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Series of Articles Extracted from The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser

The following series of numerous Newspaper articles published in 1947/48 under the title of "A Jewel Casket (by P.W)" mainly deal with shipping on the River Murray.  All of these articles have been extracted as there is also early information on the Adelaide Hills townships of Gumeracha, Mount Baker, Hahndorf, Woodside and others, plus interesting information on a number of early families of the Region.

The following IndexLinks to each Article are listed below incorporating sub-headings in an attempt to identify the contents within each article.

Part 1 Article #1  -  Gumeracha District;  Randell Family;  Randell Diary 1851. Article #2  -  Randell Diary 1851. Article #3  -  Randell Diary;  Gumeracha. Part 2 Article #4  -  Reaping Machine;  John Dunn;  Mount Barker. Article #5  -  Fowler, Whitington, Brakenridge and Lorimer Families;  Woodside District. Article #6  -  Mount Barker District;  Electing Members of Parliament;  Woodside District;  William Dunn Family. Part 3 Article #7  -  River Murray Steamers Controversy;  Goolwa;  JS Pullen RN. Article #8  -  The Adelaide Botanical Gardens. Part 4 Article #9  -  George Fife Angas and Founding of Colony. Article #10  -  George Fife Angas and Lutheran Emigration,   Article #11  -  Murray River Shipping Activities. Article #12  -  Information re Murray River Ships. Article #13  -  Steamers of the River Murray. Article #14  -  Article #15  -  Article #16  -  Article #17  -  Article #18  -  Article #19  -  Article #20 -

 

Article #11 - Dated Thursday 12 June 1947

Murray River Shiping Activities

When dealing with the River steamers that in the old days plied their trade upon the Murray, we in this series of articles, commented upon the debt owing to those who were familiar in those days with the commerce on the mighty waterway, and with the first-hand and historically informative details of incidents and conversations connected with the old skippers on those self-same steamer craft, many of which lie at the bottom of the slow-moving stream.  In pretentious tomes, published generations subsequent to those early days there sometimes appear reviews on subjects such as the steamer traffic of Australia, which perpetrate grave omissions of fact which robs them of a complete veracity.  Whether such defects spring from intention or merely ignorance, it is impossible to say, but as we have previously remarked, in the history of so young a land as South Australia, there should be no need for misstatement, and all should be able to read our comparatively short history with a certain knowledge that it is the truth.  In the controversy in the daily Press recently on the question of nomenclature of Goolwa, one correspondent suggested the formation of a History Society where those with knowledge or records of historical interest could pool their information.  Such a society might be of utility in providing a rostrum on which to thresh out debatable points to come by the truth, but the public Archive should of a certainty contain most of the essential data regarding the history of this State right away back to the period prior to its being even a Colony.  Of course those in authority in any office should be unbiassed and unprejudiced to a degree, for by the omission of what might appear trivial to one person, the whole truth may be withheld and so it came to pass that in the British House of Parliament an eminent and able member once declared that he took no notice of so-called recorded history as given out in the printed word for the public consumption, but that printed word is what is fed to the children of a later day, and in the lapse of years, they become the teachers who pass on their erroneous erudition, to a still younger generation, until in time we have a sort of suitable history book for a class-room but not a true history of a country.

Let us open a cyclopedia, and not such a late edition as we would wish, and turn its voluminous pages to the chapter on "Shipping."  We will quote several passages from the Cyclopedia. — "The shipping business from the first had an active share in the development of South Australia.  In the early days the colonists were dependent for all kinds of supplies on external sources, including not only the comforts but the bare necessities of life.  Building materials, clothing, livestock and breadstuffs were among the imports, and for some years there was little to send away.  The shipping trade of those days was done by wooden vessels that would now be regarded as mere cockle-shells.  The "Duke of York" which brought the first contingent of settlers was a barque of 197 tons, and a 500-ton ship was a rarety.  The pioneer of the mercantile fleet registered at Port Adelaide was the Hero, a cutter of 36 tons which was brought around from New South Wales in 1838 to the order of Mr. J. B. Hack. ...  "A great change took place in the shipping trade when the steam service was introduced, and the extent to which steamships have superseded sailing vessels to a commonplace of contemporary history.  In place of the brigs and barques of from 200 to 500 tons, or a little over, and the clipper ships which came on the scene at a little later period, the carrying trade is done by fleets of steamers having a capacity of thousands instead of hundreds of tons.  Steam communication between England and South Australia was first established in 1852, via the Cape of Good Hope, the Suez Canal not being then in existence."

That is a survey of the earliest shipping activities to South Australia but while mention is made of Mr. J. B. Hack in connection with the pioneer vessel of the mercantile fleet registered at Port Adelaide, viz., the Hero, there is a complete silence respecting others who were closely associated with the embryo shipping trade in the newly proclaimed Colony.  The Cyclopedia states, as above quoted — "steam communication between England and South Aus. was first established in 1852, via the Cape of Good Hope."  There is, of course, the word "established," a means of contention maybe, but as Mr. Hack's name has been mentioned as early colonist who was responsible for bringing around from N.S.W. the pioneer of the mercantile fleet, it would have been fitting one would think, especially in a Cyclopedia, to have made some mention of others who were vitally interested in the initial efforts to launch the enterprise of the shipping industry in the Colony.  But let the writer quote from a clipping from a paper placed in an album book at the time of our grandparents, for it unques- tionably proves the writer's contention that recorded history is often times misleading, and by the use of "omission" is incomplete.  The clipping is of a letter to a publication of the time, and, while complimenting the journal on its Editor's article on the steamboat in the Colony, gives the information omitted from same as follows:—

"I am really surprised at the full and valuable information you have collected with reference to steamboats in this Colony, but at the same time, as I have possibly had more to do with steamboats and their introduction into the Australian and New Zealand waters than most others, you will not, I am sure, object to a few words from me in reference to their history in addition to your own remarks.  I will commence with the Corio, which Mr. Samuel White, in connection with my friends Messrs. McMechan, Blackwood & Co., of Melbourne, chartered in 1857, and landed at Aldinga Bay, and then rode into town without even staying at home for refreshment, and commissioned myself and Mr. Barry to purchase 2,400 tons of wheat and flour, which we succeeded in doing the same afternoon.  This operation led to the purchase in my office late at night, of the steamer Havilah from Captain Hugh MacMeikan, and to myself being appointed agent, not only for that steamer, but for the extensive milling business conducted by that gentleman at Aldinga.  In conjunction with Messrs. Stilling & Co. and Captain Hansford Ward (now of the Royal Shepherd) the steamer Marion was purchased, and laid on the line between Ports Adelaide, Lincoln and Augusta, and did, I think, good service in her career which was, how ever, terminated by her loss in 1862.  Then came the Maid of the Yarra, which belonged exclusively to myself, and of which Captain Ashton, who has been so long in the capacity of chief officer of the steamer Coorong, was the commander, and navigated her successfully for some time to Ports Elliot and Wallaroo, but, more profitable employment offering at Dunedin, New Zealand, she was sent there under Captain Ashton's charge, and there sold for a cash price; and the result of her was the Coorong built entirely under my own instructions, and to my own order, but under the supervision of Captain Hugh MacMeikan, who was then in England.  And I would here do that gentleman the justice to say that a more wholesome or better adapted craft was never introduced into these waters for the particular trade she is engaged in."  ......  "The Aldinga arrived here simultaneously with the Balclutha, and I remember well the exciting but friendly contests we then had.  She was at first commanded by Mr. Hugh MacMeikan, and made trips to Melbourne and back for about a year every week, leaving each end on Saturdays.  Then by Captain John McLean (who is now again in command of her).  Subsequently by Captain John Stewart, who ran her through to New Zealand from here once a month under contract with the New Zealand Government to carry mails.  The majority of your readers will probably not be aware that I have been owner in all or in part, and agent for the following steamers, viz.: The Havilah, Marion (lost in 1862), Maid of the Yarra, Aldinga, Oscar (wrecked at Invercargill), Gothenburg, Omeo, Alhambra, Lubra, Royal Shepherd, Kangaroo, and the Murray steamers Settler and Lady Daly.  From, the above tacts, I trust you will observe that to Captain Hugh MacMeikan and my self is due the introduction of most of the steamboat communication to Australian and New Zealand waters.  Mr. W. S. Whitington was, however, the first gentleman to introduce steamers to this Colony, viz., the Corsair and Courier in the year 1841.  The Phoenix you seem to have passed over in your very admirable article."

And that concludes the very excellent letter sent to a paper in those old days, when the modern mammoth vessels were undreamed of, but the names of those enterprising men should certainly be recorded in our history if it is to be a veracious record published in class-books or more pretentious Cyclopedias.  The writer wonders how many know the name of the author of that old letter to the Press.

(Next week a comprehensive list of the old steam boats will be printed, with brief commentary thereon and whereabouts of those still existent.)

 

Article #12 - Dated Thursday 19 June 1947

Information re Murray River Ships

It may be remembered that this series of articles was ushered in with a reference to that highly respected and fine old octogenarian River Skipper Captain Richard Murray Randell, and to the records which the captain had stored aboard the old paddle steamer, Murrundi, the writer has been beholden for much of the data he has used in the compilation of his articles.  And he will most assuredly, as the series continues, again quote from that storehouse of anecdotes presided over by the good captain and grandson of the first navigator of the River Murray.  In two previous articles we have treated of the River steamers, its navigation, and the first River captains.  This has been with some intention, for the first steamer to come to the shores of South Australia was named the "Courier," and the writer thought it was only fitting that this journal should publish something more than a passing reference to the River steamers of the Murray, especially as there is much controversy at the present time on the subject.  In our last article on the River steamers we surveyed the ships as remembered some quarter of a century ago.  In this article we will give the memories of yet another old octogenarian skipper of the Murray, in the person of Captain Payne, or, to give him his full name, Charles Frederick William Payne.

Captain Payne resides with his family at Verdun Road, Murray Bridge, and has been on the River practically all his life.  He was born at Echuca in 1866.  All his records, he sadly relates, were destroyed in the fire that occurred on the steamer Mannum, at Mannum, some 20 years ago.  "I lost everything I had in that fire," he said, and continued— "The vessel was ultimately destroyed and sank.  She was subsequently lifted and re-built by Captain Arnold, of Mannum, and still remains as the "Mannum."  They have taken the machinery out of her and made a log barge of her at Mildura.  She is now owned by the saw-miller, Max Anderson, the general manager for Captain Arnold.  She was built at Mannum by a man named Phil Sandford, who is still active.  He has retired, but takes a boat occasionally.  He cannot keep away from the River, like the rest of us. " Captain Payne had the Mannum for 12 months before she was burnt.  He then took on the captaincy of the Marion, trading as a passenger boat between Murray Bridge and Renmark.  He was on her for several years and then went onto the Gem, trading as a passenger boat between Morgan and Mildura.  He was on her for twelve years during the boom times between 1920 to 1939.  The railways made a big difference between Morgan and Mildura, but not so much on the Lower Murray.  "It was the motor lorries that did the damage to the cargo traffic," said Captain Payne reflectively, and, letting his mind run on, said: "There were passengers galore then on the Merle. " Captain Payne was the master for six years of the Merle, and until recently, when Captain Griffen, the owner, obtained his certificate, and is now captain.  Captain Payne still remains one of the crew, as Chief Officer after the captain.  When Captain Payne had been on the Gem for 12 years he retired on account of ill-health, and not until 1941 did he resume his usual vocation.  In that year he was persuaded to take the captaincy of the Merle, owned by Harry Griffen at the time.  The elder Griffin was a captain and an engineer, holding both certificates, but he most of the time did the engineering work, leaving the captain's duties to Skipper Payne.  Captain Griffin designed the Merle and installed all the machinery in her, including electric light.  On his death in 1945 Captain Payne continued on, trading for passenger tourist traffic for Cook & Sons, between Hurray Bridge and Morgan in the winter-time, and between Murray Bridge and Blanchetown in the summer.  She accommodates 18 passengers, and some people are so enamored of these popular trips that they book twelve months ahead.  The fittings on the vessel are excellent, and are the comment by all who journey in her.

Certain correspondence in the daily Press prompted the writer to mention the old river steamer "Bunyip."  "As far as I know," said Captain Payne, "the Bunyip was burnt about a mile above Lock No. 6.  There was a big flooded gum-tree at that site, and it was a landmark, and known as the Bunyip-tree.  It was said that the fire which destroyed the Bunyip killed the tree.  The tree was not long since burnt down, someone setting fire to it, and there was considerable adverse comment on such an action, as it had become a well-known landmark.  The Bunyip was burnt, of course, before my time on the River.  I was on the River in 1886.  I can remember over 140 boats on the River in my time.  Few of them are left, mostly broken up, burnt, sunk, made into house boats."

At this juncture the writer thought it best to ask the old skipper if he could give a commentary on all the boats he remembered on the Murray, and was astonished to receive a reply in the affirmative.  The list has been recorded in alphabetical sequence and will be read, the writer feels confident, with great zest by thousands of readers.

Ships and comments by Captain Payne:—

ADELAIDE:  She is now at Echuca towing log barges for the mill.  -  AUSTRALIEN:  She's gone!  -  ALERT: Burnt at Morgan.  -  ANGUS: She's gone!  -  AVOIGA:.  She's now a Show-boat at Mildura.  -  ALFRED:  She's now a house-boat at Murray Bridge, owned by William Dodd.  -  ARNOLD:  Sunk.  -  AMPHIBIOUS:  She's outside now as a ketch.  Belongs to Fletcher I believe.  -  ALPHA:  Gone  -   ARIEL:  Gone!  -  ALEXANDER:  She's at Port Adelaide used as a lighter, owned by Thomas & Co., the millers.  -  ARCADIA:  Broken up.  -  ALBURY:  Gone too.  She was one of the first boats on the River;  She was taken to Albury by Capt. George Johnson 1366 miles from the sea.

BUNYIP:  Burnt.  -  BOURNE: Gone.  -  BARWON:  Gone.  -  BLANCHE:  Gone years ago.  A very old boat.  -  BREWINIARRINA:  They tell me she's afloat up at Swan Hill.  -  BLACK SWAN:  Gone.  -  BRITANNIA:  Gone, burnt.  -  BURRABOGIE:  Gone, too.  In her day she was brought through the treacherous Murray Mouth and taken safely to Lakes Entrance.

CANBERRA:  Afloat at Mildura.  Now an excursion boat.  -  COLONEL:  Gone.  -  CAPTAIN STURT:  Now a house boat at Goolwa, a boarding house, I believe, and very well, fitted up with electric light and all modern conveniences.  It's years since I saw her.  -  CATO:  Gone.  -  COROWA:  Gone.  -  CITY OF OXFORD:  Gone.  -   CUMBEROONA:  Gone.  -  CANALLY:  Afloat at Mildura.

DECOY:  Now a house-boat, above Morgan, between Morgan and Waikerie, I believe.  -  DISPATCH:  Gone.

ETONA:  Now a fishing boat around Swan Hill way.  She was the old Mission boat in which the Rev. Bussell (later Archdeacon) made his journeys along the River in the old days, holding the services aboard her at the then small and scattered settlements.  -  ELLEN:  Burnt.  -  EMMA: Gone.  -  EMILY JANE:  Burnt.  -  ELIZABETH:  Gone.  -  ETHEL JACKSON:  Gone.  -  ELFIE:  Gone.  -  EXCELSIOR:  Afloat at Mildura.  -  EDWARDS:  I believe she's afloat at Echuca. I (met a man the other day who said he had just left her.  She is an old boat.  She was owned by a Scotch family named Lang, and the several members of the family who had a share in her used to call her the "We Edwards."  -  ENTERPRISE:  She's a house-boat at Mannum.  Just lately came there.  -  E.R.O.:  Gone.

FAIRY:  Gone.  -  FLORENCE ANNIE: Gone.  -  FREETRADER:  Gone.  -  FERRET:  Gone.  -  FEDERAL:  Afloat.  I saw her on the slip at Morgan on Friday (23rd May, 1947).  She's a house-boat and be longs to a chemist in Adelaide.

GEM:  Afloat.  She's a passenger boat between Morgan and Mildura.  -  GODCONBA:  Gone.  -  GOLDSBOROUGH:  Gone.  -  GLYMPSE:  Gone.  -  GEMINI:  Gone.

HERO:  I've an idea she's afloat but am not sure.  I think she's a log boat at Koondook In Victoria.

INVINSIBLE:  Gone.  -  INDUSTRY:  Afloat at Murray Bridge.  She's a snagging boat belongs to the Lands Dept now.  -  JUPITER:  She's at Port Adelaide.  -  JOLLY MILLER:  Gone.  -  JULIA:  Gone.  -  JANDRA:  Gone.

KENNEDY:  Gone.  -  KELPIE:  Gone.  -  KELVIN:  Gone.  -  KOOKABURRA:  A houseboat at Mildura.

LADY OF THE LAKE:  Gone.  -  LANCASHIRE LASS:  Gone.  -  LADY DALY:  Gone.  -  LADY DARLING:  Gone.

MERLE:  Afloat at Murray Bridge as passenger boat. (This is the vessel which Capt. Payne is now on).  -  MUNDOO:  Gone.  -  MURRABIT:  Afloat at Morgan.  -  MAGGIE:  Gone.  -  MANNUM:  Gone.  -  MARION:  Running with passengers between Morgan and Mildura.  -   MURRUNDI:  Now the residence of Captain Richard Murray Randell as a houseboat at Murray Bridge.  -   MURRAY:  Gone.  -  MOLGEWANK: Blew up!  -   MARANGA:  Gone.  -  MAUDE:  Gone.  -  MOIRA:  Burnt.  -  MURRUMBIDGE:  I've an idea she's afloat up Swan Hill way.  -  MARY ANN:  The first boat on the River.  She sank at Mannum many years ago.  Today the engine and boiler of the Mary Ann are preserved in the Rotunda by the river at Mannum.  -  MAY FLOWER:  Gone.  -   MILANG:  Gone.  -  MENINDIE:  She is now the Murrundi, the name having been altered.  -  MELBOURNE:  Gone.

NELLIE:  Burnt.  -  NILE:  Gone, burnt.  -  NIL DESPERANDUM:  Gone.  -   NAPIER:  Gone.

OSCAR:  Afloat Highways Dept. own her.  She's now at Morgan.

PEVERSEY:  Afloat. A cargo boat between Morgan and Mildura.  -  PRIDE of the MURRAY:  Gone.  -   PRINCESS:  Afloat at Morgan.  -   PRINCESS ROYAL:  Gone.  -  PYAD:  Gone.  She was a store boat for the Eudunda Farmers' Co-op. Store B.  She went to Mildura. from Murray Bridge.  -  PEARL:  Gone.  -   PILOT:  Gone.  -  PARINGA:  Gone.  -  PRINCE ALFRED:  Gone.

QUEEN:  Burnt at Mypolonga.

RUBY:  Gone.  -  RODNEY:  Burnt by the shearers in the early nineties.  This was perhaps the most dramatic event In the history of the River.  In August, 1894, the Rodney left Echuca with a num ber of strike-breakers for the shearing sheds on the River Darling.  Capt. James Dickson was in charge.  As she pulled out to commence her journey, sympathisers with those on strike hurled anything they could lay hands on at the moving craft.  At Wentworth Capt. Dickson received a warning that the Rodney was to be attacked, but he proceeded on into the Darling.  On August 25, 1894, the Rodney loaded firewood two miles above Moorara Station and pulled out into a big swamp for the night.  Notwithstanding a watch being kept, an armed band of strike sympathisers waded through the swamp and captured Capt. Dickson, whom they roped up.  They then marooned the strike-breakers on a small island, and their swags were pitched into the River.  They then soaked the Rodney with kerosene and set her alight.  The Captain was then released and he rowed to the barge where the rest of the steamer's crew had been placed.  The Rodney's tie-rope burnt through and the burning craft drifted downstream and burned out after she had grounded.  Several men stood their trial for the crime, and one was imprisoned for some years, but some of the old hands on the River contended he was innocent.  -  ROTHBURY: Afloat at Mildura.  Belongs to the Saw Mills there.  -  RESOLUTE:  Gone.  -  ROYAL:  I think she's afloat as a houseboat at Koondrook, Victoria.  -  ROBROY:  Gone.  -  RIVERINA:  Burnt.  -  ROMA:  Burnt.  She caught alight while travelling.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN:  Afloat.  She's a lighter at Port Adelaide now.  -  SAPPHIRE:  Gone, burnt.  -  SUCCESS:  Afloat at Morgan.   SADDLER:  Gone.  -  SAW MILLER:  Gone.  -   SHANNON:  Gone.  -  STURT:  Gone, burnt.  -   SHAMROCK:  Gone.  -   SMUGGLER:  Burnt.  -   SETTLER:  Gone.  -  SUNBEAM:  Gone.

TOLARNO:  Gone.  They took the engines out of her and broke her up.  -  TARELLA:  Afloat.  Owned by the Lands Dept.  -  TYRO:  Sunk above Murray Bridge.  Dodd owned her prior to her loss.  -  TRAFALGAR:  Gone.  But resurrected and towed to Port Adelaide where she will probably be used as a ketch.  -  THISTLE:  Gone.

ULONGA:  Afloat at Mildura.  Not doing anything.  She was bought but no work of alteration has been done to her.  -  UNDAUNTED:  Gone.

VENTURA: Gone.  -   VICTOR:  Gone.  -   VIOLA:  Gone.  -  VICTORIA:  Gone.

WILLIAM RANDELL:  Sunk at Lock No. 2.  -  WAGGA WAGGA:  Gone.  -  WM. DAVIES:  The hull of her is at Murray Bridge as a houseboat.  -  WILCANNIA:  Gone.  -  WARADGERY:  Gone.  -  WAIKERIE:  Gone, burnt.  -  W.F.B.:  She's now at Murray Bridge lying just above the old bridge, and is now named the B.J.O.  -  WANERA:  I think she's afloat as a houseboat at Mildura.  -  WAGUNYAH:  Gone.  -  WENTWORTH: Gone.

"Those are all the boats I can remember," said the old skipper, and to he sure it was a truly wonderful list.  Continuing, Capt. Payne said he did not think it would happen in our time, but he thought that in times to come the River Murray would again have a cargo traffic.  "It is certainly cheaper," he said, "and there is no cost of maintenance of a rail way track.  On my trips in the Merle I meet many world travellers, who tell me that the river traffic in the United States of America went back, but came again, while in Germany they spend millions on cutting canals and as many as half-a-mile of barges could be seen being towed along the canals which had cost so much to excavate.  That, of course, was before the World War devastated practically everything of the sort in Europe."

The writer mentioned his theory of a series of inland lakes (mentioned in an article in this series) and the scrapping of the present irrigated swamps.  The old captain thought there was something in the idea.  "The product of the swamps is not of such good quality as that grown on the highlands," he contended, "I have seen animals leave the stuff grown on the swamps to consume the chaff grown on the highlands," he added. Captain Payne, after his survey of the seven score and more of River craft, had other interesting remarks to make. "Of course," he said reflectively, "there are some good books published concerning the River but sometimes they are not altogether correct.  For instance in one book a photograph appears in which the steamer's name is given as the Marion.  She is shown entering Lock No. 11, but actually it is not the Marion at all, but the Gem.  Most people would not know the difference, but of course any Murray steamer captain can pick it out at once.  The Providence steamer" said Capt Payne "blew up at a place called Kinchega Station on the Darling River, not on the Murray as stated by a correspondent in the daily papers of May 17.  Capt. Robert Grundy was the barge master and was the only one of the crew of the Providence that did not lose his life.  He had gone onto the barge for some purpose or other just prior to the explosion.  When the explosion occurred, it was such a shock to him that his hair turned white.  That is what they said at the time, and Capt. Grundy was when I knew him always grey-headed, even as a young man.  The Pro vidence blew up in 1872, and if the old captain were alive he would now be about 84 years of age.  His brother, Capt. John Grundy, died only last year aged 86 years.  Capt. Robert Grundy was last on the Tolarno.  He was on several boats prior to that he was captain for John White Co., and among the steamers of which he was master were the Tolarno, the Menindie, the South Australian and the Decoy.  Captain John Grundy was captain of the Tarella for a number of years.  She was owned by the Irrigation Dept., now by the Lands Dept.  Previously she was owned by Landseer Ltd., and the Govt, bought her for the Irrigation Dept."

As the writer picked up a stained piece of parchment lying on the table, Capt. Payne said "That and the other piece of paper have had some experiences.  The paper one especially.  It is my baptismal certificate, and, as you will notice, is dated March 17th, 1867.  It was sunk in the safe of the Lady of the Lake in 1888, and remained under water for six weeks.  Beyond a few water stains, it can be read easily."  The certificate is signed by the Wesleyan minister, James Burchett.  The captain's certificate, on parchment, is dated Jan. 13th, 1892 and issued by the South Australian Marine Board, Port Adelaide.

As the writer left the old skipper the frequent allusions he had made to the demise of old and well-known river craft remained uppermost in his mind.  "Gone! Burnt! sunk!" seemed the general answer as to their eventual fate, until one saw in fancy the muddy bed of the great riparian artery of the Commonwealth as a veritable graveyard of river craft that in the past had been the home of crews, the individual members of which had in most cases, also passed on.  There is a touch of pathos in these changes of the old order.  But. as we have remarked, the river steamers in the course of time, may come again, and over the watery graves of the many sunken vessels we have mentioned in this article, more modern craft may plough through the stream hauling great barges laden with the produce of settlements with populations, not of thousands, but millions of people!

 

Article #13 - Dated Thursday 26 June 1947

Steamers of the River Murray

In a previous article in this series we promised to give a review of the steamers of the River Murray.  It is a big task, but such a survey, how ever incomplete, is of perennial interest, for it treats of an epoch in the history of this as of other States of this Commonwealth.  Men of vision in the early days when the States were but colonies, were obsessed by the great possibilities of trade and commerce floated upon the waters of Australia's great artery, the River Murray, and in this State the subject of the River steamers has been kept alive by the periodical controversies as to what particular individual should receive the credit of placing upon the big waterway the first steamer.  And now the wordy contest is on once more, statements being published only to be contradicted by eonie party whose facts may be in completely gathered from the multitudinous sources available.  Two names are invariably mentioned when these controversies recur, and those are Randell and Cadell.  We place the name of Randell first, not with the intention of detracting in any way from the energetic labors of Cadell to open up a river trade for the then young colony, but because in these columns appeared, when the diary of the late William Bevis Randell was published, irrefutable evidence that his son, Captain William Richard Randell, navigated the River Murray in a steamer prior to Captain Cadell.  As has already been stated the wordy joust at arms comes up from time to time, and on this present occasion an article on Goolwa in the daily Press drew from one who proposes publishing a book on the River steamers, a criticism of such article on certain points.  Perhaps it would have been more in keeping with the ethics of literary journalism if he had refrained from any comment and allowed his opinions in boolt form to stand the test of credit or condemnation when the tome had birth.  But let us not dwell upon such matters.  Rather would we care to contemplate the big waterway and visualise for a brief space the many steamers that did traffic upon it.  That traffic is dead and the Railways now haul the produce from the ever increasing settlement of the irrigated areas which have been made possible by the harnessing of the River.  The steamers and barges are to be seen tied up and idle, or adapted in some few cases for tourist traffic. The old days when a River captain would bring down two thousand bales of wool in barges are gone.  The River steamer trade is dead.  But pessimism was not a quality of those early pioneers of the River, and what a child in point of years in this young State.  One would, of course, be classed as a super optimist and visionary if he ventured to suggest a suppositious survey of this State in say, three hundred years time.  Not a few thousand of souls sprinkled here and there along the course of the River Murray as now, but many millions of people, members of a great nation!  The thirst for many things so desired to day has become stale, the speed craze of the dim and distant past also except for very special uses.  The few real comforts necessary for an ideal existence, and which could be counted on the fingers of one hand had been hall-marked by experience as the main requirements of a decent and full life.  Instead of a half-hundred weirs the upper and lower Murray has been transformed into a series of big inland lakes upon which steamers ply and pass from one lake to another.  The very slowness of the stream seems to say that Providence intended that man's brain should put some such scheme into reality, and leave the pottering in swamp lands as of an unenlightened era, the higher soils producing the richer fruits.  And what a multitude of inhabitants could find a living on the potential harvests of the lower Murray.  Even at Swanport and the vicinity there-abouts Italian prisoners of war were allotted to the dairy owners and others.  The writer had the opportunity of meeting several of these natives of one of the oldest European peoples, fri many ways the more intelligent of them could perform work in a manner excelling the means used in certain trades here, and their ingenuity was astonishing.  On the banks of the River were many willow trees, their long boa-like branches drooping in bowers of green.  From these one of the prisoners of war produced several perfectly constructed hand baskets of different designs.  He had even ornamented some of them by soaking the willow strands in blue and red inks.  An intelligent South Australian on seeing one of the baskets remarked "Why, you could sell those!"  Always thinking of profits and not of the possibility of merely living as comfortably as required.  It was that prisoner-of-war basket maker who, as he gazed about him one day from an elevated portion of the estate, exclaimed: "If this place was in Italy, there would be more than half the population of South Australia living around here.  So, in that 300 years we spoke of many visions may come to be realities, and the Lower Murray, which once was the home of the Narrinyeri aborigines, the most intelligent of all the native tribes of Australia, may hold a population even greater than that stated by the prisoner.  We will now return to the review of the Murray steamers, and quote from a very early official authority.

"In 1853, when the gold fever had somewhat abated, the navigation of the Murray became a subject of absorbing interest and importance.  Since Sturt had come down the stream in 1829, the value of that river, or rather, its eventual importance to the internal trade of nearly one-half of Australia, had not been thought of.  In August, 1852, Captain Francis Cadell came down the river in a canvas boat from about the junction of the Darling, with the object of examining it, and ascertaining to what extent it was navigable to large craft.  The result was most satisfactory, and on the fact becoming known a reward of £4,000 was offered under certain conditions for the first two steamers which should be navigated from Goolwa near the entrance of the Murray, to the junction of the stream with the River Darling.  A company called the River Murray Navigation Co. was formed by Capt. Cadell with assistance of Mr. Wiiliam Younghusband, one of the leading merchants of the Colony, and the Lady Augusta steamer was built and started on her trial voyage.  Previous to this Mr. Wm. Randell had built a small steamer at Mannum, on the Murray, about eighty miles above Goolwa, and had steamed up the Murray and for some distance along the Darling, but his craft did not fulfil the conditions which would entitle him to the reward.  The trip of the Lady Augusta was thoroughly successful.  The Governor and his wife, with a large party of ladies and gentlemen, accompanied Capt. Cadell.  The Lady Augusta steamed as far as Swan Hill, a distance of about 1500 miles.  From this point Sir Henry Young wrote to the secretary of State announcing the success of the expedition.  The opening-up of the Murray and the establishment of an inter-colonial trade in the adjacent country did not realise the expectations which those who established it had anticipated.  Many steamers were placed on the River, but the trade waned and finally dwindled down to unremunerative proportions.  Nearly all the persons who were engaged in it at the outset lost heavily, and Capt. Cadell was nearly ruined by it.  South Australia did her utmost to secure the trade by engaging in extensive operations to clear the river of obstructions, but the Victorian Govt refused to assist or cooperate in this useful work.  That colony was anxious to secure the trade for itself, and in a short time constructed a railway to Echuca, to intercept the traffic and take it into Melbourne.  South Australia for years afterwards did not attempt to connect the Murray with her own seaboard, and when she did the golden opportunity had passed away.  Sir Henry Young, it is true, caused a trainline to be constructed from Goolwa to Pt. Elliot where it was expected wool would be shipped for England.  That however, was in every way unsuitable for shipping, being small and rocky with bad anchorage, and dangerous to approach.  The Queen of Sheba, a barque of 600 tons, did enter it, and she got out again.  But she never renewed her visit.  Several small craft were lost in the port itself, and after a short period of unsatisfactory experience the place was abandoned.  This experiment cost the Colony nearly £50,000, the population of the Colony being then 79,000 souls.  Later a railway was constructed west ward from Goolwa to Victor Harbour in Encounter Bay and a breakwater constructed at the latter place from Granite Island.  There is deep water there, perfect shelter from prevailing winds, and the harbour is accessible in almost all weather; yet the place is now but little used.  Most of the wool which comes down the Murray is taken direct by rail from Morgan to Port Adelaide, thereby saving much time in shipment and consider able expense in loading and unloading.  Such is the report written for the iSouth Australian Govt, and respect must be paid to it.  The fact must not be lost sight of, however, that even if there were possible a seaport to take the ship-loads of produce floated down the Murray there would ever he combative exertions by those vested interests of Port Adelaide.  A sea captain once remarked on the granite boulders which are a feature of such places as Port Victor and Port Elliot, and said they should be quite sufficient to suggest to those who were interested in the construction of deep sea ports and harbours the terrific forces of the Southern ocean.  Now the interest has shifted to Robe, and the report Is to the effect that "a break in the submarine continental shelf which surrounds most of Australia has been discovered by the crew of H.M.A.S. Lachlan, a frigate made available at the request of the Premier (Mr. Playford) to make soundings in connection with investi gations into the construction of harbour at Robe."  The break, so the report states, "is a huge canyon near the mouth of the Murray River, and is about as large as the Grand Canyon at Colorado, U.S.A.  Some geologists had suspected that the canyon existed, and the Lachlan made the survey south from Kangaroo Island towards Robe.  Soundings showed in half a mile a 3000 feet sheer drop to the sea floor level, the canyon being about eight miles wide.  Similar formations exist at the mouth of the Hudson River, the Amazon, and along the course of the Colorado in Arizona.  The suggestion that the canyon might exist with important bearings on harbor construction in this State, was made by a geologist who was engaged with Harbor Board officials in harbor construction."  Ah very interesting, as the late Mr. Howchin would have said when he was wont to lecture on the comparatively young science of geology and contend that Mt Blanc had been obliterated several times while the Mount Lofty Ranges remained intact as the most ancient in the world.  Its a wonder this remarkable discovery has not been made ere this.  Maybe the opinions of the Encounter Bay fishermen might be worth having.  But we digress; let us back to our River steamers, the history of which is of quite absorbing interest and one that should not be the stamping ground for any newcomer with a purpose in view.

