IN THE 1850'S ONE WORD ECHOED THROUGHOUT THE LAND, THIS WORD WAS TO CHANGE THE COURSE OF AUSTRALIA'S HISTORY. IT EFFECTED OUR POPULATION GROWTH, WHERE PEOPLE SETTLED, THE WEALTH OF THE NATION, AND IT'S IDENTITY. THIS WORD WAS GOLD.
THE GOLD RUSHES
GOLD WAS FIRST DISCOVERED AS EARLY AS 1823, WHEN A GOVERNMENT SURVEYOR NAMED J.McBRIEN FOUND GOLD PARTICLES. IN LITHGOW TWO MORE DISCOVERIES, THE FIRST BY A POLISH COUNT AND EXPLORER, STRZELECKI IN 1839 AND IN 1841 REV. W.B. CLARKE FOUND GOLD . IN SYDNEY STORIES ABOUNDED OF A SHEPHERD NAMED McGREGOR WHO HAD SEVERAL TIMES COME INTO TOWN TO SELL GOLD. BUT ALL THESE STORIES DID NOT CAUSE A RUSH. WHY? THE FINDS WERE ISOLATED, A LITTLE HERE A LITTLE THERE AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY, FEARING MASS CONVICT ESCAPES AND RIOTING DID IT'S BEST TO KEEP ANY FINDS SECRET.
DIGGING FOR GOLD WAS HARD AND HEAVY WORK AND FOR MOST IT HAD NO REAL REWARD.
IN 1851 EDWARD HARGRAVES CAME TO NEW SOUTH WALES AND SPOKE OF HOW SIMILAR IT WAS TO CALIFORNIA. HARGRAVES HAD LIVED IN NSW BEFORE SPENDING SEVERAL YEARS IN THE USA SEEKING HIS FORTUNE,IN THIS HE HAD NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL, BUT HE DIDN'T COME AWAY EMPTY HANDED. HARGRAVES HAD COLLECTED THE SKILLS OF GOLD MINING, AND SOON HE SET OUT FOR BATHURST AT A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE HIS FORTUNE, ALONG THE WAY HE MET JOHN LISTER, A LOCAL GUIDE. LISTER INTRODUCED HARGRAVES TO THE TOM BROTHERS AND TOGETHER THE FOUR MEN SET OUT IN SEARCH OF GOLD. THEY SOON FOUND TRACES OF GOLD AND HARGRAVES LEFT LISTER AND THE TOM BROTHERS AND RETURNED TO SYDNEY IN SEARCH OF A REWARD FROM THE GOVERNMENT, ALONG THE WAY HE TOLD ALL THAT WOULD BE INTERESTED. THE GOVERNMENT REFUSED TO PAY ANY REWARD STATING THAT THE FIND WAS TOO SMALL. HARGRAVES WAS A DETERMINED MAN AND SPREAD THE WORD VIA NEWSPAPERS AND LECTURES. BACK IN BATHURST THE THREE REMAINING DIGGERS HAD BEEN SUCCESSFUL AND FOUND PAYABLE GOLD. HARGRAVES NAMED THE AREA OPHIR, AFTER THE BIBLICAL CITY OF GOLD. THE RUSH WAS ON.
"IT'S ONLY THE FIRST BLISTER THAT HURTS. THAT BLISTER, I CAN TELL YOU, IS TERRIBLE, IMMENSE; IT IS A BIG AS THE TWO HANDS THAT IT INVADES, SWELLS AND DEFORMS. IT REALLY HURTS. THE PAIN STARTS AT THE FINGER TIPS, AND GOES UNDER THE NAILS AND MOVES UP AS FAR AS THE SHOULDERS.I AM NOT SURE WHETHER IT IS THE SAME PAIN THAT EXTENDS FROM THE SHOULDERS ALONG THE SPINAL COLUMN, STICKING NEEDLES IN BETWEEN THE VERTEBRAE, TORTURING YOU TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT IT IS SOMETIMES IMPOSSIBLE TO STAND UP, SO THAT FOR A TIME YOU DRAG YOURSELF ALONG THE GROUND ON ALL FOURS. IN ANY CASE YOU HAVE A TERRIBLE PAIN IN THE BACK ALSO. I SHALL NEVER FORGET WHAT SIGHING AND GROANING THE FIRST WEEK OF OUR SORRY INITIATION COST MY PARTNERS AND ME".
