The Three Colonies of Australia/Part 2/Chapter 29
EDWARD HARGREAVES.
CHAPTER XXIX.
IN the month of April, 1851, New South Wales and Port Phillip were enjoying an unexampled condition of financial and commercial prosperity; the demand for labour was steadily increasing, and in the elder colony several manufactures and copper-mines were affording new investments for colonial capital. The leading colonial journal was amusing its readers with calculations of the period when all the pastoral land of the colony would be overstocked with sheep and cattle. The politicians had their grievances to discuss, among which was the long delay in establishing a steam post.
In the midst of this satisfactory state of affairs, "through the Exchange of Sydney a horrid rumour ran" that a great gold-field had been found near Bathurst. Very soon small "nuggets"—the word is Californian—arrived in the city, and were handed about as curiosities. Thereupon a few score pedestrians, chiefly of the humblest class, set out to walk to Bathurst, 140 miles.
By the 2nd May there was no longer any doubt about the diggings; crowds of all ranks streamed across the Blue Mountains; the governor's proclamation gave official currency to the dazzling fact; the gold fever commenced.
When whispers and rumours had grown into a great fact, every body wondered that the discovery had not been made before, as it had been so often prophesied by various individuals, none of whom seem to have had, like Mr. Hargreaves, sufficient confidence in their own judgment to travel to the district, and put a spade into the ground.
The history of the gold discoveries in Australia lies in a very short compass, but is worth telling. It illustrates many curious things.
The first written reference to the existence of gold in Australia is to be found in a despatch (not published at the time) addressed by Sir George Gipps, 2nd of September, 1840, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in which he encloses a report from Count Strzelecki, mentioning under gold "an auriferous sulphuret of iron, partly decomposed, yielding a very small quantity of gold, although not enough to repay extraction," which he found in the Vale of Clwdd. It was known to a few that an old shepherd of the name of Macgregor was in the habit of annually selling small parcels of gold to jewellers; but those who watched him could discover nothing, and the common belief was that he sold the produce of robberies which had been melted up to destroy suspicion. The Rev. D. Mackenzie, in his "Gold-digger," states that this old man has recently acknowledged that he obtained his gold from a place called Mitchell's Creek, beyond Wellington Yalley, about 200 miles west of Sydney.
The Rev. W. B. Clarke, one of the colonial chaplains, and a geologist of considerable acquirements, in 1846, privately, but unsuccessfully, directed the attention of some of his brother colonists, among others of Mr. Manning to the gold-bearing regions of Bathurst. While in England Sir Roderick Murchison read a paper before the Royal Geographical Society, in 1844, compared the eastern chain of Australia to the Ural Mountains. In 1846, a year before the Californian discovery, he addressed the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, recommending unemployed Cornish tin-miners to emigrate to New South Wales, and dig for gold in the débris and drift of what he 
GOLD DIGGINGS AT OPHIR.
termed the "Australian Cordillera," in which he had recently heard that gold had been discovered in small quantities, and in which he anticipated, from the similarity with the Ural Mountains, that it would certainly be found in abundance.
After these opinions had been made public, persons resident in Sydney and Adelaide sought for and found specimens of gold, which they transmitted to Sir Roderick, who thereupon wrote to Earl Grey, the minister for the colonies, in November, 1848, stating the grounds for his confident expectation that gold would be found in large quantities, and suggesting precautionary measures. Earl Grey never answered this letter, and neither took measures nor sent out private instructions to prepare the governor for the realisation of the predictions of the man of science. As he afterwards explained, he thought it better that the people should stick to wool-growing.
The first printed notice by Mr. Clarke appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1847, in which, following in Sir Roderick Murchison's footsteps, he compared Australia with the Ural.
In 1848 a Mr. Smith, engaged in iron-works near Berrima,[1] waited upon Mr. Deas Thomson, the colonial secretary, produced a lump of gold imbedded in quartz, which he said he had found, and offered, on receipt of £800, to discover the locality. On reference to the governor, a verbal answer was returned that, if Mr. Smith chose to trust to the liberality of the government, he might rely on being rewarded in proportion to the value of the alleged discovery. The government suspected that the lump of gold came from California, "and were afraid of agitating the public mind by ordering geological investigations." Nothing more has been heard of Mr. Smith.
On the 3rd of April, 1851, Mr. Edward Hargreaves addressed a letter to the colonial secretary, after several interviews, in which he said that if the government would award him £500 as a compensation, he would point out localities where gold was to be found, and leave it to the generosity of the government to make him an additional reward commensurate with the benefit likely to accrue to the government.
It seems that Mr. Hargreaves, while in California, was struck with the similarity between the richest diggings of that country and a district in the Bathurst country which he had travelled over fifteen years previously; and on his return to Sydney made an exploring expedition of two months, which realised his expectations.
The same answer was returned to Mr. Hargreaves as to Mr. Smith. He was satisfied, and on the 30th April wrote, naming Lewis Ponds and Summerhill Creeks, and Macquarie River, in the district of Bathurst and Wellington, as the districts where gold would be found.
A copy of this letter was, by the governor's directions, forwarded to the colonial geologist, Mr. Stutchbury, with whom Mr. Hargreaves was put in communication.
Messrs. Hargreaves and Stutchbury set out on their journey. On the 8th of May, a Mr. Green, a crown commissioner, wrote in great alarm from Bathurst that "a Mr. Hargreaves has been employing people to dig for gold on the Summerhill Creek, who have found several ounces;" and suggested "that some stringent measure be adopted to prevent the labouring classes from leaving their employments to search on the crown lands." On the 13th of May Mr. Green writes again, in still more alarm:—"A piece of gold valued at £30 had been brought in, and that he feared that any future regulations would be set at defiance."
Having frequently in the course of this work had occasion to stigmatise the mistakes and misdeeds of the local colonial government, it is only common justice to say that the line of conduct adopted by Sir Charles Fitzroy and his council on the occurrence of the gold crisis reflects upon them the highest credit.
A few dates will show how rapidly gold-gathering grew into an important pursuit, stimulating agriculture, and overshadowing the pastoral interest.
