A Lady's Visit to the Gold Diggings of Australia in 1852-53 Part 4

Chapter VII.

EAGLE HAWK GULLY

Before commencing an account of our operations at the Eagle Hawk, it will be necessary to write a few words in description of our gold-digging party there; their Christian names will be sufficient distinction, and will leave their incognito undisturbed.

This party, as I have said before, consisted of five gentlemen, including my brother. Of the latter I shall only say that he was young and energetic, more accustomed to use his brains than his fingers, yet with a robust frame, and muscles well strengthened by the various exercises of boating, cricketing, &c., with which our embryo collegians attempt to prepare themselves for keeping their "terms."

Frank ------ (who, from being a married man, was looked up to as the head of our rather juvenile party) was of a quiet and sedate disposition, rather given to melancholy, for which in truth he had cause. His marriage had taken place without the sanction--or rather in defiance of the wishes--of his parents, for his wife was portionless, and in a station a few grades, as they considered, below his own; moreover, Frank himself was not of age. Private income, independent of his parents, he had none. A situation as clerk in a merchant's office was his only resource, and during three years he had eked out his salary to support a delicate wife--whose ill health was a neverfailing source of anxiety and expense--two infants, and himself. An unexpected legacy of 500 pounds from a distant relative at last seemed to open a brighter prospect before them; and leaving his wife and children with their relatives, he quitted England to seek in a distant land a better home than all his exertions could procure for them in their own country. I never felt surprised or offended at his silent and preoccupied manner, accompanied at times by great depression of spirits, for it was an awful responsibility for one so young, brought up as he had been in the greatest luxury, as the eldest son of a wealthy merchant, to have not only himself but others nearest and dearest to maintain by his own exertions.

William ------, a tall, slight, and rather delicate looking man, is the next of our party whom I shall mention. His youth had been pa.s.sed at Christ's Hospital. This he quitted with the firm conviction (in which all his friends of course partic.i.p.ated) that he had been greatly wronged by not having been elected a Grecian; and a rich uncle, incited by the beforementioned piece of injustice, took him under his care, and promised to settle him in the world as soon as a short apprenticeship to business had been gone through. A sudden illness put a stop to all these schemes. The physicians recommended change of air, a warmer climate, a trip to Australia. William had relatives residing in Melbourne, so the journey was quickly decided upon, a cabin taken; and the invalid rapidly recovering beneath the exhilarating effects of the sea-breezes. How refreshing are they to the sick! how caressingly does the soft sea-air fan the wan cheeks of those exhausted with a life pa.s.sed amidst the brick walls and crowded, noisy streets of a city; and William, who at first would have laughed at so ridiculous a supposition, ere the four months' voyage was terminated, had gained strength and spirits sufficient to make him determine to undertake a trip to the diggings.

He was a merry light-hearted fellow, fonder of a joke than hard work, yet ever keeping a sharp eye to the "main chance," as the following anecdote will prove.

One day during our stay in Melbourne he came to me, and said, laughing:

"Well! I've got rid of one of the bad HABITS I had on board the ----."

"Which?" was my reply.

"That old frock-coat I used to wear in the cold weather whilst we rounded the Cape. A fellow down at Liardet's admired the cut, asked me to sell it. I charged him four guineas, and walked into town in my shirt-sleeves; soon colonized, eh?"

Richard ------ was a gay young fellow of twenty, the only son of a rich member of the stock Exchange. In a fit of spleen, because the parental regulations required him always to be at home by midnight, he shipped himself off to Australia, trusting that so energetic a step "would bring the govenor to his senses." He was music-mad, and appeared to know every opera by heart, and wearied us out of all patience with his everlasting humming of "Ciascun lo dice" "Non piu mesta," &c.

Octavius ------ was the eighth son of a poor professional man, who, after giving him a good general education, sent him with a small capital to try his fortune in the colonies. For this he was in every way well fitted, being possessed of a strong const.i.tution, good common sense, and simple inexpensive habits; he was only nineteen, and the youngest of the male portion of our party.

The day after our arrival at the diggings, being Sunday, we pa.s.sed in making ourselves comfortable, and devising our future plans. We determined to move from our present quarters, and pitch our tents higher up the gully, near Montgomery's store. This we accomplished the first thing on Monday morning and at about a hundred yards from us our four shipmates also fixed themselves, which added both to our comfort and security.

