means to Sydney was yet another nugget from the Meroo Goldfields, consisting almost entirely of gold. It was weighed at 31 oz. 4 dwts. and had been found at Long Creek by Mr. Connelly of Mudgee. The nugget was quickly snapped up by Messrs. Brush & McDowell of George Street, Sydney. As the month wore on the price being paid for gold continued to drop and so too did the cargo of the gold escort. Miners responded to the lower prices by holding onto their hard-won gains using their gold only for the purchase of their immediate needs.40

March, 1852 – Wet diggings and another death. The rainy weather continued to dominate the daily routine of the diggings as March wore on. At Hunter’s Point, diggers were busy bailing out their holes and digging drains to carry away the water. Despite the hiatus in meaningful digging, a couple of people managed to get lucky with one women picking up a nugget weighing 3oz 16dwts. Down at the junction of Devil’s Hole Creek and Long Creek, the early success of some enterprising prospectors saw the rushed marking out of all available ground for the much sought-after claims. At depths of around ten feet, gold was found in abundance by those first on the scene holding out the promise of another rich diggings on the already well-populated goldfield. Another man by the name of Lawford was fortunate enough to unearth a nugget weighed at over 14oz; less fortunate was Edward Woolley who died after becoming involved in a fight with another man one Saturday night. After knocking him to the ground, his assailant took to him with part of the axletree of a cart repeatedly striking him around the loins and leaving Woolley in a fight for his life. Despite the subsequent attentions of Dr. Street, Woolley died three days later. It was later claimed that Woolley’s state of drunkenness contributed most to his untimely death while another claimed, not unreasonably, that his assailant should’ve been held responsible. March, 1852 – Rumours of a 400lb find at Louisa Creek. Louisa Creek’s reputation combined with the rumour prone nature of the goldfields to spread reports of an alleged find by the Quartz Crushing Company at its operations on the famous quartz ridge. News was filtering back to Sydney that a find of gold weighing about 400lbs had been made in the quartz lode on their claim at Louisa Creek, but, as yet, the story was unconfirmed.41 April, 1852 – Returning to the Turon from the Dirt Holes diggings. April saw the decline of river flows again allowing those on the dry diggings to begin contemplating a return to their claims in the bed of the Turon at Sofala where the diverting Mr. Burton’s Circus had been turning a strong trade. Large numbers were once again making the journey along the now well-worn track between the Meroo diggings and the Turon diggings. Several parties returned much the richer for their endeavours and were keen to sell the nuggetty gold they’d found there. One such group included a party of four Californian miners who’d amassed 250 ounces of gold in their six weeks over at the growing Dirt Hole Creek diggings. They sold it to one of the local merchants on the Turon diggings, Mr Mendel, for 61 shillings per ounce.42 Others were returning to Sydney with their own stories of success to tell. John Holman, proprietor of the White Horse Tavern in George Street, Sydney, had returned with a 40-ounce nugget, interspersed with red quartz, that he’d obtained from the Dirt Hole Creek diggings. It had been found by a Newcastle party who’d also discovered several other nuggets that had a combined weight of about 80ounces.43

April, 1852 – ‘Makin’ wages’. No matter which goldfield a digger might be optimistically labouring on there were certain characteristics ascribed to all when it came to their willingness to divulge information to strangers on their progress. One correspondent, reporting on the progress of 200 or so diggers working a newly opened gully on the Turon, provided a pen portrait of his experiences there. Working his way up the gully, stopping to enquire of the parties working at the numerous claims, he received a range of responses to his politely put questions. Generally, the responses were vague and non-committal – a sure sign, he felt, that men were doing very well indeed. He observed that when a digger disinterestedly replies that he’s ‘not doing much – doing just a little – enough to clear expenses’, it’s likely that he is in fact making plenty. Conversely, when he leans back on his shovel or pick, and sighing, looks you in the eye before launching into a monologue of regret and woe – that man is genuine. A third type will boast without invitation about the riches of his claim and expected fortunes in the future. Don’t believe him – he’s only trying to inflate the sale price of his claim.44 April, 1852 – Dickson’s Nugget turns up at a Sydney jeweller’s. John Punyer had been found not guilty on the 24th of February of the charge of theft brought by John Dickson, and duly discharged, but the matter was far from closed. Proving himself a man not to be trifled with, Dickson continued his search for the lost nugget after reading reports in the Empire and Sydney Morning Herald of a suspiciously similar nugget. The nugget was proudly on display in the shop window of a George Street jeweller in Sydney by the name of Messrs. Brush & McDonnell after having been purchased by them on the 17th of March. Dickson decided to pursue the matter and made haste to Sydney arriving on the night of Wednesday the 31st of March. The next day, he confronted the jewellers and inspected the nugget in the company of Mr McDonnell, who informed Dickson that he’d purchased it for £90 from two elderly men one of whom was named Connelly. Initially unsure it was his, Dickson sought second opinions from Mr S.D. Gordon, a Bridge St merchant, and his travelling companion, William Blackman, now a Mudgee innkeeper, who confirmed it the same as that he’d seen in Dickson’s Mudgee store. That was enough for Dickson who then had a summons issued to have the matter heard in the courts. The court heard that the jewellers had not done anything illegal in procuring the nugget in the usual manner. For Dickson, though, there was the small matter of the £90 of which he felt he’d been robbed. It was suggested by the defence that an appropriate course of action might be to take action in the civil court to recover the value of the lost nugget. Bush and McDonnell were understandably keen to get their nugget returned to them as well; it being taken into the custody of the police awaiting the courts determination. After protracted argument over the rightful possessor of the nugget, for the time being, it was decided the police would continue to hold it until the courts handed down their decision the following Wednesday.

After the hearing, Dickson had gone back to Mudgee, but, in the meantime, Inspector Singleton had located one of the alleged sellers of the nugget, a man by the name of William Chapman. Brought before the court on a charge of being an accessory to the theft of the nugget, he denied having any part in it initially having recently returned empty-handed from the Braidwood diggings. Under cross examination, though, he admitted to having accompanied a man to the jewellers to sell a large nugget. That man had been the occupant of a tent two along from him on the goldfields. He was ultimately granted bail after pleading good character and a dependent family. A week later, he was discharged from custody in the absence of any evidence implicating him in the theft.45 April, 1852 – Long Creek comes alive: schemers and reprobates. In respect of the Meroo Goldfields, April could well be considered the month of Long Creek. Recent discoveries near its junction with the Meroo River had seen a rush to the area culminating in upwards of 600 diggers working claims shoulder to shoulder. Clad almost uniformly in red or blue woollen shirts, fustian (a heavy cotton material) trousers and any variety of hat ‘worn to suit … the wearer’, the digger presented a ‘wild and somewhat savage appearance’.46 Common to the goldfields, the 600 or so diggers at Long Creek accommodated themselves in light, oiled calico tents in which they slept wrapped in a heavy blanket. Their equipment was rudimentary and guaranteed many a laborious day’s work if they were to meet with success. Typically found among the parties was a pointed shovel, short and stout pick, crowbars of various sizes and weights, tin dishes, buckets for carrying water and soil, and the ubiquitous cradle for washing the gold free of its earthy host. Digging away at the banks of the creek, the miners had first to strip off the ‘top stuff’ to reach the gold bearing sediment about 14 feet below. Bed claims had proved worthless at Long Creek, but it was felt that was no hardship, as the floods that had blighted the Turon’s bed claims would not be a feature here. Besides, the bank claims along Long Creek were proving highly remunerative with many parties accruing a pound’s worth of gold each day and some much more. Getting the gold once the over burden had been stripped off meant washing the stiff clay host. At diggings such as Long Creek, men would cart their spoil by the bucket load, or in sacks carried on their backs, to the nearest available waterhole. The more profitable and well capitalised parties often employed labourers to do this work providing an entry point into the diggings for those without the means to pay for equipment and a licence. Each load carted to the creek and washed often yielded as much as 3oz of gold at Long Creek; for those working on their own and carrying it on their backs yields were around one quarter to one half of an ounce per day. Each day parties could often look forward to having accrued up to 8oz of gold. There were, of course, some who tried and failed before moving on to test the veracity of yet another rumour. Those willing to trust in the virtues of hard labour could be comforted by reports they were assured of success in their endeavours.

Others preferred to make their money off the diggers themselves; notable among this ‘scheming and reprobate class’47 of entrepreneurs were the sly-grog sellers. Long Creek was no different to any other diggings with sly-grog tents soon appearing to supply the seemingly inexhaustible thirst of the hard-working parties many with gold in their pockets. So many were they at Long Creek in fact that they were described as ‘not only numerous, but numberless.’48 The difficulty in policing the disparate diggings around the goldfields is evident in the popular view that the sly-grog tents continued their activities unmolested by the relatively small contingent of ‘blue bottles’ as the police force was derisively known.49 April, 1852 – Discovery of Gold at Upper Meroo on Spicer’s Creek. The discoveries continued in early 1852 with another field opening up in April at Upper Meroo on Spicer’s Creek, so named for the local landholder, Thomas Spicer, who would later cash in on finds on his cattle run. Suggestive of complexity in the Meroo Goldfield’s population, the find was made by a husband and wife team who persevered in isolation for five weeks before their secret got out. In that time the couple made £263 from their clandestine endeavours rocking the cradle. Soon the creek was besieged by over 200 eager diggers hastily turning the earth inside out in hope of unearthing its hidden riches. April, 1852 – Water scarce at the dry diggings of Tambaroora. The dry diggings of Tambaroora at the southern edge of the Meroo Goldfields continued to reap rewards for those willing to dig the deep shafts necessary to reach the layers rich with gold. Over 458oz had been conveyed by the gold escort to Sydney in April already. While the freedom afforded by the absence of flooding was a drawcard during wet times, when things dried up the availability of water for washing quickly dominated the conversation of all relying on it. The construction of dams to conserve water specifically to relieve the precarious nature of its availability became a priority despite the expense. April, 1852 – Hunter’s Point – Devil’s Hole Creek. Thursday, 15th of April saw the circus arrive to perform outside of George Miller’s hotel on Devil’s Hole Creek. Bringing his talented team of equestrians to perform their tricks, Jones’ performers entertained the diggers over two nights in a successful diversion from the monotony of their daily labours. The diggers at Hunter’s Point on Devil’s Hole Creek had been left cleaning out their holes yet again after the rain early in the month but by the middle of April were back in full swing. One party standing out from the crowd on the diggings was that of Thomas Drynan and Michael Murphy with the Fitzpatricks also making a good go of it. Working hard, the diggers could make between 2 to 6ozs. of gold per day. Another party, led by Messrs Rush and Webber of the Namoi, were obtaining 6ozs. per day from their claim but had also made some good finds elsewhere on the diggings.

April, 1852 – Gold at Married Man’s Creek. Not content with confining himself to his successful claim at Devil’s Hole Creek, Rush had been prospecting further up the Meroo River toward the recently discovered Spicer’s Creek diggings. On a tributary of the Meroo River, called Married Man’s Creek, just downstream of Thomas Spicer’s holding, he’d found some beautiful specimens of gold and precious gems. Among his haul were some small diamonds, about the size of a pea, nuggets of gold, and platinum. The pennyweight of gold was said to resemble a man’s features, and along with some smaller octagon shaped pieces found in Married Man’s Creek, represented just part of his varied finds. April, 1852 – Richardson’s Point – Meroo River. Positive reports were also being received from one of the earliest and most prolific of diggings on the Meroo Goldfields at Richardson’s Point. Diggers such as William Staunton, James Crenon and Michael Donnelly were washing up between 4 and 5ozs. per day from their claims. Other diggers included George Wells, Thomas Dedman, George Champion, Hugh McFadden, Robert Kerrigan, George Trubridge, Armstrong, Fitzgerald and Lowe. All of them were busy digging out their claims and then spending the next couple of days washing the spoil to separate the gold. Yields varied from as little as 2ozs per day up to as much as 10ozs from a good claim. The higher yields were obtained by those parties with the means to hire men to do the heavy work and keep the dirt up to the cradle. The more that could be washed the more there was to be made. Wells and Dedman were one such party utilising the assistance of labourers to make their claims pay. April, 1852 – Postal Communications with the diggings at Dirt Hole Creek. The prevalence and currency of rumours among the diggers on the goldfields can be in large part attributed to the lack of organised postal services between the various goldfields around the Meroo and its surrounding towns. Mudgee, Sofala and Bathurst relied upon news brought informally by travelling miners or the agents of the goldfield’s businessmen and storekeepers. Consequently, anyone looking for the latest intelligence on where the best digging was to be had was at the mercy of the latest rumours doing the rounds. The rich diggings at Dirt Hole Creek had proven itself more than a rumour, however, and was estimated to be subject to the depredations of about 2000 diggers who had been in occupation for about six weeks. They occupied every bit of spare ground along the creek and spilled over into the bed of the creek itself many having arrived from the flooded and nearly deserted Ophir diggings. Those along the creek on the dry ‘surface diggings’ were making in the order of 4ozs of gold per load with labourers charging 10 shillings to cart the dirt three miles to the nearest water to be washed.50 The going in the bed claims was no doubt easier, and more remunerative, yielding around 6ozs per day. Many parties were being well rewarded for their labours at their claims, yet no reliable means of postal communication had been established. Consequently, newspapers were seldom seen, and the diggers seldom bothered sending letters due to the need to rely on private hands for their delivery.

The situation had become obvious to those in Bathurst over the course of the past fortnight as more and more diggers started to sell their gold in town, and in the course of doing so, spread the news about Dirt Hole Creek. A petition was taken up on the goldfields seeking a bi-weekly service between Tambaroora and Bathurst which was signed by 200 gold diggers and storekeepers. In the meantime, an entrepreneurial local by the name of Mr Rotton seized upon the opportunity and began preparations to establish his own daily run between Bathurst and the new diggings. The editorial in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal couched its concerns in terms of serving the interests of civilised men, fostering business generally and preventing what it saw as the likely ‘social retrogression’ of a ‘purely mining population’. There seems little doubt, however, that the paper’s proprietor, William Farrand, also saw a business opportunity for himself if he could encourage the means by which his paper might be carried to another 2000 potential customers.51 April, 1852 – Assault at Long Creek: James Kennedy. An incident at Long Creek highlights both the downside of the prevalence of alcohol on the goldfields and the early inclusion of families on the goldfields as miners settled in to make their living in the new industry. On Friday the 23rd of April, James Kennedy was placed in the dock at the Bathurst Court House charged with assaulting Ellen White. It was alleged, in the afternoon of Thursday the 8th of April, Kennedy had thrown rocks at Mrs White accompanying his volley with an expletive-laden rant. Mrs White was at her family’s tent with her son when she saw Kennedy purposefully making his way from his tent towards her. She knew that earlier that same day he’d had an argument with her husband, and so, fearing the worst, sent her young son to fetch his father quickly. Upon reaching the tent, Kennedy proceeded to let two good sized rocks fly striking Mrs White on the leg. She turned and started to run away only to be struck another blow on her back. The Crown brought Mr. White and his brother as witnesses who, not surprisingly, both corroborated Mrs. White’s evidence. The injured party’s husband even offered up mitigating circumstances for Kennedy’s behaviour suggesting their relationship hadn’t always been so acrimonious. White stated that he believed Kennedy to be ‘labouring under the horrors’52 at the time of his assault. His claim was confirmed by Dr McDonald from Mudgee who claimed to be familiar with Kennedy and confirmed him to be affected to such a degree as to be rendered almost mad upon occasion. Dr McDonald then inspected the wound on Mrs White’s leg and offered the medical opinion that it was not a serious injury as it hadn’t broken the skin. The excuses offered for Kennedy’s behaviour did not sway the jury who, despite a not guilty plea from the prisoner, saw fit to find him guilty of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to six weeks in prison at Bathurst Gaol with hard labour - enough time to sober him up completely, perhaps. April, 1852 – Louisa Creek Nugget. Whilst nothing had come of the rumours earlier in the month about the monster find of 400lbs of gold at Louisa Creek, late in the month news filtered out that a 35-ounce nugget had been purchased

at Bathurst from a digger on the goldfields there. The nugget weighed precisely 35oz 15 dwts, 5ozs of which being the quartz in which the gold had been found.53 May, 1852 – Gold Circular: received at the Colonial Treasury. Receipts were up for the end of April as diggers got back to work after resurrecting their flooded claims and began to once again sell their gold on the back of rising prices. Gold was received from all quarters of the Western Goldfields via the gold escorts in the last week of April with the Meroo contributing over 900ozs, Tambaroora 642ozs, and Sofala 1587 ozs. May, 1852 – ‘Doing a tidy stroke’ at Hunter’s Point, Devil’s Hole Creek. Fortunes were being made on the banks of Devil’s Hole Creek at Hunter’s Point according to the Maitland Mercury’s correspondent at the Meroo Diggings. Some were coming by their fortune through speculating in claims while others were retrieving large amounts of alluvial gold from their holes. The correspondent himself purchased a claim for £35 and promptly made it pay with several days of hard work yielding him his money back and more. Others had sold two fifteen feet blocks for £60 and were offered £108 for the rest of the claim. The high prices were backed up by the success of other diggers who were yielding anywhere from 4 to 7 ounces of gold per day on the Devil’s Hole Creek field. Meanwhile, the crowded conditions at Pure Point were no impediment to success with parties reported to be earning from 10 to 15 shillings per day from their claims. May, 1852 – A postal service for the Western Goldfields. ‘Direct postal communication with the goldfields’ cried the headline as the Maitland Mercury proclaimed the completion of plans for the establishment of a postal service to run between the Hunter River District to Cassilis and on to Mudgee. The two-horse cart was to carry its load of tidings weekly, something of a luxury in the weekly districts, but hopes were high it would be extended even further to run twice a week in the new year. The new service was welcome news to the many diggers on the Meroo and Louisa Goldfields hailing from the Hunter district with the prospect of regular communication with loved ones left behind relieving the burden of absence.54 May, 1852 – Meroo Diggings: the ‘poor man’s goldfield’. The Meroo Diggings were quickly getting a reputation, to those in the know, for the evenness of the diggings which saw it viewed favourably to other fields said to be more ‘feast and famine’.55 The Turon diggings at Sofala had captured the public’s imagination with their richness and had the colony’s newspapers in their thrall as well, though, their vulnerability to flooding saw them compared unfavourably with the Meroo by those with a vested interest in its goldfields. The Turon’s proximity to Bathurst, and the presence of a thriving Sofala with storekeepers of all stripes, meant new diggers headed there in large numbers and left the Meroo Diggings languishing as the poor cousin. Despite this, any digger on the Meroo would tell you that gold was more likely to be found wherever you were digging on its fields, with Devil’s Hole Creek, in particular, well known

