 Section 6 of a Ladies' Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A Ladies' Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia by Ellen Stacey. Section 6, The Diggings. Over the history of the discovery of gold in Australia, I believe few are ignorant. It is therefore necessary that my recapitulation of it should be as brief as possible. The first supposed discovery took place some 60 years ago at Port Jackson. A convict made known to Governor Philip that existence saw on a riferous region near Sydney. And on the locality being examined, particles of real gold dust were found. Everyone was astonished and several other spots were tried without success. Suspicion was now excited and the affair underwent a thorough examination, which elicited the following facts. The convict, in the hope of obtaining his partner's reward, had filed a guinea and some brass buttons, which, traditionally mixed, made a tolerable pile of gold dust. And this he carefully distributed over a small tract of sandy land. In lieu of the expected freedom, his ingenuity was rewarded with close confinement and other punishments. Thus ended the first idea of a gold field in those colonies. In 1841, the Reverend H. W. B. Clark expressed his belief in the existence of gold in the valley of the Macquarie. And this opinion was greatly confirmed by the observations of European geologists on the Euralian Mountains. In 1849, an indisputable testimony was added to this opinion by Mr. Smith, who was then engaged in some ironworks near Berrima, and who brought a splendid specimen of gold in quartz to the colonial secretary. The C. A. Fitzroy influenced little sympathy with the discovery, and in a dispatch to Lord Gray upon the subject, expressed his opinion that any investigation that the government might institute with a view to ever ascertaining whether gold did in reality exist to any extent or value in that part of the colony, where it was supposed, from its geologic formation that metal would be found, would only tend to agitate the public mind, etc. Suddenly in 1851, at the time that the approaching opening of the Crystal Palace was the principal subject of attention in England, the colonies of Australia were in a state of far greater excitement, as the news spread like wildfire far and wide that gold was really there. To Edward Hammond Hargraves be given the honour of this discovery. This gentleman was an old Australian settler, just returned from a trip to California, where he had been struck by the similarity of the geological formation of the Mount of Rangers in his adopted country to that of the Sacramento District. On his return he immediately searched for the precious metal, other the Turin and Bathurst will repaid his labour. Thus commenced the gold diggings of New South Wales. The good people of Victoria were rather jealous of the importance given by these events to the other colony. Committees were formed and rewards were offered for the discovery of a goldfield in Victoria. The announcement of the Clunes diggings in July 1851 was the result. They were situated on a tributary of the Lodden. On September 8, those of Balleret and on the 10th those of Mount Alexander completely satisfied the most sceptical as to the vast mineral wealth of the colony. Bendigo soon was heard of, and gully after gully successively attracted the attention of the public by the display of their golden treasures. The names given to these gullies open a curious field of speculation. Many have a sort of digger's tradition respecting their first discovery. The riches of peg-legged gully were bought to light through the surfacing of three men with wooden legs who were unable to sink a hole in the regular way. Golden gully was discovered by a man who, whilst lounging on the ground and idly pulling up the roots of grass within his reach, found beneath one a nest of golden nuggets. Eaglehawk derives its name from the numbers of eaglehawks seen in the gully before the sounds of the pick and shovel drove them away. Merger was flat and chocom gully to their own tale. The Irish clanned together in Tipperary gully. A party of South Australians gave the name of their chief town to Adelaide gully. The ironbark is so cool from the magnificent trees which are bound there. Long, pick and inny and dusty gully need no explanation. The Jim Crow ranges are appropriately called, for it is only by keeping up a sort of Jim Crow dancing movement that one can travel about there. It is the roughest piece of country at the diggings. Whitehorse gully obtained its name from a whitehorse whose hooves, whilst the animal in a rage was plunging here and there, flung up the surface grounds and disclosed the treasures beneath. In this gully was found the famous John Bull nugget, late digs exhibited in London. The party to whom it belonged consisted of three poor sailors. The one who actually discovered it had only been a fortnight at the diggings. The nugget weighed 45 pounds and was only a few inches beneath the surface. It was sold for 5,000 pounds. A good morning's work that. Let us take a stroll around Forest Creek. What a novel scene! Thousands of human beings engaged in digging, wheeling, carrying and washing, intermingled with no little grumbling, scolding and swearing. We approach first the old post office square. Next our eye glances down Adelaide gully are over the Montgomery and White Hills. All pretty well dug up. Now we pass the private escort station and Little Bendigo. At the junction of Forests Barker and Campbell Creek we find the commissioners quarters. This is nearly five miles from our starting point. We must now return to Adelaide gully and keep alongside Adelaide Creek till we come to a high range of rocks which we cross and then find ourselves near the headwaters of Friars Creek. Following that stream towards the London we pass the interesting neighborhood of Golden gully, Moonlight Flat, Windless and Red Hill. This latter which covers about two acres of ground is so called from the colour of the soil. It was the first bound and is still considered as the richest oriferous spot near Mount Alexander. In the wet season it was reckoned that on Moonlight Flat one man was daily buried alive from the earth falling into his hole. Proceeding north-east in the direction of Campbell's Creek we again reach the commissioners tent. The principal gullies about Bendigo were Sailors, Napoleon, Pennyweight, Pegleg, Growlers, White Horse, Eagle Hawk, Californian, American, Derwent, Long, Peck and Innie, Iron Bark, Blackmans, Poormans, Dusty, Jim Crow, Spring and Golden. Also Sydney Flat and Specimen Hill, Hariton Gully and The Sheepwash. Most of these places are well ransacked and tunneled, but thorough good wages may always be procured by tindish washing in deserted holes or surface washing. It is not only the diggers however who make money at the gold fields. Carters, carpenters, stormen, wheelwrights, butchers, shoemakers, etc. usually in the long run make a fortune quicker than the diggers themselves. Certainly with less hard work or risk of life. They can always get from one to two pounds a day without rations, whereas they may dig for weeks and get nothing. Living is not more expensive than embellishment. Meat is generally from fourpence to sixpence a pound. Flower about one and six a pound. This is the most expensive article in housekeeping there, but I must be dispensed with as that is seldom less than four shillings a pound and only successful diggers can indulge in such articles as cheese, pickles, ham, sardine, pickled salmon or spirits. As all these things though easily procured if you have gold to throw away are expensive. The last named article, diluted with water or something less innocuous is only to be obtained for 30 shillings a bottle. The stores which are distinguished by a flag are numerous and well stopped. A new style of lodging and boarding house is in great folk. It is a tent fitted up with stringy bark couches ranged down each side the tent, leaving a narrow passage up the middle. The loungers are supplied with mutton, damper and tea three times a day for the charge of five shillings a meal and five shillings for the bed. This is by the week. A casual guest must pay double. And as 18 inches is on the average considered ample with the sleeping, a tent 24 foot long will bring in a good return to the owner. The stores at the digging are large tents, generally square or oblong, and everything required by a digger can be obtained for money. From sugar candy to potted anchovies, from East India pickles to basses pale ale, from ankle jank boots to a pair of stares, from a baby's cap to a cradle, at every apparatus for mining, from a pick to a needle. But the confusion, the din, the medley, what a scene for a shop walker. He lies a pair of herrings dripping into a bag of sugar or a box of raisins. There a gay looking bundle of ribbons beneath two tumblers and a half finished bottle of ale. Cheese and butter, bread and yellow soap, pork and currants, saddles and frogs, wider wakes and blue surged skirts, green veils and shovels, baby linen and tallow candles are all heaped indiscriminately together. Added to which there are children bawling, men swearing, storekeeper sulky, and last, not least, women's tongues going 19 to the dozen. Most of the storekeepers are purchasers of gold, either for cash or in exchange for goods, and many of the tricks from which unsuspecting diggers suffer. One great and outrageous trick is to weigh the parcels separately or divide the whole on the excuse that the weight would be too much for the scales. And then on adding up to grains and penny weights, the sellers often lose at least half an ounce. On one occasion, out of seven pounds weight, a party once lost an ounce and three-quarters in this matter. There was also the old method of false beams, one in favour of the purchaser, and here, unless the seller weighs been both pans, he loses considerably. Another mode of cheating is to have glass pans resting on a piece of green base. Under this base and beneath the pan which holds the weights is a wetted sponge, which causes that pan to adhere to the base, and consequently it requires more gold to make it level. This, coupled with the false reckoning, is ruinous to the digger. In town the Jews have a system of robbing a great deal from the sellers before they purchase the gold dust, for in these instances it must be dust. It is thrown into a zinc pan with slightly raised sides, which are well rubbed over with grease. And under the plea of a careful examination, the