May 14th. Mr. Stutchbury reported that he "had seen sufficient to prove the existence of grain gold."
19th. "That many persons with merely a tin dish have obtained one or two ounces a day. Four hundred persons at work, occupying about a mile of the Summerhill Creek, fear that great confusion will arise in consequence of people setting up claims."
22nd. A proclamation was issued declaring the rights of the crown to gold found in its natural place of deposit within the territory of New South Wales.
23rd. John Richard Hardy, Esq.. chief magistrate of Paramatta, was appointed the first gold commissioner, with instructions to organise a mounted police of ten men; to issue licences to gold diggers, at the rate of 30s. a month; to receive in payment gold obtained by amalgamation at £2 8s. per ounce, and at £3 4s. per ounce for gold obtained by washing. And, to preserve the peace and put down outrage and violence, he was further instructed to co-operate with the local police, and to swear in special constables from the licensed diggers.
25th. Mr. Stutchbury reported that gold diggers had increased to 
ISSUING LICENCES.
one thousand; that lumps had been found varying in weight from one ounce to four pounds; that the larger pieces were generally got out of fissures in the rock, "clay slate," which forms the bed of the river, dipped to the north-east at various angles, the fissile edges presenting jagged edges, which had opened under the influence of the atmosphere, "the smaller grain gold being procured by washing the alluvial soil resting upon and filling in the clewage joints of the slate;" that "gold was also found in the planks of the ranges, proving that it had originated in the mountains."
He observes:—"The workings at present are conducted in the most wasteful manner, from the cupidity and ignorance of the people, which cannot be remedied until some officer is appointed acquainted with the proper mode of working, with power to enforce it. The best thing that could happen would be a severe flood, which would fill the diggings, and oblige them to begin, de novo, under proper restrictions."
Such is the constant hankering of government officials to teach and regulate commercial enterprise.
Mr. Stutchbury further reported that gold had been found in Argyle, on the Abercrombie River, in the creeks running north and south of the Canobolas Mountains, such as Oakey Creek, the whole length of the Macquarie from Bathurst to Wellington.
About this time a considerable number of respectable persons were seized with terror, lest the whole framework of society should become disorganised, and anarchy and violence become chronic.
When the existence of gold was first ascertained, there were flock-owners who disapproved of the course pursued by the governor in raising gold-digging to the condition of a regular industrial pursuit, and recommended "that martial law should be proclaimed, and all gold-digging peremptorily prohibited, in order that the ordinary industrial pursuits of the country should not be interfered with;" that is to say, some of the same order who have always patronised vagabond bachelor shepherds, and opposed the establishment of wives, families, and small farms in the interior, were ready to risk a civil war rather than endanger their wool crops.
But, fortunately, the governor had no taste for spilling the blood of his countrymen in a "futile attempt to stop the influx of the tide."
Provincial Inspector Scott, of the police, reports from Bathurst that the distance thence to Summerhill Creek is forty miles, over a clear and defined but mountainous road, fit for the passage of drays:
"Thought that the deposits of the creek would be exhausted soon—that any mechanics in full work would commit an act of insanity to resign their situations in search of gold; that on Sabbath all parties left off work, and the Rev. Mr. Chapman, a Wesleyan minister, preached to a large congregation. Further, Mr. Scott anticipated difficulty in preserving the peace, unless prompt and energetic measures were adopted—viz., to swear in all respectable persons as special constables, and permit them to be armed; to grant licences to other classes (not respectable), and take their arms away to be locked up in Bathurst Courthouse."
From the letters of the provincial inspector of the same date, reporting the preparations he had made to assist the gold commissioner, in case of the anticipated resistance, it is evident that no ordinary degree of alarm was generally experienced.
But, fortunately, the colonists of Australia proved themselves more orderly and sensible than the police and other timid individuals had imagined; and in Mr. Hardy, the first gold commissioner, the governor had selected a man of judgment, temper, and cool courage, who was determined to let the industrious miners have fair play, and equally determined to enforce his lawful authority. His reports are all models of strong common sense.
MR. HARDY, THE FIRST GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONER.
For instance, when called before the Executive Council to be informed of his appointment, he states, "that he does not consider that he should have any difficulty in enforcing an observance of any reasonable regulations, if twelve mounted men on whom he could depend were attached to him, all being soldiers who have but a short time longer to serve to entitle them to claim their discharge with pensions." He does not desire to associate civilians with soldiers. His confidence was not misplaced.
June 2nd. Mr. Hardy arrived on Summerhill with eight extra police, lent by Major Wentworth; found not the least desire to resist the government regulations, and did not keep the extra force on the ground half an hour. An arrangement to intercept all new arrivals, by sending them to an unoccupied ground, prevented confusion.
On June 8th, four hundred and forty-six licences had been issued; to two or three hundred new arrivals he had given a few days to pay; quiet and good order prevailed: "in one instance alone was there an inclination to disregard my decision. A tall, strong man, a butcher at Bathurst, who had been in the habit of beginning to work wherever he saw promises of lumps of gold, trusting to his strength to keep down opposition, began to work on another man's opening. I told him to desist; but as soon as I turned my back, he began again saying he would work where he liked in spite of any one. I turned back immediately, and as I went up to him he dropped his pick and snatched up a spade as if to strike at me. I instantly collared him, put him in handcuffs, and marched him off the ground, declaring my intention of sending him to Bathurst gaol. I sent up to my camp, with orders for a policeman to get ready to take him in, and continued my walk. On my return, in about an hour, the man was very penitent, begged to be let off, which I did: he has been working quietly ever since, and the neighbourhood has been relieved of a very unpleasant man. I have mentioned this to show how easily such a population may be managed. There is no occasion for any increase of force here."
There is no doubt that if convicts from Van Diemen's Land could have been kept out of the gold-fields, there never would have been any dangerous disturbances.
June 9. The government geologist reported the existence of gold in the Turon, and other branches of the River Macquarie; and Mr. Hardy, anxious that there should be no great accumulation of diggers, posted up notices of the new discoveries.
For this measure, as tending to stimulate gold-digging, for giving time to new arrivals to pay for their licences, and for not swearing in special constables, he was called to account by the Executive Council.