 

Article #14 - Dated Thursday 3 July 1947

Capt. Johnstone Family

Fortunately there are still among the living the descendants of some of the old River captains of the Murray who are able to make definite statements as to their own early experiences and recite the informative details of their parent's conversations relative to a period prior to their own birth.  One of these is Mrs. A. L. Hawke, daughter of Captain Adam Johnstone, who resides in the very house which Capt. Johnstone. built 54 years ago and named "Woodlands," at Murray Bridge.  When that house was erected there were few dwellings in Murray Bridge and it was all scrub where Capt. Johnstone built his house, after purchasing some 30 acres of land from the Government.  There were twelve children in Adam Johnstone's family, 5 sons and 7 daughters, only two of whom remain, Mrs. Hawke (78) and a son, John Johnstone (71).

Mrs. Hawke is very hale and hearty and looks and converses as if she were ten years younger than she is.  She is the second daughter of Capt. Johnstone, who came out from Scotland as an apprentice to Capt. Cadell at the age of 21.  There were, several Capt. Johnstones who, of course, were not captains when they arrived in South Australia, but became such after experience on the river and the sea and obtaining their certificates which were the result of severe examinations.  There were Capts. George Johnstone, a cousin of Adam Johnstone, and Capt. Tom Johnstone, a brother of Adam.  Capt. George Johnstone used to come through the Murray mouth with the steamer Queen of the South, trading from Port Adelalde to Goolwa.  The steamer Queen of the South was purchased for the purpose of taking the materials for the first bridge over the Murray at Murray Bridge, but Capt. Johnstone found that she drew too much water to negotiate the channel at Wellington.  The material lay at Port Adelaide for many years and then was hauled over the distance to the site of the new bridge by way of Callington.

Capt. Tom Johnstone, a brother of Adam, owned the Jolly Miller, the first iron steamer built in South Australia.  Her hull lies at the bottom of the River at the Dolphins the channel on the Hindmarsh Island side.  Capt. Tom Johnstone's super cargo was W. Anderson, and his mate was his brother Adam, who later became the Captain Adam Johnstone above referred to, and who had then not obtained his captain's certificate.  Capt. Adam Johnstone died on Sept. 25th, 1905, at his home at Woodlands, Murray Bridge, after a long illness following upon an accident which occurred while he was taking off wool at Morgan.  He tripped over a wire on the barge containing the wool and fell twelve feet to the deck of the barge, breaking his hip.  He was a native of Pt. Seaton, Scotland.  Before coming to South Australia he was in the service of Capt. Cadell, trading between Leith and the Baltic.  That was in the whaling days.  He was also whaling in the Arctic with his brother, Tom.  He came to South Australia in 1856 in the brig Lady Emma, and with this vessel Capt. Cadell sent out the first two steamers from the Old Country that were put on the Murray, viz., the Albury and the Gundagai, which were shipped in sections and landed at Port Elliot, subsequently being put together and launched at Goolwa.  Capt. Adam Johnstone assisted with the building and launching of these vessels and was for some time mate in the Gundagai.  He went to the gold diggings in Victoria, and upon his return was employed by Mr. S. Heseltine on the steamers Menindie and Shannon.  When Mr. Heseltine retired from the River trade, Capt. Johnstone went into the employ of the late Mr. John White and was Master of the Menindie and Saddler for that gentleman.  He continued in Mr. White's employ until that gentleman's fleet of River steamers was dispersed on account of the owner's death.

Capt. 'Bob' Grundy

In the possession of the writer is a copy of a publication in aid of the Wentworth Hospital in 1867.  Among the advertisements is one as follows: "Steamer, Queen, freight, lowest terms, first-class accommodation for passengers. This well known steamer makes fortnightly trips between Goolwa and Wentworth.  For freight or passage apply to Stilling & Co., Adelaide, or W. Gunn, Prop., Wentworth."  That advt. was shown to the late Capt. Robert Grundy when he was on one of his visits to his home at Murray Bridge and Master of the steamer Tolarno.  He was a wonderful old man was Capt. 'Bob' Grundy, and his sons Alick and Charlie were associated with the Irrigation Dept. for practically all their lives.  Alick passed on only last year and Charlie is engaged in the Engineering & Water Supply Dept. at Murray Bridge but he was for the longest portion of his life with the Irrigation Dept. and with his brother knew the River, its steamers and its barges from A to Z.  Their father Capt. 'Bob' was wont to be consulted by the writer if he proposed a fishing excursion on the Murray, and when asked what the weather would be like the next day the old Capt. would cast his eye skywards and give his verdict "wind from the North," "wind from the South," "rough weather and rain."  By this means the writer was enabled to make his arrangements or postpone his outing, and he was always right in his forecast.  Presumably his long experience on the River had perfected his capacity to prognosticate on the weather.  When the old advertisement was shown him, his eyes lit up with memories recalled. "She sank three or four months ago (5/10/29) at Mypolonga and is not likely to be lifted.  She's in 40 or 50 feet of water.  She was purchased by W. H. Bruce, who was trading with her between Morgan and Renmark as a general store with some £1500 worth of stores.  She caught alight on the Mypolonga side of the River, and blew across to the other side where she sank."

In the same little volume another advertisement: "Steamer, Prince Alfred, will make regular trips every three weeks, between Milang and Wentworth.  Good accommodation for passengers.  Oliver J. Walker.''  The Queen and the Prince Alfred are but two of the many steamers that plied their trade upon the Murray and its tributaries.

Randell and Cadell

The Randell-Cadell scandal has been laid we may say for all time, and there is no need to dwell upon their individual voyages in the initial navigation of the great waterway.  The story or stories of the River Murray steamers will surely continue to command interest, and the writer would suggest a worthy movie illustrative of the life in the boom era of that means of transporting the wool and other products of the stations on the river to the capitals.  In America they would have taken such action long since.  The story of the river boats and the life thereon has not been so worked as the Randell-Cadell controversy, but even that subject has been ploughed over many times previously.  The more interesting reviews have perhaps been indited by reporters working for a wage and without the capital or backing to write a book about the many old river hands with whom they were friendly and to whom they were indebted 'for the facts' they recorded.  To them we are beholden as are possibly the authors of more pretentious publications, for the actual facts of the happenings and the spirit of that period when the Murray was in fact a real artery of commerce and ere the Railways had sounded the death knell of such a system of transport.

Let us pick up one of these illuminating articles by one who seeks no plaudits and is content to recount the doings of quite a small army of River men, even including Randell and Cadell, and the names of numerous river steamers all under almost anonymity.  "Captain Cadell," he writes, "formed a company called the River Murray Navigation Company, and with Mr. Younghusband as manager.  Finally the company closed up the business and sold the boats.  Capt. George Johnstone and Charlie Murphy, the engineer, bought the Albury.  Capt. Barber bought the Lady Augusta.  He once told the writer how he came to buy her.  He was master of her at the time.  The manager said to him: "Well, Barber, what about buying the Lady Augusta and the Murrumbidgee barge?  We will sell you the plant for £2,400."  ''Where do you suppose I can get £2400, I couldn't put up 2400 pence," replied the skipper. "Never mind that," said the manager, "we will take your bills for the whole amount, and what is more, we will load you with station stores and take your bills for the lot."  "Well," he said, "the offer was too good to refuse."  They loaded him with 120 tons of station supplies —flour, sugar, tea, tobacco, and general groceries.  The trade was chiefly on the Murrumbidgee in those days and, he added, "I never had to ask for a day's time or the renewal of a bill."  The steamer Gundagai was sold and sent to New Zealand to run on the Waikato river during the Maori war, and after some years was lost on the Wanganui bar.  To show how great events from little causes rise, when she was coming over the bar, the cook's dishcloth became jammed in the wheel block, and before it could be cleared the boat broached broadside on to the breakers and was lost.  Capt. James King was a master on the River in those days.  He was an old sea dog.  He ran an unwieldy boat called the Ruby through the Murray Mouth, and was wont to say he expected she would leave her bones there.  But she never did.  He built the Francis Cadell, Jupiter and Venus barges.  After he sold the Francis Cadell in Brisbane he put engines into the Jupiter—as a matter of fact they were the Lady Augusta's engines, and as late as a quarter of a century ago were running on Lake .Alexandrina.  Capt. King left the river hurriedly and this was the reason.  He had left some of the crew to load the barge with wool at a certain station, while he went on to Bourke with the steamer, and on his return found that the barge had thrown all the deckload of wool overboard.  He asked how it happened and was told that they had unknowingly loaded her on a snag, and finally she had slipped off the snag and rolled all the deck wool off.  The manager and storekeeper were there.

The skipper said "It's just what I might have expected, it's all through gross carelessness.  If I had been here it would not have happened."  The upshot was that the insurance company or the station owners sued him for the amount with his own statement as evidence against him.  He, finding that the case was going against him, sold his belongings, and when the verdict was given was on his way to New Caledonia.  There were others that came in and started in the River trade by this time — Capt Webb, with the Mulgewanke; also Capt. W. R. Randell who was the first to navigate the Darling above Cuthero.  Cadell went as far as Cuthoro but the water being too low he returned and at Para met the Mary Anne which kept on, and meeting a rise, went right up to the Fisheries, better known now as Brewarrina, some 140 miles above what was then known as Fort Bourke.  There is a bar of rock right across the river there about 14ft. above zero level, and the first of any consequence from its junction, over 1000 miles.  Soon after this Capt. Randell built a boat called the Gemini, and navigated the Darling for some years.  This is the boat that frightened all the blacks out of their wits along the river.  She had an exhaust, between a cough and a sneeze, long drawn out, finishing up with a bang like a 12 inch gun.  She could be heard for miles.  He also built the Bunyip, which was somewhat superior in the way 31 passenger accommodation for those days.  Unfortunately it was burnt in 1864.  Then he built the Bogan, afterwards the Nil Desperandum, and the Ariel.  He also bought the Corowa and almost up to the time of his death was interested in River steamboats.  He was always a sturdy battler for the River, and strived to make Mannum the chief river port.  But circumstances were too much for him and though today Mannum is a thriving centre it has long ceased to be a river port.  Ebenezer and Elliot Randell were old river skippers and owners.  Ebenezer bought the Mulgewanke, and Elliot built the Pearl.  The other old hands, Capt. Sam Johnston, who was a skipper in the R.M. Navigation Co., afterwards bought the Jolly Miller which he owned and ran for many years.  A. H. Landseer was a very old identity on the river as owner and shipping agent, and tried hard to make Milang the chief shipping.  The mouth had proved to be dangerous for commercial purposes and Milang did a big share of the river trade until the Morgan railway was opened.  That knocked all the aspiring ports clean out.  Capt. Jas. Ritchie went to Echuca, and was running his own boat for many years from that port.  Capt. Jim Mace was another of the old brigade.  He was master of the Settler and Lady Daly, and was known as the 'Hell-Fire Jack' of the Murray.  For many years he was master of the Cumberoona running a passenger service between Echuca and Albury.  Capt. Cadel! was murdered in the Islands by a treacherous native.  One little episode in his career, which was a stormy one, is recalled.  He left the Darling at Cuthero once on horseback to look at the country at the hack of the Anabranch.  At that time only the frontages were taken up.  He took a blackfellow with him for a guide.  He evidently expected to see a well-defined watercourse, which, as the seasons were dry, he failed to find.  The blackfellow told him he had crossed the Anabranch, but he would not believe him, and kept on going West.  He used to chain the blackfellow to a tree at night, as the native had tried to clear out, but was caught and chained to the stirrup, while Cadell kept on going westward.  He was soon out of food and water, and finally killed his horse, drank its blood, and ate some of its flesh.  Then on west ward again, on foot, he finally struck the Murray at Broken Cliffs near Boggy Flat, about thirty miles above Morgan,  The blackfellow when asked what he thought of Capt. Cadell afterwards summed him up in one. sentence:  "Big pheller plurry fool!"  There was another man that undoubtedly made a trip through the same country but  in the opposite direction, and did it without a companion.  He was not a mariner but a bushman.  He started from the Burra for the North-West Bend, now Morgan but on the road managed to take a side track which finally ran out.  He had no food or water with him.  To save time he thought he would cut across country instead of going back, but it proved a long cut for him as after events proved.  That cut landed him in about nine days on the Anabranch about Popiltah.  How he got through that then inhospitable country without water or food and brought his horse, is a mystery.  There was another steamer built in the early days—in the early sixties—called the Queen.  She was a stern wheeler built on another principle.  The wheel was recessed into the stern.  She was housed all over from stem to stern, and you could see the wheel.  She was a favorite passenger boat built by Capt. Barber who sold her to Mr. Wlm. Ounn, of Wentworth and was a regular trader for years between Goolwa and Wentworth.  She had the honor of taking the Duke of Edinburgh for a trip around the Lakes in 1868 on his visit to the colonies in H.M.S. Galatea.  Capt. Pickhills was master of her for many years.  Capt. Barber had a brother, Jack, who was wrecked on one of the South Sea Islands, and narrowly escaped being eaten by the natives.  He spent seven years in the Islands and was given up as lost but was finally rescued.  He afterwards came to the River Murray and was drowned from a boat just leaving the bank where Morgan now stands.

And so we get back in the last porion of this survey to Goolwa and the steamer Queen mentioned in the early portion as catching fire at Mypolonga.  It will be noticed that the name Johnstone as given by Mrs. Hawke (widow of Capt. Adam John stone) is spelled without the 'E' in the latter portion of this survey of the steamers.  Mrs. Hawke explained to the writer: "We always thought our name was Johnston, until I had occasion to procure my birth certificate when it was discovered there was an 'e' on the end of it."  "There were," she said, "several of them at Goolwa, who with other settlers of the same nationality, formed quite a small Scotch village.

 

 

The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA : 1880 - 1954) (about)

Previous issue Thursday 10 July 1947

Article #15 - Dated Thursday 10 July 1947

CHARLIE the RAISON, COOK the BACON; SCULLY HUNT the white-headed BUGG; up the creek to old man PEAKE

IN the article published in this series, in which the writer dealt at some" length with Swanport and the old crossing places on the Murray River, it was mentioned that Swan port was originally known as Thompson's Crossing.  It was so named be cause the land on the Western side of the river (the Swanport side) was held by Mr. Thompson, a well-known pastoralist.  On the Eastern side of the river the land was held by Allan Bell, whom we mentioned in the article dealing with Mount Barker on April 24th.  That number of this series dwelt upon the outstanding activities of the Dunn family, father and son, John and John Jnr., one reason being that their enterprise eventually became State and Commonwealth wide.  The late Mr. Allan Bell was merely cited as one of the earliest settlers in the Mount Barker district.  There were many others, of course, the early histories regarding whom might have been dwelt upon, but an article must of necessity be limited in its survey owing to the  exigencies of space.  Those readers of "The Courier'' who are able to furnlsh reliable data upon the subject of the earliest pioneering families may rest assured that if they forward such interesting annals of the old days to the Editor, they will be duly acknowledged by the writer, and, as this series of articles proceeds, their main pionts will be incorporated in the future editions of the "Courier."

One such interesting communication came in following upon the article dealing with Mount Barker.  It referred to settlers on the south side, of the "creek" and is quoted as follows:— "Robert Peake arrived in Sth Australia from Cornwall at the age of 19 years about the year 1838, and, proceeding to Mount Barker, worked for William Wedd.  On the day fol lowing the formation of the Mount Barker Council he began employment with that body driving a bullock dray and claimed to be the council's first employe.  While he was at Wedd's, John Dunn came to work there.  He then saved his money and began milling on his own account.  Robert Peake carried flour from Dunn's mill to Adelaide by bullock wagon before there were any roads to Mount Barker.  Mrs. Dunn often accompanied him to protect the loads.  His carrying service was continued by his son Robert until some time after World War I was concluded.  A weird saying among the old men of Mount Barker, who claimed to be the first settlers on the South side of the creek in Mount Barker proper was the following:—

CHARLIE the RAISON, COOK the BACON; SCULLY HUNT the white headed BUGG; up the Creek to old man PEAKE.

All the names printed in capitals claimed to be the first settlers.  Robert Peake's house is still standing.  It was the first stone house built south of the creek, the others being of slab and thatch.  Robert Peake Jr. is still among the land of the living and has reached the ripe old age of 93. He still resides in the old homestead at Mount Barker in which town the fifth generation of the Peake family has begun.  'Old Bob' has been questioned lately by some of the earliest settlers relatives, who found his information to be correct."

Such communications are of much interest, and, as stated, we shall be pleased to receive others having a bearing upon the old pioneering days.  In reference to the original Allan Bell, that old pioneer arrived in Sth Australia in 1839 in the ship Lady Bute, and after a few years residence in Unley, proceeded to Mount Barker and engaged in farming pursuits on the Bald Hills.  His son Allan, upon leaving school, obtained valuable experience in the management of stock and general farming on his father's property, and later became interested 'in the squatters' stations on the River Murray.  His father continued on in the control of the "Dalmeny Park" estate for many years, his two sons succeeding to the property, which subsequently was owned by John Darling and J. Jenn Boucaut (after wards Judge Boucaut).  In 1905 it was purchased by Mr. Allan Bell, who entered into residence there while still retaining his property on the Murray.  "Dalmeny Park" is famous for having grown wheat in 1851 which took the world's prize in London, and later in Paris.  The estate also was noted for its prize Shorthorn cattle, the great bull "Grand Junction" having left his strain among the cattle of Mount Barker.  Mr. Bell died on Jan. 23, 1908.

That is a short biography of the late Mr. Allan Bell, who occupied the land on the opposite side of the River Murray from Swanport, and whose name, even as that of many others, was closely linked with the early days of Mount Barker.  In these articles the writer has hinted that there was the possibility of whalers and sealers who lived on Kangaroo Island having penetrated into the Ranges, and what is more likely than they should be sufficiently adventurous to reach such an eminence as Mount Barker.  For the earliest recordings of such explorations we have to delve into such volumes as the early experiences of John Wrathall Bull who, in his recapitulation of facts gathered from the report of Mr. King who accompanied Capt. Barker on the fateful expedition which ended in his tragic death, mentions how Capt. Barker came to the exceedingly rich flats near Mount Barker (named after him) and continued on to Lake Alexandria and Goolwa.  We quote the historically interesting excerpt from Mr. Bull's reminiscences:  "The killing of Capt. Barker on the Eastern side of the mouth of the Murray occurred some years before the formation of the Colony, and I believe the tribe by which he was killed were afterwards guilty of other murders in our time, as such took place in the same district Capt. Barker, a brother officer of Capt. Sturt, both of the 89th Regiment of the line, then quartered in Sydney, was ordered by Sir Ralph Darling, Governor of New South Wales, on his way from West ern Australia, 'to visit and inspect the Gulf of St. Vincent and Encounter Bay, to explore and examine the country, to ascertain if the favorable report of it furnished by Capt. Sturt on his return from his boat trip down the River Murray, to near its em /bouchure, founded only on the dis tant views he was able to obtain of the country in passing up and down the River, was borne out by an actual inspection of it.' I gather the follow ing facts from the report of Mr. King who accompanied Capt. Barter. It appears that he, with a party, left their ships (we may presume at Hold fast Bay) and travelled on foot to the top of Mount Lofty, from whence it may be said, he had on all sides of him a most extensive and splendid prospect. From this elevation he made his way, principally through a dense forest, till he came to the ex ceedingly rich flats near Mount Bar ker (named after him), and continued on from thence to Lake Alexandrina and the Lower Murray or the Goolwa. Wishing to get a good view of the outlet to the sea, he left his party

and swam across one of the channels, with his compass fastened on his head. He was seen after leaving the water to ascend a high sand hum mock, and then disappeared from sight, never to he seen again alive or dead by his people. As he did not return, be was subsequently sought for by tbem, -accompanied by a white sealer and a native woman from Kan garoo Island, and they ascertained he had been killed, and that his body was thrown into the stream and was carried out to sea." I conjecture be was cast into the rapid swirl with his compass untouched as they evidently got rid of his remains and all he had about him effectually, as nothing has since been discovered of anything he had witb him, r think they dreaded to touch the compass, as they would think it would be some mysterious part of bis person, as some of them thought the firm man on horseback formed, with the horse, one animal, and as "was related to me by a river black wbo first saw Capt. Sturt in his boat, and the one following him, he believed them to be two animals with 'plenty beads and long arms.' Having met -with some further particu lars nn w visit to Mount Barker

about seven years after Capt. Barker fell, I ifelt mucb on the painful sub ject. I came upon a camp of blacks, at or near the spot where he left his party, and amongst them was a wo man wlio could speak a few words of English. She had been recently sto len from the Adelaide tribe, and had been told by the black who had caught tier, by what J could make out, as follows: That the tribe would not have killed him ('Capt. Barker) only he ran away and would not stop when they gave him friendly signs, and so a spear was thrown at him, which made him tumble down. She could not tell me of anything taken from him. I could gather that he, was cut off by some who were secret ed in ambush, and whom he had passed so that he could not return towards his party." And so we finish the relating of the first exploration, headed hy Capt. Barker, after whom the Mount was named, and the trag

edy which removed him. from the liv-i ing. 'In him the King lost one of his

most valuable officers, and his regi-j

ment one of its most efficient mem bers," wrote Capt. Sturt.

Turning the pages of Mr. (Bull's volume we come again upon reference to Mount Barker. It is a reference to tile first overland expedition with cattle by Joseph Hawdon' back in 1838. Tt had been intended to pub lish the diary of Hawdon in this se ries, as the writer had it in his pos session, but owing to its length, it was thought best to quote as does ■ Mr. Bull, the statement of Charles

Bonuex who was Hawdon's right-hand man oil the expedition: "The first overland expedition was fitted out by Joseph Hawdon Esq. The cattle, about 300 head, were mustered on the River Goulburn, just below the point where the Sydney Road then crossed it. A start was made on the 26th Jan., 1S38. I had joined the party a day or two previously, and had under taken the duty of leading the drays and choosing the line of route, the cattle being generally some little dis tance in the lear. The course we had intended to take was to follow the Goulburn to the point where Mitchell supposed he had left it when he turn ed to the Southward after exploring the River Darling and then take his track to. the Southward, to follow the course of some of the rivers which he had crossed, and which he described as flowing to the westward, hoping that we might thereby avoid what

was tlien anticipated to be a difficult country to get through with cattle, in the neighborhood of the Murray cliffs described by Capt. Sturt. "We found as we followed the course of the Goulburn, instead of its running in the direction of Mitchell's supposed point of departure from its banks, a little north of west, it tended more and more to the north, and some times east of north, until we sud denly came upon the junction of a large river coining from the east ward. Knowing that we were some where about 100 miles to the east ward of what Mitchell had described as the junction of the Goulburn with the Murray, and yet feeling certain that the river before us could be none other than the Murray, we were very much puzzled at first to reconcile Mitchell's account with what we saw. However, at last we hit upon the so lution of the difficulty, which after wards we proved to be correct, that he had mistaken a channel of the Murray for the junction of another river, and thus we pursued our course along the left hank of the Murray until we came to Mitchell's track. We then followed the course he took to the southward, passing the hill he named Mount Hope, because from the summit lie saw a line of trees which seemed to mark the course of a large river flowing to the westward. We also had a view from the summit of Mount Hope, hut it was Mount Dis appointment to us. The line of trees described by Mitchell evidently mark ed the direction of a watercourse flowing to the northward to join the Murray. However, we followed Mit chell's track till we came to a log bridge which he had thrown across the river seen from Mount Hope, which he named the Yarrayne. His grand river had dwindled down to a dry creek, with only a little water left in some of the holes at distant intervals. The question then was what course should we follow?

(Continued Next Week)

 

 

The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA : 1880 - 1954) (about)

Previous issue Thursday 17 July 1947

Article #16 - Dated Thursday 17 July 1947

My advice to go back to the Murray was followed. To do this we conti nued on the course of the Yarrayne ■to its junction with the Murray, and continued to follow down on the left bank of that River until we thought we were below the junction of the Darling, when we crossed to the other or north side, but soon found we had crossed a little too early, the junction of the Darling being still below us. However, as we were travelling in a very dry season, and the rivers were all very low, the crossing of the Dar ling gave us no trouble. After this we kept the right 'bank of the River Murray until w« had passed the North West Bend, and made three days' journey on its southerly course. We then left the river, and after a

very hard day's work got through the scrub, and camped at the foot of the range. Following the course of the range to the southward, until we found an opening we passed imme diately to the north of Mount Barker, when we saw the first signs of civi lisation in the shape of horse tracks. From the summit of the Mount we had a view of Lake Alexandrina, and being misled by Sturt's map, in which the junction of the River and the lake was shown as being in the same lati tude as Adelaide, we kept a south west direction in travelling through the ranges and, after coming upon the Onkaparinga, followed its course until we came out at the Horseshoe. Here we found a party of kangaroo hunters tSladden and others) and learned from them the direction and distance of the settlement, as Ade laide was then called, which we reached ou the 4th April, 1S3S, having performed the journey in ten weeks. Thus ended the first overland journey from New South Wales to South Aus tralia after Capt. Sturt's boat expedi tion—a journey accomplished without any disaster or difficulty worth men tioning. and also without the loss of a single head of cattle. After we left Mitchell's Yarrayne everything went smoothly: we had no trouble what ever with the natives. At Swan Hill we established friendly relations with them, and from that point until we

left the river they always sent for- ■

ward messages to the next tribe to ] give notice of our approach, and we ! used to find the tribe drawn up to meet us, on which occasions they gave vent to their astonishment in an audible manner at the sight of what to them vvas such a strarige race. On one occasion only were we in danger

of coining into collision with them. I had left the drays and proceeded in advance to look out for a road, and the party had come up with a tribe of blacks, drawn up, as usual, at the edge of a lagoon which the drays had to go round, and the blacks wishing to have another look at the strange white creatures, took a short cut across the lagoon to meet them, when our crew became frightened, and took it into their heads that the blacks were going to attack them, and halt ed their drays and got out their fire arms. The blacks, seeing what was going on, handled their spears in self defence. Fortunately at the moment X returned just as the fight was about

to commence. Having been a great |

deal among the blacks, and being; well acquainted with their habits, I at once saw the mistake the men had made, and ordered them to put down -their guns. I then rode up to the natives, and by signs induced them to lay down their spears, and so peace was restored."

The report by Dominick Woods, written for the South Australian Go vernment in referring to this history making journey of Hawdon's. gives the number of the herd of cattle tra velled over as 335 bullocks, cows, hei fers and horses, and only four bul locks were lost in the course of the long and risky journey. A public dinner was given to Mr. Hawdon at which ninety persons were present. A snuff-box was presented to him in

the name of the people of South. Aus tralia. An ox from the herd Mr. Haw don had brought over was roasted whole to do honor to him on the oc

casion.

In perusing this interesting narrar tive of the first overland journey with cattle, the writer was intrigued by the mention in Mr. ©onney's state ment of the name of Sladden as head of a party of kangaroo hunters met with near Mount Barker, and he re called that the stroke of the famous Olympic eight-oar crew was W. M. Sladden, who now with his son. Max, is the proprietor of a successful gen eral store in Murray Bridge. Calling upon Mr. Sladden the writer from memory repeated that portion of Mr Bonney's narrative regarding the meeting with the party of kangaroo hunters headed by one Sladden. "That ■was my grandfather' said Mr. Slad den. "I have often heard my father speaking of his father's recital of that meeting. He said that my granddad recorded he was the first white man to eat roast kangaroo in South Aus tralia." 'Asked for some further par ticulars regarding the Sladden family the old-time outstanding oarsman said that his father, Basil Sladden, was the son of Smitherd Sladden, who

with his brother, Ben, came to South Australia back in the early thirties of last century. They came from Kent. Another brother imigrated to New South Wales. Basil Sladden had a family of five children, two sons (William. Melville and Alfred Benja min), and three daughters (Edith. Eva and Olive) all of whom are alive. Alfred was for many years in the En gineering and Water Supply Dept. and only retired a few years ago. Basil Sladden worked on the con struction of the railway line right through from Adelaide to Nairne and from Nairne to Murray Bridge. The family lived in tents, and William Sladden said he was born in a tent at Grunthal 64 years ago. Basil Slad den, upon the railway reaching Mur ray Bridge, settled in that town, the district being nothing practically but scrub with a few scattered small houses of a very primitive character. The land that he and his sons took tip is still known as Skuldentown. but most of it has been sold and modern houses have been erected upon the blocks. Both Alfred and William Sladden are a store of anec dotes. but one of the best stories is related by William, the one-time Olympic oarsman as told to the wri ter: "When we went away to the Olympic contests in 1924." he said, there were on board the two foremost tennis players in the persons of Jim Willard and Bayley Willard was a wonderful sport and 1 was great friends with him. On the trip over I mentioned that I would like to pur chase some tennis racquets while in London. He said he would take mo

to the best makers in London—Davis & Co.. and get them wholesale, as lis was agent for that fir.m in Sydney. Well we went, on arrival in London, to Davis's, and selected four extra fine racquets. Mr. Davis then said •Come down to the office and I will have your name put on them in gold lettering.' We proceeded to the of fice where a secretary was seated writing. On entering the office, and seeing the secretary. I said to my self: 'I have seen that man before somewhere'; but where I could not remember. Mr. Davis turned to me, saying, "Let me introduce you, what is your name?' Sladden. I said. 'Slad den.' he repeated. 'Why his name is Sladden, too—iMr. Sladden, meet Mr. Sladden.' and the introduction was made. In conversation with the sec retary subsequently, I found that I had never met him in my life, but that he was a descendant of my grandfather's brother who had mi grated to New South Wales. There must have been some family likeness which had been responsible for my belief tliatl had met him before somewhere. The world's a small place, to be sure," concluded the old oarsman.

 

Article #17 - Dated Thursday 24 July 1947

Callington CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

THE inhabitants of the little old

mining town of CALL.1NGTON

propose to hold centenary celebra tions on Friday, August 15th and to follow up the opening ceremony on the Saturday with a picnic race meet ing. The history attached to this little township is very interesting and the celebrations will doubtless be re sponsible for a reunion of many old identities whose anecdotes will make good reading. One such, and possibly the oldest of his generation still in the land of the living, was met by the writer a day or two ago, and he stated that he had received an invi tation to be present at the celebra tions. His name is Freidrich Wil helrn Lehmann, now residing <11 Mur ray Bridge. iMr. Lehmann was born at Callington on February 1st, 1S62. When 19 years of age he left Calling ton and migrated to the district of iMobilong where he took up a smallblock in 1881. 'He was horn near the Junction Bridge, a mile below Cal lington on the road to Strathalbyn.

For 44 years he farmed at Mobilong;

and has been for 23 years in Murray j Bridge, which town, of course, was | non-existent when he settled on hisj

block at Mypolonga, He was the first i

person to take up a scrub block in! that area of the then Colony. There I

Was not even a district council of Mo-j

bilong when he first started to farm j

his block, it was all open country in:

those days. The mining at Calling-] ton was initially started ill 1847 and | the price of copper was £.80 per ton1 and the mine worked for several ' years until the price for copper had!

fallen to £40 per ton. Then the com-j

pany owning the mine discovered that i

they had used all the share money! and also all their profits and had to' close down for want of funds. Mr. j

Lehmann's father was a sea-faring man and arrived in Callington in: 1848. There were five children, four ] boys and one girl, all of whom are j dead with the exception of Mr. Freid- \

rich Wilhelm Lehmann, who has been I

invited to the celebrations at Cal- ]

lington. Doubtless he will make a speech upon that occasion and he should be able, being a good speaker, to entertain those assembled with an excellent review of the early days of the old mining town, which is now given over to agricultural pursuits with a population shown in the direc tories of less than a hundred as com pared with some GOO in the district back in 18G5. But among the names of the farming community that of Lehmann is still present. Travellingon the Melbourne Express many years ago, the only occupant of a compartment besides the writer was a world-traveller, who in conversation on world topics, suddenly asked "Where is Callington?" "We are just about to come to it," replied the wri ter, "but what makes you ask the question?" '^Because," was the re ply, "the finest wheat in the world

was grown there last year." As the ; ■Express passed over the Bremer <

Creek, the depth of the soil was j

pionted out to the traveller and the comment made "with that soil they ought to he able to grow practically anything." The writer elaborated somewhat on the remark and explain ed how he had once in a hotel saloon expressed the opinion that they had only tinkered with the problem of ir rigation in South Australia. Therehappened to he present the Chief Secretary of the Parliament of the day. "And what would you do, might I ask, to alter matters, young man?" the politician asked. Put on his me tal, the young fellow (younger then than he is now) replied, "Well what about putting a mammoth reservoir atop of White Hill and irrigating the whole of the Callington Valley,'' Me thinks that gave the honorable mem ber one to go on with. He merely replied, "And where's the money com ing from to do it," Feeling he had gained the advantage, the writer con tinued the contest, and suggested, "Have you never thought of the grea ter productivity being eventually the means of increasing the wealth of a State apart from the higher Tating

possible upon land with an assured ,

water supply?" Some years after I this conversation a reservoir was ' placed on top of White Hill," hut it | was mainly to give an increased sup ply to the town of Murray Bridge and to serve some areas towards Brinkley Recently they have had the idea of "taking the Murray waters towards Monarto. But, although it is said achild must walk before it can run, many Government schemes appear puny and seem to lack imagination when one realises, the infinite possi bilities present in this wonderful land But who can say that one day the

Callington Valley will not "bloom as

the rose?"

