Australian Heroes and Adventurers Part 4

CHAPTER III.

_Effect Of Discoveries._

"Like stragglers from an army, orderless, The adventurers toward their haven press; Their ardent minds, ignoring present care, Imagine future "lobs" of which they share.

Through their hot brains what splendid visions speed Of golden _claims_ directly on the _lead_, Enabling them thro' h.o.a.ry Age to sail With hawsers moored to Competence's tail!

How chang'd the landscape since the paleface came, How hard to recognise it as the same!

The earth no longer wears her garb of green, But grave-like holes may everywhere be seen; The forest fell'd to cook the miners' food, The sadden'd Natives scatter'd and subdu'd."

_The New Rush._--J. RODGERS.

The wonderful effect of the valuable discoveries made during the first few months of gold-seeking soon became apparent in Melbourne and Geelong, owing to the rapid departure for the diggings of great numbers of the townsfolks, who abandoned their ordinary vocations in order to get a share of the profuse rewards there meted out by Mother Earth to the industrious or the lucky.

The Victorian population at this time was only 77,000, of which 30,000 were concentrated in the two princ.i.p.al towns. Nearly all these people became mad for gold. The whole of the colony was stirred to its inmost depths, and underwent a total revolution in all its social relations.

Almost the first manifestation of the change was shown in the sudden appearance of an immense motley throng upon the roads that converged to the gold-fields. Thousands of men of every walk in life--rich and poor, old and young, st.u.r.dy and weak--were enticed from the comforts and delights of the domestic hearth, and from the conveniences and amus.e.m.e.nts of town life, by the allurements of the glittering prizes which Dame Fortune was lavishly dealing out to the pioneer prospectors, and which seemed to dangle before the expectant eyes of everyone. What a strange and entertaining sight the thickly-thronged roads must have presented to the observant student of human nature! Many a tramp hopefully toiling along with swag on back; bands of mechanics with lumbering drays and bony nags to a.s.sist in transporting the heavy necessaries; parties with light hand-carts and wheel-barrows energetically pushing and pulling their primitive vehicles; shopmen in spring carts; doctors and lawyers in first-cla.s.s gigs and buggies.

The whole of these, from beggar to barrister, from pickpocket to parson, were to be seen hieing along dusty roads and journeying through hitherto untrodden forest, all impelled by the one covetous desire to the one end--the gold-fields, where, perchance, they might reap a golden harvest without the laborious years of working and the wearisomeness of waiting, which are the usual checks to success in other pursuits.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE RUSH TO THE DIGGINGS.]

Ere these fortune-hunters reached the Eldorado of their wishes, many obstacles had to be overcome. The roughness of the road, the yielding nature of the bush tracks, and general unevenness of the ground, occasioned many a poor horse to knock under and leave his master or masters in a sorry plight. Their fellow-wayfarers seeing such a predicament would sometimes lend a helping hand; and it was not uncommon to see thirty or forty men dragging a dray up some of the steep hills by means of ropes, or carrying on their backs portions of a heavy load.

A number of the travellers were free and independent. These, carrying all their property with them, usually made a day's journey of about twenty miles; then, after an _al-fresco_ meal, they lay down in the open-air, with their blankets wrapped like martial cloaks around them, and were lulled to sleep by the breezy murmurs of the wild bush. Others, ignorant of the obstacles they had to encounter, rushed away from town insufficiently supplied with provisions, and the few public-houses on the way became quickly packed to confusion by these half-famished wanderers, demanding food and drink.

Many of the first arrivals on the fields soon found out that the life of a digger was not all honey, and, after a few bitter experiences, either went back to their old employments in the town, or adapted themselves to the requirements of the new order of things by supplying the diggers'

camp with provisions--an occupation which was generally quite as lucrative as that of the average digger. Meanwhile, the fame of the Victorian gold-fields had circulated throughout the adjacent colonies.

Very soon the tide of emigration was turned from the Turon mines, and flowed in the direction of Ballarat and its vicinity. It poured into the auriferous creeks in the shape of an immense living ma.s.s, every unit big with expectation, and bent on ferreting out and appropriating some fragment of the golden lodestone.

