Latest news from new gold find, about 30 miles from Coolgardie, W.A., states that there are now over 1,100 men on the field, and a great many more en route.
The majority of the men have been successful in striking gold. One man has reported that he got 200oz, in two days, and a great many half-pound slugs have been found.
The field is alluvial, the gold being almost on the surface. An eye witness says that several claims are opening out in equal richness to Bayley's original find.
Flour is simply at famine prices, and it is reported from Wyndham, in the far North, that there is not enough flour on the Kimberley goldfield for a month's supply.
The next steamer is not expected to arrive for a month, and the residents are subsisting on biscuits.
The natives are very troublesome and deliberately set fire to the Fletcher police station, which was burned to the ground and the police had a narrow escape.
During the 1890s many prospectors and miners from eastern Australia moved to Western Australia: about 24,000 from Victoria, 16,000 from South Australia, and 8,000 from New South Wales. The 1901 census showed that one in five Western Australians had been born in Victoria. Those from the eastern colonies were referred to somewhat slightingly as t’othersiders.
Many Victorian-born miners were members of the Australian Natives’ Association (ANA), a mutual society founded in Melbourne in 1871. Its members were men born in–native to–the Australian colonies. Meetings were open to all white men. There were no rituals or regalia. It was non-partisan and resolutely non-sectarian. Discussion of religious matters was forbidden. The ANA strongly supported the Federation of Australia.
When in 1900 a referendum was held on the question of Federation in Western Australia, nearly 70% of voters were in favour. The turnout of 67% was the highest turnout of all the colonies. More than half the Western Australian ‘yes’ vote came from the goldfields, with goldfields’ votes in favour of Federation of more than twenty to one. The ‘yes’ vote of Victorians living in Western Australia was a large part of the Western Australian ‘yes’ result.
Green won the federal Kalgoorlie seat at the 1922 election. The Kalgoorlie Federal division was the largest electorate in the world. It covered most of the land area of Western Australia, 880,000 square miles, from the western seaboard to the South Australian border, and from Eucla in the south to Wyndham in the north.
George Ernest Wilkins (1884-1909) of Homebush near Avoca, my husband Greg’s first cousin twice removed, went to the Western Australian goldfields and died there in 1909.
James Curtis was born in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England. He trained as a compositor (a typesetter).
In April 1849 he sailed as a steerage passenger to South Australia on the emigrant ship Cromwell, arriving in July.
In February 1851 he took passage on the German emigrant ship Dockenhuden from Adelaide to Port Phillip in Victoria, at that time still part of the colony of New South Wales. After a week in Melbourne, Curtis went to Geelong, where he found employment on the Victoria Colonist and Western District Daily Advertiser.
On board the Dockenhuden he met and befriended a fellow compositor, John Francis, also later to be employed on the Victoria Colonist.
On 15 August 1851, a month after James Esmond’s discovery of gold at Clunes, Curtis and John Francis set this news in type for the Victoria Colonist:
It is now placed beyond a doubt that gold does exist in quantities that will amply repay the labour of collecting it in many localities fully explored and others but imperfectly explored throughout the length and breadth of this colony. The latest gold field to which labour has been directed is at Buninyong.
Curtis, lured by the promise of gold, travelled to the goldfields of Ballarat with a group of newspaper colleagues.
All our men caught the gold fever. We closed our printing establishment, started for Ballarat in diggers’ costumes, and erected our canvas tent near Golden Point. Our division totalled eight men, all of whom but Mr. Frederic Scott of the Ararat Advertiser, and myself, are now “numbered with the dead.” I remained then but few weeks on the gold-fields, working hard without being included amongst the successful ones. Buies for our general guidance, or something akin to a deed of partnership, were drawn up and signed. This document is dated September 1851, and is in the possession of Mr. A. T. Morrison, mayor of this city in 1879-80 and 1884-85, son of Mr. Alexander [William] Morrison, the last named gentleman being one of our eight, and proprietor of the Victorian Colonist newspaper, on which we were all engaged, in Geelong. I left Ballarat, lived in Melbourne and Geelong nearly ten years …
In “The History of Ballarat” Ballarat historian William Bramwell Withers wrote of the agreement signed by Curtis and similar agreements
Some documentary evidence before the author as he writes illustrates the development of operative mining partnership, from the Golden Point days of a few select friends working together to the modern times of large incorporated companies, as also the big equity suits which were a part of the modern phase of mining. The first mining agreement extant is dated 22nd September, 1851, is brief, plain, pithy, and signed by James Scott, John Armstrong, George Maynard, William Blaikie, Henry Duncan, and Thomas Butler, a party from Geelong. There is nothing specially notable in it, but clause 2 provides "that we do agree to abstain from digging or searching for gold on the Sabbath day" and clause 4 "that any person being found intoxicated shall forfeit the sum of £5, and for the second offence shall be expelled, should a majority of the party request it, and shall accept of such terms as the remaining portion of the party may deem just and equitable." One of the party—presumed to be Duncan—gave place to Alexander Fyffe, who filled a public space afterwards in Geelong life. The provisions as to Sunday work and temperance show how at the very start of the gold-fields there were men who had in them the religious sense and common sense, qualities which have been as saving salt in all the after years of change, toil, trouble, and turbulence. The next agreement bears date 8th October, 1851, and is signed by H.T. Bond, Alfred Higgins, James Curtis, Jno. Francis, Alfred John Windley, Wm. Morrison, Alfred Scott, James Watt, all of Geelong and neighborhood. It is a much more elaborate paper than the first one, and has a smack of legal lore in the wording, though nearly all the subscribers were printers. It bound the subscribers "for two calendar months from the date hereof for the purpose of digging or procuring gold or other mineral at Ballarat or at such other place as may be determined only a majority of the members of the Association." The rules were precise for the maintenance of sobriety and integrity, and for the due deposit and division of gold, the treasurer being W. Morrison, a relative of ex-mayor A.T. Morrison, of Ballarat City. The John Francis of the signatories became proprietor of the Creswick Advertiser, and was one day found dead in a water hole at Sulky gully where he had apparently fallen on his way home at night. The James Curtis has been for years in business, as printer and stationer, in Armstrong street.