Let us return to the mining history of Callington. The town is linked with Kanmantoo, which also was in those old days given over to mining. One recording of the mining industry of South Australia states:—"The his tory of mining could almost be that of the State for the pursuit was en tered into at a very early date." Al ter dilatiftg upon the more important mines such as the first at Kapunda, BurraJBurra, and Wallaroo and Moon ta copper mines which meant so much to the State, it continues: "Bremer copper mine is one of a group in thefoothills on the East of the Mount Lofty Ranges. It is situated thirty six miles South-East of Adelaide, was discovered in 1850, and worked for several years. At Paringa—a mem ber of the group—900 tons of ore were raised, and work ceased when the miners got down to the water level. At Kanmantoo, near the same

locality, 3,460 tons of ore were raised but it was too poor to pay for work ing. "The ruins of the mining and smelting works tell their own tale. A large amount of copper, however, has been mined here, and there are silver lead mines not far away. The Aclare Mine is distant 3 miles, and the Scott Creek mine is one and a half miles from Aclare. Kanmantoo has had much the same fortune as Callington.Within a short distance of it are sev eral mines which did not repay the enterprise of their promotors, but enough was done to prove that hop per exists in considerable quantities. From the Kanmantoo mine alone up wards of 16,000' tons of ore were ob tained during the occasional periods of its working, and it is only one of a numerous group. At least one of the mines was working as late as 1908 but now wine making has taken the place of mining and there are extensive vineyards in the Kanmantoo dis trict." The old gazetteer of 1865 re cognises Callington as "a postal town

ship in the County of Sturt in the

electoral district of Onkaparinga, hd. |

of Kanniantoo. and under the control j of the district council of Nairn o. It is situated on the Bremer Creek, the. Mount Barker creek being distant 3 miles W., and the River Murray dis tant W miles E. The district is an agricultural one, wheat and barley being extensive'y grown. The Calling ton or Bremer copper mines lie near the township. The nearest places are Kanmantoo, distant 3i miles N.,Woodchester, 8. miles S., and Swan port, distant 16 miles E., the communication being with the first-named place, or with Adelaide, 41 miles W., by daily rail coach, and with the other places by horse or dray. In Callington the hotels are the Calling ton and the Tavistock. There is a post and money office in the township, and a booking office whence the mail coacli runs to and from AdelaideNairne and Kanmanton daily. The

surrounding country is rather elevat ed, and mineral traces are found in nearly every direction. The popula tion numbers COO persons, including the farming population in the neigh borhood." In a notice on the Bremer Mine, the same authority stated that it was the name given to a copper mine lying 25 miles East of Adelaide. Austin describes this mine as follows "This mine is the freehold property of the Worthing Mining Company, and is sometimes called the Callington Mine—Callington being the name of the surrounding township, which has sprung up since the discovery of the mine. It was first discovered in 1850, and is 36 miles from Adelaide on the banks of the Bremer, a con siderable creek running into the Mur ray, though only a chain of brackish waterholes in summer. The surroun ding country is flat, consisting of clay-slate, shaly rock, micaceousschist, and occasionally a little quartz

(Continued on Page Two)

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from Page 1)

The present slate of the working may be thus described: The engine shaft is sunk to a depth of 53 fathoms, and levels have been driven at the follow ing depths—12, 23, 33. and 43 fathoms on the course of the lode X.20 degrees W, the 'total length of the drives is about 400 fathoms. Some line courses of ore have been met with five and six feet wide, but occasionally rather dredgy; however, at the lower levels there has been a decided improve ment in this respect, fine yellow ore,

of a duality superior to what has J

hitherto been raised as well as more j solid in the lode, being now in the

course of working at the 53 fathoms; crosscut. The ores in this mine aresulpburets of a good average quality,

the prevailing ore is yellow, there is 1 also black and a little peacock met' with. In the last five years 4.500 tons! of ore have been raised in five years j the largest proportion of which has been obtained during the last two years (1SG4 to 186G). The large en gine.is a very fine one of GO-inch cy linder, a similar engine (40 horse power) works the machinery, and; will be used for hauling. The smelt ing works, under the management of the Messrs. Thomas, are about 250 or ] 300 yards from ihe mine, and com prise one calcining and two smelting furnaces. The copper made is of the quality of 9G per cent, of pure copper, the refining process being omitted. Notwithstanding the sntali average produce of the ores—only 13 per cent. —lower, I believe, than any other mine in the colony, this mine is madeto pay, owing to the very careful

management adopted by Alfred Hai left Esq.. who devotes a considerable portipn of bis time to the personal supervision of the mine. Everything is done with strict economy, and the important principle 'let nothing be wasted or lost' is fully carried out. Machinery is made largely available for reducing the ore, and thus a mineworked as other mines of the colony which must at once show a toss if are worked, is considered profitable to the proprietors, besides providing direct employment for 120 hands, in cluding smelters, and indirectly pro viding the means of living for three or four times that number. That useful and recently invented machine known as 'Appleton's Stonebreaker' is employed for crushing inferior ores preparatory to their being sorted, the best of the ore having previously been broken and picked by hand, when it is sent to the crushing rollers to pre pare it for the furnace. The smalls are dealt with as usual, being jigged and washed. The most important machinery for washing the srhalls andthe siime ores is in use at the mine, consisting of a continuation of Vym's Rake Buddie, self-acting Jiggers, and the revolving table, hitherto only used for washing lead ores, has been ad apted. by Mr. Hallett for separating the slime, and found to answer admi rably. From what I saw of its per formance I am convinced that its use in other mines would add a consider able percentage to the profits and

would enable more mines to be pro-1 fitably worked which at present yield)nothing to the proprietors. Many of our mine adventurers would derive!

a useful lesson, and more man one perhaps from a. visit to the Bremer mine. There has heen no extravagant outlay on handsome buildings, and 'no more cats are kept than catch mice' yet everything absolutely ne cessary appears to he provided. I look upon this as the model mine of South Australia, and its enterprising manager, Mr. Hallett, deserves the highest praise for the judicious and persevering manner in which he has developed the property in spite of difficulties that would have deterred many."

That authoritative report on the old 'Callington copper mine should pro vide a suitable text upon which the older generation may dilate when they meet to celebate their town ship's centenary, and doubtless Mr. Freidriek Wilhelm Lehmann, as one who was but 12 months old when the report was made, will have some thing to say respecting the condi tions of life in Callington, as he knewit in those old days. He will he able1 to describe the four-roomed mud house with the clay ceiling in which he was brought into the world, and which he contends was cooler than most modern houses with its shingle roof. Others also will he able to paint many interesting anecdotes respecting the gradual clearing of theiand for agricultural purposes until it eventually reached the stage whenOallinglon won the world-champion

for its wheat.

The "Courier" wishes all those con iterted with the Centenary Celebra tions at Callington signal success in all aspects of the historic event.

 

 

Article #18 - Dated Thursday 31 July 1947

CALLINGTON CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

IN this article of the "Casket" se

ries the writer will continue his

historically interesting survey of the town and district of Callington, cele brations in connection with which town are to be held on its reaching the centenary of its settlement in 1947

In the previous article on the sub ject, the name of Mr. Freidrich Wil helm Lehmann was prominent, (now resident in Murray Bridge, in retire ment for some 23 years), he being possibly the oldest living representa tive of those who were born in Cal lington. There was some talk of his being invited to make a speech at the celebrations and it surely would have been a worth-while address,1 for theold octogenarian is a fluent * English speaker. In the event of his being unable to be present upon the auspi cious occasion, the writer has thought fit to piece together the facts relative to the old mining town and to ima

gine that Mr. Lehmann is addressing! the assembled crowd at .Callington when the centenary celebrations are opened. The writer, for the moment, gate-crashes in upon the ceremony and as a sort of vice-chairman calls upon .Mr. Freidrich Wilhelm Lehmann to address the audience.—

Mr. Lehmann.—iMr. Chairman, La-]

dies and Gentlemen. You have al ready been informed through the co

lumns of the "Mount Barker Courier" j

of certain facts relative to this dear

old town, the centenary of which we ]

to-day celebrate. You have even been; informed of that, shall I say, rather, trivial occurrence, my own birth in i my father's mud house at the Cal lington Junction Bridge way back on February 1st, 1862. I would now wish to give some idea, to those of late generations, of those very early days and who were the pioneers of this place. Well, it started in 1847, with the farmers settling here. My father came direct from the sea, he being a seafaring man, and took up a selec tion of 130 acres at the junction of the Mount Barker and the Bremer Creeks, where the Junction Bridge is now situated. The 'mud house he ■built then has been pulled down and a more modern dwelling occupies its site. When I left Callington .at 19years of age to take up a scrub block in the Mobilong district. I remember the following persons who held se lections surrounding Callington. They were composed mostly of Irishmen and Germans, all coming direct from their native countries overseas. The ■Irishmen came along with their bro gue and broken English, and the Germans came along only able to speak German. The names I remem ber, starting from the Mount Barker and Bremer Creeks are: On the Southern side of the Mt. Barker Creek an Irishman named Hughie Kavanagh and on the Northern side was Mr. Thomas O'Neill; and continuing on in a northerly direction from there was Mr. Gehricke. His property join ed the Callington township and the Callington Mine. Going north from there was the farm of Mr. Hawke, or Hawke's Hill, as they termed it, and then north again were the threeBaum brothers, August, Christian and Louis. Then coming back to wards the East was IMr. William Brown's farm. He was the leading farmer near Callington. Continuing on east was the farm of M'r.^ Thomas, but he had only a small holding. Back in the direction of Callington was Mr Brady's farm. This property is now

owned by Mr. Brown, a descendant of the original settler of that name; and now crossing the road from the Bwanport Punt (in those early days) the present owner is Mr. Paech, for merly owned by Mr. Whinnen. Con tinuing down, and meeting the Cal lington township, was the farm of Mr. Tillett. Passing on, on the hill, formerly the homestead of Mr. White was the house of Mr. Berry, a farmerowning the land running back to wards the cemetery. A'll those I have mentioned were farmers with- the ex ception of Mr. Brady, who was the Government road man, keeping the main Govt, road in order and repair from Kanmantoo right up to the Cal lington Range. Crossing the road south of Mr. Berry's was the farm of

another Mr. Kavanagh, who was not | related to Hughie Kavanagh. The; whole district in that portion was overrun with Kavanaghs and O'Neills —widely spread, of course. Going hack towards the West was Mr. (But cher) Jackson's slaughter yards ind paddock. ;He was the trading butch t of Callington. Following on south,down the-creek, we come to Mr. Brennan, another Irishman; and go ing on past his property down the

•creek was the (arm of Mr. Victory, j

The property was later sold to his brother-in-law, John Burns; and fol lowing on on the Eastern side to the junction of the Bremer and Mt. Bar ker Creeks was the farm of Mr. E. Lehmann, my father, who came 'here in 184S. He was a native of, and his father had been a small farmer at one time at Mechlenhurgh in Germany. His father before him had mig rated from Saxony. So that I think I may with some justice contend that ■I am an Austral-iSaxon. I think I should mention something of the means whereby land holdings were obtained in those early days. The South Australian Company owned 20,000 acres along the Bremer Creek, the southern boundary of which was the roadway leading from East toWest, and between Victory's and Leh mann's farms. The width of that lower portion was 4 miles and run ning north for 9 miles. The Com pany obtained the land at £1 per acre, and the better class land was surveyed into 80-acre blocks and al lotted on a rental charge of 5/- an acre to the working pioneers. Thatrepresented 25 per cent, on the Com pany's outlay. If anyone wanted to

purchase this land he had to pay £4 per acre for it. If he couldn't pay cash for all of it, he then had to pay 15 per cent, interest on the remaining amount, and when the term of lease expired, all the improvements created by the working pioneer On the land would become the property of the South Australian Company, free ofcost. iMy father's land was outside the S.A. fco's 20,000 acres, and it was

cut up into blocks of say, 130 acres. But although the Govt, price was £1 per acre, the pioneers had to "run" each other to obtain the land by auc tion, and my father had to pay £5 per acre. The purchase did not in clude the mineral rights, and when they obtained the land by purchase they had to pay cash, and if theywanted the mineral rights that would be a separate purchase. When the land was "run" up to £5 per acre my father could not pay all of it. He then had to look around fo.- a money lender and was asked to pay 20 per cent, on the money he wanted. He did not accept that offer, bat went to ■Adelaide and obtained tbe loan at 13 per cent. In 1S50 be put in a crop of wheat, and went oftv to the Bendigogold diggings, where he found no i

gold, and he returned to his farm atj

Callington. iMost of the settlers had gone to the gold diggings without putting in a crop and there was a great scarcity of grain in the Colony. Wheat jumped to £1 per bushel. My father's crop had ripened wnile he was absent on the goldftelds, and when he took the crop off it showed a return of twenty bushels to the acre. With that at £1 per bushel he was able to bid goodbye to his finan cial difficulties. In concluding my address to those assembled, I think I should tell you that in the course of conversation with those old pioneers of Callington 1 was advised how the .discovery of copper at Callington

came about. In those early days a large .amount of traffic of cattle be tween South Australia and New South Wales was in progress—bul locks with accompanying drays and there being no made roads they tra velled across country where it was most convenient—down the gullies and valleys and across the flats and anywhere where the going was best. And the track through the Calling

ton area was over where the present old mining shaft exists. In passing over an outcrop of stone the wheel of a bullock dray knocked a piece of stone loose, and a person coming along this track picked up the stone and saw signs of copper in it. Search was made deeper and the copper lode was discovered. A company was formed and a shaft sunk which even tually reached a depth of some 600feet. With.the closing of the mines I will not deal as I fear I have already detained you too long, and so I will, insofar as my anecdotes are con cerned, bid you goodbye.

Feeling that he would be doing only the correct thing to obtain some of the memories of a later generation than those of Mr. Lehmann, the wri ter contacted a daughter of the late Mr. William Richard Phillips, who 53 years ago, started in business at Cal lington and until his demise was the general storekeeper in that town. Mr. Phillips' eldest son is the proprietor of a welUknown drapery and general store in (Murray Bridge. William Richard Phillips was married at the

(Continued on Page Two)

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from Page 1)

Primitive Methodist Manse in Mount Barker on January 24th 1878 to Mary Anne Wakeham whose grandfather was John Sincock, of Kanmantoo.! The officiating minister at the wed ding was the Rev. Stephen Welling ton. Mr. Phillips commenced busi ness in Callington as a bootmaker, hut with the advent of machinery and factories he. thought best to go into the storekeeping business which he conducted for over half a ceutury. Mr. Phillips had a family of 9 child ren—two hoys and seveu girls. Mr. Sincock had come to Australia to re cover his health, his lungs having become affected in his youth. He came over as a guard in a coronet ship, and later settled in South Aus tralia between Nairne and Kanman too. The Sincoeks had 9 children and two of the sons carried on ihebusiness at Kanmantoo as general storekeepers. There were five hoys and four girls in the family. One of the daughters was married to Dr. Carter, of Ardrossan and Eliiston. The other married daughters were Mrs. Wakeham. of Callington, Mrs. Will Strathalbvn. and Mrs. Gardner,

of Western Australia. The Hares were old identities in the Callington district; they lived up near Kanman too, and two of the boys had busi nesses, one at Callington (Harry) and the other at Kanmantoo (John). The Browns are still represented by grandsons of the original settler. Far mer E. Brown is a son of Luke, and W. Brown is a son of Andrew, who was always referred to as 'Andy.' You ask regarding Mr. T. P. Burns, J.P.? Well that family has been there as long as f can remember. They are farmers. The Clarkes have been 1 there a good while also but I think

they were not residents fifty years ago. The Daly s have been there many years, as also have been the Earls. 1 went to school with the boys. With regard to the Ko.schades, and the Rev. F. Kosehade, the family came to Callington when I was a child. The Rev. Kosehade was the Lutheran minister. He died at Callington. The son, H. Kosehade, is the present postmaster. Mr. Kosehade was a Pole. He was a very old man when 1 knew them. He was at Cal lington for the best part of half a century. Two of the Misses Kosehade are resident now in Murray Bridge. The Lehmanns are very old identities in Callington. Their home was o» the Bremer Creek at the Junction Bridge—right at the Junction. TheGehriekes, of which Mr. O. G. Geh ricke, J.P., is a representative, were also very old identities. They were farmers, and one of them was a but cher, but later returned to the farm ing industry. Ernil Gehricke had a farm at Callington more than half a

century ago. otners 01 me iamj>.y were settled at Nairne. The Martins have been in the Callington district for more than 50 years, as have been the Skinners, and for that matter others such as the Paec-bs; and the Thieles have been residents for as long as I can remember; also the Werners who are descendants of theoriginal family that settled in the dis trict. One of the Werners was re markably like King George V, and when His Majesty visited South Aus tralia as the Duke of York, and the Callington people were going down to Adelaide to see the celebrations held in honor of the Duke and Duchess they were asked by some of tbose who did not make the journey to Adelaide: "Why go to Adelaide when you can go across and have a look at Mr. Werner?" The Werners had a farm but also took meat around for sale, and the driver of the butcher's cart was the 'double' of the late King. With regard to the Callington and Kanmantoo mines, when the Calling ton mine closed down, there was, so I was told, a big fire in the town, alarge hoarding house being burned down. There was an exceptionally, line Police Station in Callintgon in the old days and even when 1 was a girl. Later on. when they wished to lock anyone up they had to rome to my father to get the key of the cell. Some of the railway porters used to live in the Police Station house in

those days. The village of Salem is quite close to Callington and the resi dents there' used to come over to shop at Callington. Goitlob Jaensch and the Thieles were the oldest settlers at Salem. I should mention the Crit chleys, of Kanmantou. Old Mr. Crit cliley kept the Kanmantoo Hotel. His son. 'Jim' Critchlev, who had the Bridgeport Hotel at Murray Bridge

ct.he license of which is now held by| his widow) was a son, and following]

upon an expressed wish prior to his1 demise, was interred in the Calling

ton cemetery. The Callington store j

that was kept for so many years by my father, is now conducted by Mrs. E. Hopkins, a daughter of my father, whose maiden name was Phoebe Charlotte Phillips. You asked me what amusements there were at Cal lington in the old days. Well, the boys played football and rricket, and there was roller skating in the hall, and the usual concerts, etc. i don't think I told you that the Sextons keptthe Callington Store in the first place and my father purchased it from them exactly 53 years ago. The Sex tons left the town. Mrs. Hill also was a very old resident of Callington. Mrs. Bott, of Swanport, was her sister, her maiden name being :Bott. Another Miss Bott married Mr. White, who had the bakehouse at Callington 50 years ago. Mrs. Hill wa^- married

twice, her first husband was Mr. Brooks."

And that completes the review of the township of Callington, and its residents from its settlement a cen tury ago. The writer feels that the "Courier" will be read with avidity when the centenary celebrations are being held; and conversation will run riot as the perusal of the long list of old identities recalls many manymeetings of the members of those as sembled at the celebrations, and of those who are still remembered with affection and admiration for their herculean tasks in those old pioneer ing days. ♦

 

Article #19 - Dated Thursday 7 August 1947

the ship 'Fairfield,' with his parents, arriving at Glenelg on April 20th, 1S39, the voyage occupying 159 days. With his father, William Rankin, and family, and other equipment, the Ran kins proceeded to Strathalbyn. Short ly after Andrew Rankin was born, he being the first white child to be born in the district. Matthew Rankin in 1909 was the only living colonist who had settled in the Strathalbyn district in 1840. The family name of Rankin became a household word,

and apart from the family's success)

in the farming and agricultural indus tries, they greatly assisted towards the development of the town and dis trict. Matthew Rankin was secretary of the first agricultural society in 1S57, and one of the original found ers of the St. Andrews Presbyterian church. In J901 he arranged a re union of the surviving passengers of the ship 'Fairfield' at his residence 'Braemar.' In 1858 he married Janet,daughter of James Graham, a farmer of O'Halloran Hill, who had arrived in South Australia in 1838, and his daughter Janet had been born at sea. There was a family in Matthew Ran kin's household of three sons and four daughters. The eldest son,; named William Melville Rankin,1 made his farming and grazing home stead at 'Woodburn' on the River Angus in (he Bremer district, some seven miles from Strathalbyn. An drew Rankin was the fifth son of William Rankin, the first white child to be born in the Strathalbyn district and canie into the world on April 16th, 1841. He went later with his parents to Scotland where he com pleted his education, and on his re turn was engaged on his father's pro perty until in 1867 he took up land and farmed his estate known as 'Rushmore' where he engaged in far ming and sheep and cattle raising. Another old settler in the Strathalbyn district was George Graham, the se

cond son of Alexander Graham, of I Golspie, Sutherlandshire, Scotland.!

■He was born on the Duke of Suther-j

land's estate in 1814 and had been apprenticed to the carpentering trade in his younger days, but later after his arrival in South Australia, en gaged in pastoral pursuits. He left Scotland in the 'L>ady of McNarton, and arrived in Sydney in 1839 and was among the first to travel over land with stock to South Australia.'He became manager on Mr. John ston's station on the Murray River for several years. In 1844 he went to Strathalbyn and worked for Mes srs. E. and C. Stirling, and then set tled at 'Glenreath,' Dong Valley, en gaging in pastoral and agricultural pursuits until his death in 1895. His residence was the first stone house erected in the district and was built by Captain Pascoe, who was in chargeof thp mine then in operation at that site. From the hands of Captain Pas

coe the house passed into the owner-; ship of Dr. Rankin and later became the property of George Graham. Mr. Graham married Margaret Patterson, daughter of William Patterson Wil

liams, formerly of the Imperial Army' and also a pioneer colonist, having come to South Australia in the ship : 'Dauntless' in 1840. Mr. Williams

was one of the first councillors of the district and took a great interest in j local affairs. iMr. Graham left a fa-j l mily of five daughters. Another old [ name—Tucker. George Tucker was

one of the earliest pioneers and had

| a station in the South-East. In 1881

he passed on. and his eldest son I Walter John Tucker became owner of

the property. He was born in 1839 and on the South Eastern property became familiar with station life. | He was known in the Strathalbyn dis

trict best as the successful grazier | and farmer of 'Lake View House' 1 about five miles from strathalbyn

Also as the chairman and as a mem ber o£ the Strathalbyn district coun cil for some twelve years. In IS71 he married Annie, the daughter of Mr Ewiu McDonald, a pioneer of the dis trict and one of the first to assist in bringing sheep from Sydney to Mount Barker. His wife die! iu 1903 "leav ing a family of six sons and three daughters. On May 1906 be married 'Christina, the third daughter ofGeorge Graham who has been already mentioned in this article.

Still another, name so well remem bered in Strathalbyn is that of Bell, for with it is associated the number of up-to-date general stores in several southern portions of the State. David Bell, the founder of the firm of David Bell & Co. Ltd., and an ex Mayor of Strathalbyn, was born at Glasgow in 1S34, where he was educated. In 1S56 he left his native Scotland by the ship 'Monsoon,' arriving at PortAdelaide in 1S57 and for some years was employed by the firm of McAr thur. Kingsborough & Co. until a change in its proprietorship occurred when he took over the business of Ed ward Sunter at Strathalbyn, and this business under Mr. Bell's manage ment became one of the most suc cessful in the southern portions of I the State. !Mr. Bell was on two occa i sions elected 'Mayor of Strathalbyn.

| Branches of the firm were opened at

I Victor Harbour, Mount Barker and Murray Bridge. Mr. Bell was a valuedsupporter of the Presbyterian church, and a superintendent of the Sunday school for several years. He was twice .married, his first wife being a daughter of Mr. Andrew Gray, of North Adelaide. In 1862 his first wife died and in 18G3 he married 1 a daughter of Mr. (Richard Hutchin-' son, of North Adelaide. James Bell, I the eldest sou of David Bell was born at North Adelaide in 1860, and alsofilled the Mayoral chair of Strathal byn, and was, as would be naturally supposed, as the years passed one of the managing directors of the firm of 'David Bell & Co Ltd. Sidney Bell, for many years manager of the firm's branch at Murrav Brida-o another

son, is now living in retirement in that town, but has, in partnership with his son, David P. Bell, perhaps the most successful and productive orange and fruit orchard at Mypolon ga. A daughter of the original David ■Bell, Margaret, in 1S91 was married to James Stark Richardson, a son of William Richardson, anotherScotchman who came to South Aus tralia iu 1S38. The daughter Margaret in her early eighties still retains all her faculties, and only recently the writer, when seeking some informa tion for use in these articles, was the Tecipient of a really beautifully writ ten reply to his request, which con tained the information that the name •Strathalbyn was Gaellic and its meaning "Valley of the Scots." She is the oldest "living descendant of David Bell and surely oue of the ol dest of the old inhabitants of the Valley of the Scots, and since the demise of her late husband spends the evening of her life in her home 'Perringa.' One name we must not■omit to mention, and that is the name of Stirling, which also became

a household word as it were in this] State. Perhaps the one of the name] that achieved to most eminence was| Sir John Lancelot Stirling, born at

Strathalbyn in IS19. and part owner 1 with his brother Professor E. C. Stir

ling of Naipa Run. And there wa»j also a William Stirling-who lived for some time at Braemar and of whom ■Mr. Donnithorne said "he was liked by .all who knew him.'' There were three boys and two girls in the Stir ling family. Sir Lancelot was first elected to Parliament in 18S1 and was President of the Legislative Council when he died.

As remarked already, there are a number of other names of old settlers in the Strathalbyn area, but space will not permit in a single article of their biographical treatment. To name but one is that of Richard Car ruthers. a former Mayor of Strathal byn who was born in the north of England, near Carlisle in 1825 and was descended from a race of farm ers. He came to South Australia in 1852 with his wife and they went to Mount Barker where after a resi dence of several months, Mr. Carruth ers became a tenant farmer under Edward Stirling (the father of SirLancelot) for several years, and then purchased large areas of land on the Lake Plains near Milang, where he farmed for some ten years success fully. and then purchased the pro perty 'Brigend' situated about a quar ter of a mile from the Strathalbyn

Post Office. ' j

 

 

Article #20 - Dated Thursday 7 August 1947

STRATHALBYN - "VALLEY OF THE SCOTS"

WHAT an education are motor

towns: for apart from the geo

graphical insight they provide for the lucky traveller; he is able to observe the peculiarities, prosperity or almost indigence, of the towns through which he passes. The towns and vil lages become almost characters to the imaginative tourist, and their progress or retrogression has, in the case of the individual human, not al ways been attributable to the towns themselves. Forces which they could not combat have been responsible for their unsuccess. The writer was recalling a trip he made passing through Wellington and on through lianghorne's Creek to Strathalbyn and then on through the other smaller towns to Callington, the one-time busy mining town with its partner, Kanmantoo, and thence home. And among the convivial company was one John Edward Donnithorne, who atthe mention of Strathalbyn was able to give some very interesting remi niscences regarding that picturesque and flourishing old town and district. The original Donnithornes were na tives of 'Cornwall and in the early days John Donnithorne emigrated to South Australia and settled first at Mount Barker, removing to the

Strathalbyn district some S5 years ago. John Donnithorne had three brothers, Nicholas, Thomas (a Lon don solicitor) and William, "and one sister, Susan, All the old people were citizens of Redruth and Truro in! Cornwall. Nicholas and William were, farmers. John Edward Donnithorne, the son of John, was born 73 years ago at New Hamburg, 1J miles from Strathalbyn- In World War I the name was changed to Willie Yar roo. Letting his memory have free rein when asked about the first set tlers in Strathalbyn, he said: "Well, . the Rankines and the Walsh family

would he about the .first, I should say, Of the Rankines there were Andrew and Matthew and also another son. There were four brothers in the Walsh family: Thomas, Richard (a tailor), Edward and James. All ex cept Richard were farmers. Sixty years ago when I was a boy they were all in the land of the living. In

those days Strathalbyn had a popu- j lation of 1500. Only one new church j

has been built since then—the Roman i Catholic. The Wesieyan and Metho

dist churches amalgamated and so! now there are the Anglican, the Ro-) man Catholic, the Presbyterian, the Baptist- and the Methodist churches. The most architecturally beautiful

edifice is the Presbyterian church in I the tower of which is housed the! town clock. There were four hotels,' their names being the Terminus, the Victoria, the Robin Hood and the Commercial. The Terminus took its name from the fact that the trams to Victor Harbour started from there. The first tram service was from Goolwa to Port Elliot, then one to Strathalbyn and then one to Mid dleton linked up Strathalbyn with Port Victor. The Terminus Hotel was adjacent to the old hooking office of the coaching days. There were not too many cattle about in myearly days. It was mostly sheep far ming and agriculture. The Angus ri ver with its source at Macclesfield 8 miles away ot the North runs through the town. Macclesfield was originally the Irish settlement, Mount Barker the English, and Strathalbyn the Scottish. That referred, of course, to the early settlers, as H&.hndorf and Kleinzig were the choice of the Ger man pioneer settlers in the Colony. The railway was opened in 1884, be ing continued on from Mount BarkerJunction, and they then cut out the trams to Victor- Harbour and ran a very light engine over the tram lines, and used a lot of the rolling stock of the tram service to be hauled by the light engine. It was my job to count the trucks and quite a lot could not he accounted for at various times. The track from Goolwa station to thewharf was on the down grade and the trucks used to be pushed into the river. That was in 1887. There were about 90 odd trucks that had been originally owned by the Tramways. ■For many years after (say 13 or X4) there were wool and wheat specials run, but the opening of the railway to Morgan put an end to that traffic. Only about 70 tons of wheat or wool would be hauled at a time on thetramline as the little 'G' class engine only weighed about 15 tons. At Vic tor Harbour in those days there waB a very considerable shipping business and I have seen as many as five ocean-going boats at anchor inside the breakwater at Port Victor. in

those days it was mostly scrubland to the South of Strathalbyn, but now that land at such places-as the Fin niss and Milang has been taken up. That part of the country was known in those days as the Finniss Scrub and the Milang Scrub. There was good land, of. course, at Langhorne's Creek and at Lalke Plains and Dry Plains, but that was the only place I rememlber with vineyards to any extent. Potts and Formby's were probably the oldest two settlers thereabouts. Old IMr. Potts built some of the earliest wine butts or vats out of red gum logs. He actually constructed his own coffin out of

a red-gum log. He also made a musi-1 cal instrument out of the same typei

of timber, and he could actually playj

a tune on it. The contraption had ai handle like a mangle which he used! to turn to get a tune out of it. The1 interior of the instrument contained! a steel comb against which nails used to strike as the handle was revolved. Coming back to Strathalbyn the Ran kines had three places — Braemer, Glenbar and Rushmore. There was another Rankine on Dry Plains, and still another at Lake Plains, butthe one at Dry Plains was no rela tion to those at Strathalbyn. He was

considered a wonderful judge of draught stock' and imported a good prize draught stallion. He was called 'Horsey' Rankine. The Bells had a foundry on South Terrace, Strathal byn, and immediately opposite at one time was a brewery."