purchaser shakes and rubs the dust and a considerable quantity adheres to the sides. A common practice still is for the examiners of gold dust to cultivate long fingernails and in drawing the fingers about it, gather some up. Cygrog selling is the bane of the diggings. Many, perhaps nine-tenths of the diggers, are honest, industrious men. Desirous of getting a little there has a stepping stone to independence elsewhere. But the other tenth is composed of outcasts and transports. The refuse of Van Diemer's land. Men of the most depraved and abandoned characters who have sought and gained the lowest abyss of crime and who, with a short time ago, have expiated their crimes on a scaffold. They generally work or rob for a space and, when well stocked with gold, retire to Melbourne for a month or so, living in drunkenness and debauchery. If, however, their holiday is spent at the diggings, the Cygrog shop is the last scene of their boisterous career. Spirit selling is strictly prohibited and although government will license a respectable public house on the road, it is resolutely refused on the diggings. The result has been the opposite of that which it was intended to produce. There is more drinking and writing at the digging than elsewhere. The privacy and risk gives the obtaining at an excitement which the diggers enjoy as much as the spirit itself. And wherever Grog is sold on the sly, it will sooner or later be the scene of a riot or perhaps a murder. Intemperance is succeeded by quarrelling and fighting The neighbouring tents report to the police and the offenders are lodged in the lock-up while the Grog tents, spirits, wine, etc. are seized and taken to the commissioners. Some of the stores, however, manage to evade the law quite cleverly as spirits are not sold. My friend pays a shilling more for his fig or tobacco and his wife an extra sixpence for her sewage and they smile at the snowman who in return smiles knowingly at them and then glasses are bought out and a bottle produced which sends forth not a fragrant perfume on the sultry air. It is no joke to get ill at the diggings doctors make you pay for it. There these are for a consultation at the road tent ten shillings for a visit out from one to ten pounds according to time and distance. Many are regular quacks and these seem to flourish best. The principal illnesses are weakness of sight from the hot winds and sandy soil and dysentery which is often caused by the badly cooked food, bad water and water vegetables. The interior of the canvas habitation of the digger is desolate enough. A box on a block of wood forms a table and this is the only furniture. Many dispense with that. The bedding which is laid on the ground serves to sit upon. Diogenes in his tub would not have looked more comfortless than anyone else. Tin plates and panicons the same as are used for camping up compose the breakfast dinner and tea servers which meals usually consist of the same dishes. Mutton, damper and tea. In some tents the soft influence of our sex is pleasingly apparent. The tins are as bright as silver there are sheets as well as blankets on the bed and perhaps a clean counterpane with the addition of a dry sack or piece of carpet on the ground whilst the pet cockatoo chained to a purge makes noise enough to keep the missus from feeling lonely when the good man is at work. Sometimes a wife is at first rather a nuisance. Women get scared and frightened then cross and commence a blow-up with their husband. But all their railing generally ends in their quietly settling down to this rough and primitive style of living if not without a murmur at least to all appearance with the determination to laugh and bear it. And although rough in their manners are not over-select in their address the digger seldom willfully injures a woman. In fact a regular van-domenium will, in his way, play the gland with as great a zest as a fashionable abat town at any rate with more sincerity of heart. Sunday is kept at the diggings in a very orderly manner and amongst 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 commissioner's tent and almost within hearing will be a tabirata expanding the orange of evil whilst a mill, a fight with fisticuffs or a dog-fight fills up the background. But night at the diggings is the characteristic time murder here, murder there, revolvers cracking, blunderbusters bombing rifles going off, balls whistling one man groaning with a broken leg another shouting because he couldn't find the way to his hole and a third equally vociferous because he has tumbled into one this man swearing another praying a party of back and els chanting various ditties to different time and tune or rather minus both. Here is one man grumbling because he has brought his wife with him another ditto because he has left his behind or sold her for an ounce of gold or a bottle of rum Donnie Bookfair is not to be compared to an evening at Bendigo. Success at the digging is like drawing lottery tickets the blanks far outnumber the prizes still with good health strength and above all perseverance it is strange if a digger does not in the end reap a reward for his labour meanwhile he must endure almost incredible hardships in the rainy season he must not murmur if compelled to work up to his knees in water and sleep on the weak ground without a fire in the pouring rain and perhaps no shelter above him more waterproof than a blanket or a gun tree and this not for once only but day after day, night after night in the summer he must work hard under a burning sun tortured by the mosquito and the little stinging march fries or feel his eyes smart and his throat grow dry and parched as the hot winds laden with dust pass over him how grateful now would be a draft from some cold sparkling streamlet but instead with what sort of water must he quench his thirst much the same gentle reader as that which runs down the sides of a dirty road on a rainy day and for this a shilling a bucket must be paid hardships such as these are often the daily routine of a digger's life yet strange to say far from depressing the spirits or weakening the frame they appear in most cases to give strength and energy to both this is principally owing to the climate which even in the wet season is mild and salubrious perhaps nothing will speak better for the general order that prevails at the diggings than the small amount of physical force maintained there by the government to keep some thousands of persons of all ages, classes, characters, religious and countries in good humour with the laws and with one another the military force numbers 130 officers and men the police about 300 the government escort is under the control of Mr Wright chief commissioner he consists of about 40 foot and 60 mounted police with the usual complement of inspectors and sergeants their uniform is blue with white facings the headquarters are by the commissioner's tent Forest Creek the private escort uniform is a plain blue frock coat and trousers it is under the superintendence of Mr Wilkinson the headquarters are at Montgomery Hill both these escorts charge 1% for conveying gold for the Victoria digging there is a chief commissioner one acting resident commissioner one assistant commissioner at Ballarat one at Friars Creek five at Forest Creek and six at Bendigo provision is made by the government for the support at the mines of two clergymen of each of the four state paid churches of England, Scotland Rome and Wesley at a salary of 300 pounds a year end of section 6 section 6 of a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia by Alan Clasey section 6 Eagle Hawk gully before commencing an account of our operations at the Eagle Hawk it will be necessary to write a few words in description of our gold digging party there their Christian names will be sufficient distinction and will leave their incognito undisturbed this party as I have said before consisted of five gentlemen including my brother at the latter I shall only say that he was young and energetic more accustomed to use his brains than his fingers yet with the robust frame and muscles well strengthened by the various exercises of boating, cricketing etc. with which our embryo and our organs attempt to prepare themselves for keeping their terms Frank who from being a married man was looked up to as the head of our rather juvenile party was of a quiet and sedate disposition rather given to melancholy for which in truth he had cause his marriage had taken place without the sanction or rather in defiance of the wishes of his parents for his wife was portionless and in a station a few grades as they considered below his own moreover Frank himself was not of age private income independent of his parents he had none a situation as clerk in a merchant's office was his only resource and during three years he had egged out his celery to support a delicate wife whose ill health was a never-failing source of anxiety and expense to infants and himself an unexpected legacy of 500 pounds from a distant relative at last seemed to open a brighter prospect before them and leaving his wife and children with their relatives he quitted England to seek in a distant land a better home than all these exertions could procure for them in their own country I never felt surprised or offended at his silent and preoccupied manner accompanied at times by great depression of spirits for it was an awful responsibility for one so young brought up as he had been in the greatest luxury as the oldest son of a wealthy merchant to have not only himself but others nearest and dearest to maintain by his own exertions William, a tall, slight and rather delicate looking man is the next of our party whom I shall mention his youth had been passed at Christ's hospital this he quitted with the firm conviction in which all these friends of course participated that he had been greatly wronged by not having elected aggression and the rich uncle incited by the before mentioned peace of injustice took him under his care and promised to settle him in the world as soon as a short apprenticeship to business had been gone through a sudden illness put a stop to all these schemes the physicians recommended change of air a warmer climate a trip to Australia William had relatives residing in Melbourne so the journey was quickly decided upon a cabin taken and the invalid rapidly recovering beneath the exhilarating effects of the sea breezes how refreshing are they to the sick how caressingly does the soft sea air fan the wane cheeks of those exhausted with a life past amidst