Thirty years later in recalling his 1851 goldfields experience he remembered that he had little luck and quickly abandoned gold-digging and returned to his trade.
The brief speech delivered by Mr James Curtis, at the meeting of Old Identities at the City Hall last evening, no doubt, awakened many memories regarding the early history of Ballarat and Geelong. Mr Curtis, in speaking of the discovery of gold in Ballarat, informed his hearers that he was following his profession of a compositor on one of the Geelong newspapers at the time when the news of the finding of the precious metal in Ballarat was reported. He also said be possessed the honour of having " set up” for the Geelong paper in question the paragraph regarding the gold discovery which helped to’ set the greater part of the world on fire’ with excitement. Mr Curtis next referred to an old Geelong 'newspaper which was eagerly perused by the diggers, viz , the Victorian Colonist. The editor of that journal was a gentleman known by the soubriquet of “ Black Robinson.” The speaker explained that he himself was one of a party of eight (only two of whom are now alive) who went in search of gold, but luck did not favour them in the finding of the precious metal. The largest piece of gold Mr Curtis and his party found was no bigger than a pea, although’there were many men digging it up in ounce pieces. “Altogether,” says Mr Curtis, “I did not gain much by my first trip to Ballarat. On my return to Geelong, and when on my way to Melbourne in the Kangaroo steamer, I counted up my money, and found that I was £39 out of pocket through my trip to Ballarat.”
Pioneers of Ballaarat prior to the First Issue of the Gold License 20 September 1851 James Curtis is pictured in the top left of the centre panel
Henry Thompson Bond (1816-1886); I am not certain I have identified the correct H.T. Bond; I cannot see his connection to the Victorian Colonist newspaper
“Battle of Inkermann – Arrival of Bosquet’s division” by Adolphe Bayot (1855) From Wikimedia Commons
The Victorian gold rushes, which began in 1851, coincided with the Crimean War (1853–1856). With patriotic fervour miners and settlers named new townships, gold leads, and geographical features after the battlefields and heroes of the war.
Newspapers reported the conflict with enthusiasm. For example:
THE WAR IN THE CRIMEA. The official details of the fearful conflict which took place near the ruins of Inkerman, on the morning of the 5th November last, will be perused with more than usual interest by English readers, but with feelings in which the painful greatly predominates over the ex citing. It would seem to be the peculiar character of the war in the Crimea, that it grows deadlier as it proceeds, — the latest battle being always more sanguinary than any which preceded it. Rarely has British valour so nobly vindicated its old renown as in the famous victory of the Alma ; but the conflict at In kerman was still more glorious, and still more disastrous, than its predecessor. Considered as a feat of arms, the battle of Inkerman was a really stupendous affair. Fronted by a fierce and desperate foe of nearly four times their strength, the lion-like hearts of united England and France never for a moment quailed, but with indomitable bravery they sustained the shock of that overwhelming host, and turned it back, although thousands fell dead aud wounded amongst their ranks. It was a "glorious victory," as we are in the habit of saying. : but it was a Pyrrhic victory. A few more such, and the allied armies will be compelled to abandon the Crimea. Two or three Alma and Inkerman victories, and the walls of Sebastopol will never be attempted by a storming party of British guards. No invading army, however large its numbers, however extensive its resources, perfect its discipline, or invincible its courage, could possibly maintain its ground, and still less make substantial head, against such overwhelming hosts, and such terribly desolating attacks. ….
The dispatches from Lord Raglan, commander of the British troops, were published in many Victorian newspapers including The Argus.
THE DIGGINGS. MARYBOROUGH DISTRICT. — The escort this week took down the very large amount of 10,347 ounces 10 pennyweights, and £32,591 cash. Population, including 2550 Chinese, estimated at 53,000, and still on the increase. At the new rush behind the camp, called the Inkerman diggings, the miners generally have met with much success.
ADELAIDE LEAD.— This lead extends now nearly to the Alma, and before long, in all probability, the two fields will join. The population at both these places cannot fall far short of 25,000. Several claims at Inkerman Flat, situated between Adelaide Lead and Alma, are turning out well.
Balaclava: gold was discovered at Whroo in October 1854. The find was named Balaclava Hill, after the Battle of Balaclava fought on 25 October 1854.
Raglan: west of Ballarat, named after Lord Raglan, the British commander in the Crimea.
St Arnaud was named after Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud (1798-1854), a French military commander in the Crimean War. He served as French Minister of War until the Crimean War, when he became Commander-in-chief of the army of the East.
In early 1856 there was a rush to the Landsborough area. It was named the Malakoff Lead, after the Battle of Malakoff in June and September 1855.
In the first decades of the gold rushes hospitals were established on the goldfields. The Maryborough and Amherst hospital admission records are intact, and from time to time family historians have found them very useful in their research.
Maryborough
Maryborough Hospital opened in 1857.
Maryborough Hospital 1857, painting by William Tibbits State Library of Victoria Accession No : H84.296/7
Maryborough District Hospital in about 1866. This building was built in 1860-61. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H2940
The Maryborough hospital collected information from patients about their port of embarkation, the name of their ship, and the number of years they had been in the colony.
On 5 March 1872 Margaret Plowright nee Smyth, Greg’s great great grandmother, was admitted to Maryborough Hospital. According to the index of the hospital admission record, she was 37 years old, married, a Wesleyan, and from Homebush. She had arrived in the colony seventeen years previously on the Persian. The index of her hospital admission does not record her illness.
Margaret’s husband, John Plowright, came to Australia as a seaman and his name does not appear on a passenger list. However, when in 1873 he was admitted to Maryborough Hospital, he stated he had been in the colony for 20 years, arriving on the Speculation. Although he had been a miner for his entire period in the colony, he gave his occupation as mariner.
from an 1898 certificate issued by the Amherst Hospital to life governors. Image retrieved from Brewster, Bea Amherst District Hospital 1859 to 1933 : the outcome of compassion. Talbot Arts and Historical Museum Inc, [Talbot, Vic.], 2003. page 68.
