Early Experiences - 4, MAIN GULLY, KANGAROO FLAT, MT BLACKWOOD by Gordon Duncan

Date: Jul 1852 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

4, MAIN GULLY, KANGAROO FLAT, MT BLACKWOOD by Gordon Duncan.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155412258

Victoria's immigrants of the early fifties, especially those from the British Isles, were for the most part citizens of one or other of the large centres of population, many of whom were men of education and cultured refinement, accustomed to af- fluent homely surroundings where every- thing was done for them by hirelings. Such men realised more keenly the diffi- culties of life on the diggings than those who had had experience of shifting for themselves. Unaccustomed to manual labor, never having cooked or washed for themselves, they found the rough life of a digger anything but congenial to their tastes, nevertheless it is astonishing how manfully some of them adapted them- selves to the altered conditions of life, and pluckily overcame all the concomitant troubles and hardships encountered on a new goldfield. It was my good fortune to have fallen in with many a manly fellow on the diggings whose roughly clad body, at first sight, denoted the common laborer, but who, on close acquaintance, proved to be a man of education and professional training. Such men, having overcome the initial troubles of a start, adapted themselves to hard work and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and exhilarance of bush life. It was around the camp fire at night that these men displayed the kind of material of which they were composed. One lost sight of the rough exterior whilst admiring the brilliancy of their conversa- tion and intellectual entertainment. I could name several gentlemen, once dig- gers, who have since obtained to eminence in the learned professions. Nowadays people cannot conceive the high cost of living on the diggings in the early fifties. Our party first realised the extreme dearness of provisions when tramping it to Forest Creek. At Bush Inn (Gisborne), Woodend, and Kyneton we paid 2/ and at Forest Creek 2/6 for the 2lb loaf. Butcher's meat was compara- tively cheap everywhere. Provisions of all sorts were very high priced — rice, jam, sugar or oatmeal 2/6 per lb., tea, butter, and cheese 5/ per lb. Flour varied in price, according to the rate of road car- tage, from £10 to £20 per bag of 200 lb.; eggs 12/ per dozen ; vegetables unobtain- able at any price. Milk commanded what ever price was asked for it, and was only used in cases of sickness. Drinks were also very dear. A bottle of stout cost 5/, a bottle of brandy 20/. There were no public-houses in those days ; all intoxicat- ing drinks were sold clandestinely. Any such liquors were liable to seizure and confiscation and the owner to severe penalty wherever found by the police. All grog seized was destroyed. Notwith- standing these arbitrary regulations, there was no difficulty in obtaining grog so long as you were prepared to pay the exorbi- tant prices asked for it. On the older diggings of Forest Creek and Bendigo provisions were obtainable at the high prices ruling there, but at outside places, like Jim Crow, they were unobtainable. Our larder was very simply stocked. Flour, tea, and sugar were the stable articles, with, of course, butcher's meat, chiefly mutton. With this fare we couldn't vary our diet very much. Our changes were tea, damper, and mutton for breakfast, mutton tea, and damper for dinner, and damper, mutton, and and tea for supper. We had been six months without vegetables of any kind, when one day in April a drayman came to Wombat Flat with potatoes and onions, from whom we bought 100 lb. of potatoes at 1/ per lb. — £5 — upon which we feasted sumptuously so long as they lasted, the camp oven being requisitioned every day for roast beef and praties, Irish and other stews. At these extremely high rates the storekeepers' profits were not always, as might be supposed, large. Road carriage from Melbourne to Forest Creek, according to the season, was from £25 to £75 per ton, and to Bendigo from £35 to £120 per ton. This was, of course, for the gross weight, thus adding from 3d. to 1/1 per lb. to the prime cost of the goods in Melbourne. Following on my digging career, my mate and I decided to leave M'Ivor in search of a party said to be working in the ranges some nine or ten miles west of Murchison, near the Goul- burn River. Going into bush country, it was absolutely necessary that we carry with us, beside our digging tools, provi- sions to last a good few days. We started on the last day of July, with swags weigh- ing 90lb. each. On the second day out we inquired of a shepherd if he could direct us to where there was a party dig- ging somewhere there about. He put us on the lay, and we found them at work at the head of a gully, that was subsequently named Main Gully. They had struck gold on the surface, and followed the run for about 1½ chains, with, it was alleged, good results. We set in, cut a race right athwart the gully it's full width. We got the gutter, but the run of gold, as was afterwards seen, turned abruptly into a made hill just above our cutting. The run of gold yielded about 12oz. to the lineal foot of the gutter. Our stay on the field lasted one month. We didn't get sufficient encouragement to remain and strike washdirt till rain might come. We, therefore, hied back to M'Ivor, and stacked out a bit of ground there that proved payable. Our next move was to Bendigo in search of my mate's brothers, whom he had not seen since he came to Australia. Our informa- tion respecting them was that they were located in Ironbark Gully. We didn't find them. On our return to M'Ivor we stayed a night at Heffernan's Shamrock Hotel. Next morning we visited a new rush quite close to that hostelry, between it and where the railway station now is. We spent some time there, and made further inquiries for the brothers, without success. We afterwards learnt that they took part in that rush. Returning to M'Ivor we sold off our tools, etc., and swagged it to Fryer's Creek again. Here we worked with varrying success until September, 1854. I then went to Melbourne. My mate found his brothers, whom he joined at working a puddling machine at Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo, where he and they spent the remainder of their days. They are now all dead and buried on that celebrated goldfield. My next move was to Melbourne where I commenced business in a small way, got married and settled down, as I thought, permanently. Early in '55, however, a fellow-passenger of mine, Mr. George Hill, came and informed me of having discovered rich alluvial diggings near Mt. Blackwood. I caught on again, sold out my business and made for the new El Dorado. I shared in a good claim on Lerderberg Creek, near Tipperary Point. Then put up a puddling machine in Jack- son's Gully, Golden Point, and worked there with indifferent success for three or four months, sold out and started for the Hard Hills, Buninyong. Here it was my intention to start another puddling machine and wash the headings from the Hard Hill workings. My mate, however, had had such a sickener at Blackwood that he drew out of it. We each had a horse and cart, and carted washdirt for the miners on Hard Hills to the creek, about one mile distant, at 5/ per load. At this I cleared £100 in 10 weeks. My mate didn't do so well. This was good biz, considering the high price's of horse feed — oats 14/ to 16/ per bushel, chaff 18/ to 20/ per cwt. I was in the Magpie rush, the Black Horse, the Frenchman's and Sebastopol leads were commenced. Each of these leads yielded fortunes to those who got on to the richest parts of them. I intended describing Ballarat as it was then. That city has, however, been already frequently described by abler writers than myself. I therefore close this series, and thank you for their publication.