(Mr. Donnithorne's remarks prompt ed the writer to delve into his old tomes, and therein he was able to find much information regarding the ear liest settlers of Strathalbyn, and data antecedent to the period of which Mr. Donnithorne spoke. In this series of articles we have several times al luded to the South Australian Com pany whose activities were in the main responsible for the primary success attending the Wakefield co lonisation scheme, and later we must devote an article solely to a review of those enterprising efforts which it might be said actually formed the foundation upon which the Colony grew to self-supporting manhood.. For the moment we are dealing with Strathalbyn, and divert in search of reliable data respecting that town and district. By the close of the year

1541 the South Australian Company! owned some 20,000 sheep and 1,100 head of cattle. The second largest holders of sheep in the Colony were Messrs. Dutton and Bagot who had 11,000 sheep, while Mr. Duncan Mc Fariane tat Mt. Barker) and George Alexander Anstey, at Para, had 10,000 each. The others mentionedas sheep owners are Mr. Gieeson, Mr. Ludwick, Mr. Reyuell, Mr. Freeman, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Gemmell, of Strath albyn, Messrs. Jones, of Yankalilla, Mr. John Bristowe Hughes, Mr. R. L. Leake,- Messrs. Hopkins and Green, Mr. Horrocks, of River Hutt and Mes srs. Peters. The largest cattle own ers of that date were Messrs. Frew and Rankin, who kept 1T5S head of cattle on their station at Strathalbyn. In the course of a few years the stock mentioned greatly increased, but those numbers were the foundation of the flocks and herds. So much for the flocks and herds which were the main feature of the enterprise exis tent in the environs of .Strathalbyn in the very early days. Now let us say something of the early pioneers of the town and district. We have seen how Mr. Gemmell was one of the large owners of sheep and Mes srs. Frew and Rankin had no less than 1755 head of cattle on their sta tion at 'Strathalbyn. The railway station Gemmells, took its name from the oid pioneering family. The origi nal Thomas Gemmell came to South Australia in the ship India in 1840 and without delay gave his attention to station and farming activities. In 1S47 he married Elizabeth (Bessie) Inglis, the daughter of James Iuglis who bad arrived in the Colony in1839. Later Mr. Gemmell took np sec tions of land at 'Springfield' and de veloped the property. He died in 1897 leaving a family of six daughters and two sons. His wife survived him for nine years. The eldest sou. William Barr Gemmell (born an the 'Spring field' estate iu I860) lived on in the old home and engaged in woolgrow ing and grazing;

Matthew Rankin, of "Braemar," Strathalbyn, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1829, and left school at the age of nine years, and sailed from Liverpool for South Australia in

(Continued on Page Three)

 

A JEWEL CASKET

the ship 'Fairfield,' with his parents, arriving at Glenelg on April 20th, 1S39, the voyage occupying 159 days. With his father, William Rankin, and family, and other equipment, the Ran kins proceeded to Strathalbyn. Short ly after Andrew Rankin was born, he being the first white child to be born in the district. Matthew Rankin in 1909 was the only living colonist who had settled in the Strathalbyn district in 1840. The family name of Rankin became a household word,

and apart from the family's success)

in the farming and agricultural indus tries, they greatly assisted towards the development of the town and dis trict. Matthew Rankin was secretary of the first agricultural society in 1S57, and one of the original found ers of the St. Andrews Presbyterian church. In J901 he arranged a re union of the surviving passengers of the ship 'Fairfield' at his residence 'Braemar.' In 1858 he married Janet,daughter of James Graham, a farmer of O'Halloran Hill, who had arrived in South Australia in 1838, and his daughter Janet had been born at sea. There was a family in Matthew Ran kin's household of three sons and four daughters. The eldest son,; named William Melville Rankin,1 made his farming and grazing home stead at 'Woodburn' on the River Angus in (he Bremer district, some seven miles from Strathalbyn. An drew Rankin was the fifth son of William Rankin, the first white child to be born in the Strathalbyn district and canie into the world on April 16th, 1841. He went later with his parents to Scotland where he com pleted his education, and on his re turn was engaged on his father's pro perty until in 1867 he took up land and farmed his estate known as 'Rushmore' where he engaged in far ming and sheep and cattle raising. Another old settler in the Strathalbyn district was George Graham, the se

cond son of Alexander Graham, of I Golspie, Sutherlandshire, Scotland.!

■He was born on the Duke of Suther-j

land's estate in 1814 and had been apprenticed to the carpentering trade in his younger days, but later after his arrival in South Australia, en gaged in pastoral pursuits. He left Scotland in the 'L>ady of McNarton, and arrived in Sydney in 1839 and was among the first to travel over land with stock to South Australia.'He became manager on Mr. John ston's station on the Murray River for several years. In 1844 he went to Strathalbyn and worked for Mes srs. E. and C. Stirling, and then set tled at 'Glenreath,' Dong Valley, en gaging in pastoral and agricultural pursuits until his death in 1895. His residence was the first stone house erected in the district and was built by Captain Pascoe, who was in chargeof thp mine then in operation at that site. From the hands of Captain Pas

coe the house passed into the owner-; ship of Dr. Rankin and later became the property of George Graham. Mr. Graham married Margaret Patterson, daughter of William Patterson Wil

liams, formerly of the Imperial Army' and also a pioneer colonist, having come to South Australia in the ship : 'Dauntless' in 1840. Mr. Williams

was one of the first councillors of the district and took a great interest in j local affairs. iMr. Graham left a fa-j l mily of five daughters. Another old [ name—Tucker. George Tucker was

one of the earliest pioneers and had

| a station in the South-East. In 1881

he passed on. and his eldest son I Walter John Tucker became owner of

the property. He was born in 1839 and on the South Eastern property became familiar with station life. | He was known in the Strathalbyn dis

trict best as the successful grazier | and farmer of 'Lake View House' 1 about five miles from strathalbyn

Also as the chairman and as a mem ber o£ the Strathalbyn district coun cil for some twelve years. In IS71 he married Annie, the daughter of Mr Ewiu McDonald, a pioneer of the dis trict and one of the first to assist in bringing sheep from Sydney to Mount Barker. His wife die! iu 1903 "leav ing a family of six sons and three daughters. On May 1906 be married 'Christina, the third daughter ofGeorge Graham who has been already mentioned in this article.

Still another, name so well remem bered in Strathalbyn is that of Bell, for with it is associated the number of up-to-date general stores in several southern portions of the State. David Bell, the founder of the firm of David Bell & Co. Ltd., and an ex Mayor of Strathalbyn, was born at Glasgow in 1S34, where he was educated. In 1S56 he left his native Scotland by the ship 'Monsoon,' arriving at PortAdelaide in 1S57 and for some years was employed by the firm of McAr thur. Kingsborough & Co. until a change in its proprietorship occurred when he took over the business of Ed ward Sunter at Strathalbyn, and this business under Mr. Bell's manage ment became one of the most suc cessful in the southern portions of I the State. !Mr. Bell was on two occa i sions elected 'Mayor of Strathalbyn.

| Branches of the firm were opened at

I Victor Harbour, Mount Barker and Murray Bridge. Mr. Bell was a valuedsupporter of the Presbyterian church, and a superintendent of the Sunday school for several years. He was twice .married, his first wife being a daughter of Mr. Andrew Gray, of North Adelaide. In 1862 his first wife died and in 18G3 he married 1 a daughter of Mr. (Richard Hutchin-' son, of North Adelaide. James Bell, I the eldest sou of David Bell was born at North Adelaide in 1860, and alsofilled the Mayoral chair of Strathal byn, and was, as would be naturally supposed, as the years passed one of the managing directors of the firm of 'David Bell & Co Ltd. Sidney Bell, for many years manager of the firm's branch at Murrav Brida-o another

son, is now living in retirement in that town, but has, in partnership with his son, David P. Bell, perhaps the most successful and productive orange and fruit orchard at Mypolon ga. A daughter of the original David ■Bell, Margaret, in 1S91 was married to James Stark Richardson, a son of William Richardson, anotherScotchman who came to South Aus tralia iu 1S38. The daughter Margaret in her early eighties still retains all her faculties, and only recently the writer, when seeking some informa tion for use in these articles, was the Tecipient of a really beautifully writ ten reply to his request, which con tained the information that the name •Strathalbyn was Gaellic and its meaning "Valley of the Scots." She is the oldest "living descendant of David Bell and surely oue of the ol dest of the old inhabitants of the Valley of the Scots, and since the demise of her late husband spends the evening of her life in her home 'Perringa.' One name we must not■omit to mention, and that is the name of Stirling, which also became

a household word as it were in this] State. Perhaps the one of the name] that achieved to most eminence was| Sir John Lancelot Stirling, born at

Strathalbyn in IS19. and part owner 1 with his brother Professor E. C. Stir

ling of Naipa Run. And there wa»j also a William Stirling-who lived for some time at Braemar and of whom ■Mr. Donnithorne said "he was liked by .all who knew him.'' There were three boys and two girls in the Stir ling family. Sir Lancelot was first elected to Parliament in 18S1 and was President of the Legislative Council when he died.

As remarked already, there are a number of other names of old settlers in the Strathalbyn area, but space will not permit in a single article of their biographical treatment. To name but one is that of Richard Car ruthers. a former Mayor of Strathal byn who was born in the north of England, near Carlisle in 1825 and was descended from a race of farm ers. He came to South Australia in 1852 with his wife and they went to Mount Barker where after a resi dence of several months, Mr. Carruth ers became a tenant farmer under Edward Stirling (the father of SirLancelot) for several years, and then purchased large areas of land on the Lake Plains near Milang, where he farmed for some ten years success fully. and then purchased the pro perty 'Brigend' situated about a quar ter of a mile from the Strathalbyn

Post Office. ' j

 

Article #21 - Dated Thursday 14 August 1947

Thursday 14 August 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

him

. (By P.W)

THERE being no church for the

ceremony, he was married be

neath a giant gum tree; and later, as he became financially able to do so, he built his house of the timber in the self-same tree, and that structure still stands, next the old mill at Hahndorf.

In the article of this series in which we traced the result of the ac tivities of that wonderful old early pioneer and colonist, Mr. George Fife Angas, the town of Hahndorf deman ded no inconsiderable attention, and it may he said that that from those Lutheran emigrants who were behol den to iMr. Angas for their transfer to the new colony, there sprang des cendants who were responsible forthe primary settlement of many por tions of the 'State of South Australia. One can hardly visit any part or any town within reasonable distance of the Hills, towns where those German people first encamped, but he meets their offspring to the third and fourth generation. And the historically in teresting stories the elder men and women can relate are a delight to those who are interested in the ac

quirement of the true records of the I early days. The writer happened to be in Murray Bridge enquiring into its initial settlement prior to the erection of the bridge from which the town took its name, and one person pithily put it to him;' "The Jaensch,

the Thiele and the Kuchel families could tell you most about it." It must not be forgotten that in the early sixties of last century there was no such place as Murray Bridge as now known. There were Goolwa, Welling ton and Swanport, the last two points being mostly used as crossing places for cattle and sheep, as was also Ed ward's Crossing about Where the Murray Bridge was later to be erect ed. Then onward in a northerly di rection and- there is no mention ofanything on the River till we come to Chucka Bend in the County of Albert

■—a small tract of purchased land on the East bank of the Murray River, in the Hundred of iMorphett, and about 30 miles North of Wellington. We must, of course, not forget Woods Point station (County Sturt) which was the home station occupied by the Hon. (later Sir) John Morphett, 8 miles north of Wellington, and the same distance south of Swanport or Thompson's crossing. The area of the run was 18 square miles and the grazing capacity 4000 sheep and 250 head of cattle. The Murray in those days was crossed at Blanchtown,Swanport, and Wellington by roads leading from Adelaide into Victoria. The towns and post offices on its banks were Overland Corner, North West Bend, Blanchtown, Moorundee. Mannum, Wall, Swanport, and Wel lington. The road from Adelaide to Swanport ran to the top of White Hill, as now, and then made towards the River by a road now but little used. With the decision to erect thebridge over the Murray at Edward's Crossing a deviation wan made from White's Hil! on a course which is now the main road from Adelaide to Mur ray Bridge, and along which practi cally all the interstate road traffic passes along the excellent bitumenis ed arterial highway. Most of the land lying along the banks of the RiverMurray in the early days was reserv ed in hundreds for agricultural pur poses, although taken up in fact under pastoral leases at short dates.

As we have remarked, the descen dants of the early German settlers in the Colony have played a prominent part in the settlement of the country, and in many cases have shown com mendable interest in the civic 1'fe of the communities in which they have resided. One of the first identities of

■the Murray Bridge district I met was Mr. J. A, Hein, of Pallamana, whosegrandfather left Germany with his family in 1854 and landed at Geelong, Victoria, where for a time he did some carting to the gold diggings, but soon after left for Sth. Australia. His father lived at Lyndock for a few years and later shifted to Monarto. In the year 1880 his father took up two sections of land in the Hundredof Mobilong (Nos. 152 and 156). "There were no roads in those days," said Mr. Hein, "and it was real pio neering. There was no district coun cil of Mobilong, as now. It was all scrub. There were plenty of walla bies, some kangaroos and often emus; some mallee hens, and a goodly num ber of fcronzewing pigeons, r am living on this property yet, and have been for 66 years. There were three other farmers there before us — Mr. Bahr, Mr. Beeck, and Mr. Block, but they soon left the district. In the year 1884 a district council was pro claimed, the first councillors being C. Kuchel, G. Liebelt. A, Prosser, H.

Thiele, W. Wray and J. F. Zimmer mann, clerk. In the year 1899 I was elected a councillor of the district council, and on and off I have been a councillor of Mobilong council for 23 years, and chairman for 9 years. As I said I have resided on my property for 66 years. "When we first went there it was called Mobilong, but is now named Pallamana. When we 'first came to live there we had to get out water from Monarto, the water in Salt Creek being too salty in the dry summer months. In the year 1912 we put down a borfe on .Section 33 and struck good stock water at 245 feet."

The next person the write- contact ed was Mr. Johann Alfred Thiele, now living in retirement in Murray Bridge .Mr. Thiele was born on May 10th, 1871 at Salem, and when 5i years of age attended to Salem school under the late Mr. J. G. Neumann. He was the only teacher I ever had, said Mr. Thiele. "He later built a school at (Murray Bridge, and taught many of the present residents of MurrayBridge until the Education Dept. op ened a school, when he had to close his institution. When I was 10 years old my father bought land on the Murray from the old John Baker es tate, which is now Mypolonga. and when 12 years of age I left school and worked with my father at Mypolonga. I drove the stripper several times when 12 years of age, and when 18 stripped right through the seasons.The first time I saw Murray Bridge was when I was about 5i years old— in November 1876. My father had taken a party over one Sunday, and I was permitted to go too. The Murray Bridge was then in course of erection and had been constructed about half way across the river proper. It was not called the Murray Bridge then, and the site was known as Edward's Crossing. The next time I saw Mur ray Bridge was in 1882. I was sent for mail. T rode a draft horse from Mypolonga, and found the post office in the building where Mr. Parker lived while the Murray Bridge was being built. And when I looked inside I saw a teacher and six children, and that was the whole school. All the mail was lying on a form about 6ft. long — that was all the post office shelving. There was no railway at that time: only a mail caach. As for

houses and stores, there was one lit-'

tie block where Beckwith's hardware i

store now stands, and an old Mr.| Webb lived' at the rear of Jenkins'j timber yards, A little pug and pine j blacksmith's shop occupied the site

where the munitions factory was op-j

ened during the war, and was owned ■

by G. Herte, a brother of old Mrs. | Christian Kuchel, the wife of one of |

the first councillors of the Mobilong D.'C. There was also one little stone house where the 'Church of England rectory now stands. It was owned by Mr. F. W. Jaensch. Dr. Maslin's

(Continued on Page Three)

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from Page One)

house near where Mr. Clarence Jaensch now lives, a stable and a room on the site where Mr. F. W. Jaensch built his new house and where Mr. Charles Jaensch now re sides; and Mr. George Lush, a fisher man living near-by, completed all the town of Murray Bridge at that time. I worked on my father's property at Mypolonga until I was 25 years old, and in 1896 bought a farm from Mr. Aron Prosser on the Palmer road, about S miles from Murray Bridge, and in 189S married Hulda Emily Clara Schenscher, of Mouarto. We farmed on that property for 25 years and had rather a successful time there, f served for five years in the Mobilong district council. That was the time when the council handed the Mobilong Swamp over to the Govern ment for reclamation. Then came the time when they wanted a town hall in Murray Bridge, and I, with four other gentlemen, guaranteed the money to build it, and this guarantee hung on us until the Murray Bridge Corporation took it over, i also help ed to guarantee the first electric light company in Murray Bridge. In 1923 I sold the farm and came to live in

Murray Bridge, where we have resid ed ever since. In 18C9 there was a terrible drought in South Australia, I followed by the biggest flood ever: known on the Murray River in 1870. The markings of that flood were to be seen on the big granite boulder that was in the swamp block on Mr. P. W. Jaensch's land. It was in re cent years sold and cut up for build ing and monumental purposes. Theoriginal Jaensch was Gottlobb Jaen sch who settled at Salem. The Salem church was mainly built by him. His sons worked for their father through out the year, but had a week's holiday in the off season and they then made for the Murray River where they had a wonderful time. The wild fowl were so numerous that, when they rose from the swamp on being distur-j bed by a gunshot, the sound was likethunder. The original Gottlobb Ja ensch took up land for his sons on the Murray, for he had had valuable experience of its value during the big drought of 1869, for then he, and other settlers of Salem and Hartley, saw their sheep faced with extinc tion owing to the lack of feed and water, and they shifted them to theMurray River and saved them. When the 1914 drought came the land along the Murray which they had found such a God-send in 1869 had all been taken up and the flocks in the Hart ley district as in other portions of the State, suffered tremendously. The (Murray was not the only place to which they shifted their stock in 1869 for some were taken to the Round Water Hole at Rockley, where also land had not yet been taken up. Feed by these means of transportation wasfound for the stock and none were lost. The original Thiele, and the grandfather of Johann Alfred Thiele, was Johann Freidrich Thiele, who came out from Germany at the same time as Pastor Ravel's emigrants. He was married in Hahndorf when there was no church in which to hold the ceremony and was married be neath a giant gum tree, and later, as he became financially able to doso, he built his house of the timber in the self-same tree; and that struc ture still stands next the old mill at

Hahndorf oil the Adelaide side of the road. He had twelve children (two sons and ten daughters). One of the sons, Johann Christian Thiele, left Hahndorf in 1869, when the drought was on, and came to Salem, where he engaged in farming. He married in 1870 and on Hay 10th, 1871, Mr. Jo hann Alfred Thiele (now retired inMurray Bridge, and whom the writer ■interviewed) was born. He is the eldest of a family of 12 children again (five boys and seven girls) and the whole of the members of the family are still alive, with the exception of a little girl of five years, who wag fa tally bitten by a tiger snake at Mypo longa. Mr. Johann Christian Thiele took up land at Mypolonga in 1881 from the old John Baker's estate,which extended from the Murray Bridge end of Mypolonga up to Wall. That was in the time of Mr. Alan Ba ker, but the area had been initially taken up by John Baker. The first purchase made by Mr. Thiele was 125 acres, but later he bought the whole of the land on which the town ship of Mypolonga now stands, with its orange and stone fruit orchards which are such an asset to the State. The Government in 1906 re-purcha3ed for reclamation purposes all the lanl for £4 per acre. There were in Mr, Johann Christian Thiele's estate the original 125 acres (his first purchase) 1000 acres where the township oil My polonga stands, and 900 acres at the back of Mypolonga- Mr. J oh mn Al fred Thiele, whom the writer inter viewed, left Mypolonga In 1396 and took *p land on the Palmer Road in the Hundred of Mobilong and farmed there for 27 years, when he mived in to Murray Bridge and retired. He had a family of three daughters, one of which, Mrs. V. H. Trotter, resides

next door to him.

 

Article #22 - Dated Thursday 21 August 1947

Thursday 21 August 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

(By P.W)

ECHUNGA — OLD GOLD MINING TOWN

IN the articles dealing with the Cal

lington celebrations, we saw how

the likelihood of a worth-while cop per deposit was suggested when the wheel of a bullock waggon dislodged the outcrop of ore containing that metal. Such accidental happenings have been responsible for the major forward movement, invention and progress of the civilised world. Even the art of printing was the result of an accident coupled with the brain of an intelligent human. Pondering upon the copper discovery at Callington it was natural that the writer should think of the regal metals, and espe cially gold: for had nof the male population of South Australia be come frenzied with a desire in the early fifties of last century to rush to the Victorian alluvial fields in search of fortunes won overnight, and had they not left their own Colony so de pleted of manpower ruin would not have stared the government of the day in the face. -But something had to be done about the matter. The government offered a reward of £1000 for the discovery of a gold

field in South Australia. That was in j 1852, and prior to that we might j

truthfully say that little had been; done by the government to urge the j population to search for precious me tals. it had remained with private enterprise to make any move in the matter at all, and we find Professor Menge, a remarkable personality, as well as a most capable mineralogist arriving in South Australia as the mining agent for the South Austra lian oCmpany. He relinquished hisemployment with the Company, and went prospecting on his own account. He was closely associated with the writer's grandparent, whose banking account was constantly available in attempts ot test out any likely 'show' in the mineral deposits of the State. When, the Victorian gold rush broke out Menge, as was natural made his way to the Bendigo diggings, and on the goldfields he expired. One auth ority states that he was unbefriended in his last moments, hut this it ishard to believe for the writer's grand parent had also gone to the Victoriangoldfields and he had ever been, as previously remarked, a close friend of Menge. As a matter of fact the writer can remember a wonderful specimen cabinet that belonged to Menge and "was housed in the home in which the writer passed his child hood. It had been left to his grand father by the old geologist, and con tained drawers of various sizes, each duly labelled with the precious contents to be found therein, and giving the location at which the various spe cimens had been found. What a prize to be sure for any person or even government museum to have acquir ed! But in those days little value was placed upon historically interest ing relics, and the specimen case was sold for some forty pounds. The wri

ter often wonders what became of it. But as regards professor Menge him self he cannot believe that no-one was interested in him as a friend at the time of his demise. Among Men ge's explorations in search of miner als was one in 1S45 into the Flinders Ranges in which he 'contended there ■were extensive deposits of copper in. Mount Remarkable. But his prospect ing was pursued practically all over the Colony and had his advice been followed there might have been noneed for the government to offer a reward of £ 1000 for the discovery of a goldfield when they were urged to do so in the extremity which over took them upon the discovery of the Victorian goldfields. Professor Men ge's opinion was to the effect "that alluvial gold would be the exception, and not the rule, as the caps of the gold reefs had not been earned away by a great sea-wash. Gold in largequantities could only be obtained by regular mining, i.e., reefing and deepsinking."' Some day, not we, but those who come after us, will under

stand if Professor Menge's theory was. correct, for gold has been found inconsiderable quantities in South Aus tralia; but the big main reef or reefs have so far remained undiscovered. The work on 'The Province of South Australia," written for the South Aus tralian Government by James Domi nick "Woods, states that it is believed that Mr. Menge, a native of Germany, and a mineralogist of great experi ence. was the first to find gold in the Colony. He was among the very ear ly settlers, and devoted much time and labor in examining the mineralresources of the province. He made many important discoveries of mine ral deposits, and also of precious •tones in various localities and got

together an extensive and valuable collection of specimens among which gold had its place. Where the gold or the other results of his researches came from is not knoivn. When the goldfields in the Eastern colonies were found he left the Colony, and died on the Victorian diggings in 1852 His collection was dispersed, and the papers he left behind him have not been made public." That speci men case the writer spoke of would tell a wonderful story to he sure. Continuing Domonick Woods states in regard to the gold mining in South Australia: "The Victoria Gold Mine was opened by a company in January 1S4-6. It is ten miles East of Ade laide, and as nearly as can be ascer tained, in the neighborhood of the Montacute; the property of the com pany comprised 147 acres. Its career was short. According to the Royal South Australian Almanac, 1848, quo ted in the "Record of Mines' its his tory is summed up thus:—'Soon af ter the operations of the company commenced a vein of auriferous gos san was discovered in the principal shaft, and At length it was found im pregnated with native gold of almostperfect purity. Genuine specimens of the gold soon adorned the cabinets of the curious, and the working jew ellers of Adelaide were employed to mount South Australian gems in some of the virgin gold thus found in the province. The £2 shares went rap idly up to £30 each, and the fortu nate purchasers at the advanced price thought their fortunes were made. But all at once the prizes worevery much the appearance of blanks:

| a ruinous reaction ensued, and the

■ price of shares went down to £3.'

| From the old Adelaide mine, of which

: no record is extant (unless it be iden '•t'ical with the Victoria Mine) gold j was raised and formed into a brooch ; .which was sent as a present to Her

j 'Majesty the Queen. This was in 1848.

In 1851 gold, the product of the mine near the MOntacute, was exhibited at the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. It is said that the cost of producing the exhibit was about £10 per ounce. In the beginning of 1852 the RCHUNGA goldfield was found. The 'Record of Mines' gives the fol lowing account of it:—It is claimed this field was discovered in the early part of the year 1852 by Mr. TV. Chap man. The first sign of gold was got on what was known as . 'The Company's land' not far from the old Wlieatsheaf Inn, and a thorough search was- begun. Very much sur face gold was found on land not far from the place where the first pros pect had been washed, on the side of the hill above Donkey Gully. The cold was traced thence to Chapman's Hill, where it was found at the foot of a tree laid bare by the dripping water from the branches. Half an ounce was picked up by dry fossick 'ng. rnd on the following day several

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ounces of gold were washed from the roots of the tree. (Mr. Chapman Senr. and Mr. Hampton went to town on August 23rd, 1S52, to claim the re ward of £10uu for the discovery of a payable goldfleld, taking with them about 7 ounces of rough gold. The conditions of the reward were that licences (at that time 30 shillingseach) to the value of £ 1000 should be taken out during the first two months, and that £10,000 worth of gold must also he found within the same period of time. In two months 684 licences were taken out, being equal to £1020 sterling. The Messrs. Chapman, Hardiman and Hampton applied for the reward after an interval of three months, but were not successful. There was no proof that that £10,000 worth of gold had been obtained, except the statements made by diggers and shop-keepers. They represented that £18,000 worth had been got. The matter was brought (before the Executive Council and a sum of £500 was given to the pros pectors, leaving the question of the reward still open. In 1875 two sums of £200 and £300 were paid for the discovery of gold at Jufiiter Creek,Mr. W. Barker, a storekeeper on that field, brought gold to the extent of £3000. Although the Eclrunga gold field can in no sense be classed among auriferous deposits such

those of the Ovens, BendigO, Balla rat, etc., thev have been constautly ■worked ever since they became known, and some of the miners who continued on them have become rich. Very large finds by individuals have not been notified to the authorities. Diamonds have been found there also, and a collection of them was shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1871.""

The quantity of gold raised has ap parently been kept secret, and doubt less the shrewd manner in ■which, the original prospectors and discoveries of the Echunga find were met by the government of the day may have had something to do with that attitude. (Mr. Harcus, in 1871, stated that trom the Echunga diggings alone £600,000 worth of gold had been obtained. The Montaeute mine has been mentioned. It was a copper mine lying on a steep spur of the Mount Lofty Range about 10 miles N.E. of Adelaide. Even in 1865 it had been for several years abandoned. The .Sixth-Creek gold mining company had their claim near

the site of the Montacute. In that year Echunga was shown in the old records as "a postal township in the electoral district of Mount Barter, hundred of Kuitpo, and under the control of the District 'Council of Echunga. The district is an agricultural and gold-producing one. The goldfields are two miles from the township. There is a silver-lead mine, the Hahndorf, lying about 4 miles distant, discovered about 1S60 and some rich ore raised. The holes sunk for gold working in this neigh borhood are through quartz sand, with thin layers of quartz gravel much water-worn, restiiig on a very flat bottom of white, grey, or brown soft slate with sandstone bands. These diggings are situate about 1400 feet above the level of the sea. on scrubby bills timbered with stringy bark. The soil is a deep sand, andthe whole deposit is analageous to the old pliocene tertiary gold drifts of Victoria, which form the white hills of Bendigo and Forest Creek. Several diamonds of good water have been found at Echunga. where the Breccia formation exists. Population of the town numbers about 150 per sons, and that of Echunga districtabout 1000. Chairman of the district is Mr. P. H.- Sonnemann, of Hahndorf and there are four other councillors. (Early settlers at Echunga will be

| dealt with next issue.) I

 

Article #23 - Dated Thursday 28 August 1947

Thursday 28 August 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

(By P.W)

ECHUNGA —OLD GOLD MINING TOWN

THE statistical figures and histori-

cally interesting information re- garding the mining life of ECHUNGA published last issue are comparative ly dull when one passes on to the actual settlement of Ecliunga in the early pioneering days. The search for gold, as we have seen, followed upon the offer of a reward for the discovery of a 'real' goldfield to formsome sort of a deterrent to the exo dus of the male population over the Border to the Victorian diggings, or, maybe, to entice them to return. Af- ter Mr. Chapman Sen. and Mr. Hamp- ton paid their visit to Adelaide to claim the reward of £1000, the Colo- nial Treasurer of the time (Mr. B. T. Finniss. later South Australia's firstPremier) became suspicious, and said he would have to see the field him- self and the actual winning of the gold from the earth. And so he, with a strong party of police and civilians on horseback, numbering some . 50 or 60, and accompanied by Chapman and Hampton, made off on August 24, 1852. for Echunga. On reaching the 'field' Pinniss, still suspicious, made Chapman take off his coat and roll- up his sleeves to prevent any 'Charlie Nelson' sleight of hand tricks. An excited crowd had gathered to watch developments, and when Chapman poured off the muddy water from the prospector's dish and none of theprecious metal was discernible, there arose an angry roar of disgust, and it would have gone badly with Chap- man; but the presence of the police kept the crowd in check. Not dis- mayed. Chapman continued his work

of 'washing' for the gold he knew was there, and eventually handed the pan to Pinnis with a number of nug- gets of gold displayed on the bottom. The crowd, now. instead of wanting to cnt the throat of Chapman, wouid have kissed him. Everyone almost grabbed some utensil that would hold •water and commenced trying their luck as 'speckers,' and all found a little gold, Finniss taking some backto Adelaide. We have seen how much gold was won on the Echunga field, and there are still those who believe ■—like Professor Menge—that some day a big surprise will come to South Australia and a gold mine of excep tional type will be discovered. When the writer saw a picture recently in (lie daily Press of tile River Torrens after the waters had been allowed to flow out through the floodgates ofthe Weir, and extensive hanks of silt were laid bare, he wondered why there was no one in authority with sufficient imagination to have arran ged for some test of the contents of that silt. The floodwaters from the Mount Lofty Ranges would most cer tainly wash much of mineral interest down, and gold and precious stones

might possibly lie beneath those silt; beds. Do not many of us remember how in New Zealand in a sand bed at the sharp elbow of a river, they removed the top layers of silt and lo! a sheet of gold, which they scooped

up in shovelsfull? And as far as the precious stones are concerned, well, the writer remembers the late J. M. Wendt, the well-known jeweller, say ing how he had found diamonds in the Torrens River. Yes, we may have diamonds in our backyard! But let us leave this talk of gold and pre cious stones and get back to Echun- ga—not to goldfields of the district, but the early history of the locality.And first and foremost of the names associated with the town and countrythereabout is that of John Barton Hack. When the writer in his early manhood was an amateur theatrical devatee, he had perforce to commit to memory the spoken lines of certain characters, and some of those lines became indelibly imprinted upon his memory. One such was: "What does it matter who wins the prize, so that the work be done." That line came back to him as he opened the pages of George E. Loyau's volume on the representative men of South Australiaand read the biography of John Bar- ton Hack. Hack was born, according to the all-too-short biographical no tice, in July 1805 at <Chinchester, Sus sex, England, and arrived in South Australia with his family in February 1SS7 by the ship Isabella. He brought with him a quantity of stock which he had purchased in Tasmania, and' with his brother, Stephen Hack, for med a station about ten miles from Glenelg, but was not as successful with them as could have been wishedBe was the Jrst contractor for any public work "under the Government and undertook the cutting of a canal sear Port Adelaide with a view to affording a better landing-place for

merchandise. In 1842, a crisis, long since impending, took place; Gover nor Gawler's drafts were dishonored, and Mr. Hack, in common with other colonists, was a heavy loser in con sequence of property depreciating in value. He next turned his attention to the whale fishery, but the vessel engaged in it was unfortunately wrecked on the Australian coast. The first special surveys of country town ships in the Colony were made by him, notably those at the Little Para and Echunga. He was one of the committee who named the streets ofAdelaide, and at the Government laud sale of City lots was a purchaser of upwards of sixty-four acres in po sitions which have since realised thousands of pounds for a small block. But they passed from his pos session, and Mr. Hack, instead of be ing one of the most wealthy of men, occupied (he post of accountant in the South Australian Railways Goods 'Department in 1883. Truly, concludes the biographical sketch, his life has been an adventurous one, and lis re cord would if published in an extend ed form, prove an acceptable addition to the libraries of those interested in the experiences of early colonists of "South Australia."