The advantage of dispersing the daily-arriving armies of diggers, by giving them actual intelligence instead of mere rumours for a guide, would seem obvious to any one except those Mother Partingtons of legislation who still hoped to mop back the tide which had set in from other employments towards the gold-field.
June 11. Mr. Hardy writes:—"All anxiety as to the payment of the licence fee is at end. I give parties who profess themselves unable to pay at the onset a few days. But it is well understood, and invariably acted on, that no man works more than a few days without a licence; and it is partly from this known circumstance that so many leave after a week's fruitless labour. This is, after all, of a good tendency. Universally successful diggers would leave the colony in a bad position. The return to their former employments adds greatly to the general benefit.
"With respect to special constables I do not think I need be under any apprehension of any opposition to the payment of licences. It was necessary on two occasions to break the cradles, and march the owners off the ground, not on account of any refusal to pay the licence fee, but because the parties had worked the four or five days I had given them to determine whether they were able to pay or not, and still professed their inability to pay, and refused to take up their cradles and remove. In such cases, and indeed in all cases, instant and determined actionis
DODGING THE COMMISSIONER.
necessary, and disregard of possible consequences the safest policy. Some days ago several persons were working on Mr. Lane's land, and on the application of Mr. Rudder, who was in charge of the ground, I ordered them off. Half an hour after I found one set of men still at work, and, although alone, and two miles away from my men, I did not hesitate to kick the cradle into the stream, and take the owner a prisoner into the town. If I had thought it necessary to call upon Mr. Rudder and those who were with him, instead of acting as I did, I should not have succeeded better—I probably should not have succeeded at all; and the probability is, that on the many occasions when I am necessarily alone, and in remote places, I might meet with defiance, as one who could do nothing unless his police were with him. I can rely on myself; I have the most perfect reliance on the men, one and all, that the government has given me; but I could never rely on special constables, however respectable: the more respectable the more unfit under the peculiar circumstances."
The same good sense and firmness characterise Mr. Hardy's answer to the deputation of diggers who came up to present a petition and some resolutions for the reduction of the licence fee from thirty shillings a month to seven shillings and sixpence:—"I informed the deputation that I should advise the government not to lower the licence fee, and I informed them of my reasons for so doing, as follows:—It was well ascertained that about eight hundred persons earned on an average £1 per diem; that about six or seven hundred earned from three to four or five shillings a day; that about three hundred earned nothing; that the first-mentioned eight hundred were able, industrious, and persevering men, working in the numerous favourable localities on the creek; that the second six or seven hundred were men who worked some time less than a week without judgment, and who had not the energy, strength, and bodily powers to be successful; that the last-mentioned three hundred were men who did not work at all, but, after looking about for a day or two, went off in disgust; consequently, that to the eight hundred successful diggers the thirty-shilling fee was positively nothing, seeing that any man could live well on nine shillings a week; that the remainder—the partially and totally unsuccessful—would be much better employed in their past avocations. That the government had to consider the general interests of the community, and not those of the diggers alone, and that those general interests would not be advanced by encouraging all the labouring hands of the colony to be employed in gold-digging."
In July the rush to the diggings had somewhat moderated, when the discovery of a hundredweight of gold revived and stimulated the excitement to a degree which affected all classes of society; and, after that discovery, crowds of gentlemen repaired to the diggings. This great prize having been raised by a gentleman (Dr. Kerr) who had not taken out a licence, the gold commissioner, in the exercise of his duty, seized it, in order to assert the rights of the crown. By an equitable merit it was afterwards given up, a precedent having thus been established, on payment of a royalty of ten per cent.
"In the first week of July an educated aboriginal, formerly attached to the Wellington mission, and who has been in the service of W. J. Kerr, Esq., of Wallawa, about seven years, returned home to his employer with the intelligence that he had discovered a large mass of gold amongst a heap of quartz upon the run whilst tending his sheep. He had amused himself by exploring the country adjacent to his employer's land, and his attention was first called to the lucky spot by observing a speck of some glittering yellow substance upon the surface of a block of the quartz, upon which he applied his tomahawk, and broke off a portion. At that moment the splendid prize stood revealed to his sight. His first care was to start off home and disclose his discovery to his master, to whom he presented whatever gold might be procured from it. As may be supposed, little time was lost by the worthy doctor. Quick as horse-flesh would carry him he was on the ground, and in a very short period the three blocks of quartz, containing the hundredweight of gold, were released from the bed where, charged with unknown wealth, they had rested perhaps for thousands of years, awaiting the hand of civilised man to disturb them.
"The largest of the blocks was about a foot in diameter, and weighed 75 lbs. gross. Out of this piece 60 lbs. of pure gold were taken. Before separation it was beautifully encased in quartz. The other two were something smaller. The auriferous mass weighed as nearly as could be guessed from two to three hundredweight. Not being able to move it conveniently, Dr. Kerr broke the pieces into small fragments, and herein committed a very grand error. As specimens the glittering blocks would have been invaluable. Nothing yet known of would have borne comparison, or, if any, the comparison would have been in our favour. From the description given by him, as seen in their original state, the world has seen nothing like them yet.
"The heaviest of the two large pieces presented an appearance not unlike a honeycomb or sponge, and consisted of particles of a crystalline form, as did nearly the whole of the gold. The second larger piece was smoother, and the particles more condensed, and seemed as if it had been acted upon by water. The remainder was broken into lumps of from two to three pounds and downwards, and were remarkably free from quartz or earthy matter.
"In the place where this mass of treasure was found, quartz blocks formed an isolated heap, and were distant about one hundred yards from a quartz vein which stretches up the ridge from the Meroo Creek. The locality is the commencement of an undulating tableland, very fertile, and is contiguous to a never-failing supply of water in the above-named creek. It is distant about fifty-three miles from Bathurst, eighteen from Mudgee, thirty from Wellington, and eighteen to the nearest point of the Macquarie river, and is within about eight miles of Dr. Kerr's head station. The neighbouring country has been pretty well explored since the discovery, but, with the exception of dust, no further indication has been found.