for the even distribution of gold. New diggers were encouraged to try their hand at the Meroo, described as the ‘poor man’s gold field’, for its well attested virtue as a likely place to turn a wage. It was seen as a sure bet for anyone starting out with just the essentials with those willing to work hard likely to find reward before regret. Commercial enterprise went hand in hand with the efforts of the diggers ensuring the prompt erection of canvas tents serving as stores catering for every need of the miners. Devil’s Hole Creek was no exception, and those who’d set up there were no doubt anxious to capture as much business as possible. Unfortunately for them, the perception of Sofala as the place to do business meant they were missing out on the money and gold that gravitated toward the Turon. Anxious to turn things around, they agitated in the press through intermediaries such as George Forbes who was only too happy to espouse the virtues of the Meroo. Meroo storekeepers also sold much of their gold at Sofala artificially inflating the figures for that goldfield to the detriment of the Meroo. One such gold buyer, Mr. Fitzsimmons, was reported by Forbes to have claimed he routinely sold upwards of 70-80 ounces of gold at Sofala consisting of the proceeds of the diggers’ endeavour at Devil’s Hole. May, 1852 – A correspondent sets out from Mudgee for the diggings. The fervour of the gold fields was not confined to those in pursuit of wealth with nearby towns and villages also the setting for much social activity as ‘gold and gaiety’ became the ‘order of the day’.56 Mudgee was booming courtesy of its proximity to the Meroo goldfields and the never- ending stream of young men on the move from the Hunter to try their luck. With them came a desire for fun, and dances hosted by the local bachelors became the setting. Attended by the belles of the town and a handful of local dignitaries, they were grand affairs as one Sydney journalist found out on his visit to Meroo on behalf of his employer, the Sydney Morning Herald. Marvelling at the setting, he described a ballroom decorated lavishly with roses and other flowers of all sorts intertwined with the glittering chandeliers. Clearly enamoured of his company, he breathily described the equally exquisite bouquets held in the ‘fair hands’ and on the ‘heaving breasts’ of the ‘graceful nymphs’ on the arms of their beaus. With a guest list including Chief Gold Commissioner Mr Hardy, and Messrs Green and Zouch of the same class, the ball included a supper and ‘refreshments’ for the participants’ enjoyment. To the strains of Mr Burton’s band, and the singing of the local ladies during intervals, the night was passed in dancing and good-natured carousing until the first signs of dawn through the autumnal mists along the Cudgegong River. Showing great stamina, the Sydney Morning Herald’s correspondent roused himself after only an hour’s sleep before joining his companions and setting out to explore the Meroo Goldfields the next morning. He later described scenes of great endeavour and success among the diggers on Bruce’s Creek who were finding nuggets as big as a man’s thumb. Venturing deeper into the goldfields he proceeded up Long Creek where he found men prospecting among the sediments and sinking deep holes to the tune of 10 to 20 ounces per day. Nuggetty Gully, a tributary of Long Creek, was

groaning under the weight of diggers along with nearby fields at Campbell’s Creek, Married Man’s Creek and the Meroo up at Spicer’s diggings. Pyramul Creek, or ‘Byramul’, was host to a small party who volunteered nothing more than that they were ‘making…very fair wages’. The prevailing dry conditions were making their impact felt at the diggings at Tambaroora where men were lumping their loads considerable distance for washing. Despite this, parties were doing well with over 1200 diggers quartered in the 400 tents counted in the area encompassed by Golden Gully, Bald Hills, Stockyard and Dirt Holes Creek. Success on these fields was counted at 10 ounces per day, though, finds of up to 75 ounces in a day were being reported among the holes littering the ridges on which men had fallen, shovel and pick in hand, with intent. May, 1852 – A Scot’s tribute to Burns and Bruce ends badly at the hands of the law. Social festivities might be the order of the day in town, but there was clearly a time and a place for that sort of thing, not to mention a form considered acceptable to polite society. So it was that a party of rowdy Scots found themselves on the receiving end of the authorities’ ire when they congregated in a tent opposite the Commissioner’s lodgings for an evening of song and dance. Aided by the lubricating properties of locally procured ‘Johnny Barleyseed’,57 the canvas tent billowed to the strains of the bagpipes and the revered poetry of Burns enthusiastically recited by the boisterous crowd. Whilst in full voice, the party was abruptly ended when the police arrived to put a stop to the ‘riot’, without invoking the relevant legislation, and took two of the ringleaders into custody after disbanding the offending diggers. No doubt, the local police were on the alert for the suspicious activity of those in thrall to the ever-present sly-grog shops and were not inclined to brook any nonsense. The routine punishment for drunkenness was to be chained to a tree for the night to ponder the error of one’s ways; a sobering enough prospect on a cold autumn night on the Meroo Goldfields. May, 1852 – A dry argument at the Meroo Diggings. Late autumn on the Meroo diggings saw the dry conditions set in with a consequent reduction in activity along the water-dependent alluvial diggings of the parched Turon and Meroo Rivers and their myriad tributaries. In response, miners moved en masse to the dry tableland diggings at Tambaroora where the feverish activity continued apace. A large quartz vein was opened up on the lower Turon River near its junction with the Macquarie promising rich rewards for those hurriedly sending off claim applications. The consensus was, the large mass of quartz fragments littering the ridges thereabouts held the promise of yet more riches. May, 1852 – Found: one button from a regimental coat, forty years old. At Louisa Creek a digger unearthed an unexpected find in his hole when, upon washing his spoil, he discovered a heavy silver button among the detritus. The button belonged to a coat attributed to a regiment stationed in NSW over forty years previous, the wanderings of whom possibly pre-dating those officially attributed with the district’s exploration. 58

May, 1852 – Lost: two horses owned by Mr Cox of ‘Bromley’- three pounds reward. In a time when horses were integral to the livelihood of most, the loss of two good horses was not be dismissed lightly. Many were advertised in the local newspapers euphemistically as ‘stolen or strayed’; both equally likely prospects in mid-eighteenth-century NSW.59 In a diplomatically, and perhaps optimistically worded advertisement, Mr. Cox of ‘Bromly’, near the Meroo diggings, sought the assistance of pound keepers, stockmen and others in finding two of his horses. Both described as bay horses about 16 hands in height, they were well branded and no doubt also well- bred. A reward of 30 shillings was offered for their safe return to Messrs. Stanton, Crenman or Donnelly at Richardson’s Point, or James Donnelly, in whose name the advertisement was placed, at Maitland.60 The loss of horses to theft or straying was a common occurrence on the goldfields where local officers of the law lamented the lawlessness of their inhabitants. May, 1852 – The prospect of winter dampens enthusiasm at Devil’s Hole Creek. As autumn rumbled on through May, the goldfields continued to dry out bringing mixed fortunes. Discontent with the increasingly cold and dry conditions was added to by an increase in robberies. Valuable saddles and bridles were brazenly stripped from publicly tethered horses and the vulnerability of shopkeepers was highlighted by the robbery of Messrs. L’Estrange and Tuckerman’s stores. The Meroo diggings generally remained busy whilst ever diggers could continue to get at the bed and banks of the creek and its tributaries, but those at the dry diggings on the tableland of Tambaroora and even Devil’s Hole Creek were less sanguine about the conditions. Even on the Meroo River at Hunter’s Point and Blackman’s Point opposite, the diggings were nearly deserted the few parties remaining continuing to do a good stroke for reward upward of 3-5 ounces per day. By far the biggest earner at Hunter’s Point, as May drew toward June and the days shortened into the crystalline cool of a dry winter, was the sale of claims. Many miners were keen to head home for the warmth of the hearth during winter, so claims were selling freely with as much as £75 being paid for part of a claim held by Thomas Drynan and Michael Murphy. May, 1852 – Louisa Creek back in the spotlight: ‘the largest waterworn nugget yet’. Though the Victorian goldfields were in the ascendancy, with large numbers of miners descending on the Mount Alexander diggings and an abundance of gold being unearthed, the famed quartz veins of Louisa Creek were still producing remarkable finds. Two men were discovered poaching on a quartz claim owned by a Mr Want, who, upon ordering them off, was informed of their discovery of several nuggets of water-worn alluvial gold worth a total of £700. They’d only been at it for a fortnight but, in that time, had uncovered one nugget described as being over 30cm long, 13cm wide and 6cm deep and weighing 137 ounces. Another discovery of 21 ounces was added to with 56 ounces of gold dust; - profitable enterprise indeed even if one of questionable means. Near the fabled location of Kerr’s discovery, another claim, owned by Gideon Lang, a prominent Scottish pastoralist and later a parliamentarian, yielded a quartz-bound lump of gold

weighing 71 ounces. The find was said to contain a mixture of black, red, and white quartz but had been ‘foolishly’ broken up in the rush to realise its worth. In the constant rivalry between the Victorian and NSW goldfields the continuing richness of the Louisa Creek diggings was thought to represent ample evidence that diggers tired of the ‘over-crowded mines’ down south would do well to try their luck on the ample grounds of the western goldfields of NSW.61 May, 1852 – An end to the dry autumn weather revitalises the Meroo goldfields. The closing of autumn also saw an end to the dry conditions on the goldfields with Friday the 21st of May heralding good falls of heavy rain in the Sofala district bringing down the Turon River and once again causing disruption to the alluvial diggings thereabouts. Not to be outdone, the resilient miners packed their belongings and various mining accoutrements and once again made the journey over the ridge to the dry diggings of Dirt Hole Creek and Tambaroora. Thousands were said to be once more on the move as miners resigned themselves to closing their bed claims in the Turon for the winter.62 Victoria was an option, though, many chose to leave for the Meroo goldfields and the tablelands around Tambaroora bringing renewed vigour to those goldfields; the men in residence welcoming the rain for the relief it brought from the drudgery of carting their dirt for washing. They had the option of leaving their creek-side holes for the ridges where their cheery optimism would be rewarded with a steady return of hard won gold. Indeed, returns continued to be good from the deep holes sunk into the auriferous clay of the ridges in search of the gold-laden layer of pebbly clay with few said to be ‘unfortunate or remarkably lucky’.63 Tunnelling was carried out to such an extent at Tambaroora that an entire island in the middle of the creek had been undermined and was left supported only by stout pillars. Others were striking out in search of new diggings, with a band of Californians suspected of sitting on a mysterious new find.64 The diggers could be a secretive lot and apart from the typically laconic description of their progress as ‘doin’ a good stroke’ or ‘makin’ wages’ they also jealously guarded their new finds. In May of 1852, it was common practice for prospectors to locate a rich find as new ground was being opened up and to then obtain their licence from the Commissioner before stealing back in the dead of night to pursue their digging in earnest. Such were the lengths men were willing to go to retain their advantage before word got out and the inevitable swarms descended. The success of the endeavours of such men was made all the more remarkable considering some of the new finds were only several miles from well-established goldfields. The party of Californians carrying on this practice were arriving at Avisford with 60 to 70 ounces of gold every Sunday; their conspicuous success leaving their secret increasingly vulnerable. May, 1852 – A picture of the Meroo Goldfields in mid-May 1852. Still lamented by the local population as a goldfield under-estimated by the popular press, the Meroo diggings were nonetheless taking shape under the influence of a thriving band of adventurous diggers many of whom hailed from the Hunter district. From the very beginning, its

administrative centre had been the centrally located Avisford where the Assistant Gold Commissioner Bowman had established his headquarters, and, while those diggings were now lightly populated, its location on the well-maintained road from Mudgee ensured it remained appropriate. No township had established on the goldfields by 1852 and Mudgee was just sixteen miles by road from the Meroo. Consequently, what had previously been described as a rather dull little town had prospered courtesy of its proximity to the new mining industry and resultant burgeoning economy.65 By May of 1852, the forty-mile length of the Meroo River, from its source on the flanks of Mount Bocoble to the bisected rocky ridges on its lower reaches, was being worked along with many of its tributaries. Married Man’s Creek, Campbell’s Creek, Long Creek, Louisa Creek, Devil’s Hole Creek and Bruce Creek were all host to thriving populations of parties of diggers typically comprised of three to four men. The nature of the gold found varied across the valley with that found along the Meroo River itself described as being very bright and exceptionally pure. Louisa Creek gold was coarse and flaky, or scaly, though, more waterworn further down the creek whilst Devil’s Hole produced rounded and heavy nuggets. May, 1852 – ‘Days of golden wonders’ and a birthday toast to the Queen! The evening of Saturday the 22nd of May saw the antics of one rowdy crowd of revellers at the Tambaroora diggings descend into riot, as a brawl erupted and continued to rage for some considerable time. The police were soon on the scene apprehending a number of the offending parties who were promptly sentenced to six months at her Majesty’s leisure. The Queen’s birthday was also being celebrated with a large ox being spit roasted over an open fire next to one of the swiftly erected canvas public houses. Celebrations were proceeding in desultory fashion until an unnamed man of the press from Sydney took it upon himself to enliven things. Urging the construction of a large bonfire he proceeded to produce ample of the stuff to raise the spirits of the crowd and took up position on a substantial log. From his make-shift rostrum he launched into a passionate oration of the virtues of Old England and her monarchy and the dangers of the despots of Europe evoking loud cheers and boos in turn from his audience. Predictably, it wasn’t long before the interest of the local police was aroused in like measure and they waded into the proceedings with the intention of bringing the crowd to order. Not to be outdone, the self-appointed master of ceremonies invited the constabulary to ‘pledge a bumper to their mistress the Queen, God bless her!’ Captive to the patriotic fervour of the crowd, and perhaps erring on the side of caution, the police decided to join with their hosts in toasting their monarch in the interests of ensuring public order. The same man who’d led proceedings in honour of the Queen was revealed to have had ample cause for celebration when he attended the Commissioner’s quarters at Avisford the next day. In his keeping was several large nuggets; two of which weighed 13 pounds and 21 ounces respectively. In all he had 213 ounces, worth over £700, to entrust to the gold escort destined for Sydney where it was felt the prized lumps of gold would cause quite a

sensation ‘in these days of golden wonders’.66 The Queens’ birthday was also boisterously celebrated in Mudgee, notably opposite the court house, around a blazing fire lit in a barrel augmented by gunpowder from all sorts of firearms with the ubiquitous miner’s uniform of red or blue shirt, broad-brimmed felt hat, and brass-buckled belt prominent among the participants. June, 1852 – Sly grog, storekeepers and washed out diggings on the Meroo. The widespread rain of May now began to affect operations on the lower reaches of the Meroo River with the alluvial diggings at Maitland Bar all but deserted in consequence of the reinvigorated river. Further back upstream, at Richardson’s Point, though, progress remained steady and men were uniformly rewarded with fair wages for their efforts. Richardson’s Point was continuing to develop as the commercial centre of the Meroo goldfields with a number of storekeepers basing their operations there. Prominent among them were William Arnold and James Keppie, both of the Maitland and Paterson districts, now firmly established as fixtures and well respected. Nearby, on the broad flats at the junction of Devil’s Hole Creek and Long Creek, others were being attracted by the opportunities presented by the heavily populated diggings there. The White Conduit Horse established by George Millar was proving popular while some of the more single- minded diggers had constructed bark huts in which they planned to persevere through the winter months. The mercurial Henry Tebbutt was also doing well with his Red Rover Inn further up Devil’s Hole Creek, though, all were in competition with the maligned sly-grog peddlers that were the scourge of the goldfields. Assistant Commissioner Bowman was determined to rid his goldfields of the menace, but the fines levied upon conviction were proving to be an insufficient deterrent, and as many found guilty remained on the diggings, the problem continued.67 Nonetheless, the authorities managed to arraign thirteen of their number to appear before the court in June. Bowman’s war on sly-grog selling culminated with the conviction on the 11th of June of thirteen offenders with a noticeable drop in crime remarked upon by those on the goldfields at Meroo.68 June, 1852 – Governor-General Fitz Roy addresses parliament. After announcement by the Sargent at Arms, Edmund Lockyer, the Governor General was led to a specially placed seat by the Speaker of the House to read his speech. Fitz Roy was quick to point to the prosperous circumstances the colony was currently enjoying, though, the gold rush was clearly occupying his mind. He lauded abundant crop harvests and strong commodity prices but exhorted parliament to exercise their minds in addressing the labour shortage as the ‘Industrial Classes’ deserted their jobs to try their luck. He promised to use his office to full effect to support their efforts in addressing the ‘withdrawal of labour to the goldfields’. Fitz Roy went on to specifically address the booming gold fields and the potential benefits that would flow to all in the colony from the wealth generated. No doubt this had the pastoralists and industrialists in his audience with first-hand knowledge of the current difficulty in securing labour, of which there were many, clenching their jaws.

He described his observations from his recent tour of the Western Goldfields reflecting favourably on the orderly manner of its population. After completing his survey of all things contemporary to the machinations of state in the Queen’s colony, Fitz Roy was conducted to the chamber’s exit by the Speaker and parliament adjourned at one o’clock for a well-earned lunch.

Figure 3 – An extract of Hansard’s record of Fitz Roy’s speech to parliament.

Upon resumption two hours later, the good men of the Legislative Council, minus the notoriously absent William Suttor, set about responding to the Governor-General’s speech; their reply betraying the personal interest many members had in the question of obtaining and retaining labour. They were at pains to express their delight at the Governor General’s shared concern over the withdrawal of labour to the goldfields and made sure to remind all and sundry that it was, after all, the agricultural sector that had underpinned the colony’s economy to date. They were also pleased to hear that the Governor’s personal observations of the Western and Southern Goldfields had borne out reports of the civilised and orderly conduct of those working on the goldfields. No doubt local authorities had been careful to take the Governor General to the tamer localities under their control where respectful behaviour could be assured, and the Legislative Council was happy to go along with the charade in support of a demonstration of the inherent superiority of British civilisation. Not that the goldfields were a hot bed of anarchy and mayhem, far from it, but neither were they the utopian ideal being portrayed by the government and executive. Their response to the Governor’s address closed with an equally optimistic assurance that they would attend with alacrity to his legislative agenda with the assurance that his proposed measures would ‘receive [their] most careful and impartial consideration’.69

June, 1852 – Why the English companies should look to invest in NSW over Victoria. The industry developed in the wake of the gold discoveries the year before was still dominated by small parties of men willing to chance their arm on the back of glowing reports in the press and rumours spread on city streets. Nonetheless, there were those who recognised the future lay in large scale investment by well organised and equipped companies with the capital to develop the industry to its full potential. Then, as now, capital on this scale required the courting of foreign investors. Competition between the colonies of Victoria and NSW now extended to who was most worthy of speculation from the holders of capital. A parochial correspondent on the Western Goldfields of NSW was keen to make the case for NSW pointing out the high cost of operations on the new, and in his view unproven, Victorian Goldfields. By way of comparison he drew attention to the many large and famous finds that continued to be prised from the quartz-riddled ridges of Louisa Creek, Tambaroora and the Meroo. If only the English companies would send out their leading men, he opined, they would soon see for themselves the truth of his claims and the potential for prosperity.70 June, 1852 – Spreading the ‘Good Word’ on the Meroo goldfields. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had decided to service the spiritual needs of the assembled masses on the goldfields and to that end had sent out a missionary, the Reverend E. B. Proctor, from England. Reverend Proctor was duly appointed by the Bishop of Sydney to spread the word of the God on the Meroo goldfields where he would henceforth be based.71 June, 1852 – A falling out on the Meroo goldfields. The make-up of parties on the goldfields varied and not all partnerships functioned well with avarice, greed, disappointment and the realities of life on the diggings causing some to flounder. One party, formed when three men on the road from Maitland were brought together by chance, provides an illustration of how things could go wrong. Stephen Turner was walking the Mudgee Road to Maitland, returning from the Meroo goldfields, when he came upon another pair at Hall’s Creek, namely John Cook and George Long, each with a loaded dray bound in the opposite direction. Evidently things hadn’t gone well for Turner in his time at the diggings for when the pair offered him employment working for them on the Meroo goldfields he readily accepted. Employed as bullock-driver for Long and as a general dog’s-body for both, he agreed to assist them on the trip to Meroo and back to Maitland for £1 per week and rations. Responsibility for his wages was to be shared between the two men with Long to pay a 12-shilling share and Cook 8 shillings. That alone should have been enough to ring alarm bells for Turner, but subsequent events must surely have left him wondering why he’d gone along with the idea in the first place. Once at the Meroo, things began to unravel for the party. After just eight days on the diggings, Cook informed his company that he was heading off and would be back in two days to resume their agreed deal. Perhaps he’d been made a better offer or come across some other opportunity he considered too good to refuse, whatever the case, he returned on cue, but stayed only a single night. Begging his