In 1839 John Barton Hack actually founded Echunga, and there he estab-

lished "the Old Dairy" which was his ! first property in the district. It even tually passed into the possession of Mr. Pat ICavanagh. It was named the "Old Dairy" to differentiate it from the "New Dairy" situated near er Mount Barker, which property was also owned by Hack. The New Dairy was later owned by Mr. C. A'. Lang rehr. The "Old Dairy" was located two miles South-west of Echunga where the town had its start. Prior to 1839 the district of Echunga was known as "County South of Mount

Barker." It was surveyed in 1839 and Hack took up the Section, and planted twelve acres with trees he imported from Tasmania. He built a imported from Tasmania. He built a residence and m 1840 removed his family there. At the same time he conducted a business in Hindley St.. Adelaide, and several times during a week would travel on horseback to and from the City, leaving Echungain the early morning and returning late at night, over a route which was but a bush track. He has left it on record that at that period he was worth some £30.000 at least, and was in 1843 practically a ruined man as a consequence of the financial crisis which came upon the Colony in 1S42. The State of South Austra lia is at present,-as are other mem bers of the Commonwealth, in anenviable position as far as the con dition of its finances and comfort of its people are concerned, but even now there are rumors of a swing to less opulent times. But even the great depression that so many of the present population remembers could, apparently, not compete with that crisis of the early forties of last cen turv. when disaster dogged so many estimable men. and ruined them ab solutely. South Australia sent hun dreds of thousands of pounds abroad to purchase the necessaries of life, and Governor Sir George Grey volun tarily accented £<300 instead of £1000 a year. His Excellency went so far as to suggest that Government House be sold and made the proposition in a despatch to the then secretary of State for the Colonies (Lord Stanley) and the vice-regal residence was nearly leased as a warehouse. It must be remembered that Governor Grey's

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A JEWEL CASKET

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bills had been dishonored by the Home Government even as had those of Governor Gawler before him. The Imperial Government which had re fused to honor Gawler's bills, even tually did so. Grey, thinking he could imitate Gawler in his financial straits, was not so fortunate, and the Home Government would have none of his bills. He then issued Colonial 5 per cent, debentures, which proved worth less. A chronicle - of the day des cribes the conditions of tohse whoworked for rations in that deplorable crisis as follows:—"A number of over 700 immigrants, most of them good working men were, under compul sion, at first, furnished with work at wages reduced to the lo^st point at which they were able to subsist, and were marched out daily under inspec tors, the majority employed on road makine."

And in that financial crisis John Barton Hack lost his home at Echun ga, When he had spent what money he had, he sought the assistance of a hank of accommodation, and in his memoirs, he states: — "Assistance was readily granted by the bank while the Colony flourished, but as summarily called in when the crisis came." fn his dilemma he disposed of his Hindley Street, City, businessfor £4000, and mortgaged his pro perty at Echunga to the extent of £1500 to meet the claims upon him. Hack writes "The manager of the bank seemed satisfied with what had been done and I was satisfied I would have the support of the bank. 1 only required time. This was the general position in the Colony in those days. Almost every merchant was on the same" box—he had to make arrange ments with his creditors or become insolvent." Later on when Hackthought everything was well, two horsemen arrived at his homestead, and informed him that they were bai liffs who had come to take possession of his property on behalf of the bank. Hack describes' the personal disaster as follows:—"At the time there was only one director of the bank, and an English friend of mine with whom I

had had dealings, and who held a. mortgage on a portion of the Echun ga land. The latter was married to

sister of the director, and it was determined to obtain my improved property. This could only be done by my being compelled to insolvency, and this was carried out, aud the whole of the Echunga Estaie passed for a small amount over the mortgage

to my English friend and schoolfel low. Judge Cooper was sometimes a guest at Echunga and little thought when he talked to me. over the new insolvency law he was preparing, that I should he one of its first vic tims/' Truthfully Hack might have added "Save us from our friends— especially the candid friend." Hack was of the opinion that one John Hagen had been responsible for his losing his Echunga property. Now John Hagen is looked upon as the

founder of the Echunga township of 1 those early days. He had been aschoolfellow of Hack's, and was a wealthy Quaker, a member of the So ciety of Friends, and a partner in the firm of Hagen & Co., Merchants, of (London. He was highly thought of by Governor Grey, who was respon sible for appointing him as a member of the Legislative Council. He had arrived in South Australia in 1S39 and was associated in business with Captain John Hart. He was an uncleof Sir Richard Baker. He returned to England late in 1S53 and died in 1SGS. But during his residence he cut up a portion of Hack's old estate and founded the township of Echunga Readers of this series of articles vvill doubtless remember that William Be vis Randel] did something similar with liis Gumeraeha estate. It was evidently a very good business pro

position in those days, even as it is today, if the location of the proposedallotments is attractive. Hagen is supposed to have been responsible for the erection of the public house, the Hagen Arms, a three-roomed buil ding made of timber slabs with a paling roof. The first boniface to pre side over the refreshments and fare dispensed at the Hagen Arms was one Joe Pry. The Bridge Inn was another old hotel, but it too has fallen to ruins. In 1853 the Echunga dis trict council came into being, and John Hagen was the first chairman.

The first school at Echunga was held , in a cave at the side of St. Mary's

Church of England. It was conduct- j ed by one named Urnprey, which may ,have been a mutilation of Humphrey. I

The Government later built a school on the same spot, over which a Mr. Sawyer presided, and this was later closed, and'a public school opened on lower lying ground than the original site of the scholastic institutions. The old building was used as a teacher's residence.. That was in the ISGO's, but prior to that a private school was conducted by a Miss Jeffrey in Su sanna Street. Mts. Buttrose and

Miss Creer also conducted, as part ners, a private scholastic institution prior to the Government opening a public school. Then in the sixties I there was Miss Parker's Roman Cath

olic school. The first residert clergy man in Echunga was the Rev. Basil Craig, who had charge of St. Mary's Church of England over 90 years ago.

The Rev. J. B. Austin, a Congrega- ' iional who lived at Macclesfield, was one of the very earliest ministers to hold services in those Hills districts1.

(Continued next Issue)

 

Article #24 - Dated Thursday 4 September 1947

Thursday 4 September 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

' (By P.W)

ECHUNGA — OLD GOLD MINING TOWN

THE Rev. John Baptist Austin came

to. the Colony in 1S-43 and before

leaving London purchased from a banker. Mr. Roger Cunliffe, BOO acres of land near Macclesfield. He had a large family of eight children. He was a great friend of Mr, (after wards Sir) Samuel Davenport, who placed a large room at his disposal in which to hold services; but he later pitched a tent, brought with himfrom London, for that purpose. Ear ly in 1S44 Mr. Austin established services at Echunga (in the house of Mr. Duffield) and at Mount Barker (in the barn on the premises of Mr. Duncan McFarlane); also at Strath albyn. in a room, and later at Bugle Ranges. ,He would preach at Mac clesfield in the morning, and ride toseveral further services. The con gregation at Strathalbyn increased to such an extent that, on his recom mendation, application was made to Scotland for a Presbyterian Minister. He also interested his son-in-law (Mr Al. Elder), the Messrs. Stirling, Dr. Raukine and others in the matter and the Rev. J. Anderson came to the Colony, and eventually the beautiful church edifice in Strathalbyn was erected. The cause at Mount Barker also flourished, and Mr. Austin had to devote his attention to the in creased population at Macclesfield. On the IBugle Ranges a little chapel was built (Zion's Hill). At Echunga, after Mr. Austin discontinued his services, a church of England place

of worship -was built. 'He died in tne year 1S82 at Unley. In his biographi cal notice from which the above data is taken. George E. Loyau states that the Rev. Austin was an intimate friend and fellow-worker with the Revs. T. Q. Stow and R. W. Newland,

and united with them and other Non-' conformists in resisting the attempts to force State aid to religion upon the

colonists in 1848. He had preached [ and worked for the church for 52 years. The services at Echunga were held in a room in Mr. John Barton Hack's house, the congregations com prising those of all denominations. They came on horseba-ck or in bullock drays, a few in spriug carts. The Methodists were next to establish achurch in Echunga, their first edifice being a brick chapel situated some distance from the present main road.

The Old Dairy, built by Hack over a century ago, was the nucleus around which Echunga grew. It passed into the possession of Mr. Pat Kavenagh. Tiie original Kavanagks took up a holding in the Echunga district as early as 1846. The first horse to reach Echunga in harness was driven by the grandfather of Mr. G. L.Hampton, it hauled some half a ton of shot in a dray. They had to shoot the cattle when they required meat In the early days, and they had also good reason to make ample provision to protect themselves. In searching for those who might be able to assist him in the collection of reliable data for inclusion in this article on Echun ga, the writer wrote to (Mr. Alex Whi tington of that town, and he has to

thank that gentleman for much of the , Interesting and informative detail of this article. He mentioned the Mes

ers. A. W. Gobbiedick, Stanley jveaue, Andrew Leslie, G. L. Hampton, Pat. and P. E. Kavanagh and the Mesdam es L. A. Wiese, and M. Hall, and Miss E. J. Hough. He obtained much in formation from the resident public schoolteacher, who had kindly offered to place records of value at the wri ter's disposal and the said scribe ten ders his sincere thanks to both these gentlemen for their collaboration. Besides the names already mention ed in the: foregoing review Mr. Alex Whitington states those of the Saun ders, the Baileys, and the Smiths. Heproceeds, in his letter to the writer, as follows:—"The Smiths and Saun ders came out in the same boat about the year 1836 and settled on property adjoining Hack's, called the Echunga Creek. Hack brought a builder from Tasmania to build his stone house, the first to be greeted; and the Saun ders had the same man to build their home, urtiich was the second stone house in Echunga. The blacks were numerous at the time, and had a bu rial ground within Ave chains of the Saunders' homestead. The house is still standing on the spot known as the 'Black Garden.' A son, Joseph, at the age of eleven, to the year 1852, took four bullocks and a dray with a load of wheat to Adelaide. He sold the wheat tor £40, and then someone offered to buy the bullocks, so he ■old two of them for £60, and drove the remaining two animals home with the dray, and a hundred

pounds in his pocket, a very proud J

boy. Mrs. Saunders kept a number of ducks, aud killed one for Christ mas dinner. When dressing it she found several pieces of gold inside the bird, evidently picked up from the old Queen Mine, which was situ ated about half a mile South from where they lived. William Bailey, another old pioneer, found the first gold nugget while mustering sheep, as a bov, for his father. He picked up what he thought was a very pretty stone, and took it home, when it was seen to he a nugget of gold. The Queen Mine was eventually worked and in the years 1882-18S3 was boom ing. The Smiths settled quite close to the Saunders on property called the 'Three Brother Hills,' although one of the Hills went under the name of Mt. Brogan after the surveyors had established a point there, A great grandson, Mr. T. W. •Smith, still retains a portion of the 'Three Brother' hills, and it is anideal dairy farm. Mrs. Smith, when a young woman, walked to Adelaide to sell the butter and eggs at the market and carried a baby in her arms as well. George Saunders, when they first settled in Echunga, used sometimes to ride to Adelaidewith as little as three pounds of but ter, for which he got 3/6 per lb. Mrs. Smith often told of an amusing in cident that occurred when they first landed in Echunga. Having heard such a Jot about the blacks they were very frightened. They had only been

in Echunga a few days, when the menfolk had to go away for a night or two, and when nightfall arrived a man's hat was placed on a stick by the door. It wasn't long before they could hear what they thought were blacks calling to each other all ar ound the place, so they sat up all night, too frightened to go to bed. But the noises they had heard turned out to he the calls of curlews. Ed ward Kavenagh purchased his pro perty from one Russell Skey, who had taken it over from Hack. In 1852 two thousand bushels of wheat were grown on that same property whichis still in the Kavanagh family, being owned by P. and M. Kavanagh, grand sons of the above-named. The firsi store and post office was at Jupiter, and it was kept by a man named Braynard. Another old colonist, by the name of Collingridge, built the first hut in the township. He came out in a boat called the 'Phoebe' in1846, and his descendants are still residing on the same property." Con tinuing his letter to the writer, Mr. Alex- Whitington states:—"I have re ceived a letter from a very dear old lady at Blackwood, giving more infor mation of the pioneers, also respect ing the beautiful old StjMary's church I enclose the letter for you to use as you will. 1 will add the following notes, taken from the Church re cords. The first Vestry meeting was held at 'St. Mary's on October 12tli, 1852, Jacob Hagen, Esq., in the chair. No minutes having been regularly kept of previous meetings, Mr. Hagen gave a sketch of the history and pro ceedings connected with the church up to that date. For two or three years ministers of various religions

had occasionally attended at Echunga Gardens, but in the year 1848, a vil lage having been laid out, a meeting was held at Mr. Hagen's home, to consider th© erection of a place of ■worship. Jacob Hagen gave the land necessary for the church and church yard. On February 13, 1850, Augus tus Short, the first iBishop of Ade laide, laid the first stone, and named the church 'St. Mary's, of Echunga.His Lordship was assisted at the ce remony by the Rev. George Newen ham. The first sendee to be held in the new church was on January 12, 1851. The first Confirmation, admin istration of the Sacrament, and bap tism within the church was conduct ed on August 3, 1851, the Lord Bishop officiating. The first marriage within the church was solemnised on novem ber 18 in the same year, by the .Rev. John Tulford, of Blakiston. The first .burial within the church grounds wason July 16, 1850. The English ivy still creeps around the porch and upon the walls, and reference is later made to that old-established growth in the letter from Mrs. M. E. Smith, of 'The Rnoll,' Blackwood. The old brick floor also remains, and the beautiful silver collection-plate, pre sented by the Sunday school .scholars on All Saints Day 1894 is still used. 1 think St. Mark's was the second church to be built in the South, Bla kiston being the first. John Penrose gave the land for the Catholic school

in the 1860's, Miss Partes being the first teacher. iMr. iMIley was the first and Mr. Gratwick the second person to keep the store and post office at Bchunga."

•['In regard to the Mincham family it should be stated that the ship 'Ka therine Stewart Forbes' arrived on October 17, 1837 and the original .Minchams could not therefore have been present at the Proclamation of the Colony at Glenelg on December 28, 1836. The name of William Min cham appears in various publications of almanacs in the early days. For the years 1839-40 he is shown as a painter, in Currie Street, Adelaide, In 1844 he was living at Bchunga Creek i in which year he grew six acres of | wheat. In 1847 he engaged in shoe-] making at Eckunga, and in 1855-S8 { he was the district clerk at Ecbunga, and was appointed district clerk and collector of the district council of Bchunga on 27th January, 1854, and held such offices until 1860, resigning in January of that year. He was succeeded by Mr. D. Sweetapple, such appointment being gazetted onJanuary 5th, i860. The official recor ding of the laying out of Bchunga is given as 1849.]

The'final article on Echunga will appear in next issue.

 

Article #25 - Dated Thursday 11 September 1947

Thursday 11 September 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

 

(By P.W)  

ECHUNGA—OLD GOLD MINING TOWN

THE letter from Mrs. M. G.

Smith, referred to by Mr. Alex Whitington when giving the in- formative data respecting old identities of Echunga in the pio- neer days, is reproduced hereunder as it is felt perusal will be of great interest to readers of the 'Courier'

"I will try and recall some of the facts of our family history:

The Minchams came out first in the Katherine Stuart Forbes in 1836 or near that date. Our grandfather, William Mincham, was the last to see Colonel Light. He made his lead coffin, and his daughter had the jug that was used at the burial for re freshments, and it is a beauty. I think Dave Lloyd has it. I believe he also made the lead windows in St. Mary's Church. He preached the first sermon in a new church at Currie Street, Adelaide. He was a very ver satile gent, so grandfather Lewis told me. He could start the singing and prayers, and was at a public dinneras chairman when he took ill: quite a tragedy. That must have been in the early sixties, because my Father, John Wesley, was not married till after he lost his father, and he was married to Sarah Anne Lewis about '63 at Blakiston Church. I do not know why they went over to the Mount, because his father was buried at St. Mary's Churchyard. It was Aunt and Mother, as girls, who plan ted the English ivy over the porch, and it is there today. I was baptised there on January 14th, 1866, by Mr. Nevell, minister of St. George's, Ma gill. I had a very good photo of the Rev. Taplin and his mother, wife and family, and my grandfather, Bob Le wis, taken at the church with his top hat and frock coat. I have been look ing for it. I think I may have given it to my sister, but, if she is still in Melbourne, I will get her to send it

over. It is a really good photo, of them all. Taplin must have been in residence at the Parsonage, as it was called in those days, and Mr. Gower came from the Mount and lived there, a bachelor; and after seemed to go back to Mount Barker for head quarters. Now, grandfather Lewis came out in the Sir William Mitchell in 1840, after four months at sea in that sailing vessel. My mother was born 28th September 1840, at Light Square. Both our grandfathers and mothers and my father are buried at St. Mary's churchyard. That is why I feel so sad to see it so neglected. Sarah felt it very much, and said she would like to send some cash to help do it up, and I would gladly give. Ja cob Hagen gave the land that St. Mary's church was built on. It was where I went to Sunday school, and Miss Sweetapple played the organ, and taught me, and I am 82 not out— as good as Bradman! Jack is over 84 and he had to look after Mr. Gow er's horse. He had to ride in those days or walk. And George Martin tolled the bell whenever a death occurred in the village, and rang the

bell for services for many years. With best wishes to all, M. E. Smith"

Among the data upon Echunga in addition to those quoted are the fol lowing:—"Echunga is situated in the Eastern Mount Lofties and is 21 miles by road from Adelaide. John Barton Hack had been squatting on the pre sent site of the Mount Barker town ship, hut his application for land was forestalled by Hampden Duttonwho took 4000 acres. Hack consoled himself with a special survey to the South-west including the site of what is now Echunga. Hack, who had for merly belonged to the search party for the speared Captain Barker, in 1S31 took up property in Echunga in 1036. He established the 'Old Dairy' which lies two miles from the present township, and planted an orchard with trees he imported from Hobart, and in 1840 he brought his family from Adelaide which was then mak ing its first footholds. In the general crash in the finances of early South Australia Hack was a victim and lost his Echunga property. Jacob Hagen took over the land in 1843. The native name was retained when the township was laid out by Hagen —and 'Ecchungga,' now 'Echunga' came into being. Echunga in the.aboriginal vocabulary is supposed to mean 'close by,' or 'at a short dis tance.'

One last and final recording in this comprehensive historical review of Echunga. It has reference to the late (Mr. James Warland who died at his residence "Grantala" in July 1912, aged 76. At the time of his de mise he was one of the oldest and best known identities in the Echunga district. He was born at Winborne, Dorsetshire and came to South Australia with his parents in the shipSingapore, Captain Hamilton, in No vember 1839. The greatest part of his life was spent at Echunga. He resided in Adelaide with his parents for a brief period. Then, they took over "Messrs. Hack Bros" dairying farm at Echunga. They went to Yan kalilla and took Captain Field's im

mense dairy, 120 cows being milked I

every day, while 500 pigs were kept.!

Although it was all open country and free run, it did not pay, owing to in sufficient population. There were no consumers, the roads were bad, and there was no shipping to get produce away. Almost everything was wast ed. The family returned to Echunga where Mr. Warland's father, William

Warland, built the Wheatsheaf Hotel now_ known as "Warrakilla," tlie late Mr. G. W. Goyder's residence. Mr. James Warland, accompanied by the late Mr. George Spark, the first man to pilot a bullock dray from Ade Jaide to Echunga diggings. It was then quite an adventure to get a dray through, as there were no roads or bridges. From Echunga he drove the bullock team to the Burra mines and carted ore 'from there to Adelaide. He accompanied Mr. Spark to the Victoria diggings with bullock teams and drays, and when at Strathalbyn pur chased a ton of flour which they car ted to Bendigo and sold at 4110 a bag. The bullock teams were used for conveying goods from Melbourne to the Bendigo diggings, and on one of the trips bushrangers stuck them up. the bullocks were taken, and the contents of the wagons stolen. Mr. Warland escaped, but Mr. Spark was kept prisoner by the bushrangers for some days. Mr. Warland returned to Echunga and with his brother Ed ward, who later died at Victor Har bour, carted goods from Adelaide to the Echunga gold diggings. He later went North to study stock, and was for a time on various stations held by Dr. William E. John Brown. La ter he turned his attention to mining and was successful. The mine known as Donkey Gully, was 'discovered by him. Being an enthusiast "he lost no chance of pushing forward the Ech unga goldfields, and was one of the largest gold buyers. He married Sa rah Jane, daughter of John Maynard, who was the first white man in Clare. He took up blacksmithing and helped to ring fence the property of J. H.Angus. The Hagen Arms Hotel was purchased by him, and he was for many years the proprietor of that house.

And so we bring to an end this long and interesting review ot the town of Eohunga. We feel that as time passes such recordings will be come more valuable with the passing on of each generation, but even to us of the present there is a delight in the perusal of such detailed des criptions of those pioneering days when the prospect of automobiles skimming over perfectly graded bitumenised tracks through those .self same Mt. Lofty ranges would have seemed but as of a dream.

(To the Editor)

Sir,—Having read with great inter est the articles in the "Courier" on Echunga, I notice that the name of the late Mr. Albert Day has not so

far been -mentioned. This seems a j

pity as Mr. Day was a very old iden tity of the Echunga * district, doing much gold mining there in the early days; in fact, he was one of those instrumental in giving the name Bigg's Flat to that part of the dis

trict previously known as -Echimaa

Goldflelds.

Yours etc.,

'Interested Reader"

 

Article #26 - Dated Thursday 18 September 1947

Thursday 18 September 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

>1111 II!

: *" -—= (By P.W) ■ =1

fFHE almost perpetual anxiety respecting the seasonal chances of

success of the cereal harvest in this State is one that could well be dismissed by citing the old precept "Worry is the interest we pay on troubles that never come." For taking the long list of seasons since the Colony of South Australia was first settled the actual droughts have been comparatively few in number, and they have been followed by bounteous rains and sometimes floods.

present year is no exception '

for quite a time fears were voiced that we were in for a bad year. And then came again the miracle of the rain—the glorious rain —the drops of gold. And in the daily Press appeared a photograph of the Torrens Weir, the floodgates of whichhad been opened to release the, swol len waters of the stream. The writerthought this present time would be a fitting one to recall the celebration that was held upun the occasion of the completion of the Torrens Dam way back on July 21st, XSSI, a work which, to quote a commentator of that time, gave to the City of Ade laide a magnificent lake of water which is the admiration of every beholder, and marks an era in the an nals of the metropolis that the future historian of South Australia will not allow to pass into oblivion. The cele bration was of a dual character, for the date mentioned was not alone a milestone as regards the provision of a respectable stretch of water within the city's environs, but on that day was declared open the Adelaide Ex hibition of 18SI. The first exhibition that the writer can remember attend ing is thai of 18S7 when the present big structure on North Terrace had been erected. The 1SS1 Exhibition was held in the old exhibition build ing, and as a record of those mid Victorian days it is worthy of review. Those were the days of horses and cabs and carriages, the days of

healthier and more natural life, if we except tbe poor sanitation that wasresponsible for such dire diseases as typhoid, the illness from which fever carried off So many. Those were the days of food in plentitude, and fruit had not yet been commercialised. Of course there was not a large popula tion, and the class distinction was maybe more pronounced. The Labor Partv and even the Salvation Army

■were in their swaddling clothes, and the writer can well remember the difficulties under which the "Blood and Fire" Salvationists introduced their religious ideals into the colony —empty jam tins and the like being hurled into the "ring" of the assem bled disciples of General Booth, Many old firms, some still existent, wereexhibitors at that 1SS1 Exhibition, and a glance through the records and lists of exhibits, especially in this day of fear of atomic bombs is not devoid of entertainment. A firm of chemists displayed under a small glass shade some Osmir Acid or Pe roxide of Osmium. "It is," states the Record, "the most powerful poison known to science," and continues: "One grain is sufficient to kill sixthousand men and the contents of that insignificant tube would destroy 9G.000 human lives. It is said that during the Zulu war some chemist offered to wipe out the whole nation by contract with the poison, an offer vhicli was not entertained."

But let us back to the outset of this particular Exhibition which was a private undertaking. Its inception was due to '.Messrs. Joubert and Two penny, who at Paris, in Sydney, and in Melbourne had had a varied and extensive experience in the conduct and management of big shows. It had occurred to them that European ma nufacturers would not be indisposed to incur the slight additional cost of transporting their wares to Adelaide, particularly as its citizens had beenamong their best customers at the 'Sydney and Melbourne Exhibitions. Tile next step was to consult His "Worship the Mayor, who happened to be in Melbourne at the time the idea was first broached. Mr. Smith (later Sir Edwin Smith) recognised ,the benefits which would accrue to the citv and the country if it could be

carried out. and he generously volun teered pecuniary help if they were needed by the promoters to bring their spirited enterprise to a success ful issue. 'But this they assured him they did not want. All they wanted

yas the loan Of the Exhibition Build

ing and grounds, a fair field and no favor. These they obtained and they then set to work with an enthusiasm that carried all before it." We have been quoting from tbe record of the time, and with such authentic data, as was sponsored by the Government of the day. we will continue to give an idea to the present generationand our elder readers what was ado respecting that old Exhibition. "Trees■gnarled with age. that happened to stand in the way were uprooted in a night: annexes arose as if by magic, Tiesides Great Britain 'there were reoresented Germany. Prance, Aus tria. America, Italy. China, Japan.

Switzerland. India. Belgium, and Vic- ! tcria and the Exhibition was a greatsuccess. Ti has lieen suggested that in when South Australia reaches vts Jubilee a thoroughly International Exhibition shall be held, and guided 1>v the experience of the present Phow. .and the successful. business Tike way in which it has been carried

out we ought to be able to hold an International Exhibition that will vie with that of either Sydney or Mel bourne. An exhibition educates both inventor and tradesman, both mecha. nic and citizen: it stimulates the in ventive faculties, it exposes deficien cies in taste and in skill, and encou rages progress. It develops and de fines the taste and in a hundred dif ferent ways promotes commerce andadvances the well-being of the com munity."

The inaugural ceremony was quite successful and the weather held up fine, and the people generally were stirred to something akin to enthu siasm in regard to the undertaking. The day was observed as a close ho liday." Parliament adjourned for the

occasion, the banks and leading ware- j houses were closed; the streets lively!

with people and gay with . bunting. Inside the Exhibition Building there was a great gathering of citizens and colonists. The attendance must have numbered fully 3000 persons. Occu pying a position on the dais with His Excellency the Governor there were the Chief Justice, the Chief Ma gistrate of the City and his Council lors. the Crown Ministers, the Presi dent of the Legislative Council, andthe Speaker of the House of Assem bly, the Members of the ExecutiveCommittee, and the leading officers of the Volunteer Military Force. In addition to these there were in other parts of the room members of both branches of .the 'Legislature, the heads of Government departments and a large number of our leading colonists. The Cantata was a musi cal triumphs, and will deserve frequent repetition. Thus then as much prestige was given to the occasion as the promoters could desire, and it is to their credit that the proceedings ■passed off in such an entirely suc cessful manner. Under the circum stances it was inevitable that Messrs. Jcubert and Twopenny should avail

themselves of some building already in existence and sufficiently near the city to encourage people to visit it. The only premises that suggested themselves were the old Exhibition building with its thirteen acres of ground. The structure, itself was, of course, utterly inadequate to contain anything like all the exhibits that had been promised. As soon therefore as Mr. Jdubert arrived in the colony he inspected the site, and decided upon the ereotion of a main annexe stretching from the north end of the main building. A contract was en tered into with Messrs. Robin & Hack to build this annexe 405 ft. long iby 65 ft. wide, hut the demandsfor space increased so rapidly that it was soon found necessary to erect an art gallery at the end of the annexe,

two wings, two machinery halls and a I transept. The size of the art gallery was 65 ft. by 45 ft.; the two wings co vered a space of 3.GOO feet; the ma chinery halls 3000 ft.,* and the tran sept 2000 ft. The interna! area of the old building was 11,316 ft., and the verandahs outside measured 123 ft. long by a width of 20 ft. on the East and West, and 112 ft. by 20 ft. on the North and South. All told thearea of the building and various an nexes was 54,235 ft., but refreshment rooms, marquees, and other erec tions outside brought total spkce up to 90.000 ft. The exhibition

bounded on the north by the beauti ful Botanic Park and the peaceful looking Torrens Lake, and on the East by the Botanic Gardens whose loveliness is acknowledged far and wide; while in close proximity stand the Adelaide Hospital and the Uni versity. the Institute, and other pro minent buildings. It is moreoverconveniently situated, being near to North Adelaide, and the Eastern sub- ]

urbfe of Hackney, Stepney, College Park, Kent Town, .and Norwood, and other more distant places are connec ted by railways and tramways so that the facilities for reaching the Exhi bition could not possibly be better. At the opening ceremonial a similar program me to that which was adopt ed in Sydney and .Melbourne was observed differing only in the matter of an outdoor procession. There was plenty of rank and title to give pres tige to the occasion. Vice-Regal lips declared the Exhibition open, and the Cantata was admirably rendered.

In describing the scene outside the Exhibition the recorder states: "The crowd by this time had swelled into a host, which had its representatives in ail directions." On turning up his reference book the writer found the woYd 'host' as denoting several, mean

ings. but the one he was looking for' gave the explanation as "a vast crowd'. Reading on respecting the exhibition he found that the "host' comprised between 3000 to 4000 within the enclosure and about an equal number outside. At 5 o'clock the grounds were cleared and some 7.S00 persons had paid their shillings. Besides that number 1000 season ticket holders visited the grounds,and also the invited guests, including

the volunteers. The crowd rapidly dispersed and In less than an hour the streets were well nigh empty and almost as silent as those of a third rate country village. The admissions to the Exhibition for the first four days reached 40,405, or an average of over 10,000 a day. The Show was open day and night.

It would be appropriate and of con siderable interest to mention some of those firms who exhibited their wares at this early-day exhibition. There were, of course, side-shows in consi derable number. A rifle gallery near the gate "whose owner worked like a slave to satisfy the demands of numerous amateur marksmen.' And 'next to him the announcement that the notorious Kelly Gang, said to have just arrived from Victoria, could be seen within a canvas tent.' Also a Punch and Judy show. Further on an electric machine shocked for the smallest silver coin all who cul tivated its acquaintance. Nearby

wondrously constructed windmill whirled ceaselessly around. The la ger beer saloon close at hand had an unlimited supply of Josh Billing's Bete-Noire. Down towards the Wes tern fence there were hardly more visitors than showmen, in the South Australian Court a number of the leading houses had gone into the matter with a spirit of enthusiastic enterprise, and spared no expense in

securing handsome showcases or ar ranging striking trophies. There was a brilliant display of costume from the establishment of J. Miller Ander son & iCo. The goods were worthy of their setting, for of their kind there was nothing to surpass them, even in the World's Show at Mel bourne. Just at tbe north of Messrs. Anderson & Co's space Messrs. Hay & Co. had some elegant dress exhibits. Mr. G. P. Doolette, of King William Street, Court and clerical tai lor, had several show cases; in one was shown felt and silk hats, pull overs. bunting and travelling caps and helmets, and another contained fitted travelling bags and cases court swords and barristers' wigs, while a Ihird was fitted with 3hirts of the firm's own make. Not fai off D. & W. 'Murray, wholesale drapers and clothing manufacturers, had a case full of ready-made clothing. A step or two to the South w« came to the rich and tasteful productions of the silversmith's art as they are ade quately exemplified by the efforts of Mr. H. Steiner, the well-known jewel ler of Rundle Street. An atiractive, ■if gaudy, trophy of tea-packets and coffee in tins was raised on the south side of the court by Messrs. J. S. Sanders & Co.. of Hindle.v St.. and iLipson St.. Port Adelaide, the teas being 'shown being the Indian and

■China teas and .the coffees Universal Arabic, French Imperial, French Colombo, and the Diamond. Messm A. & J. Dobbie, of Gawler Place, had a neatly railed-in and carpeted stand of sewing machines, the malcers rep resented being Singer, Howe, and the Standard company. The same Arm had also a case of electro-plated warp and several exhibits of Bilge pampa.

(Continued Next Week)

 

Article #27 - Dated Thursday 25 September 1947

Thursday 25 September 1947

 

A JEWEL CASKET

' II If

(By P.W)

Messrs. Burton & Co., of Waver- j ley Vinegar Works, West Terrace, show a small but neat trophy, and Messrs. D. & R. J. Fotkeringham, of Gawler, have a similar stand of cor dials. A selected sample collection of cordials from the well-known manufactory of Messrs. G. Hall and Sons, Norwood, is decorated withflags and certificates of former ■awards, including one from the Syd ney Exhibition of X879, when they carried the prize against the world. Messrs. G. Stringer & Co., Hackney, have a stand of sauces, pickles and condiments, which exhibits are ar ranged around a frame containing the medals won by the firm. A large stand of leather, comprising some splendid hides, has been erected by Mr. J. J. Green, of Hindley Street, who exhibits also a good collection of boot uppers. Adjoining the dis play of leather, Mr. J. Williams, manu facturing stationer, of King William Street, who' took several prizes at the Melbourne Exhibition, has a case con taining admirable specimens of e

graving, lithography, embossing, cop perplate and other printing, and ac count books and ledgers of various desciptions. A tow of large wooden organ pipes placed against the wall form an interesting exhibit, inasmuch as they represent the 16-ft. open Dia pason pedal stop, in what will be, when completed, the largest two manual church organ in the colony. This instrument is now heing constructed for the North Adelaide Con gregational Church by Mr. W. G. Ben •dall, the well-known organ builder ■of North Adelaide, and will contain no fewer than 1,186 pipes with pro vision for the addition of two more stops, comprising 224 pipes. In the ■northern end of the building Messrs. W. & T. Rhodes show an elaborate

case of electroplated ware from the celebrated firm of Harrison & Co., Sheffield. On the walls are fixed door -ornaments, locks, latches of beautiful workmanship, and close by there is a most useful household appliance in the form of a "Rhyston" mangle, the patent rights for which are repre sented In South Australia by W. & T.