the brick walls with noisy streets of a city and William who at first would have laughed at so ridiculous a supposition erred for four months for age was terminated had gained strength and spirits sufficient to make him determined to undertake a trip to the diggings he was a merry light hearted fellow fonder of a joke than hard work yet ever keeping a sharp eye as the following antidote will prove one day during our stay in Melbourne he came to me and said laughing well I've got rid of one of the bad habits I had on board the which was my reply that old crock coat I used to wear in the cold weather whilst we rounded the cape a fellow down at Lydits admired the cut asked me to sell it I charged him four binnies and walked into town in my shirt sleeves soon colonised I Richard was a gay young fellow of 20 the only son of a rich member of the stock exchange in a fit of spleen because the parental regulations required him always to be at home by midnight he shipped himself off to Australia trusting that so energetic a step would bring the governor to his senses he was music mad and appeared to know every opera by heart and we read us out of all patience with his everlasting humming of seacan low dice non PMS et cetera Octavius was the eighth son of a poor professional man who after giving him a good general fortune sent him with a small capital to try his fortune in the colonies for this he was in every way well fitted being possessed of a strong constitution good common sense and simple inexpensive habits he was only 19 and the youngest of the male portion of our party the day after our arrival at the diggings being Sunday we passed in making ourselves comfortable and devising our future plans we determined to move from our present quarters and pitch our tents higher up in the gully near Montgomery store this we accomplished the first thing on Monday morning and at about a hundred yards from us our four shipmates also fixed them ourselves which added both to our comfort and security a few words at their introduction one of them was a scotchman who wished to make enough capital at the mines to invest in a sheep run and as his countrymen are preferably fortunate in the colonies I think it possible he may sometime hence be an Australian millionaire another of these was an architect who was driven as it were to the diggings because his profession from the scarcity of labour was at the time almost useless in Melbourne the third was or rather had been a house painter and decorator who unfortunately possessed a tolerably fine voice which led him gradually to abandon a good business to perform at concerts too late he found he had dropped the substance for the shadow immigration seemed his only resource so leaving a wife and large family behind he brought his mortified vanity and ruined fortunes to begin the world anew within Australia he was the only one whose means prevented him from taking a share in our venture but to avoid confusion the scotchman subscribed twice the usual sum thus securing double profits the fourth was a gentleman farmer whose sole enemy by his account was free trade and who held the names Cobden and Bright in utter detestation as soon as the tents were pitched all set to work to unpack the grey and after taking out sufficient flour, sugar tea etc for use the remainder of the goods were taken to the nearest store where they were sold at an average of five times their original costs the most profitable portion of the cargo consisted of some gunpowder and percussion caps the day after by good fortune we disposed of the dre and horses for two hundred and fifty pounds being only forty pounds less than we paid for them as the cost of keeping horses at the diggings is very great sometimes two or three pounds a day per head decides the constant risk of their being lost or stolen we were well satisfied with the bargain and never did mind young speculators who five months previous had been utter teenagers accomplished their undertaking to themselves or less disagreement one with another the business settled the next was to procure licences which was a walk of nearly five miles to the commissioners tent Bendigo and wasted the best part of Wednesday meanwhile we were seriously we found it almost impossible to sleep never before could I have imagined that a woman's voice could utter sounds sufficiently discordant to drive repose far from us yet so it was the gentleman christened her the amiable female the tent of this amiable personage was situated at right angles with ours so that the annoyance was equally felt whilst her husband was at work farther down the gully she kept a sort of sly grog shop and passed the day in selling and drinking spirits swearing and smoking a short tobacco pipe at the door of her tent she was a most repulsive looking object a dirty gaudy colored dress hung unfastened about her shoulders coarse black hair unbrushed, uncombed dangled about her face over which her eagle habits had spread a genuine factanelian glow whilst in a loud musculine voice she uttered the most awful words that ever disgraced the mouth of a man ten thousand times more awful when proceeding from a woman's lips that night was the dreadful time then if her husband had been unlucky or herself made few profits during the day it was misery to be within earshot so much so that we decided to leave so uncomfortable a neighbourhood without loss of time and carrying our tents etc higher up the gully we finally pitched them not far from the Portland stores this was done on Thursday and the same evening two different claims were marked out ready to commence working the next day these claims were the usual size 8 feet square Friday 24 early this morning our late travelling companion Joe made his appearance with a sack full of brand he said on his shoulders after a little confidential talk with William he left the sack in our tent as he had no other safe place to stow it away in till the brand was sold this gave rise to no suspicion and in excitement of digging was quite forgotten about noon I contrived to have a damper and a large joint of baked mutton ready for the day labourers as they styled themselves the mutton was baked in a large camp oven suspended from three iron bars which were fixed in the ground in the form of a triangle about a yard apart and were joined together at the top at which part the oven was hung over a wood fire this grand cooking machine was of course outside the tent sometimes I have seen a joint of meat patch fire in one of these ovens and it is difficult to extinguish it before the fat has burned itself away when the meat looks like a cinder our butcher would not let us have less than half a sheep at a time for which we paid eight shillings I was no good a housekeeper enough to know how much it weighed but the meat was very good flour was then a shilling a pound or two hundred pounds weight for nine pounds in money sugar was one shilling sixpence and tea three shilling sixpence fortunately we were well provided with these three later articles the hungry diggers did ample justice to the dinner I had provided for them they brought home a tin dish full of surface soil which in the course the afternoon I attempted to wash tin dish washing is difficult to describe it requires a watchful eye and a skillful hand it is the most mysterious department of the gold digging business the tin dish which of course is round is generally about 18 inches across the top and 12 across the bottom with sloping sides or four inches deep the one I used was rather small into it I placed about half the dirt diggers technical term for earth or soil that they had brought filled the dish up with water and then with a thick stick commence making it into a batter this was the most necessary commencement as the soil was of a very stiff clay I then let this batter I know no name more appropriate for it settle and carefully poured off the water at the top I now added some clean water and repeated the operation of mixing it up and after doing this several times the dirt of course gradually diminishing I was overjoyed to see a few bright specks carefully picked out and with renewed energy continued this by no means elegant work before the party returned to tea I had washed out all the stuff and procured from it nearly two penny weights of gold dust worth about six shillings or seven shillings tin dish washing is generally done beside a stream and it is astonishing the quantity of dirt those who have the knack of doing it well and quickly can knock off in the course of the day to do this however requires great manual dexterity and much gold is lost by careless washing a man once extracted ten pounds weight of the precious metal from a heap of soil which his mate had washed too hurriedly in the evening Joe made his reappearance carrying another sack on his shoulders which contained a number of empty bottles and now for the first time we came initiated into the brand mystery which had often puzzled us on the road it seems so strange a thing to carry up to the diggings Joe laughed at our innocence and denied having told us anything approaching a falsehood a slight suppression of the truth was all he would plead guilty to I verily believe William had put him up to this dodge to make a smile when we should have felt annoyed being taxed with deceit said he I told you two thirds truth there wanted but two more letters to make it brandy and with the greatest sang froid he drew out a small keg from the first sack and half filled the bottles with the spirit after which he filled them all up to the neck with water the bottles were then caught and any or all of them politely offered to us at the rate of 30 shillings a piece we declined purchasing but he sold them all during the evening for which we were rather glad as had they been discovered by the officials in our tent a fine of 50 pounds would have been the consequence of our foolish comrades good nature and joke loving propensities we afterwards found that master Joe had played the same trick with our shipmates and with the two doctors who had bought a tent and settled themselves near our old place by Montgomery store Saturday 25 the two holes were bottomed before noon with no paying result it had been hard work and they were rather low spirited about it the rest of the day they spent in washing some surface soil and all together collected about one ounce and a half of cold dust counting the little I had washed out on the Friday in the evening it was all dried in a spade over a quick fire we had before determined to square accounts