Both Amherst and Maryborough hospitals were privately operated, funded by subscriptions, donations, and fundraising events.
The seventh annual Amherst Hospital Fete held at Talbot, Victoria, 1st November 1871 from the Illustrated Australian News of 4 December 1871. The fete raised nearly £900 for the hospital.
AMHERST HOSPITAL FETE, 1871. The Amherst Hospital fete, having arrived at the seventh year of its existence, may be considered a permanent institution, and we believe it may lay claim to the honor of being the first regularly organised scheme for assisting a public charity through the medium of a general holiday and a day's enjoyment. Since the 6th of December, 1865 — the date on which the first fete was held on the racecourse at Talbot— the example has been followed with various degrees of success in numerous parts of the colony. But taking into consideration the number of the inhabitants in the borough of Amherst and its neighborhood, together with the moderate amount of wealth (comparatively speaking) that the district represents, and considering also the number of times the fete has been repeated, we fear no contradiction in stating that up to the last gathering, on the 9th of November, 1870, the Amherst Hospital fete has not been surpassed in popularity and success by any festival of the kind in Vic- toria. This year the fete was more successful still, and our illustration is taken from a sketch by an artist specially sent to Talbot for that purpose. It took place on Wednesday, 1st November, and the formation of the procession began at ten o'clock a.m., and at eleven it commenced to parade the town. There must have been nearly 1000 men in the procession, and of these over 300 were mounted. There were the Majorca Hussars, Grant's Guards, the Bashi Bazouks, Bet-Bet Light Horse, Middle Creek Hussars, Talbot Lancers, Cameron Mounted Rifles, Richardson's Show, Friendly Societies, Fijian Chiefs, Amherst Nimrods, Miners, Naval Brigades, Glengower Hussars, the Bounding Bricks of Ararat, Wizards and Spiritists galore, Punch and Judy, Reclaimed Cannibals, Knights, Court Fools, Pages, Queens of Beauty, Sons of Temperance, Cagliostros the Third, Fire Brigades, the Scandinavian Society, ghosts, satyrs, and fawns, Wallace and Bruce and Sir Jasper de Luce, Dunolly tilters and Carisbrook matadors. Altogether they made up such a novel and motley assemblage as is seldom seen except at these annual fetes. The procession was most artistically arranged, and the dresses, heraldic emblems, armor, &c, of the numerous historical characters was gorgeous, and, in the the most of cases, correct. The allegorica and fanciful tableaux, characters, &c., were the best we have ever seen, and the mythological men and animals were numerous, and as mysterious and indescribable as their designers could desire. The procession, after completing the usual route through the town, finally disbanded at Camp-street with three cheers for the Queen, and the performance of the National Anthem. ... The total receipts [of the bazaar] amounted to close upon £900 ...
Amherst hospital. The infectious diseases ward is to the right
A Visitor's Impressions of the Amherst Hospital (1880)
[from Amherst District Hospital 1859 to 1933 : the outcome of compassion page 17]
Sir,- A recent visit to the Talbot district afforded me the opportunity to inspect its institutions, foremost of which I consider its hospital. I pay a well-deserved tribute to the excellence of the building itself, its staff and management. Externally and internally it is a cheerful looking and well kept place; a credit to the district and those who have charge of it.
Built of brick on a rising ground, it is a prominent object to the stranger long before he reaches it and its pretty surroundings make a pleasant picture. It is nicely laid out and well kept ornamental shrubs are charming features, although I would rather see a few large handsome flower beds than a number of little plots of geometrical design. (I forgot to inquire whether there is a kitchen garden attached to the establishment)
A reminder of the purpose to which the large and handsome building is devoted, is seeing some patients sitting under the verandah, or walking about the garden enjoying the sunshine.
I was informed that the hospital had been in existence for about a quarter of a century. The erection of some sort of hospital is one of the first attended to on a new gold field in the early days and 'Daisy Hill" was no exception to the rule.
For the first period of its history, the hospital was a wooden structure, a part of the original building (at the rear of the permanent edifice) is still being used as a ward for the aged and infirm patients, chiefly those who suffer from chronic rheumatism and phthisis.
There are 8 beds in the very comfortable ward, which had a good fire burning when I dropped in. This ward is, in fact, a sort of 'Benevolent Asylum' upon a small scale. The poor old fellows there seemed pretty comfortable, not withstanding there was a listless and hopeless look about some of them.
At the time of my visit, the total number of In-patients was 34; 29 males and 5 females. Large numbers of Out-patients attend the institution.
There are 6 wards, 3 for males and 3 for fernales and the Board Room is now available as an additional ward when necessary.
The consulting room and the dispensary first engaged my attention. The consulting room was a bright array of surgical instruments and the horrid operating table.
In the dispensary, which was in excellent order, the olfactory nerve was at once saluted by the odours of creosote, carbolic acid etc. Mr Taggart, who conducted me over the building and courteously gave me every information, is Superintendent, Dispenser and Head Wardsman, seems to have had a lot of experience, having held a similar position in the Clunes Hospital. He is highly esteemed by the patients A kind and energetic nurse, Mrs Marsh, attends to the female patients, with whom she is deservedly popular.
Dr Massy is the surgeon in charge and although he does not reside on the premises, he gives good general satisfaction.
Old residents tell me of the days when Drs Rose, Dixon, Webb, Harrison and Dowling and others were actively employed at the Hospital.
It must take a lot of money to keep such an institution going. I was informed that last year the expenditure was £2209, but the pruning knife has been vigorously at work, retrenchment being the order of the day. For the year ending 30th June 1880, the cost had been reduced to £1577, with savings of £400 in salaries alone.
There was observable all over the building, good order and cleanliness. Besides the ordinary wards, which appeared to be well ventilated, I was shown a lofty building containing 2 large wards in which to completely isolate contagious cases such as fever, measles or diphtheria. In the building is a separate sleeping apartment for the nurse to attend upon such cases.