Rhodes. The mangle is an entirely 1 new principle. Messrs. TV. & H. I iBurford & Sons,, soa pand candle makers, of Grenfeli Street, have at tractively fitted up the north-east corner of the building, where they have been allotted space for the display of their manufactures. Against a dark blue background they have erected various devices in light coloured fancy toilet soaps of dif ferent qualities in blue, mottled, and common yellow. Of the last,-named article a huge slab, weighing 25 cwt., forms a prominent decoration. Messrs. A. M. Bickford & Sons, druggists,have raised a pyramidal trophy some 15 ft. high of the cordial made at their TVaymouth Street factory. Around the base of the trophys are placed rows of baking powders and cough elixir made by the firm. ■■ Close by Bickford & Sons' stand, Mr. Blackebv. proprietor of the Patent Boot Factory, Bundle Street, has

erected a very large show case, which ; contains a huge and well-arrangedcollection of plain and fancy hoots and shoes known as '^Blackeby's Patent." The peculiar quality of the hoots is that instead of being pegged the sole is stitched with three vows of stitches in a certain manner. The Aerated Bread Company have a large octagonal case reaching about to the ceiling in which are shown the various sorts of biscuits that are manufac tured. F. Basse, jeweller, of GawlerPlace, exhibits a case of diamonds and other jewellery. R. Menz, Rundle Street, has a small but prettily arranged case of colonial-made watches and jewellery. C. A. Owen,

photographer, of Rundle Street, has a

— * — folfotl hv

collection *>f photographs taken by means o£ artificial light. A. S. Man ders & Co., Exchange, also show enamelled photos. C. Bath, proprietor of the Colonial Tinware Goods Fac tory, has a piled-up stand of wire work cages, baskets, etc. F. H. Schlork & Co., of the steam-dyeing

and Cleaning Works, Gawler Place, |

have an exhibit of their works in the shape of leathers, ribbons, silk, wools and other materials. Against the wall bangs one of these specimens of human patience, a patchwork quilt

composed of 11,500 pieces neatly' sewn together. It was made by Mrs. Higgins. and is exhibited by Mrs. Flett, of North Adelaide. Perhaps the most attractive showcase on the east side of the South Australian •Court is that of Mr. A. Cunningham, of Rundle Street. Mr. Cunningham telegraphed orders home for newest goods in glassware, china, etc. The exhibits came duly per "Cuzco." Thesilver and silver-plated goods are

especially worthy of mention. Messrs. i "W. W. Gall & Sons may be consideredas being in a sense rival exhibitors to Mr. Cunningham. Their exhibits areconfined to these classes of goods— articles from Worcester Royal Porce lain Company, Doulton's art pottery, and Majolicaware. Messrs. J. A. Hol den & Co. have exhibited their goods in a marquee. A handsome life-sise model of a house shows off to advan tage a beautiful set of buggy harness. Messrs. Colton & Co. have a space about 500 ft. square. They occupy about half of one side of the hall and.

in addition have a large and hand- , some showcase of saddlery at the

end. The Telegraph Department have a large showcase near to Messrs. Jou bert & Twopenny's office, and in front of this they have rigged up another which they call a "Telephone Ex change.'' In the exhibits connected with the pastoral pursuits of the colony, Mr. J. H. A'ngas exhibits both of the agricultural and pastoral enter prise—wool and wheat. The wool is

of two sorts—Merino and Lincoln. The Lincoln wool took the first and second prize Lincoln at the Agricul tural Society's Show in 1SS0, the weight of each of the fleeces then shown was 20| lbs., the wool being only 12 months' growth. Mr. Angas also shows photographs of some of his colonially-framed bullocks, and ofthe two prize oxen which weighed re spectively 2.92G lbs. and 2,706 lbs., which were only grass fed. Mr. Chas. Cross, of Gawler, exhibits neat white packages of his "indigestion drops and powder." Then come the Angas ton Preserving Company with an ex hibit of tinned jams and preserved fruits; Messrs. Braddoek & Sons, of the Yatala Chemical Works, Bromp ton Park; F. S. Carroll with an exhibit of Rhoderick DHJ whiskey and Lorillards cigarettes. Frearson Bros, with creditable specimens of printing and lithography. Mr. Alexander Wood, of Woodvale, Yankalilla, ex hibits wines he has manufactured from the produce of his own vineyard. He also shows cases of dried pears, apples, plums, and apricots—all grown at Woodvale. 'Messrs. iBarton & Co.'s exhibits are similar to those of Messrs. Cox & Co. Messrs. Harrison and Co., of Port Mills, have erecteda pillar of bags of flour, and Mr. J. Dawson, the next exhibitor, has en tered into competition with them. Close by Messrs. J. Cowan & Co. have a similar exhibit. There being then

much excitement in the mining world the exhibit of silver lead ore shown by a Normanville company, special in terest was created by an exhibit of half a ton of ore from the Caracalinga Silver Lead Mine, Normanville, Nor thern Territory. The centre row in the permanent building includes ex hibits from Messrs. Crowder & Co. (aerated waters and cordials), Frank lin Street; Messrs. Murray & Sons(Craiglee discuits); Mr. A. E. Toiley (wines and spirits); Mr. B. Seppelt (in the same line) ;>Messrs. Geo. Mc Bwin & Sons (jams and preserved fruits); Messrs. Kessel & Sons (patent self-acting fountains, aqua riums, fern cases, etc); Mr. J. Wed lock, of Victoria Foundy (brackets, panels, friezes and other castings);Messrs. W. E. Ekins & Co. (rifles, guns, etc), King William Street; Messrs. Harrold Bros. (Greener's rifles, with revolvers and other war like utensils). Mr, G. F. Ward, of the Semaphore, goes in for "grape salt" and "balsam of aniseed." The Advertiser Office display specimens of lithography and printing. In the main avenue Messrs. S. Mayfield and Sons (furniture of all descriptions); Messrs. E. Beare & Co., of Hindmarsh Square (Venetian blinds); Mrs. B. Polhill, of Rundle Street, (leather goods, portmanteaux, etc.); F. H. Faulding & Co. in their elegant case display numerous chemical specimens of the utmost beauty and interest, including the deadly poison referred to in the early portion of this article. Messrs. McLean Bros, Rigg & Co. have two bays allotted to their ex hibits ranging from sewing machines to sheep shears. Mr. P. Gay has made his space appear like two or three domestic apartments, the furniture in each division being representative. Next to No. 1 bedroom is a billiard table' manufactured in Mr. Gay's es tablishment for Mr. W. B. Rounsevell. This is flanked by a very handsome office table in American and Italian walnut made to the order of Mr. A.

Hay, J.P. In the verandahs there are exhibits by Mr. Thomas Hardy (a splendid exhibit of wines, dried fruits and other colonial-grown products). He shows samples of a stock of not less than 215,000 gallons. He also exhibits olive oil, preserved olives, marmalade, gin, brandy, raisins, eur rants, sultanas and almonds. The whole exhibit, is decorated with oranges, citrons and olive branches in bearing. Mr. Hardy has established a name beyond the limits of South Australia. A little way off is the ex hibit by Messrs. Hanton & Dalton, fruit preserves and pickle makers, of Fullarton, with no fewer than 150 cases of their manufactures. On the opposite side of the avenue a number of smaller stands are present, and among others is another preserve trophy representing the manufactures of Mr. S. Moss, of "Werrilda," Stir ling East. Mr. J. Hammer, of theEast End Market, shows samples of tomato, fish and other sauces made by him, and for which he has taken prizes outside the colony. A great deal is talked about the want of energy displayed in South Australia anent the production of olive oil as an article of large export, and a sample of what can be produced here isshown by one oil-presser, Mr. G. L. Barnard, of Walkervjlle, who has dis played in bottles of various shapes and sizes beautifully clear oil. The vintages of Auldana—old prize-takers at Philadelphia. Sydney and Mel bourne—are represented by some of Mr. Auld and son's .choicest wines. B. N. & H. Conigrave, of the Southern Cross Brewery, Macclesfield, have a

neat trophy consisting of a succes sion of circular tiers of bottled beer and cordials running up in a pyra midal form and surmounted by

banneret. For an appropriate base the pyramid has a barrel of the Sou thern Cross ale made with the water from the excellent springs at Maccles field, which has acquired more than a local fame of its own. Syme and Syson, brewers, o£ Adelaide, have

stand arranged, stacked chiefly with bottled "Tiger" ale. Close to the wes tern entrance Messrs. H. Edmeades and Son, of the Anchor Brewery, Ade laide, have an effective trophy over nine small barrels of ale. In the absence of better space Phillipson Bros., of Gresham place, show bottled beer fom the Gianville Brewery.Stephen & Co-, Adelaide Cordial Fac tory, Currie Street, have a stand of exhibits in the verandah space, com prising bitters, liqueurs, cordials, wines, vinegar, and baking powder. On the machinery side of the west entrance W. Nitschke & Co., distil lers, at Hackney, have a well-arranged stand of their productions, includingwhisky, brandy, "old torn," spirits of wine, Vermuth, bitters and cordials.

Over the stand is placed a bust of Prince Albert, which Mr, Nitschke in tends presenting to the German Club, iSmart, Webb & Co., produce agents, of Adelaide and the Port, have a stand on which they display hams, bacon flitches, rolled meats, and cheese, E. Conrad, of Hindley Street, has a large exhibit of preserved meats in tins, besides hams, bacon and spiced meats. The Union Boot Co. make a line display in one of the handsomest showcases in the exhibition. In the northern verandah Messrs. J. C. Gen der & Co. have an exhibit of sad dling and harness work. Mr. W. H. Sanders, currier, exhibits the "first waterproof manufactured in the sou thern hemisphere." Pflaum & Co. ex hibit wattle bark in both the native and ground state. Mr. J. Jackman exhibits a handsome case of the con fectionery of Mr. Bbenezer Roberts, of Condon. Mr. J. Thyer, jun., ofBelalie, shows two cases containing his purple straw and white Tuscan

wheat, which secured first-class or

ders of merit at the Melbourne Ex hibition; also his white Essex, which won the challenge cup at the Feb ruary exhibition of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, together with purple Tuscan, Frame's Non

pariel, and Navarino varieties. In the centre of the main building Cap tain Sweet has some of his exquisitely finished photographic views of the Botanic Gardens and other scenes. In various parts of the building Mr. 'Cunningham has fixed silicated car bon filters, and Mr. G. W. Cotton put up half-a-dozen of Cheavin's filters. Messrs. J. Rawlings & Co. have com pleted a trophy in the verandah of"Bulldog" ales and stouts, comprising Bass's ales and Guinness's stout hot-; tied by R. Porter & Co., London, whose brand is a bulldog. In the Art Gallery Messrs. S. Marshall & Sons and A. Kauffman, both of Rundle Street, exhibit pianofortes, har moniums, and cabinet organs by various makers. The more prominentexhibits of Marshall & Sons are a semi-grand Lipp piano, a cottage Bechstein, and Smith's parlour or gans. A. Kauffmann's chief pianoforte exhibit is a fine concert grand by Bechstein in blackwood; a pianoforte for the salon by A. Knabe Bros stand ing beside it. The same exhibitor acting as agent for the Estey OrganCoy., U.S.A., has several of their in struments on - show. The exhibition of carriages is very numerous and creditable.

Here follows descriptive mention of the exhibitors of de-luxe vehicles of that gone-for-ever cab, coach and buggy era, and on the carriages of the elite were embossed the crests and coats of arms of the leading lights of the colony's capital. Exi gencies of space will not further per mit of aught but passing reference to these carriages, but some of the old time exhibitors, and maybe a few of

the names of those for whom the ve- I

hides were manufactured will he given, it being thought that this may be provocative of conversation amid tbe circle of '^Courier's" readers. Mr. T. L. Cottrell has seven carriages on

view, Messrs. Barlow & Sons have en- j tered two or three carriages of re- '

markable excellence. There is a Vic- I torian phaeton built to the order of Dr. Popham, whose armorial bearing it carries. Another bears Mr. Caleb Peacock's crest, monogram and motto. An Albert buggy is built for two ponies to the order of Mr. Kither. Other exhibitors are Clarke Bros., of Franklin Street; C. A. Kvuger; W. H. Ray (O'Connell Street, North Ade laide) ; W. Morcombe. of Franklin Street; and Cox & Witherick, of Way

mouth Street In the machinery" courts Messrs, Harrold Bros, have a large display. Others in this section are the Australasian Implement Com pany, North Terrace; Messrs. Colton and Co.; J, Martin & Co., Gawler; J. G. Ramsay & Co., of Mount Barker, showing two strippers, one of which took the gold medal at the Rochester trial at the Melbourne Exhibition; Mo Lean Bros.. Rigg & Co.. of Hiudley Street, showing Davis sewing ma chines; Bagshaw & Sons, ot ElizabethStreet, Adelaide, showing winnowing machines with improvements; J. W Stott, of AJma. showing several ap plications of the stump-jump plough; Robert Cameron, of Kapunda and Quorn. showing an improved Eclipse pony stripper with high steering wheels; T. Forsaith & Co.. of Laura, showing a very handy winnowing and bagging apparatus hv which the wheat is cleaned, elevated, and bagged atone operation; Adamson Bros., of Hanson Street. Adelaide, and Laura, exhibit several of their well-known strippers and a number of winnowers; Mellor Bros., of Adelaide, show several patterns of strippers. Hogarth and Wiarren exhibit their patent wool washing machine. Mr. G. Sloman, of 'Xailsworth. shows one of his prize medal winnowers in action, with a grain elevator attachment.

And so ends our review of the ex hibits at tile Adelaide Exhibition of 1SS1, which wa= opened by His Ex cellency Governor Jervois. With It as a background and with the Cen tennial and the more recent exhibi tion in Adelaide still in the minds of those now resident in this State, a very excellent idea may be obtainedregarding the remarkable changes that have occurred with the passage of the years.

 

 

Article #28 - Dated Thursday 9 October 1947

Thursday 9 October 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

(By P.W)

JET us for a moment leave the

old times and contemplate on the present. But the writer fears

that not more than a paragraph or two will be indited when lie reverts to something of the past to verify his contentions, and it may he in the very dim distant past, even prior to the rise of that great force which has circled the earth's surface — the iBritish Empire. It is fitting that in the course of evolution such a force should have eventuated to educate the humans in many matters politi cal and economical. What we may ask is education about which subject so much has been spoken and writ ten since and before the two world wars. The writer is not a degreed man, but he recalls one of Australia's most famous journalists to whose memory has been fittingly erected a fountain in a capital city, once said he had never perceived an article or a paragraph that was worth printing for a university professor. One such man of letters of our Australian popu lation would, we fear, had that jour

nalist lived till now, been in his eyes i the exception that might prove the, rule. The writer's idea of the best education is for a nation to view its youthful population as a vast mound of metalliferous ores, wme of which contain gold, some siWer or other regal metals, and some of base or even very crude content. It is the duty of education to educationally smelt these ores, and, for eventualgood of the nation, to polish the pro duct as a lapidist does a jewel in the rough until the bright, sparkling re sult is the means of a step forward in the progress of that nation. To pursue a course of education by which the students are hand-picked by pre

ferment by those in power in many cases the choice being from the ranks | of dullards with opulent parents, is the very opposite to such an objec tive. As a young man the writer calls to mind one slightly older than him self, whom the males of his own generation thought little of. but the females of his time retorted that he was an exceedingly clever young man. and wholly worthy the admiration of everyone. 'He had, they contended with considerable convictive force, passed his degree of B.A. The males sank back into their shells. But shortly after—a scandal of the first magnitude. It was asserted that the father of the winner of the letters of a degree was employed in the place where the university papers wereprinted, and that he had purloined copies of the examination papers of the degree which his son had passed. From that time the university in augurated a printing press of its own. But there are quite a number of simi lar anecdotes, some of which, the veracity has never been questioned. Certain it is the young males were correct in their estimate of that de greed individual, and the femaleswrong. In America we have been told those with the means have ac tually paid move competent students than themselves to sit for them at examinations, and thus secured the privilege of appending degree letters to their names to which they were not entitled. And in South Australia such practice has not been unheard of. even if the attempt did not prove ab solutely successful. But to get back to our original idea of the smelling of the ores. What are the regal metals in the ores we spoke of? The writer would place first of all "intelligence." and in doing so he passes over actual genius for that God-given faculty will be more quickly matured in the op portunities afforded to the education

of tlie naturally intelligent nunian. We wil) first of all make sure.tliai the pupil receives a thorough course on the three R's. By what do we mean by that? The first two R's wiil teach him the arts of speech and of com mitting his thoughts to paper. The writer feels he is taking the floor, as it were, and would rather someone else acted as his substitute. Let him introduce to the reader Mr. Blank: — "The power of giving sounds to thought, a voice to the silent lan guage of the heart, and of expressing all that the mind can conceive by combinations of intelligible tones ad dressed to the ear. is one of the most amazing, and at the same time one of the greatest privileges of our nature: and closely connected with this, as the most valuable of all human dis coveries. is the art of expressingthese thoughts on the eye in legible characters. By the former we are rendered capable of social inter course, of receiving and conveying ideas, of enjoying ertdearments of friendship, and the communications of wisdom; by the latter we converse where the ear is far out of the reach of sound, and transmit our thoughts to the remotest corners of the earth: we treasure up what ought otherwise escape our memories, become ac quainted with the actions of formerages and distant countries, with all the learning of the ancients, and improvements of the moderns, and can read the laws which the great Creator of the Universe has given for the government of our nations and the regulation of our own conduct. With out the first we should have been soli tary in the midst of crowds, excluded from every, kind of knowledge, except what fell under our immediate notice, and should have been confined to dull

and tedious efforts of intimating our desires by signs and gestures. With out the last we might indeed enjor <the benefits of conversation, hut then we Should be held in ignorance, and perplexed in error; we should obtain but a very imperfect knowledge of the present time, and could receive no information as to tlje past, but from partial accounts handed down by ' tradition. In short, without the first we could scarcely be accounted rational, and but for the last we should have been as ignorant as the wild illiterate Indians. It has been observed that language is to the mind what painting and sculpture are to the sight: however the difference infavour of the former is extremely great. The most finished pieces of imagery are at best hut dull and un affecting when compared with the energy of words. By such masterly productions of art we have indeed the object presented before us. but language can set it in all varieties of view, under every combination of circumstances. The idea of a universal language, could such a one possibly obtain, should seem to imply some thing highly beneficial to the human race, but eternal unerring wisdom, either for our advantage or punish ment, has determined against it, and appointed to every nation a particu lar tongue, and to each district its peculiar dialect. Having said this much of language in general, it is requisite that we now give a succinct account of our own: point out the various changes it has undergone, and by what means it has arrived at its present perfection. As we have many reasons to conclude that this country (England) was originally peopled from the adjacent coast of Prance,.

(Continued on Page Seven)

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from previous page)

the ancient Gaul, we are thence to infer, that the British language, eighteen hundred years ago, was the same as that dialect as the Gaulish called the Celtic. iBnit about half a century before the Christian era, Julius Caesar invaded Britain, and in the reign of Claudius, a Roman colony was planted in the south-east partsof England, and 'finally under Domi tian the whole nation became a .Roman province. When the Britons who refused to submit to the foreign yoke, retired into Wales, in hopes of retaining their liberty; and carried their language along with them. From this period the Latin tongue was gradually introduced, and mixed in all parts of the land with the British, which those first conquerors were never able to suppress. At length the Roman legions were called home, and then the Scots and Picts making an irruption into the north parts of Eng land, King Vortigern, about the year 400, invited the Saxons to his assist ance These allies came over with several of their neighbours under the conduct of Hengist and Horsa, apdhaving subdued the Scots and Picts had the Isle of Thanet assigned them at first as a reward for their service, .and afterwards the whole county of Kent, which they governed about 350 years, till, growing powerful and dis

satisfied with their narrow limits, they at length took possession of all the country on this side of the Welsh mountains and divided it among themselves i nto seven kingdoms, called the Saxon heptarchy. Thus the British tongue, before mixed with the X#atin, was almost abolished, and many of the Britons obliged again to take refuge in Wales and Corn

"wall while the usurpers laid the foun dation of new laws and a new langu age. In this situation England con tinued till about the year S00, when it was invaded by the Danes, who after being several times repulsed, established themselves in the north ern and eastern parts, where their power increasing, they at length, af ter a contest of 200 years, made them selves the sole masters of England, and by this means the language be came tinctured with the Danish; but as their government was of no long duration it did not make so great an alteration in the Anglo-Saxon as the next revolution, when the whole was again subdued by William Duke ofNormandy, afterwards called William the Conqueror; for the Normans, as a monument of their conquest, en deavored to make their language as universally received as possible. Thus the English tongue, which was an ciently pure British, or Welsh, became a mixture of a little British, a great deal of Latin, a yet far greater part of Anglo-Saxon, some Danish, and abundance of Norman French; but since that time the revival of arts and sciences has added greatly to itsembellishment. These have introd uced a vast variety of words from the Greek, Latin, Italian, and modern French; our poets have added grace and harmony to their numbers, and our prose writers have 'strengthened and improved their periods by select ing the most musical, expressive, and strongest terms from every known language, so that notwithstanding its being a component of such hetero geneous ingredients, it is becoming the most copious and significant ofany in Europe, adapted to all sub jects and expressive of every sen tence with elegance and propriety."

'What old stuff,' some may say. 'We knew all that before, others will re mark. 'And who is this Mr. Blank?' may be the question - The writer will now confess that the foregoing excellently phrased short history of the English language is but the introduction to a little volume titled a 'Spelling'' Dictionary' and issued to 'The Parents, School Masters, and Governesses in Great Britain and Ireland.' Within its pages there is the faded and almost indecipherable sig nature of one George Grant, 17SX. The concise history of the English language is followed by rules forreading and particularly the empha

sis to be placed on some special word or words in a sentence. Also the notes and points made use of in writ ing and printing: the different let ters (or type) used in printing books, and particularly the use of the capi tals. All of such information is a prelude to the spelling dictionary with the accent marks over each in dividual word. As an appendix there is present a 'Letter from a father to his daughter' containing very easy rules for spelling and writing English1

Moderns may scoff and sneer at such a little volume being 'fit for the scrap-heap' and 'out of date' etc., but the writer who has suffered the ex pense of purchasing new books for his school-children almost annually, is of the opinion that within the pages of that little volume are all the necessary instructions one may re quire to speak and write our lan guage efficiently. It embraces all that a tiuition on two of the three R's calls for in the scholastic period, which brings the writer back to the early remarks in this article, wherein he expressed his opinion that the best of the brains of a nation w'ere as metals in a mound of ore, and the department of a good educational sys tem was to smelt the ores and after extraction cultivate to national use the inherent intelligence of those young people who possessed it: not allow power'or pelf to place their offspring to the exclusion of the more able and gifted; for in such a policy lies eventual defeat.

That was a very old schoolbook from which we made quotation . Let us go back long before that period and learn something of the ideas of edu cation of the old Eastern races: "A certain Vizier had a stupid son, whom he sent to a learned man, desiring him to instruct him, in hopes that his capacity might improve. Afterhaving instructed him for some time without any effect, he sent a person to the father with this message: 'Your son has no capacity, instruction will make impression; but if iron is not of a proper temper no polishing will make it good. If the ass that carried Jesus Christ was to be taken to Mec ca, at his return he would still be an ass'." Wise old fellows there were apparently in those past ages. Again: "A learned man who had the educa tion of a King's son, beat him unmercifully, and treated him with the ut most severity. The boy, unable to bear this treatment, complained to his father, and stripped himself to show the marks of violence. The fa ther's heart being troubled, he sent for the master, and said, 'You do not use any of my subjects' children in the cruel manner that you treat my son, what is the reason for this?' He replied, 'To discourse with propriety, and to have a pleasing conciliating manner, becomes mankind in general, but more especially Kings; because whatsoever they say or do will cer tainly be in the mouths of everyone: whilst the words and actions of common people are not' of so much consequence. If a King makes only one improper step it is circulatedfrom Kingdom to Kingdom: therefore in forming the manners of young princes more labor and pain should be bestowed than on the vulgar. He who is not taught good manners

his childhood will have no good quali ties when he arrives at manhood. You may bend green wood as much as you please, but when it is dry it cannot be made straight without fire.' The King approved the master's whoie some discipline, and of the manner in which he had delivered his speech, and bestowed upon him a dress of honor, and a largess, and promoted

him."

Here's another: "A King placed his son with a preceptor and said, 'T/iis is your son, educate him in the same manner as one of your own." The preceptor took pains with him ior a year, but Without success, whilst his own sons were completed in learning and accomplishments. The King rep rimanded the preceptor, and said, 'You have broken your promise and not acted faithfully.' He replied, 'Oh King, the education was the same but the capacities arc different. Although silver and gold are produced from a stone, yet the metals are not to be found in every stone. The star Cahopus shines a'.! over the world, but the scented leather comes only from 'Yemen'"

With all these wise schoolmasters operating as pedagogues they appa rently had some dismal failures, for yet another little tale of the time states: "There once happened an in surrection in Damascus, where every one deserted his habitation. The wise sons of a peasant became the King's ministers, and the stupid sons of the Vizier were reduced to ask charity in the village. If you want a paternal inheritance, acquire from your father knowledge, for his wealth . may bespent in ten days."

So much for the wise tales of those past days, still available to us owing to the invention of printing. Some where the writer has read that prin ting was first suggested to the brain of man when some letters, having been cut from the damp bark of a tree, were packed in some material such as papyrus and the sap left impressions on the wrapping. Jack's reference book states that printing seems tohave been used to a limited extent in very ancient times. The invention of printing from movable metal type (prior to the invention of the modern linotype machinery) is claimed for two printers—Laurence Coster, of Haarlem, and John Guttenherg of Mainz. The latter set up a printing, press at Mainz about 1450. Printing

was practically confined to Mainz till the sack of the town in 1462, whichdispersed the printers and led to the more general adoption of the art. Wil liam <Jaxton, the first English printer, learned the secret while resident in the Low Countries, and set up a prin ting press at Westminster in 1476. Gothic type was used by English printers till 151S when it was super seded by the more readable Roman type. The writer likes to remember the story of the damp wooden lettersleaving their imprint on the covering in which they were packed, and of anintelligent and observant human con ceiving the idea to printing. We thus get back to the contention that intel ligence is the regal metal in the make up of the human. Let us then imagine that all humans are but pencils, each with a greater or less amount of in telligent lead in it. "We will sharpen the pencils and rub them onto paper, the lead gradually being used up. If a pencil has but a comparativelysmall amount of lead in it and it is rubbed away in the course of study for which the pencil (or human) was unfitted, there is a chance that such an individual will emerge from

higher education a very dullard, whereas his initial inborn amount of intelligence might have served him well in occupations which did not as pire to the possession of an erudition necessary in the more difficult pro fessions. It is all very difficult, but with mass education as at present there are many pitfalls into which a national education system may fall, and tutors and schoolmasters shouldbe very thoughtful how they treat the youth given into their charge. It is recorded that Thomas Alva Edison was sent home to his mother with a message that he was too much of a dullard to be taught. But the mother had been a school-teacher in her younger days, and the tears of her child prompted her to visit the teacher and give him a 'dressing down,' after which she herself educated the ladwho subsequently became the greatest inventor of his age, if not of all time.

 

 

Article #29 - Dated Thursday 16 October 1947

Thursday 16 October 1947

"WEIRS IN THE HILLS TO

CONSERVE WATER"

Following a recent article in the "Jewel Casket" on the history of Cal lington, Mr. F. W. Lehman writes pointing* out the wealth possibilities of the Bremer Valley by conservation of water by construction of weirs in and around Mount Barker district. His interesting letter reads as follows:

"When my father arrived at the Bremer Junction in 1848 to take up a

block of land there the Bremer "Valley was in its virgin state, the Bremer Creek was not scoured out as at pre sent. The creek flats were fairly le vel on each side of the creek, over the watercourse thickly grew rushes which were flattened down by the winter flow of water. These made succulent feed for the bullocks whichwere used then for all work. The wa ter course was lined with red gum trees and the flats were covered with bushes, tussocks and herbage while the undulating lands away from the creek were studded with sheok trees, the bullocks feeding on the foliage of the sheok during summer months. No water flowed down the creek in the summer months, my father and neighbors having to go a mile up intothe foot of the hills of the Mount Barker creek where there were pools of water to get their daily supply of drinking water. The bullocks had also to be taken up the creek to drink

travelling up the rush-grown water

course which eventually cut a track

through the hed of the rushes; this was responsible for soil erosion, the water cutting deeply into this sandy river bed which formed into long pools the water being held there by stret ches where the rushes were intact. Now the creek is almost worthless during the summer months—down at Hartley there is no water visible and holes must he scooped to get at the water during summer months. I have seen huge floodwaters flowing down this creek and spreading over the river flats creating a fine growth of grass for the milking cows. In 1S70 the great flood tore away the Calling ton bridge while in 1SS9 flood waters wrecked the Junction bridge. We must conserve our rainfall; we have a beautiful watershed in fine rainfall areas running from Harrogate ot Mt. Barker from which water flows intothe Bremer and Mount Barker creeks. Here I want to foreshadow what would constitute the progress and prosperity of the Bremer Valley by conserving these fine fresh water flows by erecting weirs m the hills ■where suitable and leading the water in a pipeline instead of the creek, thereby bringing about a greater population who would apply their efforts to greater production in this fertile valley. Proof that this valley contains!

some of the most fertile land in South

Australia is found when it is remem-' bered that the South Australian Com pany had selected 20,000 acres as one of their choice spots in Sth Australia. The Bremer Valley is much more fer

tile than the Murray Valley. The I Bremer Creek flows through good ag ricultural lands hut they have only a 15 inch rainfall at CallingtotT which is

insufficient for that class of land. If the rainfall running off the Harrogate hills, Nairne, Littlehampton and Mt. Barker surroundings was conserved and applied to the Bremer Valley flats, much more could be achieved."

 

 

Article #30 - Dated Thursday 6 November 1947

Thursday 6 November 1947

A JEWEL €ASKET

(By P.W)

EXCELLENT MARBLE DEPOSITS AT MACCLESFIELD!

"What a wonderful continent is Aus tralia! The writer has, in. an article in this series, thought ht to acclaim it as the glass house of the globe, and he did so as a native born in habitant suihciently cosmopolitan to feel he could give an unbiassed opinion. Here in this fair and far hung portion of this sphere what vastopportunities await the people of some centuries hence. Where now one travels with vast areas unoccupied on either hand, where now, as in the writer's youth, vast stretches of country are described as unworthy o-' exploitation, there will arise towns of considerable size and in places cities of noble character. And to think that but little more than a century ago this great asset of the human racewas sniffed at and decried as but a place into which to dump the peel ings of a great empire. But let us not further labour the subject. Let us rather contemplate the possibili ties of our sun-kissed country where all the best is possible, where droughts are not the lot of all portions of the continent simultaneously, and which.are, in reality a provision of nature to give certain areas a rest, and con tribute to that peculiar climate which is responsible for the finest wool in the world, and the finest fruit, the finest wine, the finest wheat, and at the same time, for those that want it for purposes of sport, more snow than is in Switzerland. When thosecenturies we spoke of have passed into history may be there will be arenaissance of architectural beauty in building and the master craftsmen of that future era will emulate the exterior and interior beauty of the edifices of the old world. They will have become tired of pouring cement into rodded cavaties and expeditiously raising the walls of a building with the profit-making object the main one. In those far off days what materials will the architects of the times prefer in place of this cement? They will

have a choice of many, many materials among which will he .granite and marble. Marble! Where will they get the marble? Well, for one place, at Macclesfield. And so. after this rather lengthy preamble, the writer has arrived at the point from which he wished to set out upon an article on the Hills town of Mac clesfield. There sure enough is the marble, and of most excellent and beautiful quality and of varying hues. The wonderful stone, in the pink colour, was utilised in the building of the Roman Catholic Church at Stratn albyn. When the railway authorities of the time decided to lay a line to Port Victor they by-passed Macclesfield; doubtless the steep grades hav ing something to do with the decisionarrived at. It went by way of Phil cox Hill, via Bugle Ranges to Strath albyn, Philcox Hill is oue of the highest points in the South Australian railway system, those at iBelalie North and Mount Lofty being the two other steepest-graded portions of the net work of steel. Now Macclesfield lies in a hollow, and there are many hills on towards Strathalbyn, and doubtless the engineer? of the time thought it best to make by way of Philcox Hill and then run down on about a one in forty-five grade to Strathalbyn. And it is sure a pretty steep descent, as a train crew of fifty years ago dis covered when a long rake of "J" trucks, loaded with wood and mer chandise for the city broke apart at Philcox Hill and made back towards Strathalbyn at which towu it hap pened to be sale day. There were two guards of the train, and one of them phoned through to Strathalbyn advising news of the runaway and to urge a warning to clear the crossing of travelling cattle and any traffic. Fortunately there were no fatalities, and, on an up grade beyond Strath albyn, the runaway vehicles slowed down and an engine hauled them back, to Philcox Hill to later resume the journey to the city. Some of thetrucks that had been properly braked had their wheels worn right through, and the guard who had effectively carried out his duty was by that evi dence able to prove his innocence as regards the cause of the breakaway. He was duly exonerated at the inquiry that was subsequently held, but two others of the train crew were de moted. But let us start at an earlier •date than the time of that episode. Over 80 years ago, Macclesfield is shown in a gazetteer as—"(Co. Hindmarsh), a postal township.in the elec toral., district of Mount Barker, Hun dred of Macclesfield, and under the control of the Macclesfield District Council. It is situated on the mqin road from Adelaide via -Strathalbjou to Wellington, and lies in an agricul-. tural district. The nearest places are

Echunga, six miles N.W., aud Strath albyji, eight miles S.E., the communi cation, as with Adelaide, 27 miles A'.W. being by Rounsevell's line of daily mail coaches. Macclesfield has a post and money order office, a telegraph office, a public pound, and a branch of the Adelaide Assurance and Guarantee Company. The" principal hotel is the Davenport Aims, and there are several others in the township. The surrounding district is un dulating and much of it is taken up in agricultural farms. To the N.W., or in the neighbourhood of Echunga, there is an auriferous district—the holes sunk for gold workings in which are through quartz sand, with their layers of quartz gravel, much water worn resting on a very flat bottom of soft slate, with sandstone bands.