A few words for their introduction.

One of them was a Scotchman, who wished to make enough capital at the mines to invest in a sheep-run; and as his countrymen are proverbially fortunate in the colonies, I think it possible he may some time hence be an Australian MILLIONAIRE. Another of these was an architect, who was driven, as it were, to the diggings, because his profession, from the scarcity of labour, was at the time almost useless in Melbourne.

The third was, or rather had been, a house-painter and decorator, who unfortunately possessed a tolerably fine voice, which led him gradually to abandon a good business to perform at concerts. Too late he found that he had dropped the substance for the shadow; emigration seemed his only resource; so leaving a wife and large family behind, he brought his mortified vanity and ruined fortunes to begin the world anew with in Australia. He was the only one whose means prevented him from taking a share in our venture; but to avoid confusion, the Scotchman subscribed twice the usual sum, thus securing double Profits.

The fourth was a gentleman farmer, whose sole enemy, by his account, was Free Trade, and who held the names Cobden and Bright in utter detestation.

As soon as the tents were pitched, all set to work to unpack the dray: and after taking out sufficient flour, sugar, tea, &c., for use, the remainder of the goods were taken to the nearest store, where they were sold at an average of five times their original costs: the most profitable portion of the cargo consisted of some gunpowder and percusion-caps. The day after, by good fortune, we disposed of the dray and horses for 250 pounds, being only 40 pounds less than we paid for them. As the cost of keeping horses at the diggings is very great (sometimes two or three pounds a day per head), besides the constant risk of their being lost or stolen, we were well satisfied with the bargain; and never did mind young speculators, who five months previous had been utter strangers, accomplish their undertaking to themselves, or less disagreement one with another.

This business settled, the next was to procure licences, which was a walk of nearly five miles to the Commissioners' tent, Bendigo, and wasted the best part of Wednesday.

Meanwhile we were Seriously debating about again changing our quarters.

We found it almost impossible to sleep. Never before could I have imagined that a woman's voice could utter sounds sufficiently discordant to drive repose far from us, yet so it was.

The gentlemen christened her "the amiable female."

The tent of this "amiable" personage was situated at right angles with ours and our shipmates, so that the annoyance was equally felt. Whilst her husband was at work farther down the gully, she kept a sort of sly grog-shop, and pa.s.sed the day in selling and drinking spirits, swearing, and smoking a short tobacco-pipe at the door of her tent. She was a most repulsive looking object. A dirty gaudy-coloured dress hung unfastened about her shoulders, coa.r.s.e black hair unbrushed, uncombed, dangled about her face, over which her evil habits had spread a genuine baccha.n.a.lian glow, whilst in a loud masculine voice she uttered the most awful words that ever disgraced the mouth of man ten thousand times more awful when proceeding from a woman's lips.

But night was the dreadful time; then, if her husband had been unlucky, or herself made fewer profits during the day, it was misery to be within earshot; so much so, that we decided to leave so uncomfortable a neighbourhood without loss of time, and carrying our tents, &c., higher up the gully we finally pitched them not far from the Portland Stores.

This was done on Thursday, and the same evening two different claims were marked out ready to commence working the next day. These claims were the usual size, eight feet square.

FRIDAY, 24.--Early this morning our late travelling companion, Joe, made his appearance with a sack (full of bran, he said,) on his shoulders.

After a little confidential talk with William, he left the sack in our tent, as he had no other safe place to stow it away in till the bran was sold. This gave rise to no suspicion, and in the excitement of digging was quite forgotten.

About noon I contrived to have a damper and a large joint of baked mutton ready for the "day labourers," as they styled themselves. The mutton was baked in a large camp oven suspended from three iron bars, which were fixed in the ground in the form of a triangle, about a yard apart, and were joined together at the top, at which part the oven was hung over a wood fire. This grand cooking machine was, of course, outside the tent. Sometimes I have seen a joint of meat catch fire in one of these ovens, and it is difficult to extinguish it before the fat has burnt itself away, when the meat looks like a cinder.