"In return for his very valuable services, Dr. Kerr has presented the black fellow and his brother with two flocks of sheep, two saddle horses, and a quantity of rations, and supplied them with a team of bullocks to plough some land in which they are about to sow a crop of maize and potatoes. One of the brothers, mounted on a serviceable roadster, accompanied the party into town, and appeared not a little proud of his share in the transaction."
Dr. Kerr, the fortunate finder of this lump of gold, is mentioned in one of the Voluntary Statements from which we have several times quoted as an excellent, kind master. His brother-in-law, Mr. Suttor, of Brucedale, is a son of the introducer of orange-groves, also one of the most deservedly popular men in the colony.
A NUGGET OF GOLD
Dr. Kerr's great prize revived the "sacred rage for gold" among the whole population, and Sydney seemed about to be deserted. New discoveries in various directions were made.
The Bathurst district consists of elevated table-land, intersected by barren ridges, watered by a series of Australian rivers flowing from the Canobolas Mountains, most of which have been found to be auriferous. The journey to Bathurst was easily performed by mail-coach or on horseback. Arrived at Bathurst, the explorer found himself in the midst of a rich pastoral and agricultural district, in which every fertile valley had a small colony of settlers, ready to supply flour, meat, milk, and butter, at reasonable charges.
The gold-diggers, instead of settling in a wilderness infested by grizzly bears and savage Indians, like California, found themselves in a district where a market was only needed to call into cultivation thousands of acres of capital land—at Frederick's Valley, a gold placer of extraordinary richness, belonging to Mr. Wentworth; at Summerhill Farms, at King's Plains, Pretty Plains, Emu Swamp, and the Cornish Settlement, where the crops in the severest droughts never failed.
The Summerhill diggings, which are now nearly exhausted, and the style of life which prevails throughout the interior of Australia, are well depicted in the following sketch by a correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald:—
"Monday, June 2.—In the morning the ice was thick upon the water in the dishes outside, and the ground covered with hoar frost, as it always is here in fine weather at this season; hot days and frosty nights.
"To an unscientific eye the gold country (Bathurst district) consists of a mass, not of ranges, but apparently of points of ranges, thrown together without any regular arrangement, but dovetailing into one another like the teeth of two saws placed close together, face to face; these teeth again being cut into smaller pieces by narrow precipitous gullies, many of them nearly as deep as the main creek itself. Small creeks twist and twine down these narrow gullies, which have a sudden bend every half-dozen yards, into the Summerhill or main creek, which twists and twines like the others, but on a larger scale. The banks of the gullies are precipitous on both sides, but in the main creek there are alternate bluffs and low points, the teeth of the saw sloping gently down, diminishing in height as they do in width, till they come to a point overhung on the opposite side by a high bluff or precipice, which forms the inside of the nick of the opposite saw; and, as we stood upon the edge of the cliff, we looked down nearly two hundred feet over and along each side of the opposite point, dotted with tents and gunyas of bark or branches, each with its fire in front, sending the blue smoke up into the clear frosty morning air; some under the noble swamp oaks at the water's edge, others behind and under the box and gum trees which towered one above another till the rising branch was merged in the main ridge behind. The point was occupied by about fifteen parties cutting straight into the hill; and, as we looked down upon their busy movements, digging, carrying earth, and working the cradles at the edge of the water, with the noise of the pick, the sound of voices, and the washing of the shingle in the iron boxes of the cradles, I could scarcely believe that two months ago this was a quiet secluded gully in a far-out cattle-run, where a solitary stockkeeper or black fellow on the hunt were all that ever broke the solitude of nature. On saying so to Scotch Harry, he said that he had stock-kept there for nearly twenty years, and when he came there were flocks of kangaroos; these were driven off by the cattle, and now they were as completely driven off by the gold-diggers, 'Little enough the first occupiers thought of gold,' I remarked. 'Yes,' answered Scotch Harry, 'and it would be well for some of these fellows if they thought as little;' and he told us of two who had gone mad already—one a shepherd, in the neighbourhood, found a piece while poking about his run, and came to him making a great mystery about the place, till he could find no more, when he took him to it, but it was a chance piece, and not accompanied by five or six more, as is usually the case; the fellow, however, was not satisfied, and continued searching about, till, from excitement and anxiety, he went mad; the other was a man who, after starving for two days, found 5 lbs. weight, fainted repeatedly, and is now in confinement. Kerr said that two months ago hardly a traveller passed his house in a week, now they were in crowds every hour; his children never thought there were so many people in the world before, and wondered what it all meant; he could hardly believe it himself. We did not find our dray, but heard of it close at hand, and sat down to look about us. Drays and parties of men were arriving every few minutes, many of whom gave a cheer as if they saw fortune in their hand when they looked down upon the workers in the bed of the creek below; some were putting up tents and gunyas, and some working, but all busy and all in good humour, barring the men who were constantly leaving, and looked sufficiently disgusted. We were a good deal puzzled how to get our baggage carried to Messrs. Roach and Barrington's, as it would take us at least two days to carry seven hundredweight over two miles of such ridges, or down the bed of the creek, cut up as it is in every direction; but, just as the last rays of the sun were leaving the top of the ridge, a party of nine native warriors, in their new government blankets, painted and armed with spears and boomerangs, came winding down the bank. As they passed through our camp, I asked the foremost if they would carry our baggage, to which they at once agreed, and camped with us.
"We were all astir at daylight, and found the water frozen in the bucket, and the top of our blankets quite wet within the tent. The loads were adjusted, and the blacks, with the two men, started under the guidance of the company, and returned about noon by a short cut, we remaining to erect the tent. On loading them again, one fellow complained that a pot of beef hurt his head, so I gave him a roll of brown paper, but soon found my mistake, as not a man would move without the same, so that when I came to the last there was not a scrap left; he had only bedding to carry, and I explained to him that no pad was necessary, but he drew himself up and asked if I thought him a fool; 'Another one black fellow hab it.' He was evidently in earnest, and would have left his load there and then, had I not clapped a calling-card on his shaggy bullet head, and he went off quite proud; we gave them one shilling each and their rations, which is high pay for a black. Many return at once, without giving it one minute's trial. I saw one party arrive, six respectable looking hardworking men, all well provided with tools, clothes, and provisions. As I stood conversing with one of them, who was putting his things together to move to their tent, a parcel unrolled, and a Bible and Prayer-book fell out. He looked up, and said they should not forget these even for gold, to which I assented, with the remark that men would get none the less gold for minding them."