and divide the gold every Saturday night but this small quantity was not worth the trouble so it was laid by in the diggers usual treasury a German matchbox these round boxes hold on an average eight ounces of gold these two unproductive holes had not been very deep also for soil for which a spade or shovel is used was of clay this was succeeded by a strata almost as hard as iron technically called burnt stuff which robbed the pick of its points nearly as soon as the blacksmith had steeled them at a charge of two shilling sixpence a point luckily for their arms this strata was about thin and the yellow or blue clay which followed was comparatively easy work here and there an awkward lump of quartz required the use of the pick suddenly they came to some glittering particles of yellow which with heartfelt delight they hailed as gold it was mica many are at first deceived by it but it is soon distinguished by its weight as the mica will blow away with the slightest puff after a little useless digging among the clay they reached the solid rock and thus having fairly bottomed the holes to no purpose they abandoned them Sunday 26 although impossible at the diggings to keep this day with those outward observances which are customary in civilized life we attempted to make as much difference as possible between the day of rest and that of work Frank performed the office of chaplain and read the morning service in the calm and serious manner which we expected from him I was rather amused to see the alacrity with which when this slight service was over they all prepared to assist me in the formation of a huge plum pudding for Sunday's dinner stoning plums and chopping suet seemed to afford them immense pleasure I suppose it was a novelty and contrary to the fact implied in the older age too many cooks spoiled the broth our pudding turned out a one in the afternoon we strolled about and paid a visit to our shipmates I was certainly most agreeably surprised by the quiet and order that everywhere prevailed Monday 27 today our party commenced sinking in a new spot at some little distance the first layer of black soil was removed and on some being washed in a tin dish it was found to contain a tolerable portion of gold and was pronounced to be worth exporting to the tent to be regularly cradle my first official notice of this fact was from Richard who entered the tent humming swana latromba with a bucket full of this heavy soil in each hand he broke off in the middle of his song to ask for some water to drink and grumbled most energetically at such dirty work he then gave me an account of the morning's doings after a thin layer of the black surface soil it appeared they had come to a strata of thick yellow clay in which gold was often very abundant this soil from being so stiff would require puddling a work of which he did not seem to relish the anticipation before the day was over a great number of buckets full of both soils were brought up and deposited in heaps near the tents all with the exception of the operatic Richard seemed in good spirits and were well satisfied with what had been done in so short a time in the evening the other party of our shipmates arrived and were busy fixing their tent at a distance of about 40 yards from us Frank and the other four though pretty tired with the day's labour lent a helping hand the united efforts of nine speedily accomplished this business after which an immense quantity of cold mutton damper and tea made a rapid disappearance almost ending my larder which by the by was an old tea chest we asked our friends their motive for leaving the old spot they declared they could stand the amiable female no longer she grew worse and worse her tongue was sitch observed the Scotchman as when drive only pure beastly wild she had regularly quarrel with the two doctors because they would not give her a written certificate that the state of her health required the constant use of spirits she offered them two guineas for it which they indignantly refused and she then declared her intention of injuring their practice as much as possible which she had power to do as her tent was of an evening quite the centre of attraction and her influence proportionably great pity test that such a woman should be able to mar or make the fortunes of her fellow preachers Tuesday 28 the holes commenced yesterday were duly bottomed but no nice pocket full of gold was the result our shipmates however met with better success having found three small nuggets weighing two to four ounces each at a depth of not quite five feet from the surface Wednesday 29 today was spent in puddling and cradling puddling is on the same principle as tin dish washing only on a much larger scale great wooden tubs are filled with the dirt and fresh water and the former is chopped about in all directions with a spade so as to set the metal free from the adhesive soil and pipe clay sometimes I have seen energetic diggers their trousers off with their boots stepping to the tub and crush it about with their feet in the same manner as tradition affirms that the London bakers need their bread every now and again the dirty water is poured off gently and with a fresh supply which is furnished by a mate with a long handle from the stream or pool you puddle away the great thing is not to be afraid of overwork for the better the puddling is so much the more easy and profitable is the cradling after having been well beaten in the tubs the dirt is put into the hopper of the cradle which is then rocked gently whilst another party keeps up a constant supply of fresh water in the right hand the puddler is held a thick stick ready to break up any clods which may be in the hopper but which a good puddler would not have sent there there was plenty of water nearest for a heavy rain during the night had filled several vacated holes and as there were five pairs of hands we hoped before evening greatly to diminish our mud heaps now for an account of our proceedings two large wooden tubs were firmly secured in the ground and foreset to work puddling whilst Frank busied himself in fixing the cradle he drove two blocks into the ground they were grooved for the rockers of the cradle to rest in so as to let it rock with ease and regularity the ground was lowered so as to give the cradle a wide slant and thus enable the water to run off more quickly if the cradle dips too much a little gold may wash off with the light sand the cradling machine though simple in itself is rather difficult to describe in shape and size it resembles an infant's cradle and over that portion of it where if for a baby is a perforated plate with wooden sides a few inches high or round forming a sort of box with the perforated plate for a bottom this box is called the hopper the dirt is here placed and the constant supply of water after well washing the stuff runs out through a hole made at the foot of the cradle the gold generally rests on a wooden shelf under the hopper though sometimes a good deal will run down with the water and dirt into one of the compartments at the bottom and to separate it from the sand or mud tin dish washing is employed as soon as sufficient earth was ready one began to rock and another to fill the hopper with water Richard continued puddling William enacted Aquarius for him whilst a fifth was fully occupied in conveying fresh dirt to the tubs and taking the puddled stuff from them to the hopper of the cradle every now and then a change of hands was made and thus passed the day in the evening the products were found to be one small nugget weighing a quarter of an ounce and in gold dust many weights ten grains being worth at digging price for gold about 35 shillings this was rather less than we hard less calculated upon and Richard signified his intention of returning to Melbourne he could no longer put up with such un-gentlemanly work in so very un-intellectual a neighbourhood with bad living into the bargain those words which were pronounced Sotto Boss gave us a slight clue to the real cause of his dislike to the diggings though we did not thoroughly understand it till next morning it originated in some bottles of mixed pickles which he had in vain wanted Frank who this week was caterer for the party to purchase at four shillings a bottle on economical thoughts intent Frank refused to expend on any unnecessary article of food this we learnt next morning at breakfast when Richard congratulated himself on that being the last meal he should make of tea damper and mutton without the latter having something to render it eatable the puddling and cradling work had I fancy given the finishing stroke to his disgust poor Dick he met with little commiseration we could not but remember the thousands in the old country who would have rejoiced at the simple fare he's so much despised William in his laughing way observed that he was too great a pickle himself without buying fresh ones Richard left us on Thursday morning and with him went one of the other party the house painter and decorator who also found gold digging not so pleasant as he had expected we afterwards learnt that before reaching Kilmore they separated Richard arrived safely in Melbourne and entered a gold broker's office at a selvi of three pounds a week which situation I believe he now feels and as the governor to use Richard's own expression has not yet come to his senses he must greatly regret having allowed his temper to be the cause of his leaving the comforts of home his companion who parted with Richard at Kilmore was robbed of what little gold he had and otherwise maltreated whilst passing through the black forest on reaching Melbourne he sold everything he possessed and that not being sufficient he borrowed enough to pay his passage back to England where doubtless he will swell the number of those whose lack of success in the colonies and vital operations against them are only echoed by their unfitness ever to have gone there Thursday was past in puddling and cradling with rather better results than on the first day still it was not to our satisfaction and on Friday two pits were sunk one was shallow and the bottom reached without a speck of gold making its appearance the other was left over till the morning this was all together very disheartening work particularly as the expenses of living were not small there were many however much worse off than ourselves here and there a lucky digger excited the envy of all around him many were the tricks resorted to in order to deceive newcomers holes were offered for sale in which the few grains