GOLD FEVER WAS THE URGE TO UP AND LEAVE EVERYTHING IN THE HOPE OF STRIKING GOLD. THIS FEVER SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE, FUELLED BY EXAGGERATED STORIES THAT MADE THEIR WAY BACK TO SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE. SOON SHIPS LAY IDLE IN THE DOCKS. THE SHORTAGE OF LABOUR IN THE CITIES WAS AT A CRISIS. WAGES HAD TO INCREASE TO ATTRACT PEOPLE TO STAY BEHIND AND WORK. IT WAS NOT ONLY THE UNSKILLLED THAT LEFT, TEACHERS, POLICE, BUSINESS MEN AND SHOPOWNERS FOUND THEIR WAYS TO THE GOLD FIELDS. THE CRISIS ALSO SPREAD TO THE RURAL AREAS, FARMERS LEFT THEIR FARMS, FARM HANDS COULD NAME ANY WAGE THEY WANTED IN RETURN FOR THEIR STAYING BEHIND TO TEND TO LAND. SUCH WAS THE CONCERN IN MELBOURNE OF THIS EXODUS TO NSW THAT A GROUP OF BUSINESSMEN OFFERED A REWARD OF TWO HUNDRED GUINEAS TO ANYONE THAT FOUND GOLD IN VICTORIA.AND PLACED THEIR REWARD NOTICE IN THE PORT PHILIP GAZETTE ON JUNE 11, 1851.
BY JULY 1851 THE FIRST REPORTS OF GOLD IN THE CLUNES AND WARRANDYTE AREAS OF VICTORIA WERE SOON FOLLOWED BY EVEN RICHER FINDS IN BUNINYONG, BALLARAT, CASTLEMAINE AND BENDIGO. BY DECEMBER NEARLY 9 MILLION POUNDS OF GOLD HAD BEEN FOUND IN VICTORIA. THIS WAS SURELY A LUCKY RICH COUNTRY. THE NEWSPAPERS DEGREED THAT "WE HAVE GOLD IN ABUNDANCE" , WHOLE TOWNS WERE REPORTED TO BE IN HYSTERICS. IN THE MEANTIME AUSTRALIA'S POPULATION GROW FROM JUST UNDER 500,00 IN 1850 TO WELL OVER 1,168,000 IN THE TEN YEARS OF THE RUSH.
THE GOLDFIELDS WERE DESCRIBED AS A VIOLENT, AND FRIGHTENING SOCIETY. IN THE EARLY DAYS ALCOHOL WAS ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH SLY GROG TENTS. IT WAS ALSO A PLACE FOR CHEATERS, AND THIEVES, SOME GOLD BUYERS WOULD INSIST ON MEASURING THE GOLD IN LITTLE LOTS AND THEN ADD IT UP, HOPING THAT THE SELLER COULDN'T ADD UP, THIS PRACTICE NORMALLY COST THE SELLER AN OUNCE OR TWO OF GOLD. THE POLICE FORCE WERE UNPOPULAR AND NOT TRUSTED AMONGST THE MINERS . MANY OF THE POLICE WERE EX-CONVICTS AND PEOPLE OF DOUBTFUL BACKGROUNDS AND CHARACTERS. SOME OF THE SENIOR OFFICERS WOULD DEMAND MONEY IN RETURN FOR LETTING BUSINESSES RUN IN THE GOLDFIELDS, ONE PARTICULAR SUCH MAN WAS "ARMSTRONG"NICKNAMED "THE MONSTER". WHEN HIS VICIOUS TACTICS COULD NO LONGER BE COVERED UP HE WAS FORCED TO LEAVE THE POLICE FORCE AND ON HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND SAID "; DON'T MIND BEING TURNED OUT, FOR IN THESE TWO YEARS I HAVE CLEARED �15,000". IN TODAYS TERMS NEARLY 3MILLION DOLLARS, ALL OF WHICH WAS OBVIOUSLY FROM CORRUPTION.
THE GOLD LICENSE SYSTEM FIRST PUT INTO PLACE BY NSW AND SOON TAKEN UP BY VICTORIA, WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT POPULAR AMONGST THE MINERS. MOST REALISED THAT SOME SORT OF FEE WAS REASONABLE WITH THE MONEY TO BE USED FOR ROADS TO THE DIGGINGS AND SUPPLY POLICE AND ESCORTS FOR THE GOLD, BUT MOST ALSO BELIEVED THAT THE FEE (OF APPROX 30 SHILLINGS A MONTH FOR ALL PERSONS WHO WISHED TO MINE) WAS TOO MUCH. IT HAD BEEN SET SO HIGH AS A POSSIBLE DISCOURAGEMENT FOR PEOPLE LEAVING PAID EMPLOYMENT TO TRY THEIR LUCK ON THE FIELD.