The Turon, which, like many Australian names, was scarcely known beyond its immediate neighbourhood before the gold discoveries, rises in the county of Roxburgh, near Cullen Cullen, and flows, like the Summerhill Creek, into the Macquarie. On its banks Sofala has been founded. Here it was that the art of cradling gold and washing gold was learned by thousands who have since removed to Mount Alexander and other districts.
The gold-fields of the Turon include river-bed claims and dry diggings.
In the river-bed claims it is the object to clear a deep hole of water, and then wash the mud and sand which have been carried there in the course of ages; partly washed to the hand of the miner by the torrents of nature. "In dry diggings" the earth after being raised must be carefully broken up and washed.
Fortunate diggers come from time to time upon lumps or "nuggets" of various sizes, which once excited great attention and curious comparison between those found in quartz, in clay, in alluvial mould; but now in the auction-rooms of Sydney and Melbourne they excite no more attention, unless of rare beauty, than so much copper or lead.
The immediate result of the rush to the Bathurst gold-fields was to supply the district with labour at reasonable rates. A traveller observes:—"We were much struck by the difference between their ideas of the mines and those of men at a greater distance. To the latter the gold country is a place with pieces of gold ready to be picked up without trouble, and they start off, trusting to find food somehow, and quarters somewhere, as they have done hitherto in the bush; but to these men here it is an open box forest, with severe frosts every night, sleet and snow for weeks at a time, without any accommodations whatever, or rations, unless paid for in hard money, at three times the usual price: if they turn out, they exchange their comfortable warm hut and regular meals for cold and hunger at once, so that there is no room for the imagination to work. And though they all intend to give it a trial when they get their discharge, and their wages to fit them out, they expressed the greatest astonishment at the folly of the men they saw passing every day, totally unprovided: they looked upon them as literally mad."
It would fill a volume, which we may at some future time be tempted to write, to follow the history of the New South Wales Gold Fields, with all the curious attendant anecdotes. At present we cannot do better than avail ourselves of the report made to a Sydney paper by an eye-witness in the autumn of 1852:—
The time which has elapsed since Mr. Hargreaves announced that extensive auriferous regions existed in the colony has done much less towards the development of the hidden golden treasures of this province of the island than was at first anticipated. In fact, during the last twelve months, since the attractions of Mount Alexander began to tell on the mining population engaged at our diggings, we have made but little progress. With one or two exceptions, our present supplies of gold are derived from the very same localities whence they were received last year, the only difference being, that they are in diminished quantity. The only diggings opened up since that time which have materially affected the increase in our production of gold are those of Tambaroura and the Hanging Rock. Even these were known before that period, although their richness was not established. In July, 1851, parties were at work in the vicinity of the Bald Hill, and a short time after at the Dirt Holes; and about the same time gold had been found, although in small quantities, near the present diggings on the Peel. During the last twelve months, the Turon and the Braidwood diggings have retrogressed, partly in consequence of the incessant rains impeding as they do mining operations in the beds of creeks and rivers, but chiefly on account of the migration of the population to the Victoria gold-fields.
The attractions of other gold-fields have drawn away the great body of adventurers—those who had no other motive to attach them to the gold-fields here than desire of gain. The large proportion of gold-diggers left are persons who have got a permanent interest in the country—inhabitants of the small inland towns—where their families are resident, or settlers on farms in which all their property is invested. These persons distributed over the face of the country, of course find it more profitable and convenient to devote their spare time to working at diggings in the vicinity of their dwellings, and consequently are ever on the search for gold near home. There is hardly a shepherd's hut in the interior, where there is the slightest probability that the precious metal may be found, which does not boast of a cradle and other mining implements, devoted to use whenever opportunity offers.
The first locality which claims attention is Ophir, the parent diggings of the colony. Ophir may be regarded as belonging to what may be termed the Canobolas gold-field. This mountain, which is nearly a mile in height above the level of the sea, and is composed chiefly of trap rock, is the centre whence a considerable number of streams, including the Summerhill Creek, take their rise, and flowing through a country composed chiefly of schists and quartzites, are more or less auriferous. Gold has been found throughout the length of the Summerhill Creek, from its source at the Canobolas to its junction with the Macquarie, but most abundantly at Ophir, and Frederick's Valley, where the Wentworth diggings are situated. The gold is chiefly of a nuggetty description, and has been found in lumps of three or four pounds in weight. At the Wentworth diggings, very fine gold has been obtained in considerable quantities. The country about Ophir is very broken and rugged, and the deposit of gold lies, for the most part, in the bed of the creek, as the banks are too steep to allow of extensive dry or bank diggings. Towards the Macquarie the banks of the creek become still more rocky and abrupt, and there is not much likelihood of any extensive deposit of gold having been formed. The bed of the creek at Ophir has never been sufficiently dry to allow of its being profitably worked since the first rains after the opening up of the diggings on Fitzroy Bar. The population has never been very great since that period, and at present does not number over two or three hundred. The earnings at these diggings average from 10s. to 60s. per diem, and in a few cases much more. There are many parties at work in the vicinity of the Canobolas, and on creeks flowing from it. At the Tea Tree Creek and Brown's Creek, profitable diggings have been opened, and the earnings are from 10s. to 20s. a day, but the number of persons engaged at these places is not large. The whole of the region surrounding this mountain, which is situated some forty or fifty miles to the westward of Bathurst, may be regarded as a gold-field comparatively unexplored, which when the return wave of population and enterprise shall have set in to the gold-fields of this colony, will occupy no insignificant position.