that were carefully placed inside was all that the buyer gained by his purchase a scene of this description was enacted this Friday evening at a little distance from us the principal actors were two in number one sat a little way from his hole with a heap of soil by his side and a large tin dish nearly full of dirt in his hand as he swayed the dish to and fro in the process of washing an immense number of small nuggets displayed themselves which fact in a loud tone he announced to his mate at the same time swearing at him not for keeping at work so late in the evening this digger who was shoveling up more dirt from the hole answered in the same elegant language calling him an idle good for naught every now and then he threw a small nugget to the tin dish washer loudly declaring he'd not leave off while the bright bits were growing thick as taters underground then they did no doubt shouted the other and also the whole of two hundred yellow boys down this created a great sensation among the bystanders who during the time had collected round and among whom was a party of three evidently new chums it shall go for a hundred and fifty again shouted the washer giving a glance in the direction in which they stood for a hundred tin dish as well letting some of the water run off and displaying the gold this decided the matter and one of the three stepped forward and offered the required some money down said the seller these here fellows or witnesses all regular the money was paid in notes and the purchasers were about to commend possession by taking the tin dish out of his hand wait till he's emptied I promise you the dish but not the stuff in it and turning out the dirt into a small cum the two worthy departed carrying the tumbleway with them not a greater gold did the buyers find in the pit next morning Saturday October 2 this day found the four hard at work at an early hour and words will not describe when they hit upon a pocket full of the precious metal the pocket was situated in a dark corner of the hole and William was the one whose posicking knife first brought its hidden beauties to light nugget after nugget did that dirty soil give up by evening they had taken out five pounds weight of gold foolish riches we all regretted his absence at this discovery as the next day was the sabbath 36 hours of suspense must elapse before we could know whether this was but a passing kindness from the fickle goddess or the herald of continued good fortune this night for the first time we were really in dread of an attack though we had kept our success quite secret not even mentioning it to our shipmates nor did we attend to do so until Monday morning when our first business would be to mark out three more claims round the lucky spot and send our gold down to the escort office for security for the present we were obliged to content ourselves with planting it that is bearing it in the ground and not a footstep passed in our neighbourhood without our imagining ourselves robbed of the precious treasure and as it was Saturday night the noises and most riotous at the diggings our panics were neither few nor far between so true it is that Richards entailed trouble and anxiety on their possessor end of section 6 section 7 of a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia after LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org our ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia by Ellen Clacy section 7 an adventure Sunday the third, a fine morning after our usual service Frank, my brother and myself determined on an exploring expedition we went leaving the dinner in charge of the others we left the busy throng of the diggers far behind us and wandered into spots where the sound of the pick and the shovel or the noise of human traffic had never penetrated the scene and the day were in unison all was harmonious majestic and serene those mighty forests hushed in a sombre and awful silence those ranges of heavy hill and down never yet trodden by the foot of man the soft still air so still as it left every leaf unruffled flung an intensity of awe over our feelings and led us from a contemplation of nature to worship nature's god we sat in silence for some while deeply impressed by all around us and while still sitting and gazing there a change almost imperceptibly came over the face of earth and sky the forests swayed to and fro a sighing moaning sound was born upon the wind and the noises of the rush of waters dark massive clouds rolled over the sky till the bright blue heavens were completely hidden and then air we had recovered from our first alarm and bewilderment the storm in its unmitigated fury burst upon us the rain fell in torrents and we knew not where to turn taking me between them they succeeded in reaching an immense shiok under which we hoped to find some shelter till the violence of the rain had diminished nor were we disappointed that it was long before we could ventures or leave our place of refuge at length however we did so and endeavoured to find our way back to Eagle Hawk gully hopeless task the ground was so slippery it was as much as we could do to walk without falling the mud and dirt clung to our boots and the heavy rain beat against our faces and nearly blinded us it is clearing up to windward observed Frank another half hour and the rain will be all but over let us return to our tree again we did so Frank was correct in less than a time he had specified a slight drizzling rain was all the storm that remained with much less difficulty we again attempted to return home but before very long we made the startling discovery that we had completely lost our way and to add to our misfortune the small pocket compass which Frank had bought with him and which would have now so greatly assisted us was missing most probably dropped from his pocket to get under shelter we still wandered along till stopped by the shades of evening which came upon us there is little or no toilet in Australia we seated ourselves upon the trunk of a fallen tree wet, hungry and worst of all ignorant of where we were shivering with cold and our wet garments hanging most uncomfortably around us we endeavored to console one another by reflecting that the next morning we could not fail to reach our tents the rain had entirely ceased and providentially for us the night was pitch dark I say providentially because after having remained for two hours in this wretched plight a small light in the distance became suddenly visible to us all so distant that but for the intensity of the darkness passed unnoticed thank God simultaneously burst from our lips let us hasten there cried Frank a whole night like this may be your sister's death and would ruin the constitution of a giant to this we gladly acceded and were greatly encouraged by perceiving that the light remained stationary but it was a perilous undertaking luckily my brother had managed to get hold of a long stick with which he sounded the way for either large stones or water holes would have been awkward customers in the dark wonderful to relate we escaped both and when with inhaling distance of the light which we perceived came from a torch held by someone we shouted with all our remaining strength but without diminishing exertions to reach it soon with feelings that only those who have encountered similar dangers can understand answering voices fell upon our ears eagerly we pressed forward and in the excitement of the moment we relinquished all hold of one another and attempted to wade through the mud singly stop hold quite more than one sanatorium voice but the warning came too late my feet slipped a sharp pain succeeded by a sudden chill a feeling of suffocation of my head being ready to burst and I remembered no more when I had recovered consciousness it was late in the morning for the bright sun shone upon the ground through the crevices of a sailcloth tent and so different was all that met my eyes to the dismal scene through which I had lay so lately past and which yet haunted my memory that I felt some sweet feeling of relief which we experienced when waking from some horrid vision we become convinced how unsubstantial are its terrors and are ready to smile at the pain they excited that I was in a strange place became evident and among the distant hammer voices which ever in the non broke the silence not one familiar tone could I recognise I endeavoured to raise myself so as to hear more distinctly and then it was that an acute pain in the ankle of the right foot gave me pretty strong evidence as to the reality of last night's adventures I was forced to lie down again but not before I had aspired a hand bell which lay within reach on a small barrel near my bed determined as far as possible to fathom the mystery I rang a loud peal with it not doubting but what it would bring my brother to me my surprise and delight may be easier imagined than described when as though in obedience to my summons I saw a small white hand push aside the canvas at one corner of the tent and one of my own sex entered she was young and fair a step was soft and her voice almost musically gentle her eyes were a deep blue and a rich brown was the colour of her hair which she wore in very short curls all around her head and parted on one side which almost gave her the appearance of a pretty boy these little particulars I noticed afterwards at that time I only felt that her gentle voice and kind friendliness of manner inexpressibly soothed me after having bathed my ankle which I found to be badly sprained and cut she related as far as she was acquainted with them the events of the previous evening I learnt that these tents belonged to a party from England of one of whom she was the wife then the tent in which I lay was her apartment they had not been long at the digging and preferred the spot where they were to the more frequented parts the storm of yesterday had passed over them without doing much damage and as their tents were well painted over the tops they managed to keep themselves tolerably dry but later in the evening owing to the softness of the ground one of the side posts partly gave way which aroused them all and torches were lit and busyed in trying to prop it up till morning while thus engaged they heard our voices calling for help they answered at the same time getting ready some more torches before advancing to metres as they were several pit holes between us and them their call for us to remain stationary came too late to save me from slipping into one of their pits thereby spraining my ankle and otherwise hurting