The entire resident staff consists of a Head Wardsman and his assistant, a female nurse, cook and a laundress.
The kitchen is commodious and well appointed with a large cooking range and other conveniences.
Trusting this record of my visit to your noble institution may find space in your journal,
I am etc.
Jay Jay (Ballarat August 1880)
In the twentieth century the hospital, with 58 beds, also treated tuberculosis patients. However by 1933 new treatments for TB were available in Melbourne, and Amherst patients were transferred there. This left Amherst hospital with very few patients and the hospital closed that year.
Amherst hospital in the 1920s. The hospital is near the windmill. Some of the nearby buildings housed the sanatorium tuberculosis patients.
Accommodation for sanatorium patients in the 1920s
The site of the former Amherst hospital in 2017. Little remains. On the left is the concrete base of a flagpole erected in 1900.
In 1851, when the first diggers arrived on the Mount Alexandergoldfield near Castlemaine, it was said that nuggets could be picked up without even digging. When this ran out fossickers then looked for alluvial gold in creeks and rivers or deposited in silt on river banks and flats. They used pans, sluice boxes, and cradles to separate this gold from the dirt.
“Tin dish washing” by S. T. Gill A miner swirls water over the earth in his dish to wash away the loose dirt, and uncover grains of gold in the bottom of the pan. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5382
“Cradling” by S.T. Gill Two diggers working a cradle. One rocks it while his mate pours water over the dirt. The man rocking the cradle has a stick to break up clods of earth. A wheelbarrow of dirt for cradling stands nearby. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H25971
“Puddling, 1852” by S. T. Gill Beer barrels were cut in half and used to wash the dirt excavated by the miners. A constant supply of water was needed. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5318
“Fair Prospects” by S. T. Gill Two miners standing beside a windlass over the mouth of a mine. They are examining a panful of earth for gold. The title suggests the signs are good. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5306
“Bad Results” by S. T. Gill Two downcast diggers who have been testing the excavated dirt and have found it unpromising. They are sitting by the shaft of their mine, near the windlass. Nearby is the pan they used to wash their dirt. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5305
“Fossicking” by S. T. Gill Two miners, watched by a brown and white terrier, use a sharp fossicking knife to go over a heap of earth abandoned by a previous miner. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H25966
As surface alluvial gold ran out, diggers were forced to excavate further and further. They followed so-called “deep leads”, gold-bearing watercourses that had been buried by silting, and in some Victorian goldfields such as Ballarat, by volcanic action. Deep-lead mining was more difficult and dangerous than alluvial mining. Miners formed large partnerships and syndicates to raise the capital for sinking deeper and deeper mines.
“View of Victoria Hill, Bendigo, taken from Old Chum Hill.” Photographed by N.J. Caire 1877 State Library of Victoria Accession No : H24853
Garfield water wheel and stamper battery at Chewton. In 1887, when it was constructed, the Garfield Waterwheel was said to be the largest waterwheel in the southern hemisphere. Built of timber, the 72 foot diameter wheel could be seen for miles around. For 24 hours a day, the racket of the 15 head ore-crushing battery powered by the wheel could be heard several miles away in Castlemaine, except on Sundays, a day of rest on the goldfields. The water wheel used until 1903 was dismantled in 1904.
My husband’s family has a connection with the mining hamlet of Homebush in the goldfields of central Victoria; just under 120 miles north-west of Melbourne; 50 miles north of Ballarat (where I live); and six miles north-east of the town of Avoca.
Four Mile Flat, later known as Homebush, was first settled in 1854 following a rush to a rich claim nearby.
NEW DIGGINGS. — The Four-mile Flat diggings are situated about eighteen miles from Castlemaine, between Simpson's station and Carisbrook. The miners now at work exceed 1000, and it is reported they are doing very well. This new gold field has been placed under the supervision of Mr. Daly, late of Tarrangower, who will be prepared to issue licenses, receive gold for escort and deposit, and transact all the usual business of a gold commission camp, by next week.
A large population is settling down at the head of Four-mile-flat, between the head of the Avoca main lead and Four-mile-flat: the whole of that locality is auriferous, but the want of water will be found a great drawback.
THE NEW DIGGINGS AT FOUR MILE FLAT. (From our Lamplough Correspondent.)
The short existence of the majority of rushes in the Avoca district has deterred me from sending you a descriptive account of the newly opened workings at Four-mile, until their growth was sufficiently ripe to warrant special notice. That this precaution was not a needless one, may be gathered from the fact that for the past four years this locality has been the scene of several rushes, large and small, the majority of which proved to be misadventures; the greatest one of all occurring in the year 1856. Since that period up to the present time the locality has offered no inducement to miners to settle down in it, and beyond a bare livelihood, and an occasional nugget, no discovery has been made of a nature calculated to give importance to the spot.
The course of the flat, from its source to a given point, about two miles below the scene of the present rush, is, as nearly as can be ascertained, north-east to south-west. At its source the flat is very Barrow, and until you have traversed it to a point, about half a mile downward, it is barely a stone's throw across. Then it begins to widen out, and for another half a mile its increasing dimensions in this respect are very striking, and so they continue to increase until you have traced on each side the low range of hills to a point where they are lost sight of, and the width of the flat becomes to the eye illimitable. The old workings, commencing from their source and following downward, are connected for about one mile, beyond which they are made up of small patches, with spots of unworked ground intervening. One of these patches is very noticeable, for being more than 100 yards distant, and away from the line of old workings, and seems to have been a totally distinct bed of gold from the main one on the opposite side of the flat. The yield of the workings hitherto have invariably proved excessively patchy, and there has always existed as much probability of obtaining a 12 ounce nugget as one of half an ounce. The smaller gold was distributed over from two to nine feet of wash-dirt, the average yield of which as correctly as can be ascertained may be put down at half an ounce to the load. This estimate, of course, must be understood as referring only to those claims which proved to be on the lead or run of patches. One regularity in the old workings is very apparent, namely, their width; which, except where offshoots from the main lead have occurred, which were not frequent, has not deviated from two and a half to three claims from point to point. The depth of sinking has ranged from 40 to about 56 feet.