leave with the admission that he’d found another loading, in the morning he once more parted company with Turner and Long. Completing their business, they returned to Maitland six weeks later whereupon Long paid Turner his share of the wages, amounting to £3 12 shillings. Turner found Cook in Maitland and confronted him, demanding his outstanding wages. Cook steadfastly refused to pay the man unless directed to do so by the courts; no doubt deeming the deal null and void when he left them on the diggings. Not to be outdone, Turner put the matter before the courts, and, with Long as a witness, proceeded to pick apart Cook’s concocted story. Cook variously argued that Turner had only worked for him for a week or that he’d only contracted with Turner for a week’s work and that Long had then taken him away. His story continued to change on the face of testimony from Long arguing that Long had discharged him from their agreement after a week telling him to go and do the best he could for himself. In the face of Cook’s unreliability as a witness the courts found in favour of Turner and ordered Cook to pay him his wages and costs.72 June, 1852 – Another big nugget found on the Meroo goldfields. By early June, stories were circulating of another astonishing find at the Meroo diggings adding to the reputation of the Meroo diggings as a place of golden wonders. James Moodie seemed to confirm the rumours in a letter to his son informing him of the discovery two miles from Devil’s Hole of a 74-pound lump of gold intermixed with quartz. The name of the lucky owner was being kept under wraps.73 June, 1852 – Parliament moves to establish a gold collection at the Sydney Museum. Arthur Holroyd MLC, Elective Member for the Western Boroughs of the first Legislative Council, was keen to save for posterity some of the fine specimens of gold being unearthed on the western diggings. No doubt his connection to the goldfields as a parliamentary representative for the Bathurst region made him acutely aware of the remarkable finds routinely being unearthed and lost to the gold trade. Because of their value, he argued, gold specimens were not being donated to museum collections, instead being sold for the highest price. The result was the loss of some extraordinary specimens as they were melted down and readily put to a variety of commercial uses. Holroyd pleaded the case for the appropriation of a naively small £1000 from the gold revenue to be dedicated to the purchase of gold specimens by the Sydney Museum Committee for their collection. Believing the lack of such a collection in the heart of one of the world’s great gold-producing regions was a serious oversight, Holroyd noted that on the Meroo diggings alone over 30 different types of gold could be found. He optimistically moved the motion re-iterating his request was for the appropriation of gold revenues rather than general or territorial revenues and, therefore, not likely to be objectionable. The motion was seconded; however, the Colonial Secretary, Edward Deas Thompson took to his feet and forcefully rebutted the idea. In a short-sighted dismissal of Holroyd’s plans, Thompson described the amassing of a commodity now so integral to the colony’s economy in a museum

collection as ‘useless’ and ‘ridiculous’.74 He pointed out that almost every jeweller in Sydney had a collection of gold on display worth many times over the amount applied for by the member. Why he himself had seen a nugget displayed in a jeweller’s window said to be worth over £1100 alone! Therefore, were he to agree to Holroyd’s motion, which he most certainly would not be, the £1000 suggested would not be anywhere near enough to procure a worthwhile collection of specimens. And anyway, Thompson sneered, he was a member of the Sydney Museum committee himself and was unaware of any desire among its members to establish such a collection. Thompson won the day and the motion was lost as was the opportunity to preserve for future generations gold specimens breathlessly described at the time but now consigned to the imagination of the reader. June, 1852 – A disgruntled subscriber and an unrepentant editor. The arrival of a postal service between the Meroo goldfields and Mudgee had been joyously celebrated in May, but complaints were still heard from across the goldfields about the tardy arrival of newspapers. In a letter to the editor of the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River Advertiser, one correspondent, writing from Richardson’s Point on the 7th of June, upbraided the publishers of the paper for their tardiness in supplying his subscription. He argued that the introduction of a thrice- weekly service from Mudgee should have alleviated any potential for such delays. He challenged the editor to respond suggesting the fault clearly lay with an as yet unidentified individual whom the editor should be able to pull into line. The editor did respond describing in detail the transport arrangements his newspaper employed and suggesting the complainant look closer to home for an answer to his problems. Unbowed, the editor refused to accept blame for his subscriber’s predicament directing him to apply to the postmaster for an answer.75 June, 1852 – The continuing saga of Dickson’s Nugget. Dickson’s action in the civil court over the nugget stolen in February came before the Bench of the Supreme Court in Sydney to be heard by Justice Dickinson on the 15th of June. After all the evidence had been presented by both sides the jury retired for only a few minutes to return a verdict in favour of Dickson awarding him £90 in damages. June, 1852 – Gold news of the week: more nuggets from Louisa Creek. Gold continued to pour into Sydney from the western diggings with 6394 ounces officially being received from a combination of the gold escort and mail, though, large unaccounted for amounts were still being transported into town privately. The news from the western goldfields was dominated by yet another flood in the Turon River which washed out the bridge and put everyone out of their bed claims. Tunnels into the banks of the river were lost as were the races constructed laboriously and at much expense. The anticipated losses were tempered, however, by the discovery of a new field next to the river at its junction with two creeks known as the Oakeys, giving rise to much optimism. Nonetheless, the predictable migration to drier diggings on the tablelands of Tambaroora and the ridges of Louisa Creek was on in earnest. Diggings at Stock Yards,

Tambaroora Creek, Golden Gully and Bald Hill all saw an influx of miners drawn by reports of their richness with the tributaries of the Meroo River also doing well out of the Turon’s misfortune. At the Meroo diggings, Tambaroora and Louisa Creek the business of digging for gold continued unabated, and the growing population was adding to the yields achieved from the proven fields and new finds. News continued to filter through of the 74-pound discovery near Devil’s Hole Creek begrudgingly described by the Empire as ‘not unlikely’. The company formed to exploit the matrix gold found in the quartz ridges at Louisa Creek was also noted as continuing to unearth ‘massive and surprisingly beautiful specimens of gold in the matrix’. The gold found in their claim was described as being suspended like stars in some of the quartz pieces, while others were interlaced with ‘delicate and beautiful tracery of veins of gold’.76 Another waterworn specimen in brown quartz, weighing 157 ounces, was also presented for sale by a party claiming to have a number of other nuggets won from the same claim. June, 1852 – Five days of rain takes its toll. The refugees from the Turon diggings soon realised they would be unable to escape the wet conditions when, after five days of unrelenting rain, even the Louisa Creek diggings were awash as the creek broke its banks. Despite the washed-out bed claims and alluvial workings, those working the quartz ridges for matrix gold were still unearthing some noteworthy examples of the sort of gold the area had become famous for. Two noteworthy examples, of 13 pounds and 50 ounces respectively, were found in June, with the latter being described as of a particularly pure appearance. They were both sold by their finder, Mr Kelly, to a Maitland businessman and later publican, using the name William Cannon, who had a carefully concealed convict history hidden behind his assumed identity. Cannon had arrived in Australia in 1832 aboard the convict transport Portland with the name of Michael Kennon. He went on to use several aliases after gaining his Certificate of Freedom in 1842 no doubt in a bid to escape the convict taint. Cannon, like so many other Maitland businessman, ultimately established himself on the goldfields in a commercial capacity holding the publican’s licence for the ‘Worratree Inn’ at Richardson’s Point in 1855.77 June, 1852 – Keppie and Tucker to the rescue of some wet, hungry and cold diggers. After a fortnight of rain, the Meroo River was well in stride running ferociously along the length of the diggings. Men on the Mudgee side of the River at Richardson’s Point were in a miserable state. Cut off from the commercial centres vital to their re-victualling forays, they were invariably cold, wet, hungry and restless. Two of the local storekeepers, with a keen eye for opportunity, namely Keppie and Tucker, came to their aid by rigging up a flying fox capable of ferrying supplies safely across the River to relieve the men of their deprivation. Not that this came cheaply. Demand, coupled with limited supply in the wet, boggy conditions had coupled to drive up the price of many staples and clothes and boots were observed to be scarce. With their supply route re-established and their immediate problems solved the men were still faced with a period of enforced idleness as their

claims were mostly washed out or under water and, therefore, unworkable. Consequently, attentions turned toward a bit of prospecting and many parties could be found occupying themselves profitably looking for new fields to be plundered.78 June, 1852 – Grey responds to the Legislative Council’s petition of 18 June, 1851. The Legislative Council was in session at the close of June when the Colonial Secretary lay before the chamber Earl Grey’s response to Governor Fitz Roy’s despatch of just over twelve months previous. Grey’s indignant response may have been coloured by his dim view of the talents of Fitz Roy, with whom he’d had a fractious working relationship, or simply his lack of interest in the antipodean colonies, but, whatever the case, the locals were to be disappointed. Through the Governor, the NSW parliament had taken the opportunity of the impending partition of Port Phillip from NSW, and the economic impetus provided by gold, to again promote the idea of greater self- determination for the colony. The Council’s two biggest bug-bears, self-determination and the administration of the waste-lands, had been prominent in Fitz Roy’s despatch and Grey was at pains to dis-avow the colonial parliament of any notions of grandeur. Grey’s response gave them no encouragement declaring the changes did not impede the good governance of the colony but only extended the same rights to the new colony. Grey dismissed the Legislative Council’s claims on revenue derived from the waste-lands as parochialism and offensive to the benevolent management of the Empire by the Crown for the good of all her subjects. He also attacked the seemingly inconsistent stance taken by the Council on emigration, customs revenue, official appointments and the role of the Crown in legislative matters pertaining to the colony. Clearly the increasingly self-aware colony did not have an ally in its keeper, the conservative Secretary of State for the Colonies, Earl Grey. He believed that the views of the Legislative Council may not necessarily be in accord with those of the broader community.79 June, 1852 – The very British administration of the goldfields. The British administration of the NSW colony prided itself on the civilised regime of law and order it had established over the goldfields often comparing their efforts favourably to the relative lawlessness of the San Francisco gold fields which was said to be a place of vigilante justice and mob rule. Law and order, of course, meant control of the diggers and was predicated on an allocation of officials and trooper for every thousand diggers. Goldfields were allocated an Assistant Commissioner, Sub-Commissioner, five mounted troopers and five dis-mounted troopers (including a sergeant and a corporal). The Sub-Commissioner had the additional duties of clerk of petty sessions and clerk to the Assistant Commissioner whilst the sergeant had also to fill the role of chief constable. It was on this basis that the population of the various diggings making up the sprawling Meroo Goldfields was administered. The diggers continued to be a nomadic lot with goldfields cannibalizing each other’s labour as is evidenced by Chief Gold Commissioner Hardy’s lamentation of the loss of a significant part of the

labour force to the rush on Mount Alexander in Victoria. Mid-way through 1852, with twelve months now elapsed since the first of the gold rushes, Hardy reported the Meroo having a population of 800 diggers while not more than 80 diggers remained at the flooded Ophir and 1500 were on the Turon, though, 4000 had been working there in drier times. While not reporting a population figure for Tambaroora, he did report that 1049 mining licences and 76 trading licences had been issued from February to March; 43 of those trading licences issued on April alone. While the Tambaroora diggings were clearly advancing significantly, so too was the Meroo. In the six months to April, 3760 mining licences and 79 trading licences had been issued at the Avisford headquarters of Assistant Commissioner Bowman. In the period from February to April, the Meroo had outstripped the Tambaroora for mining licences with 1679 issued, 630 more than Tambaroora. Both, though, now clearly had significant commercial centres to provide all the comforts and equipment required by the diggers: Tambaroora being well catered for.80 June, 1852 – George Lloyd’s Gold Circular: 26 June, 1852. The news from the Western goldfields continued to be bad with the wet conditions at the Turon limiting operations there and turning the roads to Sydney into muddy quagmires with the result that the gold escort had not been able to make the trip into town. In the meantime, gold assaying had determined the gold from the Victorian fields to be a premium product, equivalent to 231/4 carats, whilst the Turon was determined to be 221/2 carats – no doubt a blow to NSW in the ongoing rivalry between the two colonies. In the absence of any substantial news from the diggings, George Lloyd filled his column with the ramblings of Rev. W.B. Clarke across southern tablelands in search of new goldfields and the impending testimonial in honour of Edward Hargraves. With an evangelical fervour he extolled the virtues of the goldfields and the opportunities available to Englishman, ‘who eke out a miserable existence’ when if only they’d immigrate to the colony they would find employment and opportunity abounding in a land ‘overflowing with milk and honey’.81 July, 1852 – The Mudgee Races featuring the Gold Digger’s Purse. Held over three days from the 30th of June to the 2nd of July, the Mudgee races were beset by over a week of wet weather which had rendered the track heavy and led to the withdrawal from the contest of several highly anticipated mounts. Nonetheless, all three days saw racing with notable local racing identities such as Michael Lahy, now held in some esteem, though, originally of less lofty convict origins, and Cox and Lowe all entering fancied chances. The Gold Digger’s Purse was worth £40 to the winner and was held on the last day of the racing carnival. The race was a close- run contest with Lowe’s ‘Wentworth’ trailing closely behind Ward’s classically named ‘Sappho’ when they turned for the run home. It was then that disaster struck. As ‘Wentworth’ was pressed hard in his pursuit of ‘Sappho,’ the saddle girths gave way unseating the jockey amid a tangle of leather and flesh as saddle and rider tumbled to the turf. ‘Wentworth’, meanwhile, went his own

way as he galloped across the flat, swam the river and headed for home. A pursuit of four miles ensued, before he was eventually retrieved and returned to his relieved owner.82 July, 1852 – ‘Civilisation’ extended to Tambaroora and Dirt Holes Creek diggings. The communities at work on each of the diggings to the south of the Meroo had been making plaintive noises for some time in a bid to awaken government to their needs for the service of reliable and regular postal communication considered essential to the civilised conduct of business in the colony’s new and increasingly powerful industry. Accordingly, and not before time according to some, it was announced in July that mounted troopers would convey a weekly mail service on the 45-mile journey from Sofala with the Meroo gold escort on Wednesday mornings at eight o’clock to be met at Tambaroora by the newly appointed post-master, Mr. Sheridan. Both the ridges along Dirt Hole’s Creek and the recently opened up ground nearby the Commissioner’s quarters at Avisford were continuing to produce good finds. They were rewarding their occupants with good wages as a minimum and drawing increasing numbers of miners to their surrounds to add to the 800 or so hopeful souls presently at work.83 For want of anything better to do on the muddy and wet alluvial diggings, prospecting proceeded apace much to the delight of all dependent on the diggings’ long-term success. Among many highly regarded prospects, ‘a vast untried goldfield’ was considered to exist on both sides of the Dirt Holes Creek; an area increasingly coming under scrutiny from the marooned diggers.84 July, 1852 – Mixed fortunes for those chasing matrix gold, or just skullduggery? Two of the companies formed to pursue the veins of matrix gold thought to abound in ridges of Louisa Creek and the Meroo diggings were said to be experiencing the highs and lows of gold exploration. The ‘Quartz Crushing Company’ at Meroo reportedly had their hopes dashed when it became obvious after much digging that the ridges lost most of their ‘auriferous character’ with increasing depth.85 This was news to the worthy proprietors of the venture who, upon receipt of said intelligence, reacted by launching an investigation into the source of the malicious rumours. They had plenty to lose for having invested heavily themselves and being in the throes of generating capital through a public subscription of shares any negative publicity was most inopportune. July, 1852 – More convictions for sly grog selling. Despite Commissioner Bowman’s success in June in combating sly-grog selling on the Meroo goldfields, the twin market forces of supply and demand ensured the successful continuation of the trade. Recognised as the scourge of goldfields everywhere, illicit alcohol was a mainstay of the black-market economy on the Meroo goldfields. Evidence of its hold on the Meroo goldfields is revealed in the conviction of seventeen sly-grog sellers at the Avisford Bench in the first week of July; coming only weeks after Bowman had secured the conviction of thirteen of their brethren in June. For their ‘unblushing effrontery’ the men were fined under the Licensed Victualler’s Act adding to the £500 worth of fines levied in the past six months much of which remained unpaid.86

July, 1852 – Great Nugget Vein Quartz Crushing Company gets off the ground. The famous Louisa Creek diggings were now playing host to a newly formed commercial venture: the impressively titled ‘Great Nugget Vein Gold Mining Company of Australia’, set up to exploit the riches of the renowned quartz vein that had produced the likes of Kerr’s Hundredweight and Brennan’s Nugget. Hopes ran high that the company’s efforts would be attended by similarly outstanding finds.87 Behind the infant company were some of the colony’s most prominent public figures and businessman: Gideon Scott Lang, John Croft, brothers Edwin and Robert Tooth of brewing fame, and Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. In mid-1851, the founders of the enterprise had gone to the site of the extensive quartz vein, and perhaps not surprisingly, found others had gotten the jump on them establishing their own claims. Not to be denied, they offered £500 to Blakefield, finder of Kerr’s Hundredweight, and bought several adjoining claims as well with the intention of forming a company through public subscription. In the meantime, for want of capital and machinery, they continued to work their claims principally in the fashion of an alluvial operation. By Tuesday, July 6, the men were anxious to realise the true potential of the wealth they believed themselves to be sitting on and had organised a meeting at which an unexpectedly large crowd of some 50 men eagerly assembled. Crowded into the office of Charles Lowe at 470 George Street, Sydney, they described their plans to the prospective shareholders and assured them of their tenure over the site for a three-year period under the gold regulations. They were prepared to transfer their exclusive rights to the claim to public subscribers to the amount of 100000 shares at £2 each. It was resolved a committee would be formed to establish a contract with the four founders for establishment of the company. Another motion directed the committee to issue a prospectus and call for expressions of interest in subscribing to the venture. Such was the excitement over the prospects of the company, it was immediately resolved those present at the meeting could take up a privileged share offer not to exceed 500 shares. Ten thousand shares were thus immediately taken up. However, grumbling soon ensued from some quarters that they’d been shoe-horned into agreeing to subscribe their monies to the enterprise without the opportunity to properly assess their liability. Others were worried about some of the finer points in regard to how the company was formed. To avert any imputation of impropriety, the founding five resolved to hold another meeting to clear the air, finalise shareholdings and provide further evidence of the richness of their claims. This time, they gathered at the Royal Hotel on Wednesday, 14th of July, with the esteemed Dr. Douglass MLC acting as Chair. Mort addressed the gathering and apologised to those in attendance at the previous meeting for inconveniencing them again so soon before describing the company’s formation and likely prospects. He was anxious that it be known any subscriber to the company would have ample time for consideration of their investment prior to being committed financially. Mort detailed the company’s origins and the situation of its claims paying careful attention to the commencement of quartz crushing and the success of their endeavours. He described Mr Lang’s initiating operations at two locations on the vein discovering quartz profusely interlaced with gold.