The Turon still claims the first position among the gold-fields of the colony in point of richness and extent. Sofala, the township which has been formed at the richest locality on the Turon, is distant about twenty-five miles north from Bathurst. Fifteen miles above Sofala remunerative diggings were opened at what is called the Gulf, and thence to the junction of the river with the Macquarie, a distance of nearly forty miles, digging operations having been carried on with more or less success. The geological formation of the country is of schist, intersected by quartz veins of various thickness, but there are many other rocks present at different portions of the river. The mountains are lofty, but with rounded summits and gently sloping bases, and the river flows for the greater part through a narrow valley between the ranges. The banks and slopes on the river side are seldom abrupt, and dry diggings consequently abound. The gold procured on the river itself is chiefly dust, generally of a very fine description, but coarse gold has been obtained in various places, and is abundant in the creeks and ravines opening into the river. Lumps weighing as much as seven pounds have been found The yield of gold on the Turon has been in many instances most extraordinary. In several cases, from eighty to 100 oz. a day have been obtained by parties of three or four for days together; in numerous instances from twenty to fifty ounces a day have been procured, and from five to fifteen ounces were at one time a common yield. The gold has been obtained in equal quantities in the bed of the river, and on the banks and slopes in its vicinity. In the former case the greatest depth to which it is necessary to go for the gold is from four to ten or twelve feet, but the continual presence of water has rendered it generally a matter of difficulty, and often of impossibility to get at the auriferous deposits. In the dry diggings the depth of the claims varies from the surface to forty or fifty feet, and the largest deposits of gold are got in the pockets and crevices of the bed rock. In the river diggings the useless surface soil is wholly removed, but in the dry diggings when a shaft has been sunk the ground on the level of the gold deposit is tunnelled. The dry diggings on banks of the Turon are considered by many to be comparatively exhausted, but this is by no means the case in the opinion of more competent judges. Recently rich dry diggings have been discovered on the slope of the hill leading to the township of Sofala, and not more than a pistol shot distance from the town. This ground has been constantly traversed by eager miners for many months, and is proved to abound in deposits of precious metal, which hundreds have left its vicinity to seek for at distant localities. The mining population of the Turon numbered at one time certainly not less than 10,000, but at present (September, 1852,) the number of persons engaged in digging on the Turon and its tributaries does not exceed 1,200. The average yield at these diggings, is from 15s. to £3 or £4 a day, but the instances are numerous in which large sums are earned in a very short period. The labour required is great, whether in the bed or the dry diggings, as in the former the water has constantly to be contended with, and in the latter, the conglomerate soil which has to be wrought through is almost as hard as rock. Many of these tributaries, Big Oakey and Little Oakey Creek especially, have yielded a large amount of gold. On the tableland, where their source is, parties have been at work for months, making large earnings; and more extensive research would, undoubtedly, develop many rich deposits at this place. Along the Bathurst-road gold has been found, and at Wyagden Hill, midway between that town and the Turon, operations on a large scale have been begun.
The Braidwood diggings next-claim attention. They are confined chiefly to Major's and Bell's Creeks, which flow over the tableland, above the valley of Araluen. They are not more than ten or twelve miles distant from the town of Braidwood. What is peculiar in these diggings is the fact that they are situated to the eastwards of the dividing range of mountains. These creeks before named join the river Moruya, which flows into the sea at Short Maven, on the east coast, between Bateman's Bay and Twofold Bay. Major's Creek and its tributary Bell's Creek have amply repaid those engaged in mining operations on them. The country is not of so mountainous a description as at the Turon. Slate and quartz abound in the vicinity, but the bed-rock is granite, and the gold has been found chiefly in what is regarded as decomposed granite. The prosperity of these diggings has been seriously retarded by the incessant rains which have fallen during the last several months, and the population has almost deserted them. At one time there must have been nearly 2,000 persons on Major's and Bell's Creeks and at Araluen; but at present there are not, at most, more than 500. The average earnings at these diggings approximate to those at the Turon, and, as at the latter place, many instances of surprising good fortune have occurred. At Mungarlow, some fifteen or twenty miles from Major's Creek, remunerative diggings have been opened, and several nuggets have been found weighing up to eight or ten ounces. At the Braidwood diggings the gold is generally fine, and it is reckoned to be very pure. Dry diggings have been opened on Major's Creek, in which many parties are procuring four or five ounces of gold a day.
About thirty miles north of the Turon are the Meroo diggings. The Meroo is a river somewhat resembling the Turon in its general features, and in its banks and bars large deposits of gold have been found. The geological character of the country is similar to that of the Turon. The diggings already opened here extend several miles along the river. The yield of gold is generally large, and the gold itself coarse, with occasional large nuggets. Several points on the Meroo have turned out uncommonly rich. The golden reputation of the Meroo itself, however, is small in comparison to that of one of its tributary creeks, the Louisa, on
GOLD WASHING.
whose banks such extraordinary masses of the precious metal have been found, and where the great nugget vein lies. The country about the Louisa is generally of a flat description, and the declivities of the creeks are mild. Mr. Green, assistant commissioner, in a report on the Western Gold Fields, has expressed his opinion that the auriferous ground available for dry diggings at this creek extends for several miles to Campbell's Creek, and that on the tableland, of which this forms a portion, 40,000 or 50,000 miners could find profitable employment. Considering that this table land includes the rich diggings at the Long Creek, the Dirt Holes, the Tambaroura and other creeks, we do not think that it is any exaggeration of the truth. At the Louisa beautiful specimens of gold in the matrix are constantly procured, and nearly all the gold obtained here is coarse and not waterworn. Nuggets of large size have been discovered. The hundredweight every one is familiar with. Brenan's twenty-seven pound lump was found at the Louisa, as was also the largest waterworn nugget yet obtained, weighing 157 ounces, besides numerous other nuggets of less size, which it would be tedious to enumerate. The heavy rains have greatly interfered with all the diggings from the Meroo to the Turon, putting a stop to further operations, and compelling the miners to seek other places. This has been the case at Long Creek, the Devil's Hole, Pyramul Creek, Nuggetty Gully, Married Man's Creek, the Dirt Holes, &c. The gold at these places is coarse, and the earnings are in many cases very large. Generally speaking a man may make certain of securing 20s. a day if the weather is favourable and he sticks to his work. The number of diggers on the Meroo, the Louisa, and the other places just named, may be put down at 1,500.