About a month ago, a prospecting claim was granted to a party for the discovery of gold about 50 yards distant from the last patch of workings opened. The prospect obtained was about seven dwts. to the load, and as this gave evidence of the existence of gold thereabouts, a favorable opinion was entertained of the discovery. A number of claims were bottomed in the course of the ensuing fortnight, but only a very few shewed symptoms of being auriferous. Even these few were not payable, and, as a consequence, the rush languished and would have died out but for the discovery of gold in the meantime, by a party who had bottomed a shaft about 400 yards ahead of the original prospecting claim. This new discovery excited great expectations, as the prospect was superior to that obtained by the prospectors above, and, moreover, the strata of gravel and washdirt had assumed a more auriferous aspect in the lower prospecting claim; those in the former consisting only of a very small and sandy gravel, interspersed with layers of baked sand which, by the practical miner was deemed a bad indication. Only a few of the many who had collected at the spot now remained to assist the original prospectors to develope the ground immediately around them, the others having taken up claims beyond the subsequent prospecting ground, at which spot general attention was by this time concentrated. Although the sinking, taken as a whole, is very good, the depth being 66 feet, occupied some time to penetrate, and therefore fully ten days elapsed before additional shafts were bottomed. Many of those outside were found to be of no account, but those bottomed on the course of the lead proved otherwise. Pieces of three-quarters of an ounce; two pennyweights to the tub; one pennyweight to the bucket; and one and two ounces to the load, were now becoming the order of the day. Shaft after shaft continued to bottom, and to yield a good payable prospect. This satisfactory state of affairs has continued up to the present date, the last shaft but one having yielded three-quarters of an ounce from the bottom, and the last one pennyweight to the bucket. In the meantime a new discovery was made; it was found that the best of the gold did not lie upon the bottom, but that a stratum of gravel about one foot above contained it. This caused a new excitement which was not one whit abated by a circumstance that occurred at a claim opposite the Ballarat XXX Ale depot. While a man at the windlass was emptying a bucket of headings, just drawn up the shaft, another standing by observed a piece of gold; subsequently weighed and found to be 38 ounces, roll down the embankment, which he picked up and returned to him. This, in connection with a discovery made in another shaft, no great distance away, which consisted of a 7-dwt. piece, picked out of the gravel six feet from the bottom, has set at rest all doubt as to the permanent existence of the rush. In reference to the width of the auriferous ground, which, so far as it has been traced, is similar to that mentioned above, namely, two to three claims, it may be mentioned that an opinion prevails with the miners that the width will increase before it is traced any great distance further, owing to the circumstance that the points of the ranges of hills are now about parallel with the ground so far developed, beyond which the flat widens out apparently ad infinitum. About 100 yards distant from the last prospect that was obtained, a shaft is down 80 feet and not yet bottomed. This shaft has begun to show symptoms of water, but very little notice has been taken of this objectionable circumstance, as the lead is not expected to tend thitherward, but to steer a course about 100 yards to the southward of it. This supposition is borne out by the fact that all the auriferous shafts have invariably bottomed at 68 fest, and this has also given rise to the belief that the gold will follow the high ground, and not fall into the deep. In the favorite direction, and about a quarter of a mile away from the at present disclosed golden ground, a prospecting claim has been pegged off, in which the shareholders are vigorously sinking a shaft. As they work both day and night they expect to bottom about Saturday. Should gold be struck here the rush will be tremendous, and in fact there will be ample room for an additional population, as the length of golden ground will be then determined for more than one mile from point to point. At the present time a number of claims, in a line of about 500 yards are paying really well, the washdirt averaging three to four feet in depth and the yield half to three-quarters of an ounce to the load, irrespective of nuggets, of which the ground contains a very fair proportion.
It is omitted from the above that a gutter about eight feet in width has been determined near to the prospecting claim from which highly auriferous washdirt is being obtained. Several loads have been washed from this gutter, the yield from which has ranged from 4 to 8 oz.
A population of 4000 miners is the approximate estimate. To supply the requirements of so large a number, a due proportion of stores is on the ground. The buildings hitherto erected are wholly confined to stores and public houses; no drapery stores or other business habitations having been erected, owing to the doubtful situation of the two surveyed streets. About three weeks ago an assistant of Mr. English's the district surveyor, surveyed a street on the low ground up the flat, and marked off business allotments. An exception was taken to this proceeding on the ground that when the rain came the street and buildings therein would be submerged. The exception was allowed to be a good one, so the deputy-surveyor last week proceeded to the selection of a new site for which he found the rising ground more favorable. But it happens unfortunately that however happy the selection may be for business, it is objectionable for situation, being fully 400 yards distant tant from the workings, and intercepted by an impromptu line of buildings, which have recently been erected by the business people who have arrived here; so a doubt exists as to which will eventually prove to be the best position for business, the impromptu street or the one surveyed. Consequently until some energetic individual proceeds to the erection of a building of some importance no legitimate street will be formed, most people waiting for this to transpire before setting in to build. The impromptu street is formed within a few yards of the diggings, and on the flat, where water lies and mud has already accumulated to such an extent as to render locomotion in foot both unendurable and inconvenient. What the state of this spot will be if the surveyed strees be abandoned, and this spot selected, may be more easily conceived than described.
In the meantime the population is hourly being swellet by arrivals from Inglewood and Lamplough. From the latter town the coaches arrive crowded with passengers, and as a charge of 3s. is made, our local Jehus are, without any reasonable doubt, benefitting considerably by the prevailing excitement. The road trom Lamplough to Four-Mile is also the channel through which a great proportion of the stores &c. are being conveyed, consequently it has assumed an aspect of liveliness of late very foreign to that which it wore some twelve months back, when Lamplough was unknown, and the Four-Mile Flat was known as the most poverty-stricken mining locality within the boundaries of the Maryborough mining district.
Planned development began in June 1860 when, following a second rush to the diggings, Homebush was surveyed and its streets laid out. At the time of the 1861 census there were 211 dwellings and 567 people: 411 males and 156 females.