The bush surrounding the diggings was quickly thinned of its timber--its red gum, stringy bark, and box trees serving as good fuel for the culinary fire of the digger. Even the tallest and most ma.s.sive giants of the forest were not spared, and soon the scene was completely shorn of its pristine sylvan beauty. Verdant hillocks and gra.s.sy mounds, which in primeval days had been the peaceful browsing and grazing grounds of the kangaroo and its species, and the happy hunting grounds of their scarcely human enemy, the aboriginal black, were speedily changed into yellow-coloured upheavals, which from a distance presented to the interested spectator the lively appearance of great ant-hills warming with busy workers, who now dropped into pits cut in the slopes, and anon reappeared bearing heavy loads, with which they impetuously rushed to the turbid waters of the nearest gully.

On the diggings everyone was subjected to the sway of the golden metal, and the effect of the spell on the different temperaments was as interesting as they were varied. In some of the diggers the sympathetic springs of life's action seemed to be completely clogged; the demon of avarice held complete dominion, and rendered these men forgetful of the commonest offices of humanity. But over others the spell was not so potent, or its sordid effect so marked--an occasional pausing or ceasing from work in order to exchange civilities, or to do a friendly action, betokening that a desire for the amenities of life was not entirely obliterated even among the rough hairy diggers in their most cupiditative pursuit.

A year later the fame of the enormous yield of the Victorian gold-fields had astonished the whole world, and quickly attracted numerous ship-loads of emigrants from every centre of civilisation. This great influx set in about September 1852, and doubled the population before the end of the year. During 1852 and 1853 Victoria became the most populous of the colonies by the arrival of nearly 200,000 persons, the arrivals in Hobson's Bay averaging about 1800 weekly.

Many of the more sober-minded of the colonists were greatly concerned in mind by this tremendous inundation; but the go-ahead or hopefully-inclined trusted that the great successive waves of fresh inhabitants from the thickly-populated portions of the old world would be the making of the colony. The influx was certainly an immediate boon to the sheep-farmers of the period. The state of the colony in the early days was well described by London _Punch_ in the lines--

"The land of the South that lies under our feet, Deficient in mouths, over-burdened with meat."

But now the order of things was reversed, and, owing to the ever-increasing number of mouths to be fed, the prices of all articles of consumption went up enormously.

CANVAS TOWN.

House accommodation became wholly inadequate to meet the requirements of the great mult.i.tude, and holders of tenements made enormous profits by letting portions of their mean dwellings at extraordinary high rents.

Many respectable and even monied persons were obliged to live in tents, while large numbers pa.s.sed both day and night with no other roof than the blue sky overhead.

A unique suburb sprang into existence on the south side of the Yarra. It was improvised by the surplus population who could not obtain shelter in over-crowded Melbourne. Its name--Canvas Town--describes its construction. It was pleasantly situated, commencing on a gra.s.sy slope, and was laid out in streets and lanes; the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares being crowded with boarding-houses and shops, all of canvas. The Government charged the occupant of each impromptu dwelling five shillings per week for the right to camp on the site. All sorts of people mingled together in this primitive township, and many new chums here took their first lessons in roughing it.

RAG FAIR.

Another novel and interesting scene was the market which sprang into existence on the wharf where most of the arrivals landed. The exorbitant rates charged for cart-hire and store-rent precluded many from removing their heavy luggage, which remained day after day piled up in huge heaps by the water-side. At length some of the emigrants devised a plan for its sale. An impromptu bazaar was opened; the sea-chests were placed back to back, and arrayed in lines with the up-turned lids strewed with the contents, so that the merchandise was fully exposed for inspection.

A brisk trade soon sprang up, in which abundance of wearing apparel and household furniture was sold at "alarming sacrifices," as the exigencies of the times demanded the immediate disposal of all c.u.mbrous articles.

The low prices increased the popularity of this "Rag Fair," as it was called, and the business became at last so considerable that, in response to the complaints of shopkeepers, the City Council issued an order for its stoppage.

In striking contrast to the efforts made by these new chums in getting rid of their superfluities in order to buy a suitable outfit for the diggings, were the dissipations and freaks of many returned diggers, who, having been lucky on the gold-fields, were now recklessly squandering their quickly-acquired wealth. These extravagant displays tended to quicken the movements of new arrivals in their preparations, and to keep up a constant flowing of the population between the rich diggings and the town.

NEW CHUMS AND OLD CHUMS.

The picturesqueness of life on the gold-fields was heightened by the appearance on the scene of the immigrants, who brought with them the many peculiarities of their national traits. The bluff Englishman and the mirthful Irishman, the cautious Scotchman and the volatile Frenchman, the industrious German and the 'cute Yankee--all could be seen working in close proximity; while the indefatigable Chinaman toiling close at hand, generally in claims abandoned by his more robust European neighbours, added not a little to the varied attraction of the scene.