myself being buried to my forehead in mud and water the pit was not quite five feet deep but unfortunately for myself in this incident I belonged to the pocket edition of the Feminine Sex they soon extricated me from this perilous situation and carried me to their tents where by the assistance of my new friend I was divested of the mud that still clung to me and placed in the bed before morning the storm which we had all thought had passed over burst forth with redoubled fury the flashes of lightning were succeeded by loud peels of thunder and the rain came splashing down their tents were situated in a slight rise or they would have run great risk of being washed away every hole was filled with water and the she-oak of whose friendly shelter we have availed ourselves the evening before was struck by lightning after a while the storm abated and the warm sun and a drying wind were quickly removing all traces of it Frank and my brother after an early breakfast had set off for Eagle Hawk gully under the guidance of my fair friend's husband who knew the road vivid very well it was only three miles distant he was to bring back with him a change of clothing for me as his wife had persuaded my brother to leave me in her charge until I had quite recovered from the effects of the accident which he more readily promised she observed as we are not quite strangers having met once before this awakened my curiosity and I would not rest satisfied until fully acquainted with the hail when and where subsequently she related to me some portion of the history of her life which it will be no breach of confidence to repeat here short as it is however it is deserving of another chapter end of section 7 section 8 of a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information auto volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia by Alan Clasey section 8 Harriet Walters Harriet Walters had been a wife at 12 months when the sudden failure of the house in which her husband was the junior partner involved them in irretrievable ruin and threw them almost penniless upon the world at this time the commercial advantages of Australia the opening it afforded for all classes of men and above all its immense mineral wealth were the subject of universal attention Mr Walters his friend advised him to emigrate and the small sum saved from the wreck of their fortune served to deprive the expenses of the journey Harriet sorely against her wishes remained behind with an old maiden aunt until her husband could obtain a home for her in the colonies the day of parting arrived the ship which bore him away disappeared from her sight and almost heart broken she returned to the humble residence of her soul remaining relative her she had recovered from the shock occasioned by her husband's departure her age this relation died from a sudden attack of illness and Harriet was left alone to struggle with her property and her grief the whole of her aunt's income had been derived from annuity which of course died with her and her personal property when sold realised not much more than sufficient to pay a few debts and the funeral expenses and duties were performed Harriet found herself with the few pounds in her pocket homeless, friendless and alone her thoughts turned to the distant land her husband's home and every hope was centred in the one intense desire to join him there the means were wanting she had none from whom she could solicit assistance her determination did not fail she advertised for a situation as companion to an invalid or nurse to young children during the voyage to Port Phillip provided her passage money was paid by her employer this she soon obtained the ship was a fast sailor the winds were favourable and by a strange chance she arrived in Melbourne three weeks before her husband this time was a great trial to her alone and unprotected in that strange rough city without money without friends she felt truly wretched it was not a place for a female to be without a protector and she knew it yet protector she had none even the family with whom she had come out had gone many miles up the country she possessed little money lodgings and food were at an awful price an employment for a female except of a rough sort was not easily procured in this dilemma she took the singular notion into her head of disguising her sex and thereby avoiding much of the insult and annoyance to which an unprotected female would have been liable being of a slight figure and taking the usual colonial costume lose trousers a full blue-seared shirt fasten round the waist by a leather belt and a wide awake Harriet passed very well for what she assumed to be a young lad just arrived from England she immediately obtained a light situation near the war where for about three weeks she worked hard enough at a salary of a pound a week bored and permissioned to sleep in an old tumble-down shed beside the store at last the long look for vessel arrived that must have been a moment of intense happiness which restored her to her husband's arms for him not unmingled with surprise he could not at first recognize her in a new garb she would hear of no further separation and when she learned he had joined a party for Bendigo diggings she positively refused to remain in Melbourne and she retained her boy's stress until their arrival at Bendigo the party her husband belonged to had two tents one of which they readily gave up to the married couple as they were only too glad to have the company an indoor assistance of a sensible, active woman during their spell at the diggings for the sake of the economy during the time that elapsed before they could commence their journey up all of them lived in the tents which they pitched on a small rise on the south side of the era here it was that our acquaintance first took place doubtless my readers will long ear this have recognized in the hospital ball gentlemen I encountered there my friend's husband and in the delicate looking youth who had so attracted my attention the fair Harriet herself but revenants are no mutants on the third day of my visit I was pronounced convalescent and that evening my brother and William came to conduct me back to Eagle Hawk gully it was with no little regret that I bade farewell to my new friend and I must confess that the pleasure of her society had for the time made me quite careless as to the quantity of gold our party might be taking up during my absence whilst walking towards our tents I heard the full particulars of their work which I sub joined so as to resume the thread of my digging narrative in a proper manner Monday much upset by their anxiety occasioned by the non appearance the previous evening of Frank my brother and myself the two former did not reach home till nearly noon the roads were so heavy after dinner all set to work in better spirits came to the end of the gold took out nearly four pounds weight Tuesday and Wednesday digging various holes in the vicinity of the lucky spot but without success the other party did the same with no better result such were the tidings that I heard after my three days absence Thursday today were spent in prospecting that is searching for a spot whose geological formation gives some promise of the precious metal in the evening William and Octavius returned with the news that they had found a place at some distance from the gully which they thought would prove as they had washed some of the surface soil which yielded well it was arranged that the party be divided into two and take alternate days to dig there Friday in persuance of the foregoing plan William and Octavius set off carrying a good quantity of dinner and their tools along with them they worked hard enough during the day but only brought back three penny weights of gold dust with them my brother and Frank gained a deal more by surface washing at home Saturday changed hands Frank and my brother to the new spot digging Octavius and William surface washing their results were much the same as the day before Sunday October 10 we took advantage of the fine weather to pay a visit to Harriet and her party we found them in excellent spirits for at last they had hit upon a rich bone which had for three days been yielding an average of four pounds weight a day and was not yet exhausted I say at last for I have not before mentioned that they had never obtained more than an ounce of gold all together up to the day I left them we were sincerely pleased with their good fortune Harriet hoped that soon they might be able to leave this wild sort of life and purchase a small farm and once again have a home of their own this could not be done near meant to go to South Australia where any quantity of land may be bought in this colony no smaller quantity than a square mile 640 acres is sold by the government in one lot consequently those whose capital is unequal to purchase this go to some other colony and there invest the wealth they have acquired in Victoria as we had some idea of leaving Eagle Hawk Gully I bade Harriet farewell we never expected to meet again a chance otherwise but I must not anticipate Monday and Tuesday were most unprofitable past indigging holes and on Tuesday night we determined to leave the Eagle Hawk soon in some of the neighbouring gullies Wednesday was a bustling day we sold our tent tools, cradle etc as we knew plenty were always to be bought of those who, like ourselves were changing their place had we known what we were about we should never have burdened ourselves by bringing so many goods and chattels or more up the country but experienced teachers having parted with all encumbrances myself accepted we started for the Iron Bark Gully all the gold had been transmitted by the escort to Melbourne and one fine nugget weighing nearly 5 ounces had been sent to Richard we could not resist the pleasure of presenting him with it although by our rules not entitled to any of the proceeds the following are the rules by which our affairs were regulated they were drawn up before leaving Melbourne and signed by all they were crude and imperfect they were sufficient to preserve complete harmony and good fellowship between five young men of different character taste and education a harmony and good fellowship which even Richard's withdrawal did not interrupt the rules were these one no one party to be ruler but every week by turn one to buy sell take charge of gold and transact all business matters two the gold to be divided and accounts settled every Saturday night three anyone voluntarily leaving the party to have one third of his