In addition, Acton Sillitoe, merchant and one-time Alderman, had passed through the claim extracting 150 tons of quartz as a representative sample which Mort took home with him to process. He yielded £685 per ton from the sample, confirming his belief that the claims would prove profitable. As proof of these endeavours, he proffered letters written by Acton Sillitoe, Lang and Croft and himself attesting to the quantity of gold on offer and its quality. While Mort had the floor, he took the opportunity to address some of the scurrilous rumours that sought to cast aspersions on the entrepreneurs. Circulating around the streets of Sydney town was a report that Blakefield, from whom they’d procured their first claim, was owed £6000 by the five men. This story was quickly dismissed as baseless by the solicitor who handled the transfer of the claim and happened to be in attendance. Another rumour suggested the five were hoarding significant wealth already produced from operations at the claim by retaining all profits. Mort admitted they had between £2000 and £3000 in hand but that they had expended a similar amount in establishing the claim, purchasing a steam engine and erecting the crushing plant, to the extent the site now resembled nothing so much as a small village. Last, but not least, Mort then proceeded to deal with a report in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal portraying the venture as having already failed. He read the offending article for the benefit of those present aware that the metropolitan newspapers would likely pick up the report and re-publish under their own standard in the coming days. Additionally, Mort stated he’d written to the editor of the paper to correct certain factual inaccuracies in the newspaper’s report and sought the source of the story. At the conclusion of his sales pitch, Mort moved a motion absolving those from any commitment who felt aggrieved at proceedings at the previous meeting. Some questions were taken from the floor as potential subscribers examined the process by which shares would be allotted. Others pressed Lang for additional detail on the precise nature of the claim site to which he responded with an explanation of the presence of gold both at the top of the hill and in the valley and, therefore, the expected presence of it in the quartz in between as well. The company’s operation having extended to no deeper than 6 feet at the present time, he felt the additional 70 feet to the valley floor would contain substantial amounts of gold within the quartz vein as it plunged downward. Mort pressed the point with an explanation of the richness of the quartz so far extracted and the potential for even greater yields if the unseen gold contained within the matrix could be extracted by a yet untried method. All business concluded at the meeting, and with plenty to think about, the assembled crowd dispersed among the customary salutations to consider their options.88 July, 1852 – The dangers of working the diggings are visited upon the Meroo. The wet conditions on the diggings had made life difficult for parties engaged in working alluvial claims with some no doubt anxious to work them despite the less than ideal conditions. The temptation was great and the rewards plentiful if fortune and endeavour were combined. Many put their efforts into tunnelling into the banks of the Meroo River and its tributaries in search of alluvial nuggets and their methods and experience in such work varied considerably. Inevitably, this led to

tunnel collapses as the sandy loam gave way to the forces of gravity in the absence of suitably reinforced holes. Such was the fate of Joseph Stephenson, who, working a claim on Nuggetty Gully, was in the process of undermining the auriferous layer adjacent to the gully when his tunnelling work collapsed killing him instantly. The frequency of deaths of this nature on the goldfields can be gauged by the almost off-handed way they were reported. The Maitland Mercury devoted just over two lines to the tragedy, sandwiched in a report from the Meroo, between description of the arrival of an English clergyman and the profits being reaped by a party at Richardon’s Point.89 July, 1852 – The arrival of the Church on the Meroo Diggings. July saw the arrival on the wet Meroo diggings of Reverend E.B. Proctor, an enthusiastic English clergyman, sponsored by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London. His mission was to establish regular worship and he’d begun by busying himself with organising the construction of a church and small school. The advent of regular church services and a school were welcomed by many at the diggings with the school seen as an attractive addition sure to induce many more to the goldfields. Reflecting the growing maturity of the community on the goldfields, the inclusion of a school suggests an increasing number of families on the diggings. Indeed, the goldfields around Richardson’s Point were starting to resemble something of a small township with two inns, four stores, and other buildings commensurate with the location’s function as the focal point of commercial operations on the Meroo diggings already well established. It had natural advantages being the first point encountered after leaving Mudgee and was also centrally located between the upper and lower reaches of the Meroo River and the various diggings at Married Man’s Creek, Nuggetty Gully, Long Creek, Devil’s Hole Creek and Louisa Creek. Reverend Proctor began ministering to the souls of his new flock with a morning and afternoon service at which several ‘infant diggers’ were baptised providing further evidence of stable family life becoming a feature of the mining community at the Meroo goldfields. After the completion of ecclesiastical duties, Reverend Proctor got down to more earthly concerns with a meeting to initiate action toward the construction of a suitable church building and parsonage. The meeting featured several notable entrepreneurs of the diggings; James Keppie, Walter Bagot and William Arnold, as well as local officialdom in the form of Commissioner Bowman and Sub-Commissioner Platt. Reverend Proctor took the chair upon the invitation of Bowman and Arnold and thanked those present for their warm welcome and evident commitment to his sponsor’s cause. Contributions were received from the floor by Bowman, Arnold and Bagot, each moving motions professing the importance of Proctor’s mission and the duty inherent upon all Christian men to materially support his endeavours. A committee was then formed to organise the raising of subscriptions with names such as Tebbutt, Cox, Keppie, Bowman, Bagot, Arnold and Platt prominent. Subscriptions were immediately pledged to the amount of £32 amid the promise of a collection to be taken throughout the diggings in the hope of raising considerably more. It was also

hoped the government would be moved to make a similar contribution in the interests of Christian civilisation particularly given the fortuitous circumstance of their surrounds.90 July, 1852 – Gold News of the Week. The final days of July saw the goldfields around the colony, north, south and west, in full flow with diggers making good returns and some observed to be doing uncommonly well. The Meroo diggings were no exception with its reputation now firmly established as a remunerative goldfield capable of turning up some remarkable specimens. To the south, Tambaroora was the scene of much activity as diggers clambered to stake out claims on the dry diggings of the tablelands and ridges thereabouts. In the relatively short period since the discovery of gold, the area bounded by the Meroo goldfields, Tambaroora diggings and Turon goldfields had established itself as the premier gold producing area in the NSW colony. July, 1852 – Kerr’s Hundredweight of Gold - Suttor makes his move in Parliament. During the winter session of parliament, Suttor made a rare appearance in parliament, having been nine months since he last warmed his seat, in order to make his first sally in what was to become an extraordinary campaign seeking justice for his family over the seizure of Kerr’s Hundredweight. The Speaker commenced proceedings mid-afternoon on Wednesday the 28th of July, a day featuring debate over a Tariffs Bill, which split parliament between the proponents of free trade and those inclined toward protectionist policies. Suttor used proceedings to place three notices of motion for Friday before the parliament. He sought the Governor General’s advice on three key points: any instructions given to the Commissioner of Crown Lands in respect of the discovery of gold, any correspondence between the government and Gold Commissioner on the seizure of Kerr’s Hundredweight, and any correspondence between the government and Assistant Gold Commissioner Bowman on the cancelling of Suttor’s leases at Meroo.91 July, 1852 – The state of the Western Goldfields at the end of July. At the end of July, a report issued from the Bathurst office of Charles Green, Gold Commissioner for the Western Districts, describing his observations made on a trip around all the diggings under his control. Whilst lamenting the unfavourably wet conditions, he was bullish about the prospects for any energetic digger who might chose to stake a claim on the Western Goldfields. New fields were being opened up all the time by diggers pushed out of the alluvial diggings with locations on the tablelands bounded by Burrandong, Tambaroora and Campbells Creek likely to prove profitable according to Green. Green’s optimism extended to the alluvial diggings along the Meroo River itself, which he described as ‘known but unworked’, remarking that the whole of the Meroo Goldfields could easily accommodate 40,000 diggers. Nothing like that many were currently in attendance, and so, the widely held view that the diggings were being held back only by the want of labour was again espoused with a plaintive wish for the parties recently gathered at the Mount

Alexander diggings in Victoria (at the expense of NSW goldfields) to return; whereby the Western Goldfields would even supersede the Victorian goldfields for yields. Green noted the unfavourable conditions on the Turon and Meroo Rivers had brought a halt to operations on their alluvial diggings but that the tablelands continued to reap the benefits of the attentions of the miners. Consequently, the ridges and flats around Dirt Hole and Tambaroora were doing a roaring trade as diggers found payable quantities of gold as shallow as one foot below the surface. The wet conditions extended to the Victorian goldfields, notably Mount Alexander, and were contributing to a growing number of diggers returning to the Western Goldfields of NSW where opportunity abounded on the dry diggings. Rivalry with the southern colony over auriferous wealth constantly exercised the minds of NSW administrators and politicians, with Green clearly no exception, as he finished his report with that final observation.92 July, 1852 – Kerr’s Hundredweigth of Gold – Suttor’s abuse of parliament. At half past three in the afternoon of Friday the 30th of July forty-eight members of the Legislative Council assembled at Macquarie Street for a session that would thrust Suttor’s motivation into the light leaving him red-faced and abashed by the admonishment of his peers. Seemingly believing his membership of the colonies landed elite placed him above the norms of propriety in conducting himself in his role as a member of parliament, Suttor rose to put forward his three motions tabled on Wednesday. Presumably with a straight face, he sought clarification as to any consideration that might have been given by the government for those leasing Crown Land for the purposes of grazing stock only to see it invaded by hordes of miners in pursuit of gold. Suttor made the valid point that the two pursuits were not always compatible given the resultant competition for the often-scarce waterholes so important to both. He believed, given the investment made by leaseholders in making their runs properly functioning and profitable grazing properties, squatters were entitled to some consideration of exclusivity in the enjoyment of that Crown Land over which they held their fourteen-year leases. Suttor had no need to mention the elephant in the room; namely that one of the primary leaseholders so affected happened to be himself. On behalf of the Executive, The Colonial Secretary, Deas Thomson, responded in typically taciturn and direct fashion. He stated that specific instructions had in fact been issued to all Crown Land Commissioners in recognition of the need to manage the activities that would inevitably flow from the discovery of gold on such a scale; some of those instructions addressing the issue of water supplies directly. As to the broader issue of the rights held by lease holders, Thomson simply responded that a cursory examination of the terms of the leases would reveal the reservation of all rights to minerals on leasehold land in favour of the Crown, which, he pronounced, was as it should be. He could not envisage the public or the Crown accepting a ‘monstrous’ situation whereby squatters paying no more than one-tenth of a pound for their grazing leases could deprive the Crown, or its licensed agents, access to the land in pursuit of the lately discovered resource and

resultant revenue. Warming to the theme, the majority of members responded with a hearty ‘Hear! Hear!’ Not to be outdone, Suttor then rose to move the second of his motions dealing with the seizure of his son-in-law’s gold find, Kerr’s Hundredweight. Suttor sought the tabling of all relevant correspondence between the authorities and the colonial and British Governments on the matter. Perhaps now aware that his actions might be seen to be motivated by self-interest he was at great pains to point out that his motion was put in the interests of not only himself but also to the public at large. He outlined in some detail the events that led to the seizure of the nugget after its sale to Thackery & Co. Again, the Colonial Secretary rose to explain the government’s actions; this time dispensing with any niceties with regard to Suttor’s compromised position. He accepted the motion in the interests of government accountability but immediately attacked Suttor for abusing his privileged position as a member of parliament by moving a motion of private interest. Thomson’s attack was supported by other members of council with another round of loud cheers. Thomson described how the process was undertaken in complete agreement with the law and had the endorsement of the Secretary of State for the Colonies for royalty payable on the gold find. The Irish James Martin would probably have had little sympathy for the likes of Suttor, a card- carrying member of the bunyip aristocracy, who considered themselves entitled by birthright. Apparently unable to sit idly by whilst Suttor continued his unprincipled enquiries, he rose after Thomson’s response to denounce Suttor for his actions. To loud cries of ‘Hear! Hear!’ Martin attacked Suttor for his audacity in using the chamber to pursue matters patently of a personal interest particularly in light of his infrequent appearances in the house. Martin derided Suttor’s indifferent attitude toward his duties as a member of parliament and ridiculed him by asking Suttor if the next time they might see him in parliament would be on the next occasion he had an axe to grind over a gold find. Martin’s tirade enjoyed the support of the majority of members in the chamber that day and at the completion of his attack on Suttor loud laughter rung around the room at the expense of the noble Member for the Counties of Roxburgh, Phillip and Wellington. Undeterred, Suttor now rose for the third time to move his motion on the cancellation of his own Crown Lands leases on the Meroo River, and in a sign, he was becoming flustered by the reaction of the house, started by admitting he was unsure of how to frame his next question. He didn’t get far, however, as by now those members of a more egalitarian bent had heard enough of Suttor’s private business and so this time George Nichols, representing the Northumberland Boroughs, stood on a point of order. He too ridiculed Suttor for his brazen abuse of parliament suggesting he should retire from prosecuting personal business in the Legislative Chamber and instead put it in the hands of one of his sympathetic friends who ‘would doubtlessly do the grievance full justice’.93 No doubt the friends referred to by Nichols were in the minority that day as, once again, loud laughter rang out at the expense of the hubristic Suttor. Finally, Suttor got the message and stood to withdraw the motion but couldn’t resist a feeble attempt at distancing himself from the subject of his enquiries

denying that he had a personal interest and asserting it was only a family matter; needless to say, the Chamber erupted once more in uproarious laughter at such a preposterous stance. August, 1852 – Lloyd’s Gold Circular for August 7: load up the steam ships. Lloyd waxed lyrical about the promising future for Australia in his column featuring a report on how the advent of steam travel across the oceans was opening up new frontiers. The establishment of new and regular steam-ship services between England and Australia could be attributed to the prospects afforded by Australia’s new export commodity – gold. Enormous wealth was being transported back to England on a regular basis in the absence of a local mint; something many locals were anxious to see rectified. Gold receipts continued to be down in consequence of the wet goldfields and the deteriorating muddy tracks masquerading as roads on which the escorts relied.94 August, 1852 – The Western Goldfields at their lowest ebb. The rain continued across the Western Goldfields as one of the wettest winters in living memory persisted in its course. Mount Alexander and the other Victorian goldfields at Bendigo and Ballarat were the main beneficiaries as diggers flocked to the drier diggings on offer there. Despite a significantly reduced population, the dry diggings on offer in the gullies and tablelands around the Meroo Goldfields continued to provide ample opportunity. New diggings were opened up at the back of the Red Rover Hotel and the flats between there and the White Conduit House were proving a rich new source as diggers sought new ground away from the creeks. Despite the wet, Campbells Creek, Nuggetty Gully and Long Gully continued to be prolific and Pure Point and Richardson’s Point miners were doing well too. High hopes were had for the Meroo River from Spicer’s Creek to its lower reaches at World’s End, but, whilst it was in flood, it was a prospect for another day. Though much of the workforce had packed up and gone to Mount Alexander it was generally considered only a temporary situation with their return likely in the spring as the weather warmed up and the creeks subsided.95 Even the most hardy and optimistic digger must have wondered if spring would ever arrive, however, as ten days of rain was compounded by two days of snow and hail. Food prices had gone up, rivers were in flood, the roads and tracks were a collection of rutted quagmires and the ubiquitous canvas tents had started to leak. Anything that diverted attention from the miserable conditions was welcome and so those twin evils of the goldfields, gambling and sly-grog selling, were flourishing from the Meroo to Tambaroora. In between the drinking and betting games, though, those who’d chosen to stay on worked the drier diggings away from the main rivers and creeks. About 500 hardy diggers continued to labour through the mud and rain at Devil’s Hole Creek, where gold was found at just three feet and the workings bore a resemblance to dry diggings, with holes averaging no more than 7 feet. Here too, speculation in claims was proving the making of as many men as the gold to be found. Married Man’s Creek meanwhile was host to no more than

150 men, some doing well others doing enough, many of whom were on the verge of packing up for drier diggings at Tambaroora. Tambaroora was proving a popular option and 2000 or so diggers were enjoying the abundant water supply, though, as one travelling correspondent discovered, the Meroo Goldfields was no place for a tourist. All energies were directed at finding gold or making money out of those with that intention, so a distinct lack of temporary, and suitable, lodgings was felt keenly by the scribes sent out from Sydney by the newspapers.96 The wet weather made conditions ideal for mining at Tambaroora as the laborious task of carting spoil to water holes for washing could be avoided or at least paid for at a reduced rate. Several parties were still paying three pounds per day to have their dirt carted to a suitable waterhole for washing, though, the manner of washing the spoil through the cradle meant a proportion of the yield was inevitably lost. The flooding rains had done the Western Goldfields no favours whatsoever as the idle diggers packed up and tramped to the Victorian Goldfields where thousands were already enjoying perfect conditions. Others left for the northern diggings at Bingara in response to news of extraordinary finds reaching the under-employed miners of the Meroo where even those on horseback couldn’t cross the flooded creeks. Mudgee was left in the doldrums as all communication with the Meroo diggings ceased, not that there was much to report, and commerce also slowed. The continuing rivalry between the two colonies was given a new edge as news of the huge yields and vast numbers characteristic of the southern neighbour’s goldfields continued to appear in print. Excuses were made for the lack of numbers working the NSW goldfields with rain receiving most of the blame. Patriotic New South Welshmen, many with a vested interest in a favourable depiction of the NSW goldfields, continued to lament the lack of recognition of the local diggings trumpeting their inevitable richness as yet unrealised for wont of labour. Calls for immigration from the Mother Country were heard as a salve for the labour shortage and rumours started about the lack of yields being experienced at Mount Alexander. In scenes that would be repeated throughout the goldrush years the competition for labour was, once again, on in earnest.97 August, 1852 – Bushrangers strike the gold escort. To compound the misery of the sodden goldfields the gold escort from the Western Goldfields was attacked by armed men during the week commencing 15th of August and robbed of over 300 ounces of gold dust. The bushrangers struck on the road between Bathurst and Sydney where the relatively lightly guarded transport was particularly vulnerable amongst the bush and steep climbs through the ranges. Combined with the lack of activity on the goldfields, it meant that gold receipts in Sydney were well down on the returns to which they’d become accustomed. The attack on the escort was not well received in the corridors of power along Macquarie Street with the conditions under which the gold escort laboured becoming the topic of debate in the Legislative Chamber at the commencement of spring.98

August, 1852 – A public meeting to oppose big capital at Louisa Creek. Conflict between the organised companies targeting the quartz veins and the small parties looking to exploit their alluvial claims began to surface in response to the aggressive tactics of T.S. Mort and Co. in securing their company’s rights at the famous quartz vein at Louisa’s Creek. A committee was formed by a group of like-minded individuals to protect their own gold mining interests against any changes to the regulations in favour of large companies. Led by Edward Turner, the committee resolved to petition the Governor General to oppose any alteration to the current regulations in favour of ‘Sydney capitalists’ and requesting companies be confined to working quartz veins or, if on alluvial claims, on the same basis as individuals. They then organised a public meeting to be held in front of the Post Office on Saturday the 28th of August. In the wet and cold conditions, nearly all the diggers with a vested interest in the workings of Louisa Creek turned out in support of the cause. The committee put forward their proposed resolutions all of which were unanimously adopted by the assembled miners.99 September, 1852 – The conveyance of gold becomes an issue on Macquarie Street. In Macquarie Street, questions were asked of the Colonial Secretary as to what measures were being considered to overcome the inconveniences of flooded creek crossings and impassable roads. It was alleged the officer in charge of the western escort at Bathurst was refusing to send the coach on to Sydney for fear of the treacherous conditions and resultant vulnerability of the precious cargo. The Colonial Secretary acknowledged that several escorts were now overdue but that additional measures were not considered necessary least of all those adopted by their Victorian counterparts who’d begun carting the gold by pack horse. It was, after all he noted, not possible for the government to control the weather. Nobody in the chamber was particularly appeased by the response but debate nonetheless moved onto other weightier matters with the usual bugbears of land administration and gold revenue being joined by arrangements for the police force.100 September, 1852 – More calls for help to maintain law and order on the goldfields. On the 18th of August, 1851, Governor General Fitz Roy signed a letter to Lord Earl Grey explaining the exigencies brought by the all-consuming gold rush. The letter was tabled in parliament in the week of the 13th of September, 1852, as the lack of military capacity to deal with potential civil unrest and the desertion of police officers succumbing to the temptations of the goldfields was again exercising the minds of the legislature. These were not new concerns, first voiced in the face of the rush to Ophir over twelve months ago, but nor had they been adequately addressed by London. Along with Ophir, there was now the prospect of instant wealth at the Western Goldfields of the Turon, Meroo, Tambaroora, Abercrombie diggings, the Southern Goldfields centred on Araluen, and Victorian goldfields, all of which meant increased immigration and desertions. Each of the NSW goldfields bore the hallmarks of English civilisation with the