Special lands, Township of Homebush, Parish of Glenmona Showing land subdivisions, the Star Hotel, the Wesleyan Chapel, and the gold workings lithographed at the Office of Lands and Survey, Melbourne, January 20 1863. In the collection of the State Library of Victoria
In 1861 a Church of England school opened, with classes held in a rented building. Over the next two decades the number of students increased to more than two hundred, and two more schools were built, one at Homebush. Another school, even bigger, was built at Lower Homebush.
Homebush Post Office opened on 1 October 1863 (closing in 1944).
Homebush reached the height of its prosperity in the 1880s. By 1884 it was firmly established as a business centre, with two agents, a bootmaker, a butcher, two carpenters, two contractors, nine farmers, a gardener, a registrar, a station master, a storekeeper, and a teacher. Lower Homebush, three miles away, where the commercial life of the town had moved closer to some deep-lead mines, had a blacksmith, two bootmakers, a carpenter, a draper, an engineer, two farmers, three hotels, two mining managers, and twelve stores.
At the time of the 1891 census, Homebush with Lower Homebush had 159 dwellings, 494 people: 266 males and 228 females.
Underground workings of the Working Miners United company Homebush
Homebush mine
Davies & Party Cyanide works Gold cyanidation: a sodium cyanide solution is used to leach gold from ore. The ore is mixed with cyanide solution in large tanks. Because cyanide leaching is very efficient, it allows profitable mining of much lower ore grades.
Cyanide pits Homebush: Shiell and Wilson Mine and Treatment Plant
John and Gus Nicholls and Jim Cross with their dog, photographed at the top of a shaft. Image in the collection of the Avoca and District Historical Society. Reproduced with permission.
Homebush owed its existence entirely to the mines: when the gold ran out and the mines closed the town rapidly declined and died. All that remains of a once-flourishing community is a school building and some mullock heaps (mine tailings).
In 1903 the average attendance at the Lower Homebush school was forty. Gold yields had dropped and mining companies had ceased operating. Homebush School closed permanently in 1908. By 1920 all large-scale gold mining activity in Avoca shire had ceased. The combined population of Homebush and Lower Homebush had fallen to 150. Businesses closed, and buildings were removed. In 1928 the Methodist church was dismantled and moved 6 km to Rathscar West.
Homebush main street early twentieth century
The same view in September 2024
Lower Homebush School closed in 1967. The school buildings remain, unused. Nothing else is left.
Homebush school in 2011, now empty
Greg’s paternal grandparents, Cecil Young (1898–1975) and Elizabeth Cross nee Young (1900–1949) grew up in Homebush. Cecil was brought up by his aunt Charlotte Wilkins nee Young. Her husband George Wilkins was a schoolteacher there. Elizabeth Cross’s father, Frederick James Cross was a miner and farmer. Elizabeth’s mother, Ann Jane Cross nee Plowright was born in 1862 at Homebush. Ann Jane’s father John Plowright was a miner. In 1860 the Plowright family moved to Homebush from the Alma diggings twelve miles east of Homebush.
In April 1852 while searching for stray horses Joseph Crook found a gold nugget a few miles north-west of present-day Bendigo. Within a short while 20,000 diggers had rushed to the district.
Eaglehawk was a particularly wealthy goldfield. Joseph Anderson Panton, Assistant Gold Commissioner at Kangaroo Gully nearby, wrote that the upper part of Eaglehawk Gully was ‘the richest alluvial ever discovered’.
In The Rush That Never Ended Geoffrey Blainey states:
“Eagle Hawk Gully was so rich that Commissioner Gilbert saw gold glittering on the surface soil, so rich that the barrow road or no-man’s strip between each claim was coveted by all, and when one man left his claim in order to wheel away a load of auriferous gravel to be washed, his neighbour would quickly shovel the gravel of the dividing wall into his claim.”
By June 1852, at the height of the rush, diggers 5-6,000 were arriving at Bendigo every week. The road from Mount Alexander was ‘one continuous line of vehicles and passengers’ and the population of the field was estimated at 40,000.
By 1853 alluvial gold was largely exhausted at Eaglehawk and quartz-crushing reef mining replaced alluvial diggings. Three hundred tonnes of gold was extracted from this goldfield.
“Bendigo Creek, road to Eaglehawk” by S. T. Gill The creek, with the diggings, huts and tents beyond. A bullock wagon is being driven across a crude wooden bridge. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H25969
“Iron Bark & Digger’s tent, Eagle Hawk 1852” by S. T. Gill Dirt road, with a tent in the middle distance. Beside it, a woman cooks on an open fire. Beyond, digging is in progress. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5317
“Eagle Hawk Gully Bendigo 1852” by S. T. Gill The road leading into the Eaglehawk diggings: the huts and tents of storekeepers are prominent. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5379
The artist Samuel Thomas Gill loved dogs, and they often appeared in his sketches of life on the goldfields.
Dogs were useful on the diggings; they could keep you warm at night and guard your tent while you were off prospecting.
“Fossicking” by S. T. Gill Two miners, watched by a brown and white terrier, using a sharp fossicking knife to go over a heap of earth abandoned by a previous miner. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H25966
“Diggers on way to Camp to deposit Gold 1852” by S. T. Gill Two diggers walk purposefully towards a government tent in the background. Both carry guns with long muzzles, and one has his bed roll under his right arm, and a pistol stuck in his belt. A brown and white terrier accompanies them. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5384
“Sly grog shanty on road to Bendigo” by S. T. Gill A tent by a bush track offering ‘coffee and meals’. At the rear of the tent, a man is buying a glass of ‘grog’ from a woman. Elsewhere, travellers are cooking food on an open fire. An animal carcass is hanging on a tree and a dog reclines in a barrel which serves as a kennel. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H25975
“Butcher’s shamble, Forest Creek 1852” by S. T. Gill A bark hut by a bush track which is being used as a butcher’s shop (a ‘shamble’ is a slaughterhouse). A travelling digger, with his swag on his back, is examining the joints of meat hung in the open air while the butcher looks on. Also offered for sale is a ‘cradle’ for washing gold-bearing earth: this probably means that the butcher himself has given up gold-digging and returned to his prior occupation. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5311
Goldfields miners did not work on Sunday, which was widely observed as a day of rest and worship.
