Charles Hokin (abt. 1827 - 1903)

William and Mary Hokin were provided with a substantial land grant in what is now the Stirling area of Perth . Along with their six children, they attempted farming and eking out a living. William spent six days/week working as a bricklayer, and built many of the early Government and quasi government buildings for the new settlement. With the difficulties experienced by all in farming the new colony, William saw good business sense in building a Public House (Pub) in downtown Perth. At last he was making good money and the family lived well. While the circumstances are unclear, we do know that William died on December 17, 1831, aged 42, from drowning in the Swan River. Mary remarried after her husband’s death, but retained the name “Hokin”.

Of their six children, Charles is in our family line, so I have focused on his history, rather than the other five siblings.

Charles and his wife Ann traveled to Port Adelaide where they lived for a few years. Subsequently they moved to Melbourne where they lived for a short time, before gold fever struck the family. Charles, Ann and family moved to Castlemaine and the Castlemaine goldfields. They eventually had eight children.

Family lore has the Hokins successful, at least initially, with their prospecting and their quest for gold. Several remarkable stories came out of this period of our family history:

Charles and Ann had several very successful days, having found a number of large and valuable nuggets. This information was hard to keep secret, and they were feeling insecure. That night while alone in their tent, Ann awoke to a large knife cutting a hole in the tent wall. An arm holding the large knife was thrust through the hole. “Give me your gold”, commanded a harsh voice. Ann replied in a quavering voice, “Alright, hold on, I’ll get it for you.” She reached under her pillow where she had placed her loaded muzzle loading ½” bore pistol. Grasping it, she pointed it toward where the man had to be and pulled the trigger, shooting him dead. In those rough times, this was common – a clear case of self- defense. No action was taken. (This pistol is still in the family).

After another successful few weeks, Charles and Ann heard that a group of Chinese prospectors had formed a mob and were going to attack them the next morning. They could not physically defend themselves against numbers of attackers, and the neighbours were reluctant to become involved and hence also become prospective targets of the Chinese. Brain over brawn was called for. Charles and Ann located a bottle of blue-black ink in their tent. Without getting any on their clothes, they painted blotches over their bodies, simulating large and extensive bruising. Once completed, they staggered out of their tent, acting very ill, and crying out, “Plague, plague”. Bubonic plague was in Australia – a haemorrhagic fever transmitted by fleas and rats, with symptoms (among several) of bruising and bleeding. The news of an outbreak in the Hokin tent spread like wildfire – and no one came near them again. Their gold was safe.