original share in the expense of purchasing tent and tools returned to him but to have no further claim upon them or upon the gold that may be found after his withdrawal anyone dismissed the party for misconduct to forfeit all claim upon the joint property four the party agree to stand by one another in all danger difficulty or illness five swearing gambling and drinking spirits to be strictly avoided six morning service to be read every Sunday morning seven or appeals from the foregoing rules to be settled by a majority end of section eight section nine of a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a ladies visit to the gold diggings of Australia by Ellen Casey section nine I have said little in description of the Eagle Hawk for all gullies or valleys at the diggings be a strong external resemblance one to another this one differed from others only in being much longer and wider the sides as usual in the case in the richest gullies were not precipitous but very grangeable a few mountains closed the background the digging was in many places very shallow and the soil was sometimes of a clay description sometimes very gravelly with slate bottom sometimes gravelly with pipe clay bottom sometimes quite sandy in fact the earth was of all sorts in depth at one time there were 8,000 diggers together in Eagle Hawk gully this was some months before we visited it during the period of our stay at Bendigo there were not more than a thousand and few were still in the iron bark the reasons for this apparent desertion were several the weather continued with an uncertain some of that many who had gone down to Melbourne remained there not yet considering the ground sufficiently recovered from the effects of the prolonged wet season they had no desire to run the risk of being buried alive in their holes many had gone to the Adelaide diggings of which further particulars hereafter and many more had gone across the country to the ovens or further still to the Sydney diggings themselves according to digging parlance the Turan was looking up and Bendigo, Mount Alexander and Forest Creek were thinned accordingly but perhaps the real cause of their desertion rose from the altered state of the diggings since one party netted 900 pounds in three weeks 100 pounds in a week was thought nothing wonderful four men found one day 75 pounds weight another party took from the foot of a tree gold to the value of 2000 pounds a friend of mine once met a man whom he knew returning to Melbourne walking in dusty ranks and dirt behind a drain yet carrying with him 1600 pounds worth of gold in Penguin gully 50 and even 80 pounds weight had been taken from holes only three or four feet deep at Forest Creek a hole produced 60 pounds weight in one day and 40 more the day after from one of the golden gullies a party took up the incredible quantity of 198 pounds weight in six weeks these are but two or three instances out of the many that occurred to prove the richness of this truly or if for a spot the consequence may be easily imagined thousands fucked to bend ago the lucky hits were still as numerous but being disseminated amongst a greater number of diggers it followed that there were many more blanks than prizes and the disappointed multitude were ready to be off for the first new discovery small gains were beneath their notice I have often heard the miners say that they would rather spend their last balding digging 50 holes even if they found nothing in them than to timely earn an ounce a day by washing the surface soil on the same principle I suppose that a gambler would throw up a small but certain income to be earned by his own industry for the uncertain profits of the poor dies for a self we had nothing to complain about during the short space of time that we had been at Eagle Hawk gully we had done as well as one in 50 and might therefore be classed among the lucky diggers but the more people have the more they want and although the many pounds weight of the precious metal that our party had taken up gave when divided a good round summer peace the avaricious creatures bore the want of success that followed more unphilosophically than they had done before the rich pocket full of gold had made its appearance they were dignified shallow holes and a sort of gambling manner of setting to work replaced the active perseverance they had at first displayed some days before we left Eagle Hawk gully had been condemned as a worthless place and a change decided on the when and where were fixed much in the following manner I say mates, observed William on the evening of the Sunday on which I had paid my last visit to Harriet I say mates, nice picking a man got last week in the iron bag only 20 pounds weight out of one hole at all think it's true said Octavius quietly course, likely enough I propose we pack up our traps and honour this said gully with our presence forthwith let's inquire first put in Frank, it's foolish to change good quarters on such slight grounds good quarters, slight grounds cried William, what next, what would you have good quarters yes as far as digging is concerned whether you find anything for your digging is another matter slight grounds, slight grounds indeed 20 pounds weight in one day yes, we ought to inquire, you're right there old boy and the proper place to commence our inquiries is at the gully itself let's be off tomorrow wait two days longer said Octavius and I am agreeable and this after a little chafing between the impatient William and his more business like comrades were satisfactorily arranged behold us then on Wednesday the 13th after having sold all our goods to the double making her way to the iron bug gully William enacted the part of auctioneer which he did in a manner most satisfactory to himself and amusing to his audience but the things sold very badly so many were doing the same the tents fetched only a few shillings each and the truels, cradles etc en masse were knocked down for half a sovereign the morning was rather cloudy which made our pedestrians mode of travelling not so fatiguing as it might have been had the sun in true colonial strength been shining upon us this was very fortunately not the case for we more than once mistook our way and made a long walk out of a short one quite a work of super irrigation for the roads were heavy and tiring enough without adding an extra quantity of them we passed in the close neighbourhood of sailors californian-american-long and pecaninny gullies before reaching our destination most of these gullies are considered ransacked but a very fair amount of gold dust may be obtained in either by the newcomer by tindish fosicking and deserted holes these deserted gullies as they are called contained in each no trifling population and looked full enough and comfortable working what they must have resembled the summer previous when some hundreds of people leaving a fatter gully was but as a handful of sand from the sea shore before evening we arrived at the iron bark this gully takes its name from the splendid trees with which it abounds and their immense height their fluted trunks and massive branches gave them a most majestic appearance and was beneath one in a more secluded part and then determined to fix their quarters for the night the heavy swags were flung upon the ground and the construction of something resembling a tent gave them plenty to do the tomahawks which they carried in their belts were put into immediate requisition and some branches of the trees were soon formed into rough tent poles the tent however though perhaps as good could be expected was nothing very wonderful after all being made only of some of the blankets which our party had bought in their swags beneath it I reposed very comfortably and thanks to my fatiguing walks let the soundy as I could possibly have done beneath the roof of a palace the four gentlemen wrapped themselves in their blankets and laid down to rest upon the ground beside the fire their only shelter was the foliage of the friendly tree which spread its branches high above our heads next morning William was for settling ourself in the gully he wanted tents, tools etc. purchased but by dint of much talking and reasoning we persuaded him first to look well about and judge from their success of others whether we were likely to do any good by stopping them we soon heard the history of the 20 pound weight store as Frank and Octavius had once surmised it originated in a party who were desirous to sell their claims and baggage before starting from Melbourne I believe they succeeded there are always plenty of new chums to be caught and taken in and reported cause a slight rush of diggers old and new to the gully many of these diggers had again departed others stayed to give the place a trial we were not among the latter the statements of those who were still working with anything but satisfactory and we were all inclined to push on to Forrest Creek meanwhile it is Thursday afternoon all but Frank appeared disposed for a siesta he alone seems determined on a walk I offer myself and have accepted his companion and off we go together to explore this neural locality we proceeded up the gully deserted holes there were in numbers many a great depth and must have cost a vast amount of manual labour in some places the diggers were hard at work and the blows of the pick, the splash of water and the rocking of the cradle made the digging seem themselves again there were several women about who appeared to take as active an interest in the work as their better halves they seemed cradling with an infant in their arms a man in an account proceeded us up the gully every now and then he shouted out in a stentorian voice that made the welcome ring and the burden of his cry was this ears, haples, haples, van doemen haples and them that dislikes the highland, needn't hurt him the admirers of the Fertile Island must have been very numerous for his customers soon made his pippins disappear we passed a butcher shop or rather tent which formed a curious spectacle the animals cut in halves or quarters were hung about no small joints there half a sheep or none hence feet and skins were lying about for any to have for the trouble of picking up and a quantity of goods of all swords and sizes gridiron, swordsman, cradle teachers were lying scattered around in all directions ticketed for sale we quickly went on for it was not a particularly pleasant sight and at some distance perceived a quite little nook rather out of the road in which there was one solitary tent we hastened our steps and