The soil is a deep sand, and the whole . deposit is analagous to the old plio cene tertiary gold drifts which form the white hills of Bendigo and Forest

Creek. In the Melbourne Exhibition. of 1866, Mr. J. Kellett exhibited some fine specimens of polished and rough marble from this neighbourhood. Mac clesfield is a district council in the electoral district of Mount Barker. It is under the control of a chairman,

the present one being Mr. Thomas i Graham, and four councillors. The

receipts and expenditure in this dis- ] trict council for 1863 were as follows: iAssessment, £5,998 5s.—rate Is. in the pound; rates collected, £280 9s. 3d.; total receipts, £586 3s. 5d.; office expenditure and salaries, £264 ISs. 2d.; expended on public works, £294 14s. Sd. The population num bers 1,053 persons; the area is 40 square miles, or 25,600 acres; land under cultivation, 3,017 acres; and number of dwelling houses, 222. Mac clesfield is a Hundred lying in the N. part of the county, and consisting of nearly all purchased land, most of which is under cultivation, large crops of fine wheat being grown on thenorth part especially. The township of Mount Barker lies in the N., and that of Macclesfield in the centre of the Hundred."

The gazetteer mentions as th§ prin cipal hotel in Macclesfield in the early sixties of last century the Davenport Arms, and here we have the name of the actual pioneer of this particular portion of the colony. Before dilating upon other matters connected with the town, we cannot do better than give the biography of Samuel Daven port as recorded by George K Loyau, for it mentions much relative to thatactive and enterprising pioneer which dates back to the early history of the State. In this later period Samuel Davenport is best known to the mass of the people by the particular brand of olive oil that perpetuates his name, but his interest in the culture of the olive came long after his early ac tivities in the settlement. The writer in searching his old papers chanced upon Samuel Davenport's name as giv ing evidence at the inquiry held to decide upon the most suitable cross ing places over the River Murray, out of which long consideration evolved the bridge over the great waterway at Murray Bridge. Samuel Daven port was then, of course, merely the Honorable Samuel Davenport, the knighthood to be bestowed upon him many years subsequently. It may be well, prior to quoting Mr. Loyau'sbiographical data to make some further mention of this period in Samuel Davenport's career.

Called to give evidence in Septem ber, 1864, before the Select Commit tee of the House of Assembly, the Hon. Samuel Davenport was addressed by the chairman as follows:—"You are interested in some runs on the Murray?"—"I am agent for the owner of a run in the Hundred of Malcolm, and for another in the Hundred ofBaker, and I am interested in country in the South-Eastern District." SamuelDavenport then went on to give very useful information to the members of the Select Committee. He said that he was much interested in the cross ing places over the Murray, and such places had become more inconvenient than formerly was the case, the dif ficulties being due to the means pro vided for the crossing of stock, and to the unusual floods that had pre vailed for some time past, and partly to the imperfect roads and the yards at Wellington ferry. In the presentstate of the crossing at Wellington the cattle were liable to get bogged in the swamp. He had known the River Murray from the lakes to Moo rundee since the beginning of 1843, and had crossed -himself with horses and .stock on various parts of the river during that .time.

This digression has -been made to indicate the early life .in -the colony of Samuel Davenport, when he was

engaged in travelling stock and cross ing the Murray at the most convenient point by swimming them across tbe stream. iNow we will note wbat tbe recorded biography states:—"Samuel Davenport was .born at Shirburn, Oxfordshire, in 1SXS. His father came of a branch of tbe Cheshire Bramkiil Davenports, long settled at Great Wigston, Leicestershire, within tbe walls of which church is a monument to his memory, with others of his pre decessors. Mr. Davenport came to South Australia iu 1S42, following an elder brother—George Francis Davenport, who in 1840 took out the Mac clesfield Special Survey. He first en tered public life in 1846, having been appointed by the Governor of the colony (Colonel Robe) to one of the four nominee seats in the Legislative Council. At this duty he not infre quently rode from Macclesfield into Adelaide, sat through the Councilmeetings, and returned the same day —a distance of 64 miles. In the ses sion of 1855-56 when on the find January, 1856, the Constitution Act was passed, Mr. Davenport was a non official member of the enlarged Legis lative Council as established under Ordinance 1851, but in August of that year he resigned. Under the Con stitution Act he, in March, 1857, was elected as member of the Legislative •Council and sat four years, during which period he was instrumental in passing several beneficial measures. He was again elected in March, 1861,and sat up to August, 1866. During this interval he twice held the post of Commissioner of Public Works, and was the first independent Ministerconducting Government business in the Legislative Council of the Con stitution Act.

In a less public character Mr. Davenport acted for many years as a member of the Central Road Board, and was one of the first trustees of the Savings iBank. As Commissioner for Adelaide lie had the making of the

first contract tor damming the Tor rens gorge, and tor oonveying pipes tiience to the city. letter tor several years consecutively he was elected president of the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society, and from

its foundation in 1870 he held the pre sidency of the'Chamber-of Manufac tures. He further acquired special merit for gratuitous serrices to the colony at international exhibitions, in

(Continued on Next Page)

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from previous Page)

fcluding that of London in 1851, and also those of Philadelphia, Sydney andMelbourne. Irrespective of those pub lic duties Mr. Davenport led an activepioneer bush life, and was ever fond ot exploring and occupying new coun try as the records of our maps testify.

first took up land 'around the I Sfroil Bay district In 1845, and sub sequently bad his full share of losses SVhlch attached to the early occupa tion of the north .country and the devastating influence of drought. He did much to promote industrial pur suits adapted to the climate of South Australia collecting and publishing practical knowledge affecting agricul ture, the vine, olive, sericulture and tcent manufacture. Prior to his de arture to the Philadelphia Exhibition t January, 1876, Mr. Davenport was utertained at a public banquet at the

Town Hall, Adelaide, at whicb the then Chief Justice, Sir B» D. Hanson, presided. He was later the recipient of a public testimonial from the citi zens of Adelaide in appreciation of his inestimable worth." That early biography reviews Sir Samuel Daven port's life up till the early eighties. The demise of the worthy knight did not occur till September 3. 1806, and in the intervening years the apprecia tion of his Services was marked by the receipt of many testimonials. He was Commissioner for South Aus tralia at the Indian and Colonial Ex

hibition in 18$6, and was an active

member of the Adelaide Jubilee Ex hibition of 1887. He received the honour of Knight Bachelor and in 1886 was made a K.C.M.G. He was awarded the degree of LL.D. by the Cambridge University. As one of the outstanding pioneers of the colony of South Australia Sir Samuel Daven port crowded into his 88 years of lifea most remarkably diversified real

lite Btory of courage, exploration, and productive enterprise. His brother, G. P. Davenport, visited South Aus tralia in 1839 and purchased a special survey, which he named Macclesfield, and after he returned to England Sir Samuel Davenport was persuaded to come to the new colony, arriving in 1843. Samuel Davenport was the fourth son of George Davenport,

banker, of Oxford. After his educa tion had been completed he spent much of his early manhood in travel ling through most of the southern parts of Europe, and it was there doubtless that he became familiar with the products of the soil so suited to the similar climate of South Aus tralia, the olive being one such.

One of these days my friend the Editor of the "Courier" will publish an article that the writer sent him dealing with "Education." Therein the proposal was thrown out to in some suitable way perpetuate the [ memory ot the most eminent of our

pedagogues. Therein he contended that almost everyone of any educa tional experience at all will recall, in conversation, some favourite school master whose psychological effect upon his character in the course of the imparting of elementary know ledge was such as to have been re sponsible tor an indelible and affec tionate memory ot his old master. And so when the writer asked a young tradesman where he was horn and he said 'at Macclesfield,' the saidscribe was interested to learn more of that Hills town, more especially as he intended penning an article for this series on Macclesfield. Ques tioned as to whom he knew in his native town who would he able to give authentic details relative to the early days, he quickly replied, "Why, my old schoolmaster, Howard Ross: he would be able to tell you all about it." And so through the old pupil of [ Howard E>. Ross, In the person of Ernie Grose, the writer was able to address Mr, Ross and obtain a reply to his correspondence which is his torically valuable, for therein is con tained a survey by an intelligent native-born of Macclesfield of the early days of that town, and a list of names is given which, when this ar ticle is published, will, the writer is sure, cause conversations for quite a time, as the various families and their progress through the years are dwelt upon. Some of the points made in jthe letter from Mr. Ross are not in agree ment with the State's recorded his tory. For Instance, it will be noticed in reading the letter that Mr. Ross mentions that the Davenport special survey in which Macclesfield was thetownship which was purchased by the three brothers Davenport — Samuel,

Robert and George, whereas the re corded history states that George Francis Davenport had been in South Australia in 1839 and made the pur chase of the special survey, his brother Samuel coming to the colony after George had returned to JBag land. However, the letter lor which

the writer extends his sincere thanks to Mr. Ross, is published in toto;

"After touring tne city, your letter nas eventually caught up with me. 1 will endeavour to assist you with a tew facts about the nistory of Mac clesfield. Atacclesfield was named in honour of the Earl of Macclesfield, England, who was a personal friend of the Davenports, it is situated 28 miles from Adelaide, and is one of the

oldest settled areas o£ the State. One hundred and eight (108) years ago it was established as a township of the Davenport Special Survey after the three brothers, Samuel (of olive fame), Robert and George Davenport had purchased the land in England before leaving for South Australia. The native name is 'Kangowirranilla,' which means 'place of kangaroos and water.' The spring of beautiful water in the centre of the town is the source of the River Angas. It was noted for its beautiful weeping willows, the first of which was brought from Napoleon's grave at St, Helena by George Daven port, who was a keen lover of his tory. He inserted the cuttings in a potato until he reached Macclesfield, and then planted them near the spring. The last of the original trees died about eight years ago. Maccles field was once the main centre on the Hills route to the South, being first served by bullock drays, then by Cobb and Co.'s coaches. 1 remember one driver, Bill Fewster, his home was at Stirling, and often my father, who was working there, would drive the coach to Macclesfield on Saturday night, and return it Monday morning to allow Fewster a week-end at home. Now Barr and Bonds' luxurious motor coaches are a feature of the town's service facilities. The sports ground, or Village Green, was given to the town by Mr. Robert Davenport, under the same conditions as the village greens in the Old Country, in that its use was to be entirely free to every body. 'It is known as DavenportSquare. It has been graded and im proved by means of money raised at the centennial celebrations. The old Macclesfield brewery is tailing into decay. Its sparkling ale on one occa sion took first prize at an Empire Ex hibition. A man named Coleman built and supervised it first of all. Lewis had it afterwards. Gilford Gray was his brewer, and I think he brewed the ale that won the prize in London.Agar was the brewer later. The brewery was rebuilt and changed hands several times, and finally the ale was brewed at Kent Town. Today it has become a cordial. They stole the name but left the brewery. It was later used as a butter and cheese

factory. For some time it was a ren-1 dezvous for sundowners.

"Among other early settlers in Mac clesfield were Wallace, Pilhen, Paris, Hayes, Webb, Dancker, Austin, Har ris, Mott, Ross, Davis, Moore, Doherty, Callahan, Casey, Nestors, McGrath, Edmonds, Yates, Malone, Conigrave, Eli Davies, .Stubbs, Pope, Cailaby, Cosgrove, Jordan, Corcoran, Loviek, Gratrick, Smith, Fry, White, S. Woods (the bootmaker), Anderson, Cummins, Dillon, Lemar, Bartlett, and Hoobin. Bill Robinson had the blacksmith shop. His son Roy was a scholar at the village school. He was the first Rhodes scholar from South Australia. He was back in Australia recently on the British Forestry Commission. He spent a couple of evenings with me:. we were boys together. He is now Baron Robinson of Kielder Forest and Adelaide, He is the first South Aus tralian to become a peer in the County of Northumberland. "Lord Robinson has been chairman of the Forestry Commission since 1932. He was also a scholar of St. Peter's College and the Adelaide School of Mines. Then to Magdalene College Oxford, as the 1908 S.A. Rhodes Scholar. I believe Sir Roy's brother is a solicitor in Perth. His father died there a few1 years ago. Mr. Lowe, who was head master at Macclesfield school, was Roy Robinson's grandfather. Miss Mabel Lowe was with the post office,

also Miss N. T. Main.

"Doctor Austin was Reverend as well. My father, John C. Ross, worked for him for some time. The Rev. S. L. Harris was J.P. for several years; also McMichael. The Coni grave brothers were responsible for the institute being built. F. W.Dancher, a well-known Adelaide archi tect, was a local boy, and gave Maprofessional services free. My father, John Ross, worked on the building. The famous 'Bob the railway dog' was bred at Macclesfield by Mr. Robert Hollamby. The railway went through Bugle Ranges, four miles from Mac

clesfield, and this was a great blow to . the town. It retarded the work of themarble quarries immensely, but it is 1 still a very productive town, and has I

a most up-to-date milk, cheese and butter factory. Wealth increases as land is cleared. Subterranean clover revels there, and has taken the place of wattle-growing. Several tobacco farms existed before the war. The Macclesfield Crystal Lake is a great summer attraction."

In the article on Echunga in this series we traced the ecclesiastical ac tivities of the Bev. John Baptist Austin at considerable length. In dealing with the church divines in his highly informative letter Mr. Boss mentions how the Bev. Austin was the first preacher in the Congrega tional church in Macclesfield, which was built in 1S48. Continuing, he says:—"St. John's Church of England was opened on March 31, 1858. The first rector was the Bev. W. B. An drews. On March 20, 1926, the foun dation stone of the new church was laid by Archdeacon Clampett, the Bev. Adams being in charge at the time. The church is built of Macclesfieldmarble, and was constructed by Messrs. John and Samuel Boss. Mr. John Boss was born at Macclesfield in 1866, and was 70 years old when he built the church. He was known as Macclesfield's 'Grand Old Man.' He died at the age of 81, then being the oldest Australian active rifleman, scor ing five bullseyes at 500 yards out of seven shots a few weeks before he passed away.

"The Methodist Church dates back to 1857, when the Rev. Flockardt was in charge. St. James' Catholic Church was built in 1866, the first priest being the Rev. Father O'Brien. Later the Rev. Father Dowling was in charge. St. Joseph's Convent was built by J. Ross and J. Webb about 1S82. A bridge "crosses the creek to Venable St. The Government school was founded in 1855, the first teacher be ing Mr. A. Wimper. 1 passed through all (grades) classes there, and even tually came back as head teacher for 14 years, as Mr. Ernie Grose has informed you. Ernie was a fine type of lad. The foundation stone of the post office was laid by the Duke of Edin burgh in 1867. There are automatic telephones there now. There are two hotels, the Macclesfield Hotel and the Davenport Arms. Mr. S. Ross was chairman of the District Council for many years, and is now a local J.P. I will not touch on the centenary cele brations as I believe you are onlyafter historic facts of early days. I'm afraid the account is disjointed as I am busy on exams at present, and have made a hurried survey, but as . accurate as I can. Trusting it will assist you. in a small way.

P.S.—Other identities of early days were the families of Considine, Bow man, Peterson, Linn, Marker, Magin, Daly, McMahon, Murphy, Wooding, MoNamara, Leonard (Martin Leonard, about 18 stone, was sworn in as con stable after the police station was removed to Echunga). The old lock up was where Mr. John Leonard now lives. When the lock-un was full, the

others were handcuffed to posts and telegraph poles. Logan and Considine had Macclesfield Hotel, and Jim Mott the Davenport Arms. Lewis was well known. People still refer to 'Lewis's' time.' Alt Gooch (commonly known as 'Talf') was the town musician (violin, piano and whistle). The old dancers have placed a marble slab in the institute to his memory. Alt Gooch was also the blacksmith. Stock was the wheelright. The chief movers in the erection of an institute were the Conigrave brothers (live wires

then). The committee responsible for ' the public school being erected wereMessrs. Dancker, senr., Linn, Marker, Lewis, Robinson (a photo is in the school now), l had the men identified by niy father, J. C. Ross, and Alf. Gooch, who knew them well."

What a postcript! and what a letter! As the writer of this series of articles has remarked, how the men tion of all these names will prompt conversation for a considerable time among the residents of Macclesfield and the Hills towns in general. We award Mr. Howard Ross 100 per cent, in marking the correspondence papers, and place him at the top of the class; and the writer reiterates his thanks to that gentleman for his trouble (in the midst of the scholastic examina tions over which he was presiding) in so excellently assisting in placing be fore the "Courier's" readers the salient points in the history of Mac

clesfield.

 

 

Article #31 - Dated Thursday 13 November 1947

Thursday 13 November 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

: llll

========= (By P.W)

RELIGION AND . . . REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS

IN a review of world news a journal

reported a split in the Anglican

Church of England in consequence of the published opinions of Dr. E. W.Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham, in which His Lordship doubted certain tenets of Anglican doctrine. The Doctor's book, "The Rise of Chris tianity," was published in March, 1947. In it he expresses doubt res pecting Christ's miracles, His immaculate conception, His resurrection, and the efficacy of baptism. In reply to this bombshell, hurdled by a pro fessing disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Archbishop of 'Canterbury said in comment in the Convocation of Canterbury at Westminster, that the book so seriously diminished the content of the Christian faith as to make the residue inconsistent with Scriptural doctrine and the beliefs of the Church- "If his (Or. Barnes') views were mine, 1 should not feel I could still hold episcopal office in the Church." Dr. Barnes would not resign his office, and in defending his book contended that the belief in miracles had gone forever from the scientific world; and the Church and too many of its theologians had refused to ac cept the new outlook. "There had been," he said, "a silence and delaywhich were proving disastrous. For many years (he is 73 years of age) I have been troubled by the increasing alienation from the church of young' people. The spirit of these young people not seldom is naturally Chris tian, but intellectually they cannot accept the Christian faith as it Is too often presented. They are certain

that miraculous stories, however touching and valuable as allegories, cannot today be plain history." On reading the above news item, the writer of these articles recalled a friendship of many years ago, when I he was but a lad; and a host of me- ]

mories crowded in upon him. His

friend was know as 'the fighting par-1

son,' but his actual name was the Rev. A. G. B. West, M.A.O. He was a fellow pupil of the Bishop of London (■Dr. Ingram) and a remarkably able and scholarly member of the Angli can Church. He came to South Aus tralia as Rector of St. Augustine's Ohurch, Unley, and during his term of office did much to weld the Angli can community into a more worthy congregation than it was prior to hiscoming. He was a frequent visitor to the home of the writer's father, and the writer would upon occasion visit Mr. West's home and have many a pleasant evening: not in the playing of cards or listening to good music, ■but in conversation on many subjects. One night the writer remembers, the big parson (he was over Oft. tall) swung round and with quite an un

usual expression, loudly queried: ■ "What is the reason for your revolu tionary ideas " The writer's reply was to the effect that he spoke as he felt, notwithstanding Tennyson's view that 'the feelings were dangerous guides.' On another occasion Mr. George Martin, the able choirmaster at St. Augustine's was of the com pany, he having come to talk over the question of the Introduction of aprocessional hymn. . It had nothing to do with the writer who selected a book from the shelves of the study in which the coterie of three were seated around a winter's fire, and let

the parson and choirmaster debate the question on their own. Mr. Martin was a worthy civil servant, a singer with a beautiful tenor voice, and a splendid choirmaster, hut he was not a literary man. After the conversation on the questions of the processional hymn as an improve ment to the church service had pro gressed for some half an hour, and, maybe feeling that the writer was■being neglected Mr. West turned to him quickly and asked: "What do you think? Do you think a proces sional hymn would improve and be anvantageous to the service?" With out demur the writer replied: "Give 'em all the 'show' you can." "You heathen!" he jocularly came back; but the processional hymn became part of that particular service. The next time we met, Mr. West asked the writer the reason for his advo cacy of the processional hymn. His reply was that he understood that the views of Cardinal Manning, who, like Cardinal Newman, had once been an incumbent in the Anglican Church, were, to the effect that the only way to ruie the crowd was by 'show.' Yes, we had some great arguments; andthe writer has lived to see very many of his revolutionary ideas, as that ve

nerable parson was wont to class them, come to pass. He wanted the writer to accompany him to England, stating he could offer him a house and £300 a year. "But suppose the employe proves unsuitable and

sacked, what then?" was the query. To which came the reply "the people I will introduce you to, once they have taken a man up, never forsake him." What a wonderful' statement and eulogy of the character of those people in England. But it was not to be; the writer's parent contending that if a person was to be successful he could achieve that end here

South Australia, if anywhere. Be that as it may, it is questionable if a free-lance in any avenue of life can amass much of this world's wealth or be acclaimed by his contemporaries as a hero in any department. Not

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from Previous Page)

withstanding, there are still charact ers who wish to remain i£ possible, apart from the various groups with regimented opinions, who frequently are forced by reason of their mem bership to sing slogans to boost their particular clan. The years pas sed and Mr. West received a 'call' to a Victorian parish; and then laterreturned to London, where his old schoolfellow placed him in charge of Saint Dunstans in the East. And there during the bombing of Eng land's capital in World War II hie church was destroyed, but he still continued to hold service in the Crypt Yes, he was a remarkable man, and a good friend. When he visited South Australia in connection with the Toe H movement some years later, hethought fit to make a journey into the country to look up the writer and graqp his hand once again. And then with the rearing of a family and the devotion to duty at hand, the sparce correspondence dwindled and died, and there remains now nought but such memories of which a few have been recalled In this article,which have been prompted by the news of a possible battle in the An glican Church over the doctrine of that Ecclesiastical power which has for so long been sacrosanct. Pereis

tent agreement spells stagnation. The best of progress Is the dovetailing of the best of the old with the best of the new. For an eminent divine, in the person of the Bishop of Birming ham, to desire to become panicky when he observes the congregations in the churches dwindling, and to at tribute the cause to merely certain doctrines of the church in which he holds high office shows ill-consideredsurvey of the signs of these turbulent times, and an ignorance of the real causes of the discontent and poten tial power of the couple of thousand of millions of souls on this terrestrial globe. Such criticism of ritualistic observances may be relevant to a cer tain degree, but it does not unseat the true and regal splendour of Chris tianity, and the teachings of the Victim on Calvary. Nor does It prove that the recorded miracles of Christ are unbelievable. Why even in this distraught period of history there are miracles observable if we have the eyes to distinguish them. When in those years gone by that the Rev. West and the writer met together in his study, a review of the British Navy was being held. The worthyand thoughtful man remarked to the writer; "Of course the sounds of those cannon are here in this room if we only had ears sensitive enough to hear them." That was before the miracle of radio. As the humans in Christ's physical form grow, like chil dren, and become able to use and ap preciate a higher civilisation, new and undreamed-of improvements of life and living are miraculously vouchsafed them. They go temporarily mad

and unreasonable until they agree to utilise the result of the miracle for the general good of mankind; but in the final order there emerges a bet ter type of human, and in that type the teachings of the Prince of Peace are not forgotten, but are inherent in those whom we most admire. Every member of a community has respect and admiration for a truly Christian member of that society, be be parson or private. What a sermon there is to preach in these times of distress and distrust. It is recorded that the great actor Garrick was ask ed by the then Bishop of London: "Why is it, Mr. Garrick, that your theatre is always full, and my cathe dral generally half empty?" to which Garrick replied: "May it not he myLord, that you portray Truth so much like fiction, while I portray Fiction so much like Truth?" And so it is even now: a great Evangelist could, if it was so intended, speak with in spired oratory that would again rally the Christian humans into the forma tion of a greater Commonwealth. But the time is not yet, and, in the meantime, even the much-maligned capi talist may have served his purpose. To revert once more to the Rev. West. He would question the writer as to why he did not attend church more

often, and received a reply that when i he did attend such services he ab

sorbed and contemplated on the ser-1

mons delivered, "not like some of your congregations, shed them as a crab sbeds its shell." Came the re tort, "Oh, they shed them quicker than that!" One of his sermons had for its illustration the famous picture by Briton Riviere of 'Daniel in the Lion's Den.' In beautifully rounded periods he painted a word picture of the saintly Daniel gazing with his hands behind him, at the snarling savage animals that had been inten ded as hiB brutal executioners, but which were held at bay throughout the night by the faith of their intend ed victim. He concluded bis sermon with these words: "There are those who contend that the story of Danielis a fairy tale and a miracle that is without foundation in fact." And then, after an eloquent pause, and as he was about to turn towards the al tar as indication of the conclusion of his sermon, be added: "I believe in the truth of that miracle and in the story of the triumph of Daniel's faith" Yes, he was a good preacher. Betterfor the Bishop of Birmingham to dis play the lovely blooms of the garden of Christianity than to seek and ex hibit contentious insects likely to ir ritate and make for increased unrest. "And what is your own religion?" the writer suspects his readers will ask. If they would not condemn him to eternal purgatory (which would not, of course, trouble him, he being a disbeliever in such a sentence byan Omnipotent (Being), but would. merely read a few lines he indited and at the time thought were pass ably good, he will here conclude this article with that rather heterodox ebullition, and trust they will, at worst, merely ask, as did my dear old friend the Rev. A. G. B. West: "What is the reason for your revolu tionary ideas?"

LIFE and DEATH

(■By P.W.)

Life lives on Death, and Death on life, And all the living world's at strife

To combat Death, who stiil survives, And on his jet-black charger rides,Unceasing as the rolling tides.

And is this all that 1 have learned

Throughout the years that I have

burned

The lamp of thought.on Mother Earth Since my own mother gave me birth? Is this the sum of all I know,

Like some unlucky dicer's throw

That sorrow means, and loss of all— The hopes of youth a crumbled wall? 'Ah, surely NO! my soul sings,

And to me peaceful thinking brings The wonders round me I behold

Were never made or bought with

gold..

The sun, the moon, the stars, the sea, i Speak of a just eternity;

The green, the glory of the bloom Of flowers, call beyond the tomb. The wild fowl rises in the night, And wings to water on a flight

From places parched by dreaded

drought,

No compass to direct it, nought

Save its own instinct, shall we say It's genius, showing it the way?

And am 1 less than some brave bird That scents the rain no man has

heard?

And if I feel, as in my youth,

That Death is Life, and Christ is.

Truth:

That we hut in a schoolhouse are, To see fair Love and brutal War Contending still, until the day

That 'Love shall have the final say,

And mortals to warlords shall decree "We make no more to hill for thee!" My hope, my wish, my prophesy, My creed, and my philosophy,

Is that there sure will come a day When mortals to each other say— "We'll lay this profit-making spell, In peace and amity we'll dwell,

Our lives for greater things to live Than piled-up frozen profits give."

Then shall the masses need no priest To guide; no promise of a feast Of joy awaiting them above.

They'll change th' exploiters' Death

for Love,

And God's good earth, a shaded- dell, That once was hut a living he!l.

Out of a Life of worn-out grooves Into a Life that Christ approves.

 

 

Article #32 - Dated Thursday 20 November 1947

Thursday 20 November 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

(By P.W)

TRAINS OF THOUGHT . . INTRIGUING CAVALCADES

rAJNS of thought are intriguing

cavalacades of our conscious mo

ments, and are imbued with a verac ity that is not vouchsafed to the meanderings of the mind in dreams. The writer was the victim of one such train of thought as he took up his pen for beside him had fallen from Its repository of many years an ounce penny with the George IV head on its obverse side and dated 1827, the die of which coin is said to be the best ever made. The coin weighs exactly an ounce, and hence the name that was given it when the later currency of lighter type, was minted and came into general use. Looking at the coin, the writer recalled having taken one of such to a jeweller, with instruc tions to heavily gild it, affix a brooch pin to it, and to have it ready in two days. The worthy artisan expressed doubt as to the eventual effectiveness of such procedure, but in those days 'the customer was always right,' and when the two days had passed andthe writer called upon the jeweller, the latter hinted by a sign that he wished to converse out of hearing of other customers. "You don't happen to have any more of those George pennies, Sir, do you?" On being ask ed the reason for such inquiry, he said, "Well, i have never seen a richer looking or more beautifulbrooch of its type in all my experi ence, and he opened a little dark blue velvet case in which the old penny lay, now transformed into a veritable masterpiece of the jeweller's art. In those days, the ladies, as they do even in these days, were always an xious to wear somthing in the jewel line that others of their sex had not,' and on the breast of a certain lady with a background of old black lace, that ancient penny was the cynosure of many envious eyes, and no-one knew its true history save the jewel ler, the one who had made the gift (with a full explanation as to its real value), and the wearer.

And contemplating the penny-piece once more, the cavalcade o£ the writ er's memory takes him back to the days of the penny-farthing bicycle. He is present as a spectator on the Adelaide oval, which was then not

in the perfect state in which the pre-, sent patrons of sport observe it. On the almost flat track in the sand of | which there were not a few small' pebbles, the champion cyclists of the State—Davis and Muiiins—are fight

ing out a decision in a long race, j while the majority of the contestants , trail hundreds of yards, and some times a lap behind them. They are

the cynosure of all eyes and shouting j

greets the temporary advance of one or other of the riders. Swish! They have passed a point once more on the final lap when lo! a commotion and much concern. A stray dog has wan dered onto the track. The leaders managed to evade the confused animal but the field is not so fortunate, and a heap of cyclists and machines piles up on the track, to be rapidly remov ed ere Davis and Muiiins come around in their last dash.

A generation passes and Davis and Mullins have been almost forgotten. Safety bicycles have made their ad vent, to lie, in their initial stages,

sniggered at by many, but they spee-" dily cemented their position and thepenny-farthing machine sank into oblivion. Another 'draw' attraction is in progress on the oval, now great ly improved and with an asphalt graded track surrounding the green of the oval itself. Bill Martin is be ing paced by a team on a quadricycle

over a mile, from a flying start. His ; front tyre almost touches the rear wheel of the pacing machine. "Go on! Go on!!" he calls to them, as he strains every muscle and nerve to create a record. Then, as the thou sands of spectators acclaim him as the best they have seen, he comes to rest, slips his foot out of the pedal trap, and remarks, "It wasn't bad for an old man, but I wish they'd gone abit faster." The time he had taken for the paced mile was one minute

thirty-two seconds. After Martin' came -Major Taylor of dusky hue, who in his turn stole the thunder of Mar tin. It was all a matter ■ of speed, which has ever attracted the public. And of course there was betting on the results, and maybe that had much to do with its periodical depression insofar as attendances were concerned

The mention of speed brings us to the rapidity in transit of trade. As the writer reached this point in the present article, he heard the sound of the Melbourne express train rush

ing through the night en route to the !

Eastern State, and as the throb of the giant locomotive died in the distance the drone of an aeroplane passing over his dwelling took its place. Its the speed age with a vengeance, he thought, and he heard the calling of a steeplechase put over the air the pre vious day. The horses in the main negotiated the fences, hut some of the equines came to grief and the .favorite did not romp home. It wasreally a gamble. And so too, was, in the old days, a trading trip on the River Murray and its tributaries. It was of the Murray and some of the early voyages that the writer set out to speak of. The introduction has, to be sure, been a rather lengthy prelude but the preceding passages are not without some analogy in that, they deal with rapid transport. In the case of the River steamers, their deathknell was sounded when it was found that the river levels could not be re lied on, and the water-borne trade fell a prey to the railways which tapped the big stream at numerous points; motorised transport completed the assassination. There were those at the time of the gradual transition who feelingly thought it was unfairto pass out the river steamers, but the evidence against them was too great. In conversation with Captain Payne, to whom we were beholden for such an illuminating list of old river steamers published in a previous ar ticle of this series, mention was made by the writer of the annoying delays that one noticed in reading a daily log book of a steamer on a trading jour ney up the River Darling. The old Captain in his usual unruffled way, and as though there was nought of ' interest in his conversational reply, came to light with this one;—"Yes, you could never be sure how the wa ter would be. I remember one boat that was held up for twelve months. She was loaded with timber, lime, cement and materials for building the Royal hotel at Wilcannia. When she got there the pub had been completed. They had got tired of waiting for her, and had procured the necessary build ing requisites from Sydney pel* rail way, recently built " That evidence alone was sufficient justification for the claim to superiority by the rail

ways.