Our butcher would not let us have less than half a sheep at a time, for which we paid 8s. I was not good housekeeper enough to know how much it weighed, but the meat was very good. Flour was then a shilling a pound, or two hundred pounds weight for nine pounds in money. Sugar was 1s.

6d., and tea 3s. 6d. Fortunately we were Well provided with these three latter articles.

The hungry diggers did ample justice to the dinner I had provided for them. They brought home a tin-dish full of surface soil, which in the course of the afternoon I attempted to wash.

Tin-dish-washing is difficult to describe. It requires a watchful eye and a skilful hand; it is the most mysterious department of the gold-digging business. The tin dish (which, of course, is round) is generally about eighteen inches across the top, and twelve across the bottom, with sloping sides of three or four inches deep. The one I used was rather smaller. Into it I placed about half the "dirt"--digger's technical term for earth, or soil--that they had brought, filled the dish up with water, and then with a thick stick commenced making it into a batter; this was a most necessary commencement, as the soil was of a very stiff clay. I then let this batter--I know no name more appropriate for it--settle, and carefully poured off the water at the top. I now added some clean water, and repeated the operation of mixing it up; and after doing this several times, the "dirt," of course, gradually diminishing, I was overjoyed to see a few bright specks, which I carefully picked out, and with renewed energy continued this by no means elegant work. Before the party returned to tea I had washed out all the stuff, and procured from it nearly two pennyweights of gold-dust, worth about 6s. or 7s.

Tin-dish-washing is generally done beside a stream, and it is astonishing how large a quant.i.ty of "dirt" those who have the knack of doing it well and quickly can knock off in the course of the day. To do this, however, requires great manual dexterity, and much gold is lost by careless washing. A man once extracted ten pounds weight of the precious metal from a heap of soil which his mate had washed too hurriedly.

In the evening Joe made his re-appearance, carrying another sack on his shoulders, which contained a number of empty bottles, and now for the first time we became initiated into the BRAN mystery which had often puzzled us on the road--it seemed so strange a thing to carry up to the diggings. Joe laughed at our innocence, and denied having told us anything approaching a falsehood; a slight suppression of the truth was all he would plead guilty to. I verily believe William had put him up to this dodge, to make us smile when we should have felt annoyed. Being taxed with deceit, said he: "I told you two-thirds truth; there wanted but two more letters to make it BRANDY," and with the greatest SANG-FROID he drew out a small keg of brandy from the first sack and half-filled the bottles with the spirit, after which he filled them all up to the neck with water. The bottles were then corked, and any or all of them politely offered to us at the rate of 30s a piece. We declined purchasing, but he sold them all during the evening, for which we were rather glad, as, had they been discovered by the officials in our tent, a fine of 50 pounds would have been the consequence of our foolish comrades good-nature and joke-loving propensities.

We afterwards found that Master Joe had played the same trick with our shipmates and with the two doctors, who had bought a tent and settled themselves near our old place by Montgomery's store.

SAt.u.r.dAY, 25.--The two holes were "bottomed" before noon with no paying result. It had been hard work, and they were rather low-spirited about it. The rest of the day they spent in washing some surface-soil, and altogether collected about I ounce and a half of gold-dust, counting the little I had washed out on the Friday. In the evening it was all dried by being placed in a spade over a quick fire. We had before determined to square accounts and divide the gold every Sat.u.r.day night, but this small quant.i.ty was not worth the trouble, so it was laid by in the digger's usual treasury, a German match-box. These round boxes hold on an average eight ounces of gold.

These two unproductive holes had not been very deep. The top, or surface soil, for which a spade or shovel is used, was of clay. This was succeeded by a strata almost as hard as iron--technically called "burnt stuff,"--which robbed the pick of its points nearly as soon as the blacksmith had steeled them at a charge of 2s. 6d. a point. Luckily for their arms, this strata was but thin, and the yellow or blue clay which followed was comparatively easy work--here and there an awkward lump of quartz required the use of the pick. Suddenly they came to some glittering particles of yellow, which, with heartfelt delight they hailed as gold. It WAS MICA. Many are at first deceived by it, but it is soon distinguished by its weight, as the mica will blow away with the slightest puff. After a little useless digging among the clay, they reached the solid rock, and thus having fairly "bottomed,"

the holes to no purpose, they abandoned them.