These representatives of different nationalities brought with them their own distinctive notions of rights and freedom; but their common occupation and necessary intercourse modified many objectionable peculiarities. Differences of cla.s.s, too, were laid aside; the illiterate labourer ranked on the same footing as the scholarly adventurer, provided they both possessed a strong arm and a stout heart.

In short, the motley throng on the gold-field formed a vast republic of labour.

The general greeting to men of aristocratic birth or manners was superciliously conveyed by the t.i.tle of "swell," "genteel cove," or the slang term "Joe." These gentlemen-diggers being mostly unfit for roughing it, were sometimes engaged by the lords of labour to light the fires and wash tin-plates and pannikins. Of course this reversion of the usual order of things had an inflatory effect on the common labourers, whose superior bone and sinew made them for the time the better men. As an instance of it, we quote from McCombie:--

"A squatter had come to the diggings to hire shearers, and seeing a party of men who seemed to be idle, he asked if they would engage for the sheep-shearing. After a little hesitation one of the party replied that they would if they had their own terms. On being asked to state them, he replied, in a bantering tone, _the wool upon their backs_. The squatter turned away, but was soon recalled. He quickly obeyed the summons, supposing the men had thought better of his offer. The spokesman of the party now told, with a knowing leer, that his mates and himself were in want of a _cook_, and they had come to the resolution to offer him a pound a day if he would condescend to accept the office."

Again, the appearance of anything like fine manners or "swell" clothes was instantly reprobated. Innocent offenders in these respects were quickly reminded of the incongruity between Continental and Victorian ceremonies and fashions. New chums frequently presented themselves on the diggings clothed in London or Paris costumes, and thus advertised, they were welcomed with noisy merriment, and at once named "Joeys"

amidst ironical cheers. An anecdote of this nature follows; it is extracted from _Glimpses of Life in Victoria_:--

"A very pleasant, gentlemanly young fellow, lately arrived, and inexperienced in the customs of the colony, ventured one day among the diggings wearing the conspicuous tall hat which he had always been used to wear at home. He was instantly a.s.sailed by cries of 'Joe! Joe!' which were re-echoed on every side and reiterated by hundreds of voices, as one man after another popped up his head from the hole in which he was working and joined in the mocking chorus. Quite unconscious that he was the observed of all eyes, he walked unsuspectingly on, but the clamour still increased, and many a finger pointed at him at length caused him to guess pretty correctly the cause of the commotion. He had much ready wit and self-possession, and did not deliberate long on the course to pursue, but taking off his hat he turned from side to side and made a series of profound bows to the noisy community. The effect was all that he could have desired, for the piercing shouts were presently exchanged for a hearty cheer, and he was suffered to continue his way unmolested."

From what has been said it may be gathered that in the early muscular days of the colony work made the man, and want of it the fellow. The feeble-bodied digger was nowhere in the race for wealth, and many a solitary sickly one dropped out of existence unknown to any of his friends, and not even missed in the ever-varying excitements of the times.

CHAPTER IV.

_SLY GROG SHANTIES._

"The diggings hoh! the diggings hah!

Shout for the diggings, shout hurrah!"

--_Diggers' Chorus._

During the hours of relaxation the proceedings on the diggings contrasted vividly with the day's employment. The end of the day's labours was in the early days announced by the firing of a gun from the tent of the Commissioner. Then followed a general abandonment of the chip, chip of the pick against the rock, the delving in the mud, the barrow-wheeling, the cradle-rocking, and the puddling in clayey water-holes. With mud-bespattered shirt, clay-soiled pants, and heavy yellow-stained boots, each digging-party sought its tent. Then the ringing sound of axes wielded by brawny arms told of preparations for the evening meal. Hundreds of thin lines of blue smoke ascending from as many fires joined to make the large volume that wafted overhead. Soon the singing of the kettles on the blazing logs cheered the weary digger with the prospect of a fragrant pannikin of tea to moisten his damper--a somewhat heavy staff of life, but one admirably adapted to support the toiling gold-seeker.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ON THE GOLD FIELDS.]

Refreshed and stimulated by the evening meal, the diggers would then light their pipes, and soon the curling wreaths of smoke circling round betokened the complacency of the different companies. Then yarns were spun, arguments held, and songs sung, until the loquacious and musical ones became exhausted or the listeners had fallen asleep.