THE LICENSE HAD TO BE CARRIED AT ALL TIMES AND FAILURE TO DO SO WAS SEVERE. THE METHODS THE POLICE ENFORCED TO CHECK ON MINER'S LICENSES WERE ALSO A BUGBEAR TO THE MINERS, SOMETIMES SEVERAL TIMES A DAY BEING ASKED TO PRODUCE THEIR LICENCES WHILST SEVERAL METRES UNDERGROUND DIGGING AND HAVING TO STOP AND COME TO THE TOP. THIS 30 SHILLINGS HAD TO BE PAID WHETHER YOU HAD FOUND GOLD OR NOT, AND IT WAS ALSO MORE THAN THE SQUATTERS PAID FOR THEIR LAND AND THEY OBVIOUSLY GOT A LOT MORE OF IT.
EUREKA STOCKADE
BY SEPTEMBER, 1854 WHEN GOVERNOR HOTHAM ORDERED AN INCREASE IN LICENSE CHECKS THE MINERS OF BALLARAT FELT MORE DONE BY THAN MOST. IN BALLARAT MOST OF THE MINES WERE IN DEEP SHAFTS AND ALSO THE GOLD YIELDS WERE DOWNS, LESS GOLD FOR MORE WORK. IN OCTOBER 1854 A MINER BY THE NAME OF JAMES SCOBIE WAS FOUND MURDERED OUTSIDE OF BENTLEY'S HOTEL. POLICE
ARRESTED BENTLEY FOR THE MURDER AND MOST BELIEVED HE WAS GUILTY SO IT WAS MET WITH OUTRAGE WHEN THE POLICE LET BENTLEY GO. IN RETALIATION THE MINER'S BURNT DOWN THE HOTEL, 3 OF THE MINERS WERE ARRESTED. IN 1854 THE MINER'S FORMED THE "BALLARAT REFORM LEAGUE". CENTRAL TO THEIR DEMANDS WAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE AND THE UNLOCKING OF LANDS HELD BY SQUATTERS. HOTHAM'S REPLY WAS TO INCREASE THE TROOPS IN THE BALLARAT GOLDFIELDS. IN PROTEST ON NOVEMBER 29TH THOUSANDS OF MINERS BURNT THEIR LICENSES, AND ON THE FOLLOWING DAY AT BAKERY HILL THE MINERS UNITED TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER. THEY RAISED THEIR OWN FLAG, THE SOUTHERN CROSS AND BUILT A STOCKADE IN READINESS FOR THE TROOPERS. BY LATE SATURDAY 2ND DECEMBER ONLY 150 MINERS WERE LEFT AT THE STOCKADE, THE OTHER BELIEVING THAT THE TROOPS WOULD NEVER ATTACK ON THE SABBATH HAD LEFT TO SPEND THE DAY WITH THEIR FAMILIES. AT DAWN ON SUNDAY 3RD DECEMBER THE TROOPERS STUCK. THE BATTLE LASTED FOR ONLY 30 MINUTES FIVE SOLDIERS AND THIRTY MINERS LOST THEIR LIVES THAT DAY, THIRTEEN MINERS INCLUDING PETER LALOR, THE LEADER OF THE MINER REBELLION WERE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH TREASON.SOON THE GOVERNMENT RELENTED AND PUT INTO PLACE SOME SIGNIFICANT CHANGES. THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT THE ABOLITION OF THE MINER'S LICENSE, WHICH HAD AT FIRST ONLY EVER BEEN SET UP AS A TEMPORY MEASURE. IN IT'S
PLACE WAS THE "MINER'S RIGHT" INCLUDED WITH THIS RIGHT WAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE. THE COST WAS ALTERED ALSO, DOWN FROM 30 SHILLINGS A MONTH TO �1.00 PER YEAR, THE MINERS GOT THEIR OWN LOCAL AND ELECTED COURTS TO ADMINISTER JUSTICE AND NEARLY 1/3 OF THE POLICE FORCE WORKING ON THE FIELDS WAS SACKED. ALL THIRTEEN MINERS ARRESTED ON TREASON CHARGES WERE AQUITTED, PETER LALOR THE LEADER OF THE MINERS WENT ON THE BECOME A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.
THE REAL GOLD RUSH ONLY LASTED FOR 10 YEARS UNTIL 1861 ALTHOUGH PEOPLE STILL MINED FOR GOLD UP UNTIL THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY. ONLY ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO WHILST VISITING CLUNES WITH MY PARENTS WE CAME ACROSS AN OLD MAN AND HIS SON STILL SEARCHING FOR GOLD.
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