Early Experiences -3. M'IVOR (Heahtcote) IN 1853 by Gordon Duncan

Date: May 1853 [unknown]
Location: M'IVOR (Heathcote), VICTORIA

3. M'IVOR (Heahtcote) IN 1853 by Gordon Duncan.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155412595

While working at Wombat Flat, Jim Crow, early in 1853, accounts reached us of the marvellous richness of diggings then being opened up in country some where between Kilmore and Bendigo, Our party (the late Mr. George Hardie, of Epsom, Bendigo, and myself) promptly resolved to join in the inevitable rush to the new goldfield, " M'Ivor." Having been seven months knocking about the several goldfields of Forest Creek, Fryers Creek, The Loddon (now Vaughan), and Jim Crow, we determined, ere making another prolonged stay up country, to take a short spell in Mel- bourne. Very few days experience of metropolitan discomforts sufficed to quic- ken our departure from the city to face the rougher, though preferable, life on the diggings. M'Ivor as our destination, we shoul- dered swags, tramped the journey, and arrived there on the third day out, pitch- ing our tent on the creek opposite the police camp. May, '53, was the date of our advent to M'Ivor. At this time a considerable amount of work had been done. Golden, Black Jack, Opossum, Caledonian, and Long Gutter had had their first rushes, and were almost de- serted in favor of the Commissioner's Flat, the Red Hill, and other unnamed places, which, in turn, all yielded their stores of gold to the lucky ones whose good fortune happened to lead them on to the many rich patches, for which this field has ever been famous. The Commissioner's Flat was, perhaps, the most fruitful in its general yield of the precious metal. Across the flat, from the foot of Golden Gully, the several runs or leads of gold seemed to radiate and trend towards the creek. The sink- ing varied in depth from 3ft. to 20ft. The deepest ground, I think, proved to be the richest, but there were excellent yields ob- tained in the shallowest workings. To il- lustrate the fickleness of fortune in " these good old times," I may state that our party bottomed at least 50 holes on M'Ivor before payable ground was dropped on in the 20ft. sinking on Com- missioner's Flat. In some places a false bottom was met with, causing the aban- donment of ground which ultimately handsomely rewarded those who luckily reached and worked on the true bottom. From this claim on the Commissioner's Flat we succeeded in heaping a pile of washdirt, which compensated us for all time and labor spent up to date on this field. From an adjoining claim, how- ever, the lucky owners, at their first shot, secured as many pounds of gold as we did ounces from ours. The places of business were ranged in fairly regular order along both sides of a street, as nearly as possible, in parallel lines to the only street now designated the township of Heathcote. Although a Londoner, I witnessed at M'Ivor the densest fog within my experience. Camped within a few yards of the creek, I was unable to find my way back to our tent with the breakfast water just dipped from the stream, until the fog cleared off, when scores of others in a similar predicament to myself found themselves in quite an opposite direction to where they imagined themselves to be. Colonel Templeton, I think, had charge of the district when our first li- cences were purchased, but Commissioner R. H. Horne (the author of " Orion ") succeeded to that position. I remember his being brought to Black Jack Gully to decide a dispute about a claim. After listening to the several witnesses — pro and con — he adjudged both parties blame- able, and fined each in like amount to mark his sense of their folly in appealing to him to settle a trivial point, which any commonsense man present could have settled as equitably as himself. Another time I met the same official under pecu- liar circumstances. Being one of the earliest parties on the Goulburn diggings (Rushworth), we witnessed the first licence raid made by the police there, re- sulting in the apprehension of some men who had not provided themselves with that expensive authority to occupy, or even to reside on, auriferous Crown lands. This Arbitrary proceeding — within a fortnight of first breaking ground here — before the great rush had set in, when the population might have been counted by the score, so incensed the men that at an indignation meeting, hastily convened, it was resolved that the men's release be insisted on. We, therefore, en masse proceeded to the police camp at Waranga Swamp, and de- manded the immediate release of those men under arrest for being unlicensed. Mr. Commissioner Horne, seeing himself confronted by 160 resolute men, and hav- ing only half-a-dozen constables to depend on for his defence, no doubt, thought it more prudent to accede to our demand, and liberated the men, whom we trium- phantly escorted back to the diggings. At all rushes to newly-opened goldfields there was, of course, no lock-up or place of detention for prisoners. The autho- rities, therefore, improvised the plan of placing a chain around a tree and hand- cuffed their prisoners to it. This bar- barous system, when applied to men who had been arrested for being unlicensed, was so repugnant to the feelings of all freemen, who witnessed the spectacle of men being chained up like dogs, was the cause of this incipient revolt. That cul- minated in the Ballarat riots 17 months afterwards. The most sensational occurrence dur- ing my sojourn at M'Ivor was the stick- ing up by armed bushrangers of the pri- vate gold escort, near the Mia Mia. I saw the escort leaving. Two hours or so later I saw a horseman, wearing the escort's uniform, hurrying at top speed towards the police camp. Putting his horse at the fence, he made direct for the police quarters, instead of making a detour to the proper approach. Suspect- ing something, I made for the camp, and learned that the escort had been shot down and robbed of the treasure. The police were very soon in the saddle, and, accompanied by several armed and mounted civilians, made for the scene of carnage and robbery. They shortly re- turned, bringing the wounded troopers in the escort's cart. The writer assisted to carry the victims to the hospital tent, and waited upon the doctor during his surgi- cal operations on the wounded men. The runaway trooper who first brought the news had an extremely narrow escape from being shot. On examining the horse he rode, we found that a bullet had en- tered the skin just above the tail, and ran along the back under the skin to the saddle, which also had another bullet em- bedded between the seat and the lining. The horse died the same night, either from the effects of the wounds or over riding. In May, '94 — 11 years after the events recorded above — I re-visited the old spots of which I retain such vivid re- collections. What changes and how dif- ferent the surroundings ! Then M'Ivor was all bustle, animation, and business, with an adult population numbering tens of thousands, busy as ants by day, with abodes of calico to retire to for their hard earned rest at night — all resolute, strong, active, and as sturdy a lot as ever broke the earth's surface — to-day, Heathcote, a well-built, pretty little town, had only one street, one, however, of which its in- habitants are justly proud, for it certainly is a majestic thoroughfare several miles in length, with trees on both sides of the road, forming a delightful shade for pe- destrians on the sidewalks and a noble avenue along the roadway. Its municipal chambers, police camp, and churches be- longing to every Christian denomination are amongst the most noticeable public buildings. Provision has been made for a water supply by the construction of an extensive and capacious reservoir. The source of supply is the Tooberac Creek. The greatest contrasts noticeable to me were, first, that the newly turned soil of bygone days had given place to a carpet like surface of green sward, especially no- ticeable on the Commissioner's Flat. I was disappointed when at Heathcote that I did not meet anyone who was at M'lvor in 1853. It will afford me much pleasure to correspond with any resident or others whose knowledge of the locality dates back so far. (To be continued).

4, MAIN GULLY, KANGAROO FLAT, MT BLACKWOOD