establishment of courts of Petty Sessions and Requests, post offices, gold escort services and buildings necessary for the housing and operations of the police detachments. The prospect of an influx of new diggers resulted in calls for an additional military regiment to ensure law and order on the goldfields; justified at the time by the continuing finds of mid-1851 and made certain by the events of 1852. Fitz Roy had predicated his argument on the inevitable tide of gold seekers that would accompany the gold rush and its impact on those wage earners resident in the colony. Of most concern in 1851 was the loss of police officers. The Inspector-General of Police, William Spain, had recently taken up the newly created post after three years in New Zealand officiating over land claims only to be confronted by the emerging crisis in his ranks. Not long after taking up his position, 38 of Sydney’s police had resigned to try their luck on the goldfields, including all but two of the water police, despite pay increases being granted in a bid to head off such an outcome. Those police officers could expect to be fined £10 as a consequence, but in a measure of the opportunities potentially available to them, it wasn’t to prove a deterrent. Their minds had been made up when two of their number returned from Ophir to exhibit their earnings and to no doubt regale them with the new wonders of the west. Spain’s tenure as Inspector-General of Police was to be short-lived as events overtook him in his endeavours to modernise the police force, but he laid the foundations for the police force’s future and was eager to support his Governor General. He had added his weight to the Governor General’s submission to Earl Grey decrying a combination of factors associated with the gold rush that were making it difficult to retain police in the colony. The near perfect conditions on the goldfields and improvements in techniques meant men could work their claims with increasing efficiency and, coupled with the regularity with which new fields were being discovered, Sydney ears were being readily bent and minds quickly made up. Spain noted it wasn’t only labourers so inflicted but also clerks, and even men of mark, with one or two barristers rumoured to be throwing their lot in with the rest of the diggers. A military regiment and some naval reinforcement would, he suggested, be a welcome addition to the measures available for keeping the peace. In 1851, employers everywhere were nervous about the loss of their labour to the attractions of the goldfields and nowhere were they more nervous than on the ships anchored in Sydney Harbour. In support of Fitz Roy, veteran sailor James Everard Home, Captain of the Calliope and senior naval officer in the colony, was organising himself to ensure the protection of all merchant shipping in the harbour at the request of his masters but lamented the lack of manpower available to him. Fitz Roy made specific mention in his despatch of the 18th of August of the loss of seaman absconding from their posts, often violently, to join the throng massing on the gold fields and was concerned for the safety of merchant vessels. The lack of naval support for ships left unprotected by an inadequate military presence meant the inevitable paralysis of all shipping trade if something was not done soon. These concerns were sent to England in 1851 and were added to by representations from mercantile firms setting in train a flurry of correspondence as the English reacted to the potential

threat to orderly trade. Asked to explain himself, a suitably chastised Fitz Roy detailed the situation and explained the initiatives swiftly implemented. The British Government’s provocative response, tabled in parliament in September, 1852, included a high-handed despatch from the new Colonial Secretary, John Somerset Pakington, aka Lord Hampton, dated 14th of May. It announced the service companies of the 69th Regiment, currently stationed in Hong Kong, would be sent to the colonies in recognition of the burdens imposed by the gold rushes. Two of the companies would be stationed in NSW, and in a move sure to have raised eyebrows in the NSW legislature, four were to go to the newly independent colony of Victoria. The allocation of the extra 200 troops was to come at a cost, of course, and was accompanied by the threat of their removal should they not be suitably provided for. All expenses and remuneration for the new military detachment were to be met by NSW and Victoria from Colonial Revenues. Seeking to ingratiate himself with his new master, FitzRoy responded to Pakington that an additional sum of five shillings a day would also be provided to the officers and three and a half shillings to privates, to defray the high costs of living resulting from the inflationary effects of the gold rush. A NSW parliament, becoming increasingly aware of its own Australian identity and seeking greater responsibility, agreed to the extra costs but would continue to chafe at the supercilious attitude of its British parent.101 September, 1852 –A Select Committee to inquire into management of the Goldfields. Amid concerns about bushrangers, creek crossings, labour desertion and competing claims over matrix and alluvial gold, the Legislative Council was considering the management of the Western and Southern Goldfields. Accordingly, James Macarthur, Elective Member for the County of Camden, moved that ‘a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the system now in force for the management of the goldfields, and the collection and administration of the revenue thence arising, with a view to the suggestion of such measures as may be deemed expedient for the improvement and greater efficiency of the system’.102 The committee was to consist of James Macarthur, Messrs. Cowper, Darvall, Cox, Holroyd, King, Wentworth, and the erstwhile William Suttor, as well as the Solicitor General and Colonial Secretary Thomson. After some debate, the two questions comprising the motion, firstly for the creation of the committee, and, secondly, that it consist of the nominated members, were put to a vote and were duly passed. September, 1852 – Emigrants in pursuit of wealth flock to the goldfields. Whilst immigration was welcomed as a panacea to labour shortages not all of it was deemed desirable. There was concern that some would come from the more fractious European nations, the lawless San Francisco goldfields, and perhaps worst of all, from Van Dieman’s Land, where the convict stain was as prominent as ever. In a promising sign, though, 1852 saw a staggering increase in immigration from just 16,037 in 1850 to 82,064 - those from England alone. The majority were headed for the Victorian goldfields with 12,639 of those coming to NSW and 58,533 to Victoria.

Clearly, the goldfields were the big drawcard with the scale of Victoria’s gold industry evident in the imbalance of numbers; an imbalance which carried through to the ratio of two males for every female arriving in that colony.103 The impact of the gold rush is clear when immigration is compared to that of the depressed 1840s with a record low of just 830 arriving in 1845.104 The gold rush was not considered a drawcard for some, though, and German immigration societies, established to assist would-be emigrants, were actively encouraging their countrymen to avoid NSW and Victoria for fear of the inevitable social disruption that would accompany the new discoveries. Eager to escape the ongoing political unrest and ongoing war over control of Schleswig-Holstein, many Germans sought refuge overseas. In 1852, over 144,000 left for the Unites States, whilst just 1,276 came to Australia joining the 22,820 believed already in residence.105 Overwhelmingly, most immigrants to the Australian colonies during 1852 had been English and Scottish, though, with most of those choosing to try their luck in Victoria. In fact, NSW immigration to the fledgling Victorian colony also rode on the back of the gold rush with over 10,000 men, women and children making the move south in the same year.106 September, 1852 – A petition from the miners of the Tambaroora diggings. On Tuesday the 14th of September, George Nichols, Elective Member for the Northumberland Boroughs, rose in parliament to present a petition from the associated miners of the Tambaroora diggings. They were seeking a say in how things were being done and to see them done on a more egalitarian basis. The petition begged the pardon of the parliament to hear their wishes for the extension of the elective franchise to include miners, the vote by ballot, and to have the property qualifications abolished for membership to the Legislative Council. The petition was but one of many to be received in the coming months by parliament and forwarded on to the Select Committee from various groups of miners across the colony aggrieved at management of the goldfields.107 September, 1852 – A new find results in a rush to Campbells Creek. While the Louisa Creek diggings was losing large numbers to the flavour of the month, the Bingara goldfield in the north, another rush was taking place down on the Meroo. Saturday, 18th of September, saw the rise of rumours of the discovery of gold along a tract of land at Campbells Creek. Gold diggers being gold diggers, a rush soon ensued to test the veracity of the rumour as it spread rapidly among the disaffected miners on the soggy goldfield. Elsewhere, mining was still affected by the high river and wet floodplains and many were contemplating the Victorian goldfields with a view to returning to their Meroo claims when conditions were more favourable.108 September, 1852 – Stutchbury surveys Mudgee River and Lawson Creek for gold. At the same time, Mudgee was playing host to the colony’s geologist, Samuel Stutchbury, who was now investigating the Mudgee River, also called Cudgegang and later Cudgegong, and Lawson Creek for their potential as goldfields. There had long been reports of finds at various locations along the Mudgee River, including within the township of Mudgee itself, but it had yet to receive

official attention. Stutchbury confirmed that his investigation had yielded gold on both streams and was pleased to pronounce ‘an extensive and rich digging ground’.109 His optimism would not be borne out by experience in the years to follow, though, gold was found intermittently throughout both districts. Meanwhile, diggers were drifting back from Bingara to take up their claims at the proven diggings of the Meroo disappointed that reality had not matched rumour. September, 1852 – Fine weather heralds renewed optimism and the Spring Flat field. As spring asserted itself across the diggings, fine and sunny weather prevailed allowing returning diggers to resume activity in the bed and banks of the previously strongly flowing creeks and rivers. The diggers were quick to re-occupy Maitland Bar, recognising its riches, and were setting to work damming the Meroo River to divert its receding flow to work the bed. Further up the river, Richardson’s Point and Pure Point were also the scenes of renewed endeavour with parties once again doing well. Existing diggings at Nuggetty Gully and Devil’s Hole Creek were being expanded as new discoveries resulted from the influx of eager diggers. With the return of large numbers of diggers came the inevitable discovery of new diggings, and this time it was to the south east of Mudgee at Spring Flat whee good judges were determining the area to be highly auriferous. Gravel sized nuggets were being turned up across the flats, one nugget weighing 3.5 ounces sold to Henry Tebbutt of the Red Rover Hotel but digging was hampered by the still sodden soil profile. Evidence of the prosperity of the diggers on the Meroo goldfield was found in observations that mining licences were, as a matter of course, being paid for with large denomination notes. September, 1852 – An early sally in the battle between capital and labour. In other news, the concerns of diggers on Louisa Creek over competition from capitalised companies for the alluvial diggings had reached those on the Meroo. Pure Point became the rallying point for the Meroo diggers as a public meeting was held to consider ‘the propriety of petitioning the Executive’. Anticipating the clashes between capital and labour of the 1890s, the diggers were objecting to the threat of capitalists forming companies to work the alluvial diggings to the exclusion of individuals and small parties. The gathering was addressed by notable members of the mining community, including the ever-present Henry Tebbutt, and a committee formed to determine the best course of action. Of concern the issue might be, but the diggers weren’t about to be distracted from their equally important leisurely pursuits, and work was continuing apace for the organisation of a race meeting to be held at Devil’s Hole Creek in October. Subscriptions looked promising and nominations for some of Mudgee’s finest mounts were anticipated.110 September, 1852 – the lottery of gold digging fails to pay dividends at Tambaroora. Diggers at Tambaroora had for some time been eagerly eyeing off a yet unworked flat between the post office and a set of stockyards. The difficulty for them was the flat was taken up by a quartz claim belonging to a Mr. Samuel; one of their targets in recent disputes over quartz claims. Despite

this, Samuel intimated one evening that he had objection to anyone seeking alluvial gold on the flat if they thought it worthwhile. That was all the invitation the diggers needed, and within two days the flat was a bustling gold field with diggers descending upon it ‘like a swarm of locusts’ to peg out over 500 claims. 148 holes were dug to between 8 and 10 feet deep in very short order. Even in these golden times, diggers could miss out, and this was to prove one of those occasions. Out of all the holes dug, only one or two yielded anything worthwhile and within the week the field was deserted as diggers, ruing their misfortune, moved onto the next good thing.111 September, 1852 – Setbacks for both Gideon Lang and his company. With a return to production at the company’s quartz claim, one of its principals, Gideon Lang, made a visit to the site to test its likely long-term profitability. Lang brought along with an expert in the field, Mr Harding, to measure the wealth of the lode against the accounts he had been receiving in Sydney. Clearly Lang had allowed himself to be swept up in the mania that accompanied reports of the quartz veins in the ridges around the Meroo, as he was left disillusioned when the prospect of a gold-riddled quartz dominating the landscape failed to materialise. The more pragmatic Mr Harding, nonetheless, re-assured Lang and the dependant workers in the vicinity that he was sure from what he had observed that the enterprise would prove a profitable one indeed. Despite the prospect of continued employment for those working for the company, its activities were still the object of some dissatisfaction among the broader mining community. Recent news that all alluvial diggers were to be removed from the company’s quartz claim had inflamed the situation and an organised campaign of public mischief was orchestrated. The campaign was focussed on disrupting operations by repeatedly letting the horses out of the stables on the company compound. Although surrounded by occupied huts, the stables were often found open in the morning and the horses gone. No tracks were able to be found and nobody was offering up any information in the face of extensive enquiries. The stables were struck again during the night of the 24th of September; this time the victim being none other than Gideon Lang himself. After mustering the wandering horses, it was discovered two were missing including the prized, and very valuable, grey Arab mare owned by Lang. Suspicion was excited after the failure to recover the aristocratic mount and a search of the tack room confirmed this was not the work of the usual suspects. Lang immediately commenced inquiries of staff and their movements around the goldfields with suspicion being laid at the feet of a ‘great scoundrel’ known to have no saddle but to have disappeared overnight. The brazen thief had also carried away two bridles after stepping over a sleeping digger to examine the best of them and had helped himself to a piece of hanging bacon leaving evidence behind in the form of a hunting knife. Commissioner Bowman was alerted, but with most of his staff in Mudgee on other business, was not anticipated to deliver up the suspect. A £10 reward was also posted with the suspect believed to be a shearer heading out west, though, local opinion had him more likely to be headed for Port Phillip to dispose of his ill-gotten gains.112

September, 1852 – The postman fails to deliver. The combination of persistent rain, poor roads and flooded river crossings had caused the mail from Mudgee to become irregular at best during previous months, but excuses were wearing thin. One correspondent, describing the lamentable service from Mudgee that saw mail routinely delivered weeks late, attributed the problem to ‘too much spirit at Mudgee [rather than] too much water’.113 He questioned the commitment of the Avisford postmaster to keeping his feet dry when the intestinal fortitude of his commercial compatriots saw them making the journey on a regular basis. The return of unsettled weather at month’s end would have done little to restore his humour. October, 1852 – The introduction into parliament of a bill for managing the goldfields. The workload of Macarthur’s Select Committee was about to increase substantially with the introduction into parliament on Friday, the 1st of October by the Governor General of ‘A Bill for regulating the management of the Goldfields of New South Wales and for raising a Revenue therefrom, and for the preservation of order thereon’. The message from the Governor General and his draft bill were ordered to be printed and referred to the Select Committee.114 October, 1852 – Stutchbury continues his geological and mineralogical survey of NSW. Writing from his camp at the junction of the Cudgegong River and Wialdra Creek, the colony’s chief geologist sought to organise his thoughts after having worked his way around the country draining into the lower Cudgegong River north-west of Mudgee. Stutchbury had observed the geology searched for gold and other valuable minerals around Uamby, Wialdra, Laheys Creek, Guntawang, Piambong, Two Mile Flat, and out toward Cobbora. He’d been shown finds made by landowners nearly everywhere he went including fossils and coal at Edward Rouse’s ‘Guntawang’, gold at several properties including Hassall’s ‘Morrowolga’ and Henry Bayly’s ‘Beaudesert’, and remarkable marble at Henry Cox’s ‘Broombi’. Stutchbury affirmed his position that, having explored the Cudgegong from its confluence with the Macquarie River, ‘the whole course of it is replete with gold’.115 His confidence extended to the tributaries and dry diggings of the flats where, in his opinion, there was room and gold to supply ‘thousands of adventurers for years to come’.116 His confidence in the Cudgegong would, to some extent, be borne out in the coming months as diggers tested its merits in numbers, though, perhaps not so grand as those foreseen by Stutchbury. October, 1852 – Gold receipts for the week commencing 3rd of October. oz. dwt. grs. Sofala - 894 17 18 Meroo - 355 3 0 Tambaroora - 1297 0 12 Mudgee - 10 14

The wet conditions on the goldfields were still favouring the dry diggings of Tambaroora with the increased activity there contributing most of gold received in Sydney for the week. In total, 3200 ounces of gold were received via official channels, though, an additional amount continued to be entrusted to private hands and the postal system. October, 1852 – An influx of immigration from the ‘The Mother Country’. Stories of the gold rushes were not new to the English, they’d been regaled for over twelve months in the press and by private means of the fortunes to be made on the seemingly endless goldfields of the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria, but the advent of quick passage via the new steam ships, and the sustained success of the goldfields now made the lure irresistible. Colonials were expecting the British in their thousands, if not tens of thousands, to descend upon antipodean shores with the only constraint being the availability of passages. Excitement was heightened by the arrival in London of riches from the goldfields to the value of £1,000,000 sterling in one week alone. The excitement was not universally shared by the recipients of the influx of people, though. In Melbourne, complaints were circulating of the lack of shelter and food for such large numbers of immigrants both on the diggings and in the capital itself.117 October, 1852 – Arrival of the 40th Regiment at Port Phillip. At the behest of the Victorian Parliament Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe wrote to Pakington on the 18th of September seeking to have the soon-to-arrive 40th Somersetshire Regiment retained for the exclusive use of Victoria. The large numbers congregating on the goldfields had alarmed the colony’s legislators who were keen to maintain law and order. The same despatch carried a request for the British government to consider making Victoria ‘the seat of supreme government in Australia’.118 Five days later, he also wrote to FitzRoy informing him of his actions which he proposed to uphold until further advice could be received from England. FitzRoy made it clear he and his parliament were not about to be thwarted in their ambitions, and in just one single terse sentence, he made it perfectly clear to La Trobe that he was not to delay the 40th’s arrival in Sydney a moment longer than was necessary.119 The Queen was nonplussed by Victoria’s presumption at primacy, though, their bullish actions provided further fuel to a rivalry already well-advanced. After steaming from Cork, the ‘Vulcan’ made anchor at the quarantine station in Hobson’s Bay, Port Phillip, on the 19th of October and reported a single case of small pox among the ship’s crew. The ship carried five companies of the 40th Somersetshire Regiment, led by Commander von Donop who had orders to disembark the regiment’s headquarters and four companies before departing with the remaining company for Sydney. After being informed by Von Donop of his orders and disposition, Lieutenant La Trobe responded by confining them to quarantine.120 Meanwhile, doubt arose as to the veracity of the original diagnosis of the illness suffered by the young 19-year-old sailor currently confined to quarters under suspicion of having smallpox. Three doctors were consulted before the illness was determined to be no more than a dose of syphilis leaving La Trobe

with no option other than to release the ‘Vulcan’ to resume its journey. On the 4th of November, La Trobe wrote to Pakington informing him that he’d disembarked the four companies committed to service in Victoria and sent the ship on its way.121 October, 1852 – The fickle nature of fortune on the goldfield - Joseph J. Harpur. One of the many diggers slogging it out on the sodden Meroo diggings during the wet winter of 1852 was forty-two years old Joseph Jehosephat Harpur who, in 1861, would go on to serve a term as the Member for Patrick’s Plains in the NSW Legislative Assembly. In the spring of 1852, however, his party was anxious for success on the goldfields fortune having escaped them and their resources running low. His party consisted of his son, possibly his brother, and one or two others from the Hunter Valley.122 They’d explored the length of the Meroo for suitable sites settling on a likely prospect about two miles downstream of Maitland Bar, a suitably secluded spot on the south side of the Meroo River populated by many of their Hunter Valley compatriots, where they pitched their tent at the point on the river. Harpur was impressed by the natural advantages afforded to his party in having adequate pasturage for their horses and rocky barriers to their wanderings that allowed them respite from the tedium of catching the horses morning and night. Of all the site’s benefits none was more significant than its seclusion. It was downstream of the action at Maitland Bar, and the main road was high above on a ridge that led away from the river. They gambled on being far enough out of site to avoid the attentions of the Commissioner’s men, and, with their funds in a precarious position, avoiding their licensing obligations was a risk worth taking. Within a fortnight, they were joined at their site by additional parties with the result that the point was completely taken up. A confederacy of sorts soon developed, as all of them were there on the same terms, and so the regulations were only loosely followed in staking out their irregularly shaped claims. Harpur described their quarry as ‘drift-gold’, fine and scaly in appearance; it was won by washing the gravelly soil to a depth of about three feet, below which, no gold was being found. For three weeks they worked in unison, as well as in their own parties, in their pursuit of the gold buried on the point returning about a quarter of an ounce per man each day. Discouraged by the lack of reward, the other parties began drifting downstream to go prospecting for new sites while Harpur and his party remained behind determined to properly examine the area. Harpur reckoned on finding gold beneath the water level in the gravelly point and even in the bed of the river at the top of the waterhole upstream of them. Though suffering constant setbacks from the almost immediate flooding of every hole they dug, courtesy of a gravel layer that conveyed the river’s water through the soil they were attempting to wash, he began formulating a plan to dam the river to divert its flows around the waterhole via a race. They decided to throw in for the materials necessary to build a Long Tom that would allow them to work the bed of the waterhole finding all they needed at a shop at Maitland Bar. The Long Tom had come to the goldfields with the Californians and was used to sift material containing gold by running water along its wooden race catching the gold as it dropped out. By damming the river and diverting its flows through their