Most miners were Christian; many of them attended religious services. These were initially held in the open air. As the diggings grew church buildings began to be erected.
In 1852 an Englishwoman, Ellen Sturmer, later Mrs Charles Clacy, travelled to the goldfields of Victoria with her brother. In 1853 she published A Lady’s Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852–1853. She wrote:
Sunday is kept at the diggings in a very orderly manner; and among the actual diggers themselves, the day of rest is taken in a verbatim sense. It is not unusual to have an established clergyman holding forth near the Commissioners’ tent and almost within hearing will be a tub orator expounding the origin of evil, whilst a “mill” (a fight with fisticuffs) or a dog fight fills up the background.
“Sunday camp meeting 1852” by S. T. Gill A clergyman delivering an open air sermon to a group of onlookers in the midst of the diggings. A drunken man is offering him a pipe. On the edge of the group a man seems to be demonstrating a card trick. State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5380/1
An 1854 report on religion in the Colony of Victoria published by The Age noted that the colony’s population, of 280,000, had surged from its total in 1851 of 77,000. This increase outpaced the growth in the number of clergymen and the number of churches. Relatively few children attended Sunday school. On the other hand, generous voluntary contributions were made to build and support the churches, and in addition, churches received Government funding. (Public opinion on state support for churches was divided.)
SUMMARY FOR EUROPE. BY THE NORNA. We publish this day our first Summary for Europe, for transmission by the Overland Mail, in accordance with the established custom of the colonial press. Under the several heads below, will be found such materials as it is hoped will enable distant readers to form a fair estimate of the condition of things commercial, social, and political, in a colony which has attracted of late years so much of the attention of the civilized world, and which has presented an unprecedented instance of rapidity of national growth. Articles on Education, Religion, and Public Works in Victoria, will be found in our sixth page.
In order to furnish something approaching to a correct statement of the condition of the colony as respects religious teaching, we subjoin the following statistics and facts : — On the 2nd of March, 1851, the total population of the colony amounted to 77,345. Of this aggregate, 23,000 belonged to the city of Melbourne, and 8000 to Geelong, leaving 46,000 for the whole of the province outside of these towns. In reference to the religious composition of this sum total, it is sufficient to say, that allowing 600 for Jews, Mahomedans, and Pagans, the remainder consisted of 58,700 Protestant Christians, and 18,000 Roman Catholics. The number of persons returned as belonging to the clerical profession in the whole colony was 89, of whom 41 resided in the city of Melbourne. Without stopping to analyse these aggregates on purpose to apportion them amongst the various denominations then existing in the colony, it is sufficient for the object of this summary to point to the fact, that in 1851 there were in Victoria 89 professed ministers of religion in a population of 77,000 and in Melbourne no fewer than 41 clergy to 23,000 inhabitants. These figures however must be taken with some qualification. We are inclined to think that they embrace others than ordained ministers, though in what proportion we are not in circumstances to state.
Within the last few years we have seen changes, brought about which it would take centuries to effect in the ordinary course of things. In this brief interval the population has risen from 77,000 to at least 280,000. In Melbourne itself, the increase has been equally wonderful, as its population is probably not less than 100,000 souls. The rush of immigration has far outstripped the zeal or the ability of the churches to provide for so great an emergency. Taken by surprise as the whole world was, it can occasion no wonder, that the tens of thousands that flocked from all quarters to Australia, brought along with them neither ministers nor teachers. The first movement confounded all minds at home and disorganised all society here. The ordeal that accompanied the discovery of gold was of the severest nature. It broke up congregations, paralysed industry, arrested the pastor in his labors, and checked or suspended almost every scheme of usefulness. A candid consideration of a crisis unexampled in history, and which has not yet exhausted itself, will satisfy unprejudiced minds that the details we are now to submit afford more ground for gratitude than for murmuring, and that if the picture they exhibit be neither so complete nor so fair as one could wish, yet it has attractions enough to encourage us to look forward with less of apprehension than hope.
The statistics which follow have been furnished by clergymen of the different denominations, and may be regarded as worthy of confidence. We confine ourselves to the returns that are avowedly complete, omitting those which are noted as partial or imperfect:
CLERGY AND OTHER CHURCH AGENTS IN VICTORIA.
Ministers
Lay Agency
Church of England
28
22
Roman Catholics
26
Presbyterian
42
Synod of Victoria
14
Free Church
17
United Presbyterians
10
Independent Presbyterians
1
Wesleyans
15
150
Independents
12
Baptists
5
Primitive Methodists
3
57
German Lutheran
1
Jews
1
Wesleyan Methodist Association
1
Unitarians
1
Others
4
In reference to these figures, it may be proper to explain that the 22 Lay Agents of the Church of England include Scripture readers, school-masters who officiate in this capacity, and others. The 150 attached to the Wesleyan body are lay preachers, and the same remark applies to the 51 connected with the Primitive Methodists. The Presbyterians employ elders instead of lay agents; and it is well known that there are few congregations without officials of this character ; but of the number actually engaged in evangelical labors we have received and can communicate no reliable information.
PLACES OF WORSHIP. The following is a list of places in which Divine worship is celebrated, — distinguishing churches, properly so called, from wooden erections, school-rooms, and tents ; which are used only as present and temporary accommodation.
Churches
Tempry accom.
Church of England
11
41
Wesleyans
24
41
Free Church
3
14
Synod of Victoria
3
11
United Presbyterians
2
8
Roman Catholics
18 (incl tempry accom.)
