GOLDEN TIMES

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 142, 18 June