Between the Turon and the Pyramul, and parallel to both, lies the Tambaroura Creek, which disembogues itself into the Macquarie several miles below the junction of the Turon. This place has lately taken an important position among the diggings for richness and extent, and bids fair to retain it. The diggings are situated chiefly on tableland, and the yield of gold, when the weather allows of operations being carried on, is very large. Many of the claims yield from two to twelve ounces a day. The gold is coarse, and lies at various depths from the surface. At Golden Gully, and at the Bald Hill also, the diggings are very prolific, and to all appearance an extensive region teeming with golden wealth lies around. Although mining operations are very much impeded by the frequent rains, which convert the tableland into a swamp, yet it is feared that in dry seasons these diggings will be unworkable for want of water. The number of miners at work at the Tambaroura and the vicinity is probably about 1,000.
The Hanging Rock may be regarded as among the number of those gold fields whose richness has been established. It is situated at the River Peel in New England. The Oakenville, Hurdle, and Oakey Creeks, flowing into the Peel, have been found to be rich in auriferous deposits, and a large tract of country in the vicinity presents the same indications. The number of diggers at the Hanging Rock is about 200, who are doing exceedingly well. As much as twenty ounces per diem have been obtained here, and dry diggings have been discovered which promise to be exceedingly rich. Although the richness of the Hanging Rock diggings has been established, the extent and probable productiveness are still matter of doubt
These northern diggings are fifty miles from the Page River; the nearest road by Aberdeen, between Muswell Brook and Scone. From Goonoo Goonoo, the head station of the Australian Agricultural Company is about twenty-seven miles. The whole of the country is extremely hilly, and in wet weather the numerous creeks present an impassable barrier to the traveller.
The direct approach to the Hanging Rock is over a series of most difficult precipitous ascents, but there is a bridle path. The Hanging Rock is a prodigious mountain, the sides of which are overhung with huge masses of rock, which seem on the point of being precipitated into the yawning gullies beneath. The herbage is scant, affording but a bare subsistence for the horses and cattle. Descending over the ridge which shadows what is called the Rock, you arrive at the "Hanging Rock Creek," and the "Swamp Diggings." All these are liable to interruption in the wet season.
The bed of the creek is composed of a very compact mass, interspersed with quartz. The banks are chiefly a black, thick loam, intermixed with red, ferruginous clay. The richest claims are where the quartz ridges dip down into the creek.
The Dry Diggings are in one of many deep gullies which prevail in this region.
Oakenville Creek is in this (the rainy) season a narrow, rapid rush of water down the bed of a deep, precipitous, rocky gully.
The Peel River Diggings.—The Peel River diggings are divided into two classes. The field on the western side of the river belongs to the Australian Agricultural Company, whose stations extend seventy or eighty miles along the banks of this stream. The gold-field is situated about five miles from Hanging Rock, and was discovered in March, 1853. The company, in the first instance, endeavoured to raise a revenue by issuing licences, but as only thirty-six were taken, while more than one hundred and fifty were at work, the deputy-governor adopted means for driving off all trespassers, and at length succeeded. The gold is found on the banks of the river in thick ferruginous clay; in some instances nuggets are found clinging to the roots of the grass. The greatest wealth is supposed to exist in the quartz ridges. The reporter found several lumps the size of a duck's egg, thickly speckled with gold.
The river diggings on the crown side are principally three spots:—Golden Point, Blackfellow's Gully, and Bold Ridge.
Of the remaining gold-fields, which are so only by anticipation, their riches not having been developed, and but little being known of their extent, the Abercrombie is one of the longest known, and probably one of the most important. Gold has been found in considerable quantities, not only in the river itself at the Sounding Rock, or Tarshish diggings, but also on its tributary creeks, the Tuena, Mulgunnia, Copperhannia, and Mountain Run. The Abercrombie lies some forty miles to the southward of Bathurst, and forms the upper portion of the Lachlan River. Dry diggings abound on some of the creeks—the Tuena especially—and large earnings have been made here. The gold is coarse. The field may be regarded as unexplored, as there are not more than 200 persons at work on it.
North of the Abercrombie lie the diggings at Campbell's River called Havilah, and those on the Gilmandyke and Davis Creeks, its tributaries. Gold was found at Havilah shortly after the discovery of the Turon diggings; but as the yield was small, the latter soon drew away the enterprising pioneers at Campbell's River. The gold procured was very fine, but no locality has yet been discovered where the deposits are so plentiful as to entitle these diggings to consideration. On the Gilmandyke and Davis Creeks coarse gold is obtained, and there are promising indications of future richness. Perhaps about 100 miners are engaged at these diggings, who are making fair earnings.
There is about the same number of persons engaged in digging on Winburndale Creek, which rises on the tableland a few miles to the northward of Bathurst, and, flowing in a north-west direction, falls into the Macquarie several miles above the junction of the Turon. No very sanguine anticipations are entertained as to the productiveness of these diggings, where, however, fair wages are made by the few persons engaged at them. It is far otherwise, however, with the regions adjacent to the Macquarie River. Gold has for a long time been found on this river, but the diggings hitherto opened have been isolated. Late researches, however, have brought to light auriferous deposits, where the depth of washing-soil is ten and even fifteen feet, and these extend for miles along the banks of the river. The capabilities of such a gold-field may be guessed at where the supply promises to be almost inexhaustible. Only in dry weather, however, can these be turned to account, as the river is a large and important stream during the greater part of the year, and from the prevalence of water the claims cannot be worked. The Macquarie receives the tributary waters of the Winburndale, the Turon, Summerhill, Tambaroura, Pyramul, &c., all auriferous streams.
An extensive gold-field has been discovered at the Billabong range, which lies nearly a hundred miles to the west of Bathurst, between the waters of the Lachlan and Bogan. Schists and quartz are the constituent rocks, and specimens of gold in the matrix have been found. At the Snowy Mountains, to the southward, where many of the great streams of the colony, the Murrumbidgee, Murray, Snowy River, &c., take their rise, the researches of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, who was specially appointed by the Government to survey this district, have disclosed an extensive tract of auriferous country, and several localities which promise to be highly productive. The severity of the weather in these Alpine regions will, however, preclude mining operations being carried on for several months in the year. Over both these extensive portions of country the utmost done in gold-digging are isolated efforts of a few prospecting parties, who are merely testing the capabilities of the country. In these alone a vast field for enterprise lies open to the world.