advanced nearer when we perceived that the tent was made of a large blanket suspended over a rope which was tied from one tree to another the blanket was fastened into the ground by large wooden pegs near to the opening of the tent upon a piece of rock sat a little girl of about ten years old by her side was a quantity of the coarse green gauze of which the digger's veils are made she was working at this so industriously and her little head was bent so fixedly over her fingers that she did not notice her approach we stood for some minutes silently watching her till Frank wishing to see more of her countenance kept his hands noisily together for the purpose of rousing her she started and looked up what a volume of sorrow and of suffering did those pale features speak suddenly a look of pleasure flashed over her countenance she sprang from her seat and advancing towards Frank exclaimed maybe you'll be wanting a veil sir I've plenty nice ones stronger, better and cheaper than you'll get at the stall someone does coming sir you'll want one won't you I haven't sold one this week she added almost imploring perceiving what she fancied a no customer look in his face I'll have one little girl he answered in a kindly tone and what price is it to be 18 pence sir if you'll please be so good Frank put the money into her hand but returned the veil this action seemed not quite to satisfy her either she did not comprehend what he meant or it hurt her self pride for she said quickly I haven't only green veils perhaps you'd like some candles bear I make them too you make them said Frank laughing as he glanced at the little hands that were still holding the veil for his acceptance you make them candles you mean I have no mother now she said with an expression of real melancholy in her countenance and voice I make the candles and the veils and the diggers they buy them off me because grandfather's ill and got no me to work for him but me where do you when your grandfather live I asked in there pointing to the blacked tent she nodded her head adding in a low tone he's sleep now looks more than he did he's killed himself digging for the gold and he never got none and he says he'll dig till he dies dig till he dies fit motto of many a disappointed gold seeker the finale of many a broken up desolated home the last dying words of many a husband far away from wife or kindred with no love once near to soothe his departing moments no better burial place in which his last earthly labours were spent these were some of the thoughts that rapidly chased one another in my mind as the sad words and the even sadder tone fell upon my ear I was roused by hearing Frank's voice in the inquiry as to how she made her candles she answered all her questions with a childlike naivety peculiarly her own she told us how she boiled down the fat and once it had caught fire and burnt her severely and there was the scar still showing on her brown little arm then how she poured the hot fat into the tin mould first fastening in the wicks then shut up the mould and left it to grow cold as quickly as it would all this and many other particulars which I have long since forgotten she told us and little by little we learnt too her own history her father, grandfather and herself had all come to the diggings the summer before her father met with a severe accident in digging and returned to Melbourne he returned only to die and his wife soon followed him to the grave having no other friend or relative in the colonies the child had been left with her age and grandfather who appeared as infatuated with the gold fields as a more hail and younger man his strength and health were rapidly failing yet he still dug on we shall be rich and Jesse a fine lady before I die was ever his promise to her and that at times when they were almost wanting food it was with no idle curiosity that we listened to her none could help feeling deeply interested in the energetic unselfish orphan girl she was not beautiful nor was she fair she had none of those childish graces which usually attract so much attention to children of her age her eyes were heavy and bloodshot with work, weeping, cold and hunger except when she spoke of her sick grandfather and then they disclosed the world of tenderness her hair hung matted around her head her cheek was worn and shallow her dress was ill made and thin beamed even thus few that have once looked at her but would wish to look again there was an indescribable sweetness about the mouth the voice was low and musical the well-shaped head was firmly set upon her shoulders a fine open forehead surmounted those drooping eyes there was almost a dash of independence a little woman manner about her that made one imperceptibly forget how young she was in years a slight noise in the tent a gentle moan he's waked I must go to him and in a lower almost depreciating tone he doesn't like to hear stranger folks about we'd cheerfully complied with the hint and departed Frank first putting some money into her hand and promising to call again for the candles and veil she seemed quite anxious we should take in return our thoughts were as busy as our tongues were silent during the time that elapsed before we reached home when we entered we found a discussion going on and words were running high my brother and Octavius were foregoing somewhere to work not idle about as they were doing now William wanted to go for a pleasure trip to Forest Creek and then return to Melbourne for a change Frank listened to it all for some minutes and then made a speech the longest I have ever heard from him of which I will repeat portions as it will explain our future movements this morning when going down the gully I met the person whom we brought the stray horses of in Melbourne I asked him how he was doing and he answered badly enough but a friend just received accounts of some new diggings out of Aubrey Way and there I mean to go he showed me also a letter he had received from a party in Melbourne who were going there from these accounts gold is very plentiful at this spot and I for one think we may as well try our fortune in this new place as anywhere else the route is partly along the Sydney Road which is good but it is all together a journey of 200 miles I would therefore propose turning to my brother that we proceed first to Melbourne where you can leave your sister and we can then start for the ovens and as per provisions of the price there we might risk a little money in taking up a tray full of goods as before and as we might never chance to be in this part of Victoria again I vote that we take William's pleasure trip to Forest Creek stop there a few days and then to Melbourne this plan was adopted Friday morning Frank stole out early after breakfast for a visit to Little Jesse I learnt the full particulars afterwards and therefore we will relate them as they occurred as though myself present he did not find her sitting outside the tenters before and hesitated whether to remain or go away when a low moaning inside determined him to entom he pushed aside the blanket and saw her lying upon an old mattress on the ground beside her was a dark object which he could not at first distinguish plainly it was her grandfather and he was dead the moaning came from the living orphan and piteous it was to hear her I took Frank but a few minutes to ascertain all this and then he gently let down the blanket and hastened to the butcher shop I have already mentioned he learnt all there was to know that she had no friends, no relatives and that nothing but her own labour and the kindness of others had kept them from starvation through the winter Frank left the small sum in the butcher's hand to have the old man buried as best could be in so wild and unnatural a place and then returned to the morning child when he looked in she was lying silent and senseless beside the corpse a gentle breathing a slight heaving of the chest was all that distinguished the living from the dead carefully taking her in his arms he carried her to our tent as I saw him thus approaching an idea of the truth flashed to cost me Frank brought her inside and laid her upon the ground the only resting place we had for him he soon opened her eyes the quick transition through the air had assisted in reviving her and then I could tell that the whole sad truth returned fresh to her recollection she sat up resting her head upon her open hands while her eyes were fixed sullenly, almost doggedly upon the ground our attempts at consolation seemed useless Frank and I glanced at one another tell us how it happened he said gently Jesse made no answer he seemed like one who had not heard it must have been through some great carelessness some neglect pursued Frank laying a strong emphasis on the last word this effectively roused her I never left him I never neglected him when I waked in the morning I thought him asleep I made my fire I quipped softly about to make his grill for breakfast and I took it to him and I found him dead dead and she burst into a passion of tears Frank's pretended insinuation had done her good and now that her grief found its natural vent her mind became calmer and exhausted with sorrow she fell into a soothing slumber we had prepared to start before noon but this incident delayed us a little when Jesse awoke she seemed to feel intuitively that Frank was her best friend for she kept beside him during our hasty dinner and retained his hand during the walk it was a pleasant breeze and we did not feel over fatigued when after having walked about 8 miles we sat down beneath the most magnificent country more than 100 feet high Frank very wisely made Jesse bestow herself and assist in our preparations she collected dry sticks for a fire went with him to a small creek nearby for a supply of water and so well did he succeed that for a while she nearly forgot her troubles and could almost smile at some of William's gay sellies next morning very early breakfast rapidly disappeared and we were marching onward an empty cart drawn by a stout horse past us Frank gazed at the pale little child beside him where too cried he forest creek take us for want a canary of peace agreed and we gladly sprung in for the sake of the A.I. initiated I must explain that in Diggers slain a canary and a half sovereign are synonymous we passed the porcupine in we halted at noon dined and about 2 hours after sighted the commissioners tent in a few minutes the cart stopped can't take you no further if the master sees you I'd catch it for taking you at all we paid him unalited end of section 9