SUNDAY, 26.--Although impossible at the diggings to keep this day with those outward observances which are customary in civilized life, we attempted to make as much difference as possible between the day of rest and that of work. Frank performed the office of chaplain, and read the morning service in the calm and serious manner which we expected from him.

I was rather amused to see the alacrity with which, when this slight service was over, they all prepared to a.s.sist me in the formation of a huge plum-pudding for the Sunday's dinner. Stoning plums and chopping suet seemed to afford them immense pleasure--I suppose it was a novelty; and, contrary to the fact implied in the old adage, "too many cooks spoil the broth" our pudding turned out A1.

In the afternoon we strolled about, and paid a visit to our shipmates.

I was certainly most agreeably surprised by the quiet and order that everywhere prevailed.

MONDAY, 27.--Today our party commenced "sinking" in a new spot at some little distance. The first layer of black soil was removed, and on some being washed in a tin dish, it was found to contain a tolerable portion of gold, and was p.r.o.nounced to be worth transporting to the tent to be regularly cradled. My first official notice of this fact was from Richard, who entered the tent humming "Suona la tromba," with a bucket full of this heavy soil in each hand. He broke off in the middle of his song to ask for some water to drink, and grumbled most energetically at such dirty work. He then gave me an account of the morning's doings.

After a thin layer of the black surface soil, it appeared they had come to a strata of thick yellow clay, in which gold was often very abundant. This soil, from being so stiff, would require "puddling," a work of which he did not seem to relish the antic.i.p.ation. Before the day was over, a great number of buckets full of both soils were brought up and deposited in heaps near the tents. All, with the exception of the "operatic" Richard, seemed in good spirits, and were well satisfied with what had been done in so short a time.

In the evening the other party of our shipmates arrived, and were busy fixing their tent at a distance of about forty yards from us. Frank and the other four, though pretty tired with the days labour, lent a helping hand, the united efforts of nine speedily accomplished this business, after which an immense quant.i.ty of cold mutton, damper, and tea made a rapid disappearance, almost emptying my larder, which, by the bye, was an old tea-chest.

We asked our friends their motive for leaving the old spot, and they declared they could stand the "amiable female" no longer; she grew worse and worse. "Her tongue was sich" observed the Scotchman, "as wad drive ony puir beastie wild." She had regularly quarrelled with the two doctors because they would not give her a written certificate, that the state of her health required the constant use of spirits. She offered them two guineas for it, which they indignantly refused, and she then declared her intention of injuring their practice as much as possible, which she had power to do, as her tent was of an evening quite the centre of attraction and her influence proportionably great. Pity 'tis that such a woman should be able to mar or make the fortunes of her fellow creatures.

TUESDAY, 28.--The holes commenced yesterday were duly "bottomed," but no nice pocket-full of gold was the result; our shipmates, however, met with better success, having found three small nuggets weighing two to four ounces each at a depth of not quite five feet from the surface.

WEDNESDAY, 29.--To-day was spent in puddling and cradling.

Puddling is on the same principle as tin-dish-washing, only on a much larger scale. Great wooden tubs are filled with the dirt and fresh water, and the former is chopped about in all directions with a spade, so as to set the metal free from the adhesive soil and pipe-clay.

Sometimes I have seen energetic diggers tuck up their trowsers, off with their boots, step into the tub, and crush it about with their feet in the same manner as tradition affirms that the London bakers knead their bread. Every now and again the dirtied water is poured off gently, and with a fresh supply, which is furnished by a mate with a long-handled dipper from the stream or pool, you puddle away. The great thing is, not to be afraid Of over-work, for the better the puddling is, so much the more easy and profitable is the cradling.

After having been well beaten in the tubs, the "dirt" is put into the hopper of the cradle, which is then rocked gently, whilst another party keeps up a constant supply of fresh water. In the right hand of the cradler is held a thick stick, ready to break up any clods which may be in the hopper, but which a good puddler would not have sent there.

There was plenty of water near us, for a heavy rain during the night had filled several vacated holes, and as there were five pair of hands, we hoped, before evening, greatly to diminish our mud-heaps.