Independents
11
7
Baptists
5
Primitive Methodists
3
12
German Lutheran
1
Unitarians
1
Jews
1
The others, viz., Disciples of Christ, Christian Israelites, Gadsbyites, and Swedenborgians, have as yet no churches or separate buildings for the worship of God.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS. With few exceptions every Protestant church and chapel has its Sabbath School. All parties evince a laudable zeal in attending to the religious instruction of the young. The number of scholars is small when compared with the population ; although the proportion of children to adults is, for obvious reasons, not nearly so great as at home, yet, from a variety of causes, arising out of the social and religious condition of the colony, the average attendance at Sunday Schools is comparative low. Thus, in the Sabbath Schools of the Church of England, there are only 1595 pupils. In the Wesleyan schools, 36 in number, there are 2647. In those of the Independent body, 1040. We have no statistics on this subject in regard to other denominations. But the returns now given are undoubtedly a favorable specimen of Sabbath school attendance in Victoria. The carelessness of parents, and the consequent wildness and indocility of children are the main causes of this somewhat disheartening state of things. Boys and girls come and go apparently at their own pleasure. It is rare that a class of six or eight can be kept together for a succession of weeks, not to speak of months. Then the little attention paid in the colony to Sabbath observancy exerts an influence on the minds of the young, who, yielding to the current excess on Sunday, shrink from the exercises of the school as from an insupportable restraint. Other reasons contribute to the same result. From the crowded state of the houses, private rooms cannot be obtained for teaching Sunday classes, so that beyond the neighborhood of churches or ordinary schools, it is extremely difficult to assemble a Sabbath day's class. These evils, however, will give way to time and the progress of improvement. And one of the most hopeful symptoms of our case, is the fact that no country possesses a larger proportion of educated Christian men in the very prime of life, qualified and willing to devote themselves to the teaching of Sabbath schools.
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS. From a few only of the denominations have we received a statement of the funds raised congregationally during the last year. But these may be accepted as indicating the activity which all have displayed in providing for the extension of religious institutions.
Church of England, say
£24,000
Wesleyans
30,000
Free Presbyterian Church
32,000
Independents
23,000
Jews
9,500
Baptists
2,500
Primitive Methodists
2,074
German Lutherans
1,400
Wesleyan Methodist Association
1,000
It must be understood that these sums include large subscriptions for building purposes.
GOVERNMENT AID. Here, as in England, there is much diversity of opinion on the question of the support of religion by the State. One party holds that the church should be exclusively maintained by the free-will offerings of her members, and that it is contrary to the word of God for the magistrate to bestow on the Church a national establishment; or to endow her ministers out of the public funds. Another party, without adopting this decided theory, condemns the principle of indiscriminate endowment followed by the local Government, and to enhance the force of their objection, and to avoid even the appearance of inconsistency, refuse to avail themselves of any assistance from the State. A third party is willing to accept of public aid in behalf of Christian objects, so long as it is granted free of unlawful conditions ; maintaining that the responsibility of applying the national resources to the support of religious error rests not on them, but solely on the Government itself, or the authorities implicated in this questionable policy. A fourth party favours the existing system, as, upon the whole, the best for the colony, the least liable to the charge of partiality and injustice, and the most likely to meet both the wants and wishes of the great bulk of the people.
On which side the balance of public feeling inclines, we will not undertake to say. Perhaps those who hold the principle that the Church and State ought to be connected, constitute the numerical majority. But they are divided amongst themselves as to the present policy of Government in granting endowments alike to Protestants and Roman Catholics; and a large and influential proportion of almost all classes would prefer the cessation of Government assistance to the continuance of the system now pursued.
The sum of £30,000 was voted by the Legislative Council for the year 1854, and was distributed as follows
The Roman Catholic church did not share information about voluntary contributions made by its members.
The proportion of aid received by the Church of England and the Roman Catholic church exceeded the proportions relative to the number of clergy and the number of places of worship, and also in voluntary contributions made by their congregations.
The manner in which Sunday is observed, is highly creditable to the district. The utter desertion of the holes and washing stations, the quietude and propriety of the tentwalks, and the readiness with which a congregation is collected, whenever any person could be found who had benevolence and zeal enough to shew an interest in the religious welfare of the poor miner, present very pleasing features to the visitor. Only upon one instance did I observe tossing on a Sunday. Never did I hear of an instance of interruption of divine worship, nor even of private religious meetings. With no ordinary feelings of pleasure have I heard in the calmness of a Sunday evening, voices from several tents mingling in sacred harmony. Stopping for a night on Campbell’s Creek, I was delighted with the sounds of psalmody proceeding from an opposite tent. Several favorite airs were sung, and the several parts well maintained. All at once a company near struck up a song. Immediately loud cries issued from the neighbouring tents of “lay down, lay down.” The revellers yielded to the pressure from without, and again the sweet notes of praise to Jehovah resounded through the quiet glen.
Within days of the announcement of the discovery of gold, a rush began, bringing thousands of prospectors to the Yarrowee Valley, which became known as the Ballarat diggings.
The first post office opened on 1 November 1851, the first to open in a Victorian gold-mining settlement. Parts of the district were first surveyed by William Urquhart as early as October 1851. By 1852 his grid plan and wide streets for land sales in the new township of West Ballarat, built upon a plateau of basalt, contrasted markedly with the existing narrow unplanned streets, tents, and gullies of the original East Ballarat settlement. Government officials were based at the government encampment which was strategically positioned on an escarpment with an optimal view over the district’s diggings.
Painting by Eugene von Guerard of Ballarat’s tent city as it was in 1853
On 3 December 1853 miners and soldiers clashed at a stockade built by miners; 22 miners were killed and 5 soldiers. The miners’ protest became known as the Eureka Rebellion. Miners were unhappy with the administration and the hefty gold licence fees. Although the rebellion was quashed, there were political reforms, including the abolition of the mining license and the introduction of the miner’s right, which granted miners voting rights.
By 1858 the gold rush population of Ballarat peaked at almost 60,000, mostly male diggers. The early population was largely itinerant, many quickly moved to rush other fields as new findings were announced, particularly Mount Alexander in 1852, Fiery Creek in 1855, and Ararat in 1857. By 1859, the population was around 23,000, and mining at Ballarat shifted to deep underground.
Anne's Family History 