(Continued on Page Five)

A JEWEL CASKET

(Continued from Front Page)

So as to give our readers some idea of a trading trip in a river steamer in the early days, we have taken the daily log book of one of the earliest of such craft, viz., the BOGAN, owned and captained by the first navigator of the Murray, Capt. W. R. Randell. We have omitted most of the actual times and dates, and merely recorded the main features of the log diary. It will be the antithesis of a race 'call*over the air, but nevertheless, the old Station names on which many of South Australia's early pioneers laid the foundations of their prosperity and riches, will be of very great in terest to a large circle of the present population of the State.

From the Log Book of the Steamer

BOGAN, February 4th, 1864.

1.30 P.m.—Steamed from Mannum wharf up to woodpile. Took 13| tons. 4.45 p.m.—Started and steamed all night. Had barges "Goolwa" and "Mary Ann" in tow with about 105 tons of cargo.

Passed Swan Reach station. Passed Haywood. Stopped for wood Just above Moorundi took 3 tons aboard. Stopped at Blanch Town, took cargo on board. 9.0 p.m., stopped for the night. Passed Glens. Stopped, boi ler leaking; cut a little wood. Passed Blacks burial ground; stopped at Sim mond's and took 15 tons wood. Stea med all night.

Passed North West Bend station; passed Morgan, called also Nickalap ko. Ran into a cliff. Stopped to land potatoes to Mrs. Johnston. Proceeded. Good steam all day and boat moving better. Passed Overland Corner; pas sed Cogdoble (now called Cobdogla); met Mooljewanke In Pyap Reach, passed Pyup (now Pyap); stopped for want of wood.

It must be borne in mind that the craft were steamers, and wood was the fuel. The boats were continually stopping to cut or buy wood at the numerous wood piles along the rivers. In those old days they would pay from 3/6 to as much as 7/6 a ton for the wood. Now of course, the rate is much higher, the price being about £1 per ton. Two or three years ago they were paying 27/6 a ton at SwanReach when wheat carting was on. Capt. Arnold was doing the carting on the "Renmark." They cart stuff from Morgan to Mildura now for 17/6 a ton, a distance of about 350 miles. By railway it would cost about dou ble. So there are still some places where the River transport is of use. The procuring of the wood for thesteamers was, as has been remarked, a constant anxiety. The crews of the boats actually engaged in lighting a bush Are to illuminate the darkness to enable them to cut wood.

(Log Continues)

4.20 a.m.—Started, passed snagged "Gemini." Passed upper end of Crai gie's Creek. Stopped at Spring Cart Gully and cut wood. Passed Cud more's station (now Paringa); pass ed Murtho. Stopped at Chowilla sta tion and at Bunyip wreck. Some bands cutting wood, and others get ting chains and sundries from wreck. 9.20 a.m., started; stopped at Mt. Hancock and took 12 tons wood onboard and stopped till 7 p.m.

(Concluded next Week)

 

 

Article #33 - Dated Thursday 27 November 1947

Thursday 27 November 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

(By P.W)

TRAINS OF THOUGHT .. INTRIGUING CAVALCADES

(Continued from Last Is^ue)

12.39 a.m. Passed Devil's Elbow; 6topped at Waukeringa (not on the map today). Stopped at Higgins' woodpile, took 6 tons; passed Rufus Creek, the outlet of Lake Victoria. Passed Spoon Bill Point (not now known). Passed Sapling Creek; stopped at Ned's Corner. Stopped at Kulline Creek, (above Lock 9) ; stopped at Moorna, took 6 tons of wood and salt . Proceeded; passed Anna Branch station (it is really Moorna wool shed). Stopped to land goods at Neilpo (not on map today); stopped at Wentworth. Discharging cargo all day. Afternoon following steamed up to the Store and remained all night. 5.0 a.m., started; stopped at Junction (Darling junction); stopped at Cow anna; stopped at Mildura. Stopped at McFarlin's to take wood; passed McFarlin's reef; stopped at MalleyCliffs (a station) to repair wheel ropes; passed public house (a long way above Mildura). Passed Cowwarp Stopped a little abov eDanger Island. Stopped at Tapauline; stopped at Kutkew, also Police Station, for night; stopped at Daisy Cliffs and at Euston. At daylight commenced discharging goods sold. At 9.10 a.m. dropped down to woodpile and took 7 tons, and dis charged more goods. Pumped up boiler and started at 12; stopped at Euston station, landed quantity offlour etc. 5.30 P.m., started; stopped for the night above Grant's paddock.Stopped at Rosses and at McCaliums. Entered the Murrumbidge, dischargedsome flour, cut wood, and otherwise prepared for going Upwards. In theafternoon steamed up to Hamilton's and back. Water in Murrumbidge very low. Started at 6 a.m.; S a.m. stop ped for breakfast. Started 8.30. 10.30 stopped to discharge as kept sticking on snags. Commenced discharging cargo; all day discharging.

Finished discharging and covering up cargo and prepared for an early start down tomorrow morning. Finish ed up and steamed to Junction. Took the flour on board. 10.25 a.m. started. Stopped for wood twice; stopped for the night just above Meilmann. 5.45 a.m., started; passed Meilmann. Stop ped at wood pile below Euston, cut by Armstrong; took 121 tons; paid him. Proceeded about 4 miles; met the AI bury (a nice boat, skipper John Gun dy was on her at one time). Stopped for the night at Daisy Cliff. Started 5.40 a.m.; stopped at Kulnine; metLady Augusta; passed Tapaulin; stop ped for the night a little above Mc

Farlin's.

Passed McFarlin's; stopped at Cow anna for some time and came to at 5 p.m. at store. Discharging cargo into the steamer etc. (from where she left the barge). Left Darling junction; stopped at Culnine. G.30 a.m., started; stopped for wood below Nolan's, took 41 tons (all), nearly all this stack has been stolen; passed Rufus wool shed. Stopped for wood above Waukeringa, took .5 tons. Started and stopped at Wiaukeringa; stopped at week of the Bunyip, intending to remain and use her, and take out engines, etc.

From Wednesday, 9th March 1864 ■to Monday, 14th March, at the wreck.Succeeded in raising her and recover ing engines. Boat very much burnt."Mooljewauke" been helping since Wednesday, and started downstream this morning about 6. Finished put ting remainder of engine stuff on board before breakfast. Got up steam 9.0 a.m. and proceeded to other side and took on donkey engine and stuff over there. Went down to Bunyip and made her fast with Goolwa barge alongside the "Began. Started and stopped a(s» Cbowilla (station). Passed lower end of Craigie's Creek; stripped for wood below Pyup (Pyap). Passed Cogdoble (now Cobdogla). Stopped at Overland corner; stopped just above Hart's (station). 5.45 a.m., started; passed Hart's, passed Jualko (nowQualco); stopped at Symond's and took 2} tons wood; passed Murpko (a cattle station—now all farms); stop ped at Blanchtown; started and ran ?.'I night. Passed Scott's (station);

stopped to cut wood and arrange fire ■

bars. Stopped at Mannum. Very low i steam all night.

That completes the log diary for the trip which was commenced on

February 4th, 1864, and ended on j

March 18th in the same year. From i the latter date until April 19th, 1864 the "IBogan" lay at the Mannum wharf having her engines repaired. She then started on another trip up stream with two barges in tow. The journey just described gives some idea of the troubles Captain William Richard Randell had to" contend with

in- an attempt to proceed up the Miir rumbidge river, and how the low wa ter level in that stream had frustrat ed him.

We will now leave the "Bogan" steamer, and advance twelve years to 187<i, to take extracts from the log book of the steamer "Corowa," an other of the many boats built and owned by -Captain Randell. The trip is commenced from Goolwa, and it will furnish recorded data of the trou bles experienced not on the Murrumbidge, but the Darling River, where the present day charts show rockyprotrusions from the river bed upon which the Corowa continually became stuck owing to the low level of the water and the then paucity of infor mation as to the rocks in the stream. But to the log diary:—

Saturday, 14th October, 1876.—Have been lying at Goolwa since the 8thdischarging wool and taking in small quantity of cargo on board. Have now about 10 tons of wood on board. Mrs. Randell and family on board. 12 noon, started; 7.30 p.m. passed Wel lington; 11.30 p.m., stopped for the night at Long Island. Stopped at Wat chers wood pile, took 15 tons at 4/6, paid; also for X| tons had (at Goolwa) from Captain Sunman; stopped at Mannuin wharf. From 15th to Tuesday the 24th lying at Mannum wharf taking in and waiting for cargo. All ready by dark.

6 a.m., left Mannum; passed Stone I Wall (about 9 miles above Mannum; !passed Thompson's; stopped at Laid ler's wood pile; took 4J tons at 5/ paid; passed Swan Reach; stopped at Blanch Town; took 3 tons 8 cwt. hoop iron on board, left by Anderson. Started from Blanch Town; stopped at Schells (there are a number of fa milies by that name in the Morgan area); stopped at Pens wood pile, took 12 tons at 6/-, paid; passed lower end of Devlin's Pound and steamedon; passed Overland Corner; passed upper end of Craigie's Creek; stop ped to wood lower end of Spring Cart (gully above Berri, about 3 miles south side). Got aground, stopped till daylight. 5 a.m. got off and star ted; passed Paringa; passed Merto (above Renniark); passed Isle of Man Creek; stopped at Colds wood pile, took 9 tons; steamed on. Passed Devil's Elbow; stopped at Webster's wood pile, took 5 tons at 5/, paid, pas sed Ned's Corner; stopped at Sand ford's wood pile, 8 tons at 5/-. Stop ped at Lush's 7 tons; stopped at Wentworth. Started up Darling and stopped for the night to give men a spell and allow others to get sober. Jim Cox drunk as usual. 4.30 a.m., started; stopped at Avoca; landed stuff and started 11.0 a.m.; stopped for passenger; stopped at John

(Continued on Next Page)

A JEWEL GASKET

(Conitnued from Front Page)

Smith's for wood; stopped at Brown's (Para), landed cargo; passed Para;stopped, landed cargo, and dropped down to McDonald's wood pile. Took in 6 tons; stopped at Seman's, lan ded cargo (and took 7 tons wood; stop ped at Collins, landed stuff and re mained all night. Stopped at Tar coola, landed wire; stopped for night at Pooncarey, repaired guard; passed Polio (station); stopped at Maford's. Stopped at Noland's wood pile, took 10 tons at 6/- and remained till mor ning. Passed Cuthero; stopped at Reid's woo] shed from 12.30 p.m. till 4 getting clear of Netley; 7 p.m. stop ped for night. Took in 4 tons wood first thing; stopped at Kinchega for the night. (This is another sheep sta tion. It is where the steamer Pro. vidence was blown up). Commenced discharging Kinchega goods early this morning; 11.35 a.m. started; stopped at Menindie and commenceddischarging goods. Finished by 11.40 in morning and started; stopped atAtbermarie for the night and landed hay; stopped at Dunkirk's wood pile; stopped at Roger's and WIntinga, al so Happy Jack's wood pile; passed Tintinaiogy. Tow line broken; stop ped at Rocky Water Holes and dis charged stuff. Passed Billilla; stop ped at White's wood pile and steamed on; about 11 past 10 mile point. Stopped at Wilcannia discharging all day. Sunday, resting all day; finished discharging by about 10.30; Jim Cox and engineer drunk. Started; stopped at ML Station 45 mins taking in wire; stopped at Mount woolshed (Mt. Mur chison sheep station); passed Coach & Horses; stopped to cut wood. Pas sed Pimpbilla and Cultowa, then the "Jane Eliza" and "Wilkannia" this afternoon. Water falling. About mid night passed Nelyambo and steamed on; night very sultry. Passed Buck ley; stopped at Varcoes. Started, raining and blowing fearfully. Stopped at Warloo; could not discharge on account of the weather, raining hea vily which continued through most of the night. Commenced discharg ing; banks very wet and slippery. Started 4.4 p.m., stopped at Caranyal pa. Passed Winbar (sheep station); stopped at Louth; stopped at Turalle,

landed stuff. 9 a.m., got aground and i on rocks at Island. Took till 3 P.m. | to get steamer and barge free. Started | and stopped above Gundabooka. Took j an hour and a half to get around

Yanda Island. Passed Yanco; lost an | hour on rocks htis afternoon. Stopped j

for the night a little above Milte Mil

te. Rained a great deal tonight |

Passed Jandra. 9.15 a.m. got stuck on reef; 11.0 a.m. got off. 11.30, stoppedwith "Swan" (there was a steamer

called the "Black Swan") Started1 and stopped to cut .wood below pow-1 der magazine; landed powder. I

Stopped at Bourke and commenced

discharging; water in gauge here 5ft. I Discharging all day; water falling about 3 'inches in 24 hours; engineer drunk as usual. Engineer drunk again this morning. Finished discharging Bourke cargo. Steamed up to West

Bourke and commenced discharging | there. Water falling about 4 inches in 24 hours. Finished dischaigins cargo by breikfist time and mv own goods by 4 p.m. Started for Stoney Point. Stopped there and took in 64 bales of woo). 9.0 a.m. started down wards. Stopped at West Bourke and

at Bourke; landed goods. Selling and j

discharging balance of goods on

board; no sound of more water com-j ing; determined to start downwards. !

Left barge at Bourke to take in wool and copper; Harry Shaw in charge. 4ft. Sin. in gauge; started and stop ped for the night above Jandra. 5.20 a.m., started and stopped at Jandra; took in 29 bales wool. Started 7; got

on rocks; heaving all day and got I afloat 12 at night; passed Yandar;

12.10 got on rocks; took till 11 to get j free. Passed Gunda Booka; 11.30 got on rocks above Turalle (Tooraie); took till 4 p.m. to get off and away from Tooraie station. About 6 got on shelf of rocks above Mackeys. Work

ed till 2 in the morning trying to getfj

her off—unsuccessfully. Commenced shifting cargo and otherwise prepar ing for a good heave after breakfast; heaving all day; worked till past 12 at night making very little progress; water falling slowly. Started heaving again early. Got her over by 4.30 p.m.; cut a little wood; got tackle on

board and steamed down below Mac-: key's. Oct. 5th, 10.30 a.m., got on shoal above Louth; got out tackle but

found could not get out; water only | , 3ft. and lumpy with rocks sticking i above the sand. Determined to heave

back and get into a deep water as 'tis useless to try and get down; water too low altogether. Heaving back all this afternoon. Got off shoal

by dinner-time. Steamed up river j

about a mile and a half and made

fast in good water; water only falling 1 about lin. in 24 hours. Have paid off most of the hands, making* ready for a start down river tomorrow in small boat we are repairing for the purpose, as news from up Tiver is unfavorable as to expected rise.

And so concludes the log diary of

the steamer "Corowa," illustrative of I

yet another river journey which was j

made impossible of consummation

otving to the unreliable character of | the river levels for purposes of wa terborne transport, until such a time as man has devised a series of I permanent reaches of water to effec tively carry merchandise at cheap rates in competition with rail trans port, and then it will be mainly for , non-urgent cargoes.

 

 

Article #34 - Dated Thursday 18 December 1947

Thursday 18 December 1947

A JEWEL CASKET

(By P.W)

EARLY WOODSIDE DAYS RECALLED BY OLD PIONEER

ONE of the very old residents of the

Woodside district, Mr. James

Caldwell, has recalled incidents of in terest of the early days in a letter from Kimba, which he says, have been recalled to mind by early history

as recorded in the Jewel Casket se- j

ries appearing from time to time in

the "Courier." To cull items from his !

letter would only spoil the continuity. 1

We consequently publish in full this |

interesting account of some of the :

early incidents in connection with j

the Woodside-Lobethal district:—

Dear Sir,—Mrs. Ernest Styles has

recently sent me several copies of | your paper containing some articles

of historic interest under the title of | "A Jewel Casket." I found these, es- ;pecially those referring to the early days of Woodside, very interesting. Mrs. Styles in a letter said that she thought you would be pleased to have any reminiscences of the Onkaparin ga Valley that I could recall. At first I thought it was not in my line as my parents were not amongst the early day settlers.

However, the mention made in one of your articles about the opening of the Lobethal Tweed Factory found my mind suddenly switched back to boyhood days about 70 years ago when I can remember going with iny

father and elder brother to that open- |

ing. We went on foot up along the

Western branch, being joined on the j

way by the Weyiands, Samuells, Johnstons, McDonalds and others. I can recall passing by Mr. Kleinsch midt's large plantation of hops and on arriving at the main road seeing folks jumping out of German waggons and other vehicles. Several speeches were given, mostly in German, and we were all lined up and someone came along counting ine, swav, dray, fere, fumsay — I think we were 'fim nad fumsay.' My father bought a good

sized length of the first tweed. It J

was a very nice grey check and as tough as leather, but before long changed to a reddish brown and our three-quarter pants soon crept np above the knee. But there it is — everything has its initial stages.

My father bought his two sections from a Mr. Northway and I think the McDonalds were the previous ow ners. The house was built of stringy bark slabs some four feet wide and the lyoof thatched with wire grass. It was after our arrival that the Wood side fold mining started. Mr. Andrew Mitchell, while grubbing some stumps came across alluvial wash that con tained some hundreds of poundsworth of gold. As he was going to wash a couple of buckets of the allu vium be met Tom Martin, a well known pedlar, and asked him if he would change his pack for the stuff in the buckets .but Tom tyasn't hav ing any! The story has it that there was a couple of hundred pounds

worth ot gold iu the buckets. From then on, Woodside began to grow, the two hotels did a brisk trade with spe culators from the city, small shops were enlarged, new school built. As is mostly the case the "Cousin Jacks" were prominent jn mine management, Captain Cock and Warren being the best remembered names. The white gum came into its own as it was found to stand the wet and was tough er than the red gum. A great num ber of syndicates were formed and prospecting carried 011 all over the countryside. Had all this money and effort been expended in developing the surface soil I think the commun ity on the whole would have been bet ter off to-day!

The first school I attended was an old red brick structure and our tea cher was Mr. .Tames Disher. assisted by his daughters Mary, Florrie and

Margurette. Mr. Disher and family j used to live at Charleston coming from there each nioruiug iu a spring cart and bringing with him several schol ars amongst whom were Herbert Newman, I.eo and Wardie Dunn. Ar thur Dunn and others. Various folk from the city had summer residences in Woodside. among them being John Hill, of coach fame, and James Stor rie, warehouseman, so we had Clem ami Percy Hill for playmates, also members of the Storrie family. Theatmosphere of school days was on the whole, very happy and pleasant to look hack on. though of course, hav ing no arbitration courts in those

(lays differences bad often to l)e set tled wiili tlie bare fists. Many of the scholars had to walk 3 and 4 miles to school each morning, and it was not very often that we were kept borne by the wet. and of course the summer was very congenial.

The memory of quiet spring morn ings as we went to cliurch with the chime of the three bells stealing along the Onkapariuga Valley jp al ways an inspiration. Buggy loads of worshippers came from near and far each Sabbath morning. From Oakbank tlipre were the Hoopers. Turners. Pitts and one each from John and Andrew Johnson's: from Tnverlirackie. Tjorrimers. Mitchells. Hut.chen=. Averys. Drunimonds and others: from Roefton Heights. Hugh es and Perkins: from Charleston Di shers and others, several also along the Fore=t Range road. An old friend called to see us the other day. in the person of Mr. J. H. Ferry, now in his

86th year and tor many years station master at Moonta and now living inretirement in that town. In conver sation he said that when nine years of age he lived for a time with his uncle, Mr, Seth Perry, a well known horse dealer whose residence was at North Woodside. Many of the names mentioned in your articles were fa miliar to him. he remembered Mr. Dunn's house being built and couldrecall seeing waggon loads of German worshippers going past his uncle's place on Sunday mornings on their way to the Lutheran (now Presbyte rian) church in Woodside; the two draught horses getting along at a good swinging trot. People in those days seemed much more worshipful minded than now, and the stabilityof the people in South Australia is very largely due to the constancy with which those early day settlers, attended their places of worship. A few weeks ago in company with two brothers and their wives, visitors from 'Sydney, we attended service at the Methodist church at Woodside and filled the old pew that we usedto do every Sunday morning when we were 'boys. But what a difference I in the attendance then and now! Al though the town has doubled in size and it was the only service being beld, there were beside our party and that of the preacher, who had come all the way from Aldgate, only about 25 made up of 3 very elderly ladies, 3 adult ladies, 3 adult males and the

rest young people of various ages. One could not help asking "what hashappened to public worship?" Some one suggested something about a gol den calf! We also paid a visit to the cemetery at tfnverbrackie which used to be so nicely kept, and found it al most overgrown with hedge pea, some of the monumental reminders of early day pioneers were hardly 'get-at-able.' No doubt war conditions are mainly responsible for this neglect.

Shortly after our arrival in the dis trict my father was appointed clerk

and overseer of works for the Dis-]

trict Council of Onkaparinga, and I have recollections of many stormy scenes over road deviations, riparian rights and at the elections. "Forgiv ing an opponent after talking to him with the shilaliah" and "forgiving an enemy but never a friend" are among some of the statements I can recall. One particular councillor used to fre quently recommend "persecuting cer tain offenders." My elder brother and ] had to attend at the office quite a bit especially after father got into Parliament in 1S84. One Saturday evening we boys were in an out-room cleaning up the family footwear in readiness for Sunday and there came

a knock on the door. Thinking it was i one of the others playing a joke, | someone called out "come in If you're fat." Then we heard a man's voice asking if this was where Mr. Caldwell lived. It turned out to be an elderly gentleman from Yorke Peninsula who had come to present a numerously signed petition asking father to offer himself as a candidate for Parliament for that constituency. To this he

consented and was elected there for J

two terms and in response to another numerously signed petition (a copy of which I still have) from the elec-: tors of Onkaparinga was elected for several terms as their member. Dur ing his political career he sponsored several important Acts which still hold good on our Statute Book, among them the "State Bank," "Women's Suffrage," "Pure Foods aud Drugs" and others.

Dr. Esau was a fine old townsman in his day. Being fairly musical, with the co-operation of his family and various friends, he took a prominent part in the social advancement of the town, particularly in connection with the institute. He also enjoyed elec

tion times both for council and par-' liament. I can remember an old Irish' Jadv coming to vote at a council el

ection bluntly declaring that she had J come to vote for Topliam, that Doctor!

had told her she must. It was mar vellous the way the doctor used to get about the district 011 horseback. He had an old hay hack they used to call "Flat" which would take liim up hill and down dale at full gallop, the wayside dogs left far behind. The night before he died, 1901, nearly the whole district gathered at hishome and with singing and music drew him in a carriage to the hall, where many expressions of apprecia tion were spoken. The excitement was, however, too much for the poor old man and he passed out before the I

return of day.

I have listened interestedly many a time while father and the old resi dents talked together about early day experiences, and have heard person ally Mr. C. W. Fowler tell about ev ent? mentioned in your articles. Had I set down in a notebook all I have heard I could have supplied enough for several articles, but there you are. we don't realise the value of things till they have gone beyond recall. So I will just send 011 these few reminis cences and you can make what use of them you think best.

 

 

Article #35 - Dated Thursday 15 January 1948

Thursday 15 January 1948

A JEWEL CASKET

• (By P.W)

Fmany of this series of articles the

writer has, of necessity, been

beholden to knowledge of an histori cal nature drawn from cyclopaedic volumes relative to the early days of this State. He has striven to carry forward the records of the various towns and villages touched upon to a more recent date, and, in some cases* was fortunate enough to come by in formation that is for the first time recorded in the printed word. One old octogenarian remarked that he hadpasted a particular article in a valued scrap book he possessed, for, tie said: "It is my record, and the record of my father also: and, in- fifty years, my children's children might like to read of our eraly struggles to suc cessfully strive to surmount our trou bles." Truly we cannot learn too much of those old characters who once trod life's stage, and who, if biographically recorded, gaze at us with bearded physiognomies from the pages of some old tome. The life stories of most of those old pioneers who passed on so long ago and even those very aged members of the liv ing, would, in most cases, if treated by a literary artist, provide the sub stance for innumerable interesting novels, and in not a few instances thesuccessful script for movie presenta tion, even without technicolor en chantment. One of the most enter taining publications the writer ever perused was a volume titled "The House Boat on the Styx." Therein the able author visualises the eminent characters of history meeting in the land of shades after they had beentransported over the River Styx by -Charon; whose office it was in Greekmythology to ferry the dead, over the rivers of the infernal regions-, and for which ancient undertaking he re ceived a farthing per funeral, which coin had been placed in the mouth of the deceased. Doubtless many of our readers have also obtained enjoyment iiuiu ft iferusal of the pag6s of that little bodk. It was published at a time when the Shakespearean-Bacon controversy was a red-hot topic. There is Shakespeare talking to the Shades of a group of famous entitiesof the past; and there are innumer able commentators of Shakespearewandering in the vicinity, but he does not remember or recognise any of them. Then, of a sudden, Bacon breaks obtrusively into the conversa tion, remarking to the Bard of Avon: "You had better be careful or I will tell them who really did write those plays." The clean satire is a constant enjoyment. In a similar manner wemight in our suggested movie produc tion have John Wrathall Bull calling John Ridley to order as he, in self praise, lay claim to the invention of the reaping machine. Speaking of those old identities of the past, how

ever, the name of Lewis was mention ed in the article on Macclesfield, and it vyas stated that there were still those among the living who referred to "Lewis's Time." Let usi strive to remark upon a period in which a par ticular individual was an active mem ber of that particular town and dis trict. It will not take a. very astute reader to learn the reason of such continued remembrance, for evidentlythe self-same worthy gentleman was primarily responsible for the quench ing of many a thirst, and the unde greed medico who could -make the partakers of his particular beverages feel as they felt they ought to feel without consulting him. How many many very convivial gatherings there must have been at which his prescrip tions, in bottled or draft form, promp ted feelings of friendship and goodwill to over-rule an outlook of gloom, cynicism and despondency; until, at

last, the oft-told tales having been'

exhausted, the company broke up, with all hearts at par, and acquain tances become in not a few instances firm friends for life. "Ye can have any amount of friends if ye keep a li quor store," wrote one of the best of American humorist; but the cha

racter from whose lips those wisei words were uttered himself was the! keeper of the liquor store; and jolly good humor was a feature of the re corded discussions in his house of business. We had best be careful or we shall be accused of being partisan on the liquor question. So let us back to "Lewis's Time." Now, Mr. Henry Lewis was a well-known gra zier of the Macclesfield district and one-time proprietor of the Macclesfield brewery. He, obtained a gold medal at the International Exhibition, Lon don, for his "Macclesfield Ale" in 1873. His second son, John, born in 1855, received his early education at Macclesfield, and later was a pupil at Seven Hills College, near Clare. He subsequently entered his father's brewery, where he remained for seven years. Followed a period as a contractor on various stations, and then some years as an Adelaide hotel

keeper, and finally engaged in sheep farming. With Mr. RZ Mathieson heacquired the Crown Lease of Nilpena station, but sold out after two years, and purchased Mundi Mundi station comprising some 600 square miles of country and carrying 30,000 sheep, also cattle and horses. He also ac quired "Wilpena" station near Haw ker, with an. area of 750 miles which in 1907 carried 16,000 sheep, 400 head of cattle and 100 horses. He at that time held the largest interest in "Wir rialpa" station near Blinman, the area of which extended for 1600 square miles! Not a bad record for a native born Macclesfield man.

In yet another artcple In this series we mentioned in dealing with Wood side, how W. H. Bundey (afterwards Judge Bundey) was Clerk to the Bench of Magistrates and Local Court at Woodside, and subsequently Acting Returning Officer for Onkaparinga. The clerkship be held from 1857 to 1882. His was truly a very remark able career. He was born in Hamp shire, England, on January 30th, 1839, and educated himself after he had reached 9 years of age. He arrived in the Colony in 1849 and entered the office of Messrs. Bartley and Bakfe well, with which firm Mr. Justice Stow finished his articles. He entered Parliament as a member of the House of Assembly for the District of On kaparinga in 1872, but was obliged to resign owing to ill-health. He was re-elected in 1878. As a Minister of the Crown he held the portfolio of Minister of Justice in the Blyth Gov ernment of 1874-5, and was Attorney General in the Morgan Ministry from 1878 to 1881, when ill-health forced retirement from public life upon him. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1878. The Act for the establish ment of the Adelaide University was carried through the House of Assem bly by him. Also the Supreme Court Act of 1878; the Trustee Act of 1880, and also the Act whereby the rail way to Victoria from Adelaide went by way of Murray Bridge instead of on the Wellington route . The Trus tee Act was copied by the British Parliament in the first decade of this century, in 1884 he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court. He was also the first President of the State ■Board of Conciliation. Ill health seemed to dog this energetic and re markably able man, and indisposition forced his retirement from the .Bench in 1904. in the year following he was knighted. Whether in search of good health or merely for amusement, Sir Henry Bundey was an enthusiastic yachtsman and in his time built ant1 sailed four such craft at Port Ade laide. The 'Zephyr' and the 'Wanderer' became known far beyond the bor ders of South Australia. Nothing save ill-health seemed to restrain this remarkable man, and his active brain found solace and enjoyment upon the waters of the South Australian coast in the yachts he loved Bo dearly. Many were the sea trips he made, and in a most interesting volume, pub lished by him in 1888, he tells his re miniscences of his travels by sea and land. Let us open this little book. We will find much to appreciate therein, for it contains passages that grip the attention of all who love the great open spaces and the never ceasing murmur of the sea. Amateur

fishermen will learn from Its sages the favorite grounds of the anglers of that later day, when the yachts would make their course along 'the Coast of St. Vincent'b Gulf and . see no towns at all. Nought was there observable but a native camp or a shepherd's hut. That was back in the late sixties and early seventies' of lastcentury.. We read in a recent edi tion of the Daily Press how history had been made by the Western Dis trict Angling Club, whose . members conducted one of their bi-monthly fish ing competitions at American River on September 21st, 1947, and travelled to Kangaroo Island by air. At a rough estimate the times of which Bundey writes would be probably more than 80 years prior to that trip. It was, he states, upwards of 25 since he first commenced yachting in South Australia. The book is dated 1888,- which would make his initial experience as a yachtsman as having been in 1863. Fronting the little pub lication are early maps of Port Ade laide, Spencer's Gulf and the Gulf of iSt. Vincent with Kangaroo Island; and one of Port Lincoln, showing many interesting markings such as "The proper or old Port Lincoln." In his first acquaintance with South Aus tralian waters Mr. Bundey informs us that his cruises were made in coast ing vessels chartered for the occasion, his most frequent companion being a young member of the legal profession in the person of James Brook, whose

| early demise in 1872 meant a loss to

the legal profession of one of the most gifted lawyers in the Colony. In 1868, in conjunction with his brother in-law (Mr. W. j: Magarey) Mr. Bun gey built a little cutter of about 8 tons and they named it the- White Cloud, and in the early eighties' of last century she was still afloat at Port Lincoln engaged in the oyster trade. In those days when the White Cloud was launched there was no lighthouse nor lighted beacons at Port Ade laide. An old dismantled brig did duty as a lightship, a long way out from the entrance to the Port river. In the White <31oud Mr. Bundey and his companions were wont to make their way across the Gulf to Port Al fred, better known as Black Point, where they had good fishing, and where they found a fine little harbor. Gulf St. Vincent at its narrowest point (until near its head) Is 28 knots across and there is a stretch south

ward to Kangaroo .Inland of nearly 70 knots. Kangaroo (Island Is 92 miles long and forms a huge breakwater that protects St. Vincent's Gulf ag ainst the immense rollers of the Sou thern Ocean. On the ESastern shore of the gulf—that is, on the mainland —there is not a single harbor to which a yachtsman can run for safety except the eight miles in the Port river. The crack yacht at Port Adelaide in those days was the "Xanthe," a cutter of some 12 tons( disguised and built by Mr. W. Taylor, who designed the "White Cloud." She used to win nearly all the regattas, and in a match for £100 with the "Coquette" (a much larger craft) she won easily; and on March 3, 1888, she won a race at Glenelg in a strongbreeze and rough seat beating a craft more than twice her size. Later the little "White Cloud" caused a sensa tion by beating the "Xanthe" and to celebrate the occasion the crews were invited up -to the Glanville Ho tel at 8 where the usual toasts were proposed and responded to, the pro ceedings being continued till near midnight. About a year or eighteen months after the "White Cloud" waslaunched the South Australian Tacht Club was formed. In the early part of 1872 the "White Cloud" met with a misfortune of a grave nature. "Hav ing just landed," writes Mir. Bundey, "I left the crew to beat her up to her moorings. There was a strong breeze blowing. Opposite the Government dockyard a heavy silt pontoon had sunk in some depth of water at low tide. With almost criminal negli gence, no buoy or other other mark or warning was placed at the spot. In consequence, the yacht, going at full speed under a press of canvas, ran into the pontoon, sto/e a huge hole in her starboard side, filled, and im mediately sank. The three men hadto swim for their lives and, fortunate ly, all were able to do so."

(To be continued)