The last-discovered diggings in this colony, which have excited the most sanguine expectations of their future productions, are Bingara, situated on the Courangoura Creek, which joins the Gwydir, seventy miles to the north-west of Tamworth. The diggers who first discovered the treasures of this locality made extraordinary gains in a short time, and the gold appeared to lie in such abundance on all sides, as to be inexhaustible. The gold obtained has consisted chiefly of nuggets and coarse grain, very little worn. Nuggets weighing fourteen and sixteen ounces have been obtained. Upon the intelligence of the success of these diggings a large number of persons started for them, and at present we dare say there are 300 on the ground. The diggings at present opened are situated on tableland, and it is feared that there will not be a sufficiency of water even in moderately dry seasons. The usual characteristics of a gold region, slate and quartz, abound; and a large extent of country in the vicinity has the same external appearance as that at the diggings at the Courangoura Creek. The country is very level, resembling the gold-fields of Victoria, and the samples of precious metal obtained resemble those of Mount Alexander in the coarseness of the grains and their rich appearance. At various places, between the Hanging Rock and Bingara, gold has been found—in some instances lying on the surface of the ground. The distance of this gold-field from Maitland is upwards of 200 miles in a north by west direction. A considerable quantity of gold has been received from it, and at present there is a large quantity in the hands of the miners.
According to the estimated number of diggers which we have stated as engaged in each locality, the total number at the places particularised is about 6,000. As there are numerous creeks and gullies throughout the country where miners are at work, but which are either too unimportant to be named—such as the Jew's Creek, the Crudine, &c.—or are altogether unknown, a considerable addition must be made to this number. If we add 2,000 more to the 6,000, it will include all these detached miners, and any possible deficiency in our estimate of the number of diggers at the established gold-fields. The total number of persons engaged in gold-digging in this colony will then be about 8,000.
Hitherto a pick and shovel and a cradle, with probably the addition of a crowbar and pump, have constituted a miner's outfit. At the diggings of Victoria, indeed, thousands of the more successful miners never use a cradle, the richness of their claims in large gold preventing the necessity; but at the Turon and other places, the fineness of the gold dust, and the manner in which it is diffused throughout the soil, have necessitated the utmost skill and care in cradling. Lately, however, companies have been formed in this colony for the more effectual development of the wealth of the gold-fields. About half-a-dozen of these companies have commenced operations. The Great Nugget Vein Company are setting up expensive machinery on the banks of the Louisa for crushing the auriferous quartz of their claim at that locality. The Turon Golden Ridge Quartz Crushing Company are making active preparations for developing the richness of an auriferous quartz vein on the Lower Turon, which promises the most splendid results. The Messrs. Samuel are proceeding with their exertions to drain the waterhole at Ophir. The Australian Mutual and the British Australian Gold Mining Companies have combined operations, for the purpose of working the alluvial claims on the Turon. They have secured ground at Lucky Point, and have made considerable progress towards developing the golden deposits of an island in the bed of the Turon contiguous to Erskine Point.
Gold has been found throughout more than eight degrees of latitude, from Bingara at the north to the ranges near Cape Otway, in Victoria. There is good reason for believing that it exists throughout twelve degrees, as samples of the precious metal were found by the late Mr. Roderick Mitchell, son of the surveyor-general, as far north as Mount Abundance at the Fitzroy Downs. The eastern-most diggings in Australia yet discovered are those at the Hanging Rock, about the 151° of E. long. A gold-field has been discovered in South Australia, in about the 139° longitude, twelve degrees to the westward; but whether gold will be found throughout the intervening country it is impossible to say. It has certainly been found as far westward, in Victoria, as the 143rd meridian, and at Mount Cole and Mount William.
On Thursday, 2nd September, I joined a gentleman of Murrurundi, whose business required his attention here, and travelled over the almost trackless ranges to the Isis, one of the rivulets which runs into the Hunter. Towards evening we reached the hospitable abode of a venerable Highlander, who here, high above all other human habitations, at the foot of the Liverpool range, aided by his stalwart sons, tends his numerous and thriving flocks.
The next morning they directed our steps to a remarkable cave, the front apartment of which is adorned with stalactites, in the form of pillars and curtains. The entrance being turned upwards, is altogether hidden from most passers by; but when a descent has been accomplished over the broken rocks, the main arch of the cavern has a fine appearance. To this cave the worthy and patriotic Highlander has given the name 'Uamh Garrie,' Garry's Cave, from its resemblance to a cave of that name in the Highlands of Scotland.
There is a larger cave lower down the stream, which we had not time to visit, but which some travellers have said will surely become an object of great interest, as soon as better modes of travelling are afforded to the inhabitants of our towns and cities.
On leaving the Isis, we ascended the Liverpool Range—crossing, at various elevations, on both sides of the range, tablelands of the most promising soil; where several thousands of agriculturalists are likely to find a highly remunerative field for their industry and skill as soon as markets for the gold-finding population of the neighbourhood, and means of transit to distant towns, make their settlement practicable. In the afternoon, soon after crossing the Peel, we came in sight of the perpendicular facing of rock which gives a peculiar appearance and a name to this mountain. The ascent to this flat, near the summit, is a steep one of at least three miles; did we not see the tracks, we could not believe it possible for drays to be brought up it by any means. As the golden creek runs in all directions from the top, and the precious metal is found at all heights, there is no regular camp of tents here as at the Turon and other places; the people are thinly scattered over a wide space, and hidden from one another by the ridges. Never, perhaps, did men pursue their daily toil in such delightful and beautiful workshops as these ravines, where the dark foliage of the oak, the rugged and fantastic piles of rock, and the numerous cascades, combine to form pleasant pictures. Among the diggers it is easy to discover many a thorough gentleman, and many a worthy farmer, artisan, and sailor.
STRAW-NECKED IBIS.
- ↑ Berrima, in the county of Camden, eighty-one miles from Sydney.