Long Tom, into which they would be depositing the auriferous bed material, Harpur and his party hoped to avail themselves of the full extent of the richness of their site. Harpur had first heard of the use of the Long Tom through a party of Americans from the Californian goldfields and was able to obtain from them plans for its construction and instructions for its use. They assured him it was the most successful method yet applied to the extraction of gold from the Californian rivers. After successfully constructing their Long Tom, the party proceeded to test its prospects before building the dam. Harpur’s son was the first to meet with success wading out into the stream up to his waist before dipping his pan into the bed sands and washing them through the Long Tom to reveal a penny weight of scale gold. They repeated the procedure at various spots around their waterhole to the same effect leaving them glowing with optimism. Such was Harpur’s rapture that in recollecting the day he waxed lyrical about the newly discovered landscape around him finding new beauty in a raw and foreign landscape that had not previously been kind to him. Accordingly, the precipitous stony slope behind their encampment shone under the brightest rays of glorious sunshine yet to reveal themselves to his vision illuminating anew the mountains blanket of golden acacia blossoms. The spiny and sparse native grasses became verdant swathes of emerald green, the broken and knotted canopies of the apple gums bore ‘umbrageous heads and fantastic arms’; and even the raucously mocking kookaburras were singing optimistically. The contagion spread to his son who constructed a large bonfire and began belting out a merry jig on his well-used pan whistling in accompaniment as his companions joined hands and danced themselves to blissful exhaustion. The following morning the real work began as they prepared to put their Long Tom to work. Making the most of it meant constructing a dam in the Meroo River in the face of a strongly flowing stream determined to defy them. Not to be daunted, they commenced excavating clay from the bank of the river placing it in the river by means of a borrowed wheelbarrow; Harpur taking on the duties of main barrow man and dam designer. The river was seven feet deep and twenty yards wide as they began filling it with the proceeds from their exertions, and it was some time before the fruits of their labours began to reveal themselves. Intending to build an earthen wall with a width at its base of 15 feet, at its top 4 feet and a height above water of 12 inches, Harpur laboured mightily to make an impression on the stream. Compacting his clay wall as he made his way out into the river, with exhaustion kept at bay only by the lust for gold, Harpur and his merry band laboured for seven days to reach within one yard of the opposite bank. They retired each night aching from their exertions but satisfied with their prospects and the riches that awaited them in reward. After seven days of labour a light, but persistent, drizzle decided their minds for them and they called it quits early leaving the wheelbarrow and tools out on the wall. As the night progressed, the rain became heavier, but, after a vote, the men decided it would take more than one night’s rain to present them with a problem. Nonetheless, a sleepless night ensued for Harpur, as much due to his snoring companion as the rain, his earlier confidence eroding

by the hour. Roused early by the malevolent sounds of a rising river, Harpur peeled back the flap of his calico tent to reveal the Meroo River in full flight and his dam totally submerged. Stirred into action, he called out to his son and together they waded through the water to recover the wheelbarrow and tools they’d left on the wall just in time to prevent them from floating away on the current. A quick assessment satisfied him that his dam was still intact underneath the muddy water and they retreated to their lodgings. As dawn broke, however, the revealed scene did little to fortify the optimism of the previous week with the river now 10 feet above the level of their dam. Looking out from their tents, they counted over 30 cradles riding the river downstream in just half an hour closely followed by a motley collection of long toms, pans, pumps and wheelbarrows. Harpur and his party put aside their own misery to collect as much of the mining equipment from the swirling eddies as they could, later returning it to its respective owners. The harsh light of day proved Harpur’s earlier optimism to be misplaced. The dam was damaged irretrievably; their misfortune compounded by the knowledge it would be quite some time before they’d be at work again.123 October, 1852 - ‘Fortune long looked for, come at last’ - Joseph J. Harpur. All morning the river roared its way around their point with the occasional cradle or pan continuing to be sighted in its passage as the realisation of their loss took hold. Despite their gloomy prospects, the men began to turn their minds to the future and talk soon ensued of striking their tents to try again elsewhere. Reluctant to completely abandon the the work they’d done so far, they decided to search the ridges for signs of dry diggings worth pursuing. Whilst Harpur’s son went for the week’s rations, the rest of the party carried bucket load upon bucket load to the creek for washing but failed to find any sign of gold that might hold them till the river dropped again. Resigned too their fates for the time being, they retired to their camp and proceeded to smoke their pipes in silence as they awaited the return of Harpur junior with food. Before too long he came into view and could be heard calling out at the top of his voice that a find of dry diggings had been made just upriver closer to Maitland Bar. Hope was restored as the indomitable spirit of the digger rose to the fore on this the flimsiest of pretexts, yet, such was the temper of the time, that every rumour was a call to action. Imploring them to get a move on, they ate a sparse meal and received all the news of the new diggings before striking camp and making for their next adventure. They caught their horses and piled cradle, picks, shovels and pans precariously atop their mounts and in various assemblages upon the riders, intent on hastening the two miles to the new find. Whilst preparing to leave, Harpur’s son had breathlessly expanded on his earlier exclamations informing them that around 30 men were using the waters of a blind creek that ran into the Meroo to wash spoil from a sloping ridge nearby. The gold, they said, was found only inches below the surface and was coarse and waterworn. Needless to say, there were hopes of large nuggets being found. Upon arriving at the new grounds, they discovered that news had travelled quickly, and numbers had increased from those originally posited. The scene before them was being played out on a slope of not more than 10 degrees stretching for half a mile to the foot of the range dividing the

waters of the Louisa and Meroo. The men working the soil were huddled together in close proximity; close enough in fact for a man to ‘throw a tent over the whole’.124 While Harpur surveyed the scene he witnessed several nuggets unearthed which was all the encouragement he needed to join the fray. ‘A big man from the country part of England’ had found the site whilst attempting to catch his horse in the process kicking up several good-sized nuggets revealed by the recent rain. In a remarkably generous gesture he decided to share it with others in the area recognising that many diggers were doing it tough in the wet conditions. Additionally, the uncharacteristically forthcoming miner had issued an edict that no claims would be staked out on that first day and any man could dig where he pleased. Recognising Harpur from their time on Campbell’s Creek some weeks earlier, he explained that the more gold he found the more money he would waste, and so it was of little use to keep it all to himself. The man’s gesture presented a singularly unique experience for Harpur who found it difficult to reconcile the spirit of ‘co-operation and brotherly love’ with the secrecy and haste typical of his experience of the goldfields. Harpur and his men were simply told to ‘dig where you like, so long as you strike no one with your pick’.125 Harpur later recounted the fervour of the men intent on making the most of their opportunity through the process of ‘nuggeting’ after weeks of indifferent conditions. Fifty to sixty diggers worked co-operatively to turn over the top six inches of ground by arraying themselves in a single line on their knees, shoulder to shoulder, as they progressed down the slope swinging the picks in unison with almost military precision. They promptly created a wasteland of erratically tilled black soil behind them as they moved mowing down the low grasses and occasional shrub before them. Their relentless march was halted only by exclamations of joy as discoveries of nuggets from one ounce to forty were heralded by the echoing cries of the lucky finder as he showed off his prize. Behind them were haphazardly arranged parties more carefully picking over the broken ground, examining the soil with knives, forks, spoons, tomahawks and trowels for anything missed by the front line. There were also men carting off loads of soil in carts, wheelbarrows and wheat bags to wash them in the cradles now massed along the nearby creek. Still more were digging in advance of the main line looking for missed nuggets where large ones had already been unearthed. Cries of joy echoing around the mountainside sporadically punctuated the sounds of industry that prevailed upon the normally placid creek flats. The massed cradles rattled and knocked along the creek as they were rocked in earnest interrupted only briefly to cast an eager eye over the latest digger to be blessed with good fortune. Resuming again, the energy of the miners was palpable as the prospect of gold drove them to feverish levels leaving no opportunity for idle chat or banter. Harpur’s eye-witness account leaves no doubt as to the digger’s determination when gold fever took hold, within the constraints of gentlemanly English conduct of course: ‘...every man was energetic up to the top of his bent, here every man’s eye flashed fire, every muscle every nerve was strained to the utmost, every faculty of body and mind

was in exercise, and every passion was visibly depicted in his countenance, but intellect and the moral sentiment held the rule over all’.126 October, 1852 – The long and winding road from Maitland to the Meroo. By October 1852, the road to the Meroo goldfields from the Hunter valley was well trodden. Attempts had been made by local entrepreneurs in previous years to improve the condition of the road in the absence of government support resulting in it generally being considered to be in good condition. Richard Alcorn at Jerry’s Plains had built a road in the 1840s back down the valley to Patrick’s Plains, and, with the prospect of increased business from goldfields traffic, Henry Hewitt had dug up the rocks and filled the holes that bedevilled the Mount Dangar Gap descent. Men on foot would often leave Jerry’s Plains sticking to the south side of the Hunter River to emerge from under the escarpment onto Doyle’s Plains. Those loaded up would leave Alcorn’s ‘Queen Victoria Inn’ at Jerry’s Plains and cross the river before crossing it again to avoid George Blaxland’s place (now ‘Woodlands’ horse stud), emerging also at Doyle’s Flat. From Doyle’s Flat, men on foot or in drays would follow the river along its flats to Hewitt’s ‘Mount Dangar Inn’ on the banks of the Goulburn River, just upstream of its junction with the Hunter; a journey of about 15 miles. The route from Jerry’s Plains was suitable for carriage with its more or less gentle gradients and ample supply of water and pasture. From Hewitt’s, the diggers set out to make the 9-mile journey to the junction of the Cassilis and Bylong Roads along the northern bank of the Goulburn River where they crossed it at Mount Dangar Creek to avoid Wybong Creek and Pike’s Gap. After crossing the river, they continued on the river flats until reaching The Flags. It was here they had to choose between the journey toward Cassilis and Derighery (now Durridgeree) or to take the road to Rylstone and Dabee; a decision usually determined by the mode of transport. The route from Jerry’s Plains to this point was favoured by those with carriage, as its gentle gradients and ample supply of water and pasture provided natural advantages.127 October, 1852 – Workings at the Great Nugget Vein, Louisa Creek. The operations of The Great Nugget Vein Quartz Crushing Company at Louisa Creek were in full swing by October, 1852 and were showing great promise as spring unfolded with fine, clear weather. The quartz seams were being excavated and crushed, and the nearby alluvial soils were the subject of a multitude of excavations. The company was making the most of its extensive claims by excavating the shallow soil found on either side of the quartz ridge, finding abundant gold in two separate channels of clay slate within the bedrock. Gideon Lang saw great promise in the alluvial workings on the company’s claim and had constructed a puddling machine, called a pug mill, for washing the clay rich soil. It consisted of a circular trough sixty feet in diameter, with a channel three feet wide and two feet deep cut into the ground. The channel was lined with timber boards and paved with timber standing on end. Soil was thrown into the channel with water pumped in to allow a harrow to be dragged around the channel by means of a horse tethered to a centrally fixed

windlass. This process broke the heavy soil up allowing the gold to drop out of the sludge to the base of the channel. The sludge was then taken by wheelbarrow to a cradle also powered by the windlass and pumps on the pug mill. Lang was now capable of washing over 100 barrow loads a day obtaining an average daily yield of 100 ounces of gold. The main game for Lang and his company, though, remained the quartz vein, and it was on that part of the claim that the most action was taking place. Quarrying at several points along the seam had revealed an archway shape to the buried quartz vein with each arch wall being six feet wide and separated by about seven feet. Various tunnels had been driven into the base of the hill for about 70 feet to reach the vein with more shafts planned to be driven to a depth of around sixty feet from the surface. Blasting of the quartz had yielded about 250 tons for crushing which was being conveyed to the crushing plant across Lewis Ponds Creek. The plant was powered by a six horse-power steam engine and consisted of a ‘heavy iron-headed stamp’ used in unison with an iron box below it in which quartz pieces were placed for crushing. As the stamp smashed the quartz into marble sized pieces they fell between iron bars in the base of the box where they were collected and shovelled into an iron basin in which two vertically standing iron wheels rotated on two axes to crush the quartz into powder. The use of the wheels would later be replaced by a battery of stamps, but, for now, the wheels were used in conjunction with a rake to push the powder onto a conveyor where it was lifted onto a sieve. The fine powder was then washed in a cradle to separate the coarser gold with mercury used to remove fine gold from the sand. Using this method, Lang’s men were able to wash about one ton a day, but experiments continued with a view to improving the machinery’s efficiency and, by extension, the profitability of the enterprise. Lang and his investors realised they needed to increase the capacity of their machinery to become profitable and had commenced negotiations with a British company with operations in Australia, the Colonial Gold Company, from whom the requisite materials could be obtained relatively quickly. They’d come to the claim for a look but, ominously, had yet to agree to terms with Sydney based entrepreneurs. Elsewhere on the claim, improvements had been made to housing and water supply for the benefit of the 36 men employed on the operation and to increase its resilience in the drier years. Accommodation for as many as 60 men had been erected with the workers’ huts constructed of bark or compacted clay wall, whilst Superintendent Atkins enjoyed his weatherboard lodgings. Other buildings included the engine and machinery house and carpenter’s and blacksmith’s shops. Employment at the mine was highly sought after as wages, rations and conditions were known to be good. A ten-feet-high dam was also in planning to drought proof the operation with a site selected on the chain of ponds known as Lewis Ponds Creek (today’s Louisa Creek, also formerly known as Louisa Ponds Creek) and was expected to have a capacity of 7 million gallons (32 Megalitres).128

October, 1852 – The advantages of NSW goldfields over those of Victoria. Competition between NSW and Victoria was not confined to political circles. The vast numbers that were accompanying reports of the Victorian goldfields led to patriotic New South Welshman pointing out some of the differences between the two goldfields – differences seen as disadvantages north of the Murray. In the main, the gold found in Victoria was at dry diggings requiring the sinking of shafts down to 30 feet or more in pursuit of leads. In contrast, NSW goldfields featured alluvial diggings, dry diggings and quartz crushing operations providing flexibility in response to changeable seasonal conditions. The Victorians were felt to be at the mercy of the rainfall to a greater extent as they were reliant on the proximity of water to wash their soil. NSW diggers could shift from alluvial to dry diggings quite easily on the Western Goldfields in times of flood and vice versa as water supplies dried up. The relatively undeveloped goldfields of NSW were thought to contain great promise; only being constrained by the lack of labour. October, 1852 – Devil’s Hole Creek a hive of activity as spring blooms. As the spring weather continued fine and warm through October, the countryside erupted into a profusion of wildflowers and verdant growth. The miners were back at work in earnest across the diggings that made up the Meroo Goldfields. Some inconvenience was still being felt by those on alluvial diggings, though, and water remained an enemy to those tunnelling into the saturated earth. At Devil’s Hole Creek, digging was confined to the banks and flats with the bed of the creek still flooded. Those digging had to continue for between 10 and 25 feet before finding gold preferring to remove the earth rather than tunnel through the loose and waterlogged clay and gravel. Up to four hundred people were at work on the three mile flat running up from Long Creek with still more diggers two miles further up the creek on Spring Flat. Miners there were doing a very good stroke with one party of two men, named Lang and Emblem, earning £40 in just three days and otherwise turning out 4 and 5 ounces a day. The creek had allegedly been named after a shepherd’s lamentations from losing his sheep in the ‘devil’s hole’ that constituted the creek’s upper reaches but changing fortunes with the discovery of gold had locals desirous of a change to the ‘ugly’ moniker (a battle later won as the name was changed to Clarkes Creek with only a minor tributary retaining the original name). The parties working the alluvium were probably not too interested in the debate busy as they were with their work which was yielding them about a pound a day. Preferring the trip to the Turon over Avisford, they were selling their gold through Sofala to the detriment of the official figures for the Meroo goldfields. Not that there was any lack of opportunity to do business on Devil’s Hole Creek with two pubs in place, one of them Henry Tebbutt’s, and several general stores all doing well. More diggers were returning from the northern diggings and those down south in Victoria every day, though, numbers had yet to reach the heady levels seen prior to the wet winter.129

October, 1852 – Meroo River diggings in the doldrums from top to bottom. The Meroo River bore a name less controversial; a name said to be derived from the local Aboriginal word for ‘run-away’ thought to be due to the steep gradient of its channel and consequent rapid rise and fall of flows. Here, though, mining had yet to recover from the high winter flows and worse was yet to come with the changeable spring weather set to provide no immediate let up. The brief period of fine weather throughout October was interrupted by the arrival of a southerly change on the night of Thursday the 28th forcing the diggers still persevering to grimly face the periods of heavy rain that dominated a cold and windy day. Here too, miner numbers had yet to recover, and at all the diggings along the Meroo River there was more potential than action with a population of 500 diggers estimated to be working along its entire length. At World’s End, on the lower Meroo, there was the anticipation of success due to its striking similarity to the country of the Turon. For the moment, however, it remained largely unworked and was currently host to just several parties. From World’s End to Maitland Bar, located about two and a half miles above the Louisa Creek junction, only 20 diggers were at work and then only making wages. A minor new rush had occurred to the flat on the south side of the river; no doubt in response to news of finds such as that Harpur had been party to just downstream. Holes were being sunk to depths as much as 20 feet with many cut in squares rather than the circular construction favoured at Tambaroora where about 120 miners swelled the ranks of the twenty or so who’d stayed through the wet winter. Closer to the river, the top soil was stripped rather than tunnelled into owing to the instability inherent in the poorly structured material. Of the thirty or so parties at work here, only a few were making 2 ounces per day with the occasional large nugget being found in the unequally distributed wealth. Nonetheless, toil was good enough for two stores to be trading along with a couple of the ubiquitous sly-grog shops. About three miles upstream of Maitland Bar was the Commissioner’s headquarters at Avisford on the Mudgee side of the river, consisting of half a dozen slab huts and some tents, where diggings had been opened along the river some months before. Nobody had yet returned to work the site, but there was abundant evidence of the previous attempts. Several parties were battling away on the river upstream of Avisford, but none were making more than three quarters of an ounce per day. Yields as admitted by diggers were notoriously unreliable, however, as they were generally a secretive lot and the six parties at California Bar, a couple of miles below Richardson’s Point, were no different. It was here that evidence of the plurality of goldfield’s life could be found as a man, his wife and child formed one of the parties. The wife was observed to be no novice in the trade and was in charge of rocking the cradle with the son likely employed in carting the spoil won from his father’s exertions. Many parties were observed to be washing their material in hollowed out tree trunks, formed in the manner of a trough, into which the material was thrown along with a plentiful amount of water and worked with a spade to break the soil for putting into the cradle.

The next active diggings on the Meroo River were at Gifford’s Bar, so named for the finder of the site, and only a half mile below Richardson’s Point. It too was only sparsely populated with just a few holes opened up, but those were proving rewarding for their owners averaging around an ounce for a day’s work. The heart of the Meroo Goldfields, Richardson’s Point, was next along the river. It was still the base for many commercial operators on the goldfield and presented a fetching sight in the lush spring being enjoyed by the locals in 1852. It was already anticipated a township would be laid out in due course, and among its preponderance of canvas were two hotels and four stores. At the moment, though, the point was relatively deserted. Another two miles upstream a particularly impressive site, called Turon Bar, had been opened up by some miners from the flooded Turon. Yields of several ounces a day had been talked of, and one claim was rumoured to have sold for £60. There was also a sprinkling of diggers all the way up the river toward Bocoble Mountain, though, no hint of the activity to come.130 October, 1852 – Mining the tributaries of the Meroo River. One of the most significant gold-bearing tributaries feeding the Meroo River, Long Creek, continued to offer good prospects for the digger, and, along with Married Man’s Creek, Nuggetty Gully and Devil ‘s Hole Creek, formed an important part of the commercial heart of the Meroo diggings. In November of 1852, Long Creek and its feeder streams were playing host to no less than five hotels with one at Point Pure, one at the junction with Devils’ Hole Creek, two near Suttor’s Toolamanang sheep station and one up Nuggetty Gully. In addition, innumerable butcher shops and general stores were also vying for the business of the much-reduced mining population. Point Pure was the first of the goldfields encountered upon travelling up Long Creek and was being worked by around 150 miners. Shafts were sunk into its open flats to depths from 12 to 20 feet where they were finding gold in amongst the clay bound gravels between 6 inches and 2 feet after washing it through the cradle. The bed of the incised creek itself was also thought to be a rich source, though, abundant flows were resisting the inevitable advance on its integrity. Upstream of Point Pure was Hunter’s Point, which, whilst acknowledged as an inferior site to its neighbour, was yielding gold in similar circumstances to a scattering of resilient parties. It had already been well worked, but parties continued to strip back the overburden on their claims to find the rich pebbly clay layer sought for the attention of their cradles. Another digging, known as Blacksmith’s Point, presented itself at the next bend of the narrow creek. It was deserted for the moment believed by most to have been worked out; however, during its heyday had yield up to £50 a week at one claim. Continuing upstream, isolated parties, numbering around 100 people, were working the dwindling channel as it wound its way around the base of the low hills. A similar number were at the formerly bustling Nuggetty Gully famous for its many nugget finds up to 18 ounces. Despite still yielding 2 ounces a day, it too was thought to be worked out and to the casual observer bore just such an appearance. In the previous summer, though, it was the site of several sly-grog shops and had been populous enough to attract a performance by Burton’s Circus.

At the head of Long Creek, a party had set themselves up in a sheltered location at which a series of rocks formed a small cascade in the creek. They were enjoying uncommon success with a method they’d devised to carry off the creek flow enabling them to work its bed. By stripping sheets of bark from nearby trees they’d been able to construct a shoot that diverted the water over their claim, allowing them access to the bed, denied to so many further downstream. With little to no earth to remove from their claim, they were able to remove nuggetty gold to the tune of six ounces in a week, with some nuggets reaching half an ounce. Back toward the Meroo, the flats either side of Married Man’s Creek were populated by over 200 diggers, though, it was reckoned there was room for plenty more. Nearby, the main tributary of Meroo Creek thereabouts, Campbells (or Guigong) Creek, was also the site of a number of rich diggings at which men could earn 10 to 20 shillings per day; here too, though, the strong flows were preventing access to the expected riches of its bed. A lamentable lack of pumps, such as those commonly found in operation on the Turon diggings, was seen as holding back the wet Meroo goldfields.131 November, 1852 – The economic benefits of the gold rush to surrounding districts. The Hunter valley and the Meroo goldfields were inextricably linked from the moment the first wheelbarrow loaded with diggers’ tools was pushed over the hills. The linkages extended beyond the flow of men and their families set on finding gold and the entrepreneurial and mercantile that set up shop on the diggings. Hunter valley farmers reaped the benefits as well with crops such as wheat and maize in demand to supply flour to the expanding populations on the diggings. In 1852, for the first time, demand for flour to be sent to the interior made inroads into the amount exported, and Maitland millers and bakers facilitated the growth as they relocated to the goldfields to take advantage of the opportunities the expanded trade represented.132 November, 1852 – Mudgee storekeepers branching out. It wasn’t only Maitland’s mercantile who saw the opportunity, with members of Mudgee’s business community also setting up shop at the various diggings of the Meroo goldfields. The favourite of many, Maitland Bar, was where three of Mudgee’s notable businessman had established themselves. Thomas L’Estrange was a prominent identity and had set himself up at several locations on the diggings with plans for a series of cottages to provide travellers and speculative diggers with accommodation. One of many in the process of erecting canvas establishments at Maitland Bar for the coming summer was Joseph Cox, the proprietor of the ‘Hit and Miss’. Stephen Tuckerman, owner of the original ‘Courthouse Hotel’ in Mudgee, was already operating at the diggings buying and selling gold with one party of Californians bringing him a bag of nuggets ranging from 8 to 12 ounces from the Maitland Bar.133 November, 1852 – Mudgee’s services stretched by an influx of hapless miners. In a note to the Empire a Mudgee correspondent offered a glimpse of the challenges being faced by townships in the vicinity of the goldfields - the many financial benefits notwithstanding. Clearly

not all would-be miners were making a go of it with some having to throw themselves at the mercy of various charitable institutions after finding themselves out of both money and prospects. In Mudgee, medical men and clergy of all persuasions were going beyond the call of duty in assisting where they could; however, such was the demand, it was felt existing resources and funding sources were not capable of keeping up. In scenes that would be played out again nearly two centuries later, calls were made for those miners blessed with success to contribute to a fund for the provision of extra services to assist those not benefitting from the gold rush. The Mudgee Hospital Committee met at a local hotel with Reverend James Gunther in the chair. Among the resolutions passed at the meeting was one appointing a number of people to travel around the diggings soliciting donations toward the cause from those more fortunate, ‘the lucky gold finders’.134 November, 1852 – Optimism returns to the Meroo goldfields with sunny weather. Improving weather brought with it optimism on the goldfields and was accompanied by the successful opening of another field downstream of Richardson’s Point immediately adjacent to the Mudgee Road. Excavations to three or feet were rewarded with their target - the loose gravelly clay in which gold could be found. Returns for men willing to labour were sufficient to make even the best of wages seem poor reward, though, labourers were in strong demand and could earn up to £2 a week. To the disgust of the casual observer, however, the average labourer’s working week seemed to consist of just three days on and four days off – the three day’s work being used to finance a four-day-spree among the inns and sly-grog shops.135 The abundance of stores now established on the goldfields was enough to keep inflated prices at bay, and their diversity ensured men could fully provision themselves upon arrival, negating the need to push, pull and carry their loads out west. It was still too wet to access the bed of the river, though, expectant men of sufficient means had registered their claims to waterholes in the Meroo River and its tributaries. In a vote of confidence for the area’s long-term prospects, concrete signs of permanent settlement were rumoured to be in the air. Planning for construction of a church was reaching its culmination, and it was also expected the government would soon be surveying a township on the site of the village forming at Richardson’s Point along with the sale of building allotments. Already, two notable inns and three large stores were plying their trades along with the numerous smaller establishments in the vicinity on nearby diggings. A dozen or so bark huts and numerous canvas tents completed the scene. The suspected uniformity of riches available to miners across the whole of the Meroo goldfields and the ‘excellent order’ provided for by the industrious assistant commissioner and his force, were considered ‘solid inducements’ for prospective miners attracted to the ‘more quiet and less notorious Meroo’. The comparison, of course, was with the Victorian goldfields which, despite their undoubted richness were considered to be blighted with ‘murder, violence, famine and disease’.136 Assistant Commissioner Broughton had already issued 490 licences, 460 for digging and 30 for storekeeping, for the entire Meroo and was confident of reaching 600 before the end of the month.137

November, 1852 – The travails of a travelling journalist on the goldfields. All the major Sydney newspapers from time to time tasked one of their more enterprising young journalists with venturing out into the western districts to report first hand on the goings-on of the goldfields. For much of the spring of 1852, the Sydney Morning Herald had a reporter on the ground inspecting diggings from the Turon to the Meroo’s World’s End and up to Tambaroora and Louisa Creek. Having been on the Turon marvelling at the money being spent in pursuit of gold, he found himself back at Tambaroora with intentions of backtracking to the Meroo before going on to the famed Louisa Creek. At Tambaroora, he fell in with the travelling Reverend Proctor who offered to act as his guide on the ride across to the Meroo; something he later had cause to regret. Already the journalist was becoming fatigued by his travels and was starting to take a jaundiced view of his surrounds. The ‘monotony of the gum trees’ and ‘dull reality of tunnels, water holes, and quartz piled up in heaps’ was testing his patience but no more than the well-intentioned efforts of Reverend Proctor. Starting out at the respectable hour of nine o’clock in the morning on the eleven-mile ride across the broken landscape, the journalist soon came to realise his guide was not benefitting from the assistance of divine inspiration. As they rode over mountain and down valley, through gullies and creeks, both wet and dry, it gradually dawned on him that he may have perhaps benefitted from a more direct route. Sore, tired, hungry and ill-tempered they arrived at ‘Campbell’s Inn’ on the lower reaches of the eponymously named Campbell’s Creek eight hours after first mounting their steeds. Not willing to endure another circuitous ride, the frayed journalist decided to spend the night at the inn only to have salt rubbed into the wound by the opportunistic innkeeper determined to make the most of his customers. They discovered the proprietor to be of ‘a gold digging conscience’ eager to ‘make hay while the sun shone’.138 November, 1852 – Gold circular 13rd of November – received from the escort. oz. Sofala - 1250 Meroo - 661 Tambaroora - 453 Mudgee 70 Early November saw the return of hot, dry conditions resulting in parties returning to the proven goldfields of the Meroo and Turon with its bed claims being the main attraction; something attested to by the turn around in October’s numbers for gold delivered to the Treasury via the escort. The Turon, in particular, was witness to a population explosion as the prospect of a good summer invited interest in the previously unworkable river bed. Much of the population drift came at the expense of the dry diggings around Tambaroora. One of their number, James McEachern, was the

Tambaroora representative at a miners’ meeting held at the Turon to discuss the proposed new gold legislation and constitution. McEachern addressed the meeting laying out the provisions he considered objectionable in the hope of enlisting the Turon’s men to his cause. Many of them would no doubt have been familiar with him, given the number of men recently returned to the Turon from Tambaroora, and he was duly charged with visiting Sydney to present their objections to the learned gentleman of Macquarie St; the first salvo in what was to become a source of major unrest.139 November, 1852 – Death, sly grog, robbery and horse races on the Meroo goldfields. The fine and warm weather continued into the middle of November bringing with it an increase in activity, both good and bad, as miners massed along the creeks and gullies ensuring business picked up in the pubs and stores dependent on them. On Friday, 19th of November, Assistant Commissioner Broughton summonsed the publicans with establishments at the Meroo, Long Creek, Nuggetty Gully and Devil’s Hole Creek to his headquarters at Avisford. All but two turned up. Broughton had received creditable information that two publicans, namely Henry Tebbutt of the ‘Red Rover’ and Frederick Wingrave of the ‘Gold Digger’s Arms’, had supplied brandy to unknown persons on the Sabbath. Both protested their innocence suggesting that if it had occurred it would have only been in accordance with the exemption allowable for the refreshment of travellers. Wingrave defended himself but was unable to convince the Bench of his innocence not surprisingly being unable to produce the alleged travellers. Tebbutt was more fortunate with his formidable reputation earning him a reprieve. The absurdity of enforcing the rules for Sunday trading under the regulations meant it was either difficult to secure a conviction or impossible to prove one’s innocence. Either way, as it was noted at the time, ‘miners will have spirits’, and so it was observed that all the rules did was to deprive the publicans of properly tending to heir customer’s needs to the benefit of the sly-grog sellers. Their less scrupulous endeavours were the main beneficiaries of the local’s thirst with the hoteliers left to second guess themselves when confronted with a thirsty traveller. Tebbutt’s mood must have darkened at being upbraided by the Assistant Commissioner having been the victim of a burglary at his hotel in the previous week when thieves removed a pane of glass from a window to gain entry and stole £12 before setting fire to the building. The slack response of the local constabulary after being notified the next morning probably doing nothing to improve his disposition. Social life on the goldfields tended to revolve around gambling and grog and so the forthcoming race meeting at Devil’s Hole Creek would have been much anticipated. Tragedy struck at Long Creek in the lead up, however, with Mr Dewhurst, a well- known figure in Sydney and latterly of Pure Point, dying after a riding accident. Dewhurst was the Secretary of the restive Long Creek Alluvial Miner’s Protective Association and been influential in recently coordinating the activities of miners elsewhere most notably in the formation of the Louisa Creek Miner’s Association. Riding back from Mr Lund’s, Dewhurst was struck on the forehead by a low branch which knocked him from the saddle causing him to land heavily his head taking the full force of the fall. Suffering

concussion and suspected head injuries, he was alive but in serious condition, though, only a couple of days passed before his untimely death. Dewhurst was mourned by his recently arrived wife and two children as well as his fellow miners. In honour of his contribution they unexpectedly placed all of the funds held by the Long Creek Miner’s Association at the disposal of Dewhurst’s widow. November, 1852 – First gold found at Long Creek in 1848? Despite the official discovery of gold in Australia being credited to Edward Hargraves in 1851 at Ophir, stories abounded of shepherds, aboriginals and others making similar discoveries across NSW in the years prior. An intrepid reporter from the Empire newspaper, doing the rounds of the Western Goldfields for the edification of his Sydney audience, uncovered yet another version in a conversation with ‘an intelligent gentleman’ residing between the Crudine River and Long Creek. According to his source, gold had been in Long Creek some two years and eight months before the officially accepted version of events. The finder, whilst not ignorant of his find, had neither the means nor inclination to investigate further and so nothing more came of it. Heavy rains continued to reveal specks of gold to those on the land with an eager eye, though, it would take Hargraves drive and ambition to excite the masses.140 November, 1852 – Gold receipts for the week ending 20th of November. oz. dwt. gr. Sofala - 1060 10 2 Meroo - 513 2 0 Tambaroora - 578 16 0 Mudgee - 132 13 0

November, 1852 – Managing the gold windfall: legislative change in the wind. On Tuesday the 23rd of November, a notably small number of members of the Legislative Council collected at Parliament House to wrap up the sitting prior to the summer adjournment. Governor-General FitzRoy tendered several messages featuring his expectations for the continued maintenance of order on the goldfields and collection of the revenues derived therein. With the granting of consent by the Secretary of State for the gold revenues to be retained for the colony’s use came increased expenditure and accountability. There were extra costs to be met for road patrols, more police, pay increases, troop allowances and the equipment necessary for the establishment of the colony’s own Royal Mint. So far in 1852, the road patrols, gold escorts and pay rises had amounted to £18,437, but with gold revenues for 1853 forecast to once again top £100,000, most were sanguine at the prospect. Revenues were anticipated to benefit from increased immigration from Europe and a renewed focus on preventing the evasion of the payment of licence fees on the goldfields.

November, 1852 – A petition to parliament from the miners of the Meroo. The resolutions of the Turon and Tambaroora miners were evidence of growing discontent among those on the goldfields over the nature of the control being exercised by government through its legislative instruments, and in particular, the prospect of more changes. The concerns of the populations of the Turon and Tambaroora were evidently shared by many on the various Meroo goldfields as well. That this should be the case should come as no surprise given that over the course of any particular season a miner could likely find himself working the diggings on all three. Accordingly, the storekeepers, innkeepers, miners, and traders of the Meroo goldfields united to petition the government that ‘no alterations be made in the existing gold regulations relating to alluvial lands’. A sense of common purpose and identity on the Meroo goldfields was beginning to assert itself in the face of external forces. The petition was duly forward to the Select Committee for Management of the Goldfields for their consideration.141 November, 1852 – A tragic accident in the service of James Keppie. On Thursday the 25th of November, four of James Keppie’s employees left Paterson on their way to the Meroo via Maitland. They had charge of two horse teams pulling drays loaded up with goods for re-supplying his stores on the goldfields. Aware the horses were fresh and could be spirited beasts, Keppie had specifically instructed his men to hold the horses closely and lead them. Upon descending a small hill as they left Paterson the scenario Keppie had been fearful of began to play out. William Brown, holding the head of the middle horse, was startled as it kicked out, causing him to lose his balance and let go of his charge. He called out to his mate, Samuel Kirkland, in charge of the lead horse, warning him that he’d lost control. The middle horse had already leapt forward, however, and, in doing so, knocked over Kirkland allowing the rest of the horses their heads. As the dray took off its wheels passed over the prone Kirkland crushing his chest and head. Dreadfully injured, he lingered for just twenty minutes before dying.142 December, 1852 – Maitland Bar the main attraction. While the Meroo goldfields had yet to return to the bustling field of activity witnessed by so many in the summer of 1851, the continuing clear nights and sunny days were enticing many back from diggings elsewhere. The ‘restless and wandering nature’ of the digger had seen many leave for the Northern Goldfields or the Ovens in Victoria with the prospects on offer there said to have ‘unhinged their minds’. Nonetheless, Maitland bar retained its premier status as parties of three and four continued to reap plentiful rewards along the narrow flat adjacent to the river. Parties led by men with names such as Anderson, Campbell, Townshend, Howe, Morris and Landrigan tunnelled into the alluvium or stripped down to ten or twelve feet to the bedrock before washing the fruits of their labours. Nuggets up to 9.5 ounces were discovered and yields anywhere from 2 ounces to 8 ounces per day were being retrieved from the ribs of their cradles. Whilst the dry diggings along the

river were proving fruitful, keen eyes were watching the receding flows as the fine weather continued and the prospect of the much-anticipated richness of the creek beds lay in store.143 December, 1852 – A Progress Report form the Select Committee. Macarthur’s committee issued an interim report on the 14th of December addressing the question of how best to administer the management of the goldfields so as to ensure the orderly passage of estimates particularly as it related to the Gold Department. The pressure was on to find savings and improve efficiency in the bureaucracy that was responsible for bringing order to the gold rush after sustained criticism centred on ‘delay and irregularity’.144 Accordingly, the Committee recommended the abolition of the department created specifically to manage the goldfields including the position of Chief Gold Commissioner. They suggested placing administration of the goldfields into the hands of the Colonial Secretary with the District Commissioners to report directly to him. They also recommended the position of Gold Receiver be abolished with the duties of that position to be taken up by one of the second-class clerks in the Colonial Treasury. The new function of the position was proposed to be rewarded with an additional £100 for each new duty. December, 1852 – Gold receipts. 145 oz. dwt. gr. Sofala - 1211 0 0 Meroo - 298 0 0 Tambaroora - 239 0 0 By the middle of December, the drying creeks were drawing miners away from the dry diggings, also referred to as the winter diggings, at the Louisa, Tambaroora and upper parts of Long Creek. Others were returning from the Ovens in Victoria and Bingara and Hanging Rock on the Northern Goldfields – some with tales of wretched luck and misery. The Meroo River was still flowing strongly, however, and sporadic thunderstorms sent some back to their winter lodgings.146 December, 1852 – The Colonial Gold Company takes over at Louisa Creek. The proprietors of the Great Nugget Vein Company had been negotiating with Alfred Spence of the Colonial Gold Mining Company since October for machinery necessary to make their claim at Louisa Creek pay. Such was the position Mort and his band of investors found themselves in, Spence was able to negotiate from a position of strength and managed to extract ‘liberal’ terms for his company’s investment. They were to retain a significant share of any gold obtained on a sliding scale reaching one-half of all gold when the quantity of gold reached 4 ounces per ton of crushing. It would also pay all expenses with the exception of the salary of the Great Nugget Vein Company’s Commissioner.147 The Colonial Gold Company ultimately expanded its operations to Tambaroora and Hill End constructing its Quartz Roasting Pits Complex at Fighting Ground Creek in 1855.148

December, 1852 – Claim for sale at Married Man’s Creek.

Advertisement carried by the Sydney Morning Herald, 22 December, 2014.149

December, 1852 – Third Report from the Select Committee on the goldfields. On Tuesday the 22nd of December, James Macarthur rose in the NSW parliament to deliver the much-anticipated report of the Select Committee inquiring into the management of the goldfields. The ‘stupefied’ Committee had been accused of indolence in its deliberations with little heard from it in the preceding three months since its formation other than a brief interim report to address a supply issue for Estimates. Macarthur was quick to defend his Committee, and by extension himself, blaming the Committee’s seeming inaction on the extraordinary nature of the subject and the late commencement of its inquiries in the parliamentary session. Whether justified or not in blaming external sources for his Committee’s performance, the fact remained that by Macarthur’s own admission it had not completed its inquiries and was forced to present what it had. Macarthur considered the evidence they had gathered a useful basis for further investigation and the preparation of a final report at some undefined point in the future. Clearly, Macarthur was unimpressed at what he considered the untenable position he’d been placed in as chair of a committee; a committed forced to rush its investigation and deliberations. The Committee had looked into administration arrangements for management of the goldfields and decided they could be streamlined. It recommended administration of the goldfields be consolidated under one department: that of the Colonial Secretary. Macarthur explained the transfer of administration of the goldfields from the Chief Gold and Land Commissioners to the Colonial Secretary would require the hiring of a First-Class Clerk and an assistant and would aid in restoring the public’s confidence. The employment of the two clerks would relieve Deas Thomson of the tedious tasks of interviewing the public and attending to the minutiae of administration. The question of a government-run gold escort from Victoria to Sydney was another topic considered by the Committee in its truncated investigations. Proving that the privatisation of public assets and services is not the sole preserve of modern governments, the Committee felt this service was one best done by private enterprise. Macarthur failed to elaborate on the Committee’s position on the subject, but the recommendation is perhaps not unexpected in the context of the make-up of the Legislative Council in general and the Committee in particular. The hotly contested new goldfields management bill currently before parliament was also the subject of recommendation by

the Committee. It found the new regulations to be sound in principle and recommended they be implemented with only one or two minor amendments. The Committee might have been willing to endorse the new regulations, but, clearly, they had reservations about how they might be received recommending they be implemented for the shortest period allowable. The vexed question of the licence fee and its impact on non-compliance was one such area that MacArthur chose to elaborate on in his address to parliament. Claiming the practice of fee evasion was growing, Macarthur hoped the proposed new regulations would, if rigorously enforced, put a stop to the practice and in doing so generate additional revenue for the colony. A fee of £25 was settled upon by the committee as being reasonable. The Committee laid the blame for the present state of administration of the goldfields squarely at the feet of Chief Gold Commissioner Hardy. Finding the views given by him in his evidence to the Committee to be incompatible with his position, Macarthur proceeded to launch into a scathing attack on Hardy’s performance. Macarthur dismissed Hardy’s commendable endeavours at the outset of the gold rush as being eclipsed by his apparent willingness to now act and speak contrary to government policy. Under the Committee’s recommendations the outgoing Chief Gold Commissioner would be offered compensation or employment elsewhere in the public service.150 December, 1852 – New legislation for the management of the goldfields. On the 28th of December, the NSW parliament finally passed legislation to commence on the 1st of February, 1853 for the continuing regulation of the goldfields with a keen eye toward protecting the Queen’s interest in the new-found wealth of the empire. With Queen Victoria having placed the income derived from gold at the disposal of her colonial possession, the local parliament and Governor were eager to make the most of the opportunity. The new legislation continued previous limitations on mining activity and provided the means by which the Governor might make new ones for the granting of mining leases, and where necessary, the cancellation of pastoral leases to allow mining to occur. Not that the landed were to be dismissed out of hand of course; ‘full compensation’ was to be paid out of the gold revenues. The licensing requirements for diggers and commercial operations on the goldfields were to continue, though, women and children less than fourteen years of age were exempted provided they were not engaged in mining or commercial activities on the goldfields. British subjects could get a licence to mine on Crown lands for 30 shillings per month or half that for those engaged in mining on privately held land. Immigrants from other countries would be required to pay twice as much for the honour of mining for Her Majesty’s gold, but in all cases, and provided it could be shown that no mining had been previously engaged in, after the fifteenth day of the month only half the fee would be charged. Prospecting was immune from the licensing regime provided it was carried out for the express purpose of ‘discovering the presence of gold in any locality’. In a time when identity could be difficult to establish, relying as it did on description, it can easily be imagined that many an Assistant Commissioner and trooper would have rolled his eyes before groaning audibly at the

prospect of trying to establish identity, citizenship, age and previous activity on some of the far- flung goldfields of the Meroo. Commissioners were given the power to authorise cutting and tunnels for the diversion of watercourses or drainage on goldfields requiring security be provided for the payment of royalties on gold so encountered. The rights of licence holders on their claims were stipulated providing for them to keep any gold found and to transfer or assign their claims to any other licence holder for a 10-shilling fee payable to the resident Commissioner. There were a range of penalties that could be applied to individuals for offences such as mining without a licence, employing unlicensed individuals (such as a wife or child), allowing diggers onto private land without proper notification to the government’s officials and failure to produce a licence upon demand. Miners could incur fines and suffer the seizing of equipment or the proceeds of any mining. Any equipment or gold seized could be sold or destroyed by the Commissioner at his whim. Miners had previously vented their frustrations at what they considered the despotic behaviour of many Commissioners and would once again bridle at these new powers which now extended onto private lands as well.151 December, 1852 – Legislating for the goldfields. The parliament clearly had the goldfields at the forefront of its collective mind as 1852 wound down. In addition to legislation for raising revenue and maintaining order on the goldfields, Governor-General Fitz Roy also proclaimed legislation specifically arranging for the operation and governance of the ‘Great Nugget Vein Gold Mining Company of Australia’ and ‘The Turon Golden Ridge Quartz Crushing Company’. Clearly, the influence of the well-connected principals in both ventures was being brought to bear for the betterment of their collective causes. Fitzroy also took the opportunity of his final address to parliament for 1852 to reflect on the good order prevailing over the populace on the goldfields of the colony and, perhaps optimistically, their willing obedience to the government’s laws and regulations. Continuing in the same optimistic vein, he lamented the reduced prosperity of the goldfields but noted that any drop in returns was the product of temporary and seasonal conditions that would surely turn for the better. The wet season that had prevented the working of bed claims for so long and the consequent departure of vast numbers of miners to the goldfields of Victoria were specifically mentioned; no mention was made of the potential impact of the government’s impending new laws.152 December, 1852 – Managing the emigrant question. The reform of arrangements for the ‘highly burdensome and impolitic’ bounty emigrant system was also now deemed necessary by virtue of a change in circumstance wrought by the goldrush.153 Also assented to on the 28th of December, the new legislation required men, single women and children above fourteen years of age emigrating to the colony from within the United Kingdom to agree to a new set of conditions or face the full force of colonial law. Whilst the government had previously been willing to wear the risk and cost associated with paying for immigrants to the

colony, now that there was such incentive for their emigration, and the likelihood of them making straight for the goldfields, it was deemed necessary to require them to ‘take service or to repay …the public money’.154 December, 1852 – George Lloyd’s review of 1852. His weekly bulletin in the Sydney Morning Herald bringing the latest news of the goldfields to all with an interest, Lloyd used his first January, 1853 column to cast an eye over the notable events of 1852. He drily observed that the comparatively (and by comparatively he meant the unmentionable neighbours down south!) small number of miners and large number of public servants employed in keeping them in licences meant that there must surely have been few successfully evading that particular regulation. Discontent with the latest legislation and its seeming fixation on draining every last dollar from the gold rush was simmering in all quarters. Lloyd noted an average workforce on the goldfields of NSW for 1852 of 1870 diggers, many of whom, when not actually ‘at it’, were on the road with their brethren looking for the next newly discovered digging. Reviewing the numbers for 1852, he calculated that the diggers in the NSW were earning, on average, £400 each as reward for the endeavours, also making the point that it was a figure other jurisdictions could not claim to have yet bettered. By far and away, the best returns had come from the Western diggings with 162,327 ounces officially received by mail and escort from its far-flung diggings accounting for nearly 70% of all gold received in Sydney. The allure of the goldfields had not waned. A total of 21,816 people came to the colony during the course of the year, though, 13,511 were lost to other Australian colonies; many no doubt taking a turn on the Victorian goldfields.155 Nonetheless, gold receipts remained strong, prices had risen, and quantity seemed assured from what was considered to be an as yet under-exploited resource. It continued to be felt that, but for want of labour, there remained an immeasurable wealth to be won for the prosperity of the colony and the future was bright indeed. Small steps continued to be taken in the unceasing pursuit of colonial independence and responsible local government as the confidence gained from strong revenues and new industries infected the colony’s parliamentarians.

1 MM, ‘Campbell’s Creek Diggings’, 21/1/1852. 2 Ibid. 3 Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, ‘The Chinese’, 17/1/1852. 4 Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, ‘The Meroo’, 28/1/1852. 5 SMH, ‘Gold Circular’, 24/1/1852, p.5. 6 MM, ‘Sudden Death at the Meroo Diggings’, 4/2/1852. 7 SMH, ‘No.9 Geological and Mineralogical Survey of New South Wales, Camp, Wellington, January 26 1852, Report.,6/7/1852, p.2. 8 SMH, ‘Mudgee’ 7/2/1852, p.6. 9 Ibid. 10 Bell’s Life, ‘The Turon’, 31/1/1852, p.2. 11 SMH, ‘Mudgee’, 11/2/1852, p.2. 12 SMH, ‘No. IV’, 21/2/1852, p.2. 13 BFP & MJ, Mining Intelligence’, 11/2/1852, p.2 14 Empire, ‘Arrival of Gold’, 13/2/1852, p.2 15 MM, ‘The Gold Fields’, 18/2/1852. 16 SMH, ‘Yesterday’s receipts of Gold by the Western Escorts and Mails’, 20/2/1852, p.2 17 Empire, ‘Interior, Bathurst’, 17/2/1852, p.2 18 Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer, ‘The Turon’, 21/2/1852, p.2. 19 MM, ‘The Gold Fields’, 18/2/1852. 20 Ibid. 21 Bell’s Life, ‘The Turon’, 28/2/1852, p.2. 22 MM, 28/2/1852. 23 Ibid. 24 BFP, Mining Intelligence: The Turon’, 28/2/1852, p.3. 25 MM, ‘Family Notices’, 8/1/1863. 26 Death Certificate, James Keppie, 9682/1893. 27 Mudgee Guardian, ‘Peeps into the Past’, 1915. 28 MM, ‘Notice’, 3/3/1852. 29 MM, ‘Notice’, 6/3/1852. 30 Empire, ‘Interior, Bathurst’, 5/3/1852, p.3 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 BFP, ‘To the Editor’, 10/3/1852, p.2. 34 BFP, ‘Local Intelligence’, 10/3/1852, p.2. 35 Ibid. 36 MM, ‘The Goldfields: The Meroo’, 24/3/1852. 37 MM, ‘The Goldfields: The Meroo’, 31/3/1852. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Argus, ‘To the Editors of the Sydney Morning Herald’, 30/3/1852, p.2. 41 MM, The Goldfields: The Meroo’, 7/4/1852. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 Empire, ‘The Gold Mines: Turon River’, 10/4/1852, p.3. 45 Empire, ‘Sydney Police Court’, 14/4/1852, p.2. 46 SMH, ‘The Productions, Resources, and Industry of NSW No.XXI, Minerals and Metals’, Gold, 17/4/1852, p.2. 47 SMH, ‘Long Creek’, 17/4/1852, p.3. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. 50 MM, ‘The goldfields: The Meroo’, 21/4/1852. 51 BFPMJ, ‘Postal Communications with the Diggings’, 17/4/1852, p.2. 52 BFPMJ, ‘Local Intelligence, Bathurst Quarter Sessions: Friday, April 23rd, 1852, Assault, 28/4/1852, pp.2-3. 53 MM, ‘The Goldfields: The Turon’, 1/5/1852, p.2. 76

54 MM, ‘Direct postal communication with the Western Goldfields’, 1/5/1852, p.2. 55 SMH, ‘To the editors of the Sydney Morning Herald’, 11/5/1852, p.3. 56 SMH, ‘Mudgee’, 15/5/1852, p.3. 57 Ibid. 58 Empire, ‘Gold news of the week’, 8/5/1852, p.2. 59 SMH, ‘Retrospect of the Australian Gold Discovery No. II, 15/5/1852, p.2. 60 MM, ‘Three Pounds Reward’, 12/5/1852, p.2. 61 Empire, ‘Our Golden Wealth’, 26/5/1852, p.2. 62 SMH, ‘Mudgee’, 1/6/1852, p.2. 63 Empire, ‘Gold news of the week’, 29/5/1852, p.3. 64 MM, ‘The goldfields: the Turon’, 2/6/1852, p.3. 65 SMH, ‘The Meroo and its tributaries’, 29/5/1852, p.5. 66 SMH, ‘Mudgee’, 1/6/1852, p.2. 67 Empire, ‘Mining intelligence; the Meroo’, 9/6/1852, p.4. 68 MM, ‘The Goldfields: The Meroo’, 10/7/1852, p.2. 69 NSW Government, ‘No.1 Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council, Tuesday 8th of June, 1852’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au, accessed 25 January, 2014. 70 SMH, ‘To the editors of the Sydney Morning Herald’, 4/6/1852, p.2. 71 SMH, ‘Ecclesiastical’, 5/6/1852, p.4. 72 MM, ‘Masters and Servants Act’, 12/6/1852, p.2. 73 MM, ‘Reported discovery of a seventy-four pound lump of gold’, 16/6/1852, p.2. 74 SMH, ‘Legislative Council’, 16/6/1852, pp.2-3. 75 MM, ‘Postal irregularity’, 16/6/1852, p.3. 76 Empire, Gold news of the week’, 21/6/1852, p.2. 77 http://www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/kennon/michael/121840; NSW State Archives, Certificate of Freedom, ‘Michael Kennon’, [4/4372; Reel 1010]. 78 MM, ‘The Goldfields: Meroo’, 10/71852, p.2. 79 MM, ‘New Constitution’, 24/7/1852, p.2. 80 ibid, p.2. 81 SMH, ‘Gold Circular’, 26/6/1852, p.5. 82 MM, ‘Mudgee Races’, 21/7/1852, p.2. 83 SMH, ‘Gold Districts of New South Wales’, 14/7/1852, p.2. 84 SMH, ‘Dirt Hole and Tambaroora Creek diggings’, 15/7/1852, p.3. 85 BFPMJ, ‘Mining Intelligence’, 10/7/1852, p.2. 86 BFPMJ, ‘Mining Intelligence’, 10/7/1852, p.2. 87 Empire, ‘Gold News of the Week’, 12/7/1852, p.2. 88 Empire, ‘Great Nugget vein Gold Mining Company’, 16/7/1852, p. 3. 89 MM, ‘The Meroo’, 21/7/1852, p.2. 90 SMH, ‘News from the Interior: Meroo’, 21/7/182, p.3. 91 Empire, ‘Legislative Council’, 29/7/1852, pp. 2-3.; SMH, ‘Legislative Council’, 29/7/1852, pp. 2-3. 92 SMH, ‘Council Papers: The Western Goldfields’, 30/7/1852, p.2. 93 SMH, ‘Legislative Council’, 31/7/1852, pp.4-5; Empire, ‘Legislative Council: Friday 30th July’, /8/1852, pp.2-3. 94 SMH, ‘Gold Circular’, 7/8/1852, p.5. 95 Empire, ‘Mining Intelligence: the Meroo and is tributaries’, 9/8/1852, p.3. 96 MM, ‘The Gold Fields: the Meroo’, 25/8/1852, p.2. 97 Empire, ‘Our Gold Fields’, 18/8/1852, p.2. 98 Empire, ‘Gold News of the Week’, 23/8/1852, p.2. 99 MM, ‘The Goldfields’, 8/9/1852, p.2. 100 Empire, ‘Legislative Council’, 2/9/1852, pp.2-3. 101 SMH, ‘Council Papers: Increase to the Military Force’, 18/9/1852, p.3; Empire, ‘For the Cape and Europe’, 18/9/1852, pp.1-2. 102 NSW Government, ‘No.50 Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council, Tuesday 7th of September, 1852’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au, accessed 25 January, 2014.

103 ‘The Sessional Papers: Vol.LXXVII, Reports, Papers &c., Continued, Colonial Land and Emigrant Commissioners; Factories; Mining Districts, 1852-3’, House of Lords, http://books.google.com/, accessed 10 January 2014, p. 70. 104 Ibid, p.72. 105 Ibid, pp.104-106. 106 Ibid, p.80. 107 NSW Government, ‘No.54 Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council, Tuesday 14th of September, 1852’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au, accessed 25 January, 2014. 108 SMH, ‘News from the interior: from our correspondent’, 25/9/1852, p.4. 109 Ibid. 110 Empire, ‘Interior: the Meroo and its tributaries’, 25/9/1852, p.3. 111 Empire, ‘Tambaroora’, 5/10/1852, p.3. 112 SMH, ‘Meroo’, 5/10/1852, p.3. 113 Ibid. 114 NSW Government, ‘No.64 Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council, Friday 1st of October, 1852’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au, accessed 25 January, 2014. 115 MM, ‘Council Paper: Geological and Mineralogical Survey of New South Wales’, 2/2/1853, p.2. 116 Ibid, p.2. 117 SMH, ‘Gold Circular’, 2/10/1852, p.5. 118 ‘Further Papers Relative to the Discovery of Gold in Australia (in Continuation of Papers Presented to Parliament 14 June, 1852)’, House of Commons Parliamentary Paper Online, 2005, ProQuest, p.331. 119 Ibid, p.272. 120 Ibid, p.259. 121 Ibid, p.276. 122 NSW Government, ‘NSW Parliament: Former Members, Joseph Jehosephat Harpur’, http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/956a c31f5ca22ab2ca256e32000685fd?OpenDocument, accessed 25 January, 2014. 123 Empire, ‘Scenes at the Western Diggings: No. 1’, 12/10/1852, p.3. 124 Empire, ‘Scenes at the Western Diggings: No. 2’, 14/10/1852, p.3. 125 Ibid. 126 Ibid. 127 MM, To the Editor of the Maitland Mercury’, 13/10/1852, p.2. 128 Empire, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 2/11/1852, p.3. 129 Empire, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 6/11/1852, p.2. 130 Empire, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 6/11/1852, pp.2-3. 131 Ibid. 132 MM, ‘The Half Year’s General Exports – the Annual Report’, 2/11/1852, p.2. 133 Empire, ‘Interior: Mudgee’, 9/11/14, p.3 134 Ibid. 135 SMH, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 27/11/1852, p.2. 136 SMH, ‘News from the interior: Meroo’, 9/11/1852, p.5. 137 SMH, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 1/12/1852, p.1. 138 SMH, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 27/11/1852, p.2. 139 Empire, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 15/11/1852, p.3. 140 Empire, ‘The Western Goldfields’, 16/11/1852, p.3. 141 SMH, ‘Legislative Council’, 24/11/1852, p.2. 142 MM, ‘Fatal Accident’, 1/12/1852, p.2. 143 MM, The Gold Fields: The Meroo and Louisa’, 15/12/1852, p.2. 144 Empire, ‘Council Papers: Management of the Goldfields’, 17/12/1853, p.4. 145 Ibid. 146 Empire, ‘Gold News of the Week’, 20/12/1852, p.3. 147 Ibid. 148 Hill End Family History, ‘Quartz Roasting Pits Complex’, http://hillendfamilyhistory.com/hill-end- tambaroora/hill-end-buildings/quartz-roasting-pits-complex/, accessed 12/2/14. 149 SMH, ‘To Gold Diggers, Miners &c.’, 22/12/1852, p.3.

150 MM, ‘Council Papers: Third Report from the Select Committee on the Management of the Goldfields’, 5/2/1853, p.4. 151 ‘An Act for Regulating the Management of the Gold Fields of New South Wales and for Raising a Revenue Therefrom and for the Conservation of Order’, 28th December, 1852, NSW Government. 152 NSW Parliament, ‘No. 85 Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Council’, https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au, accessed 13/12/2014. 153 ‘An Act to regulate the Indenting of Assisted Immigrants and Others in the United Kingdom and elsewhere and their employment in this Colony for a certain time after their arrival therein’, 28th of October, 1852, NSW Government. 154 Ibid. 155 MM, Annual Gold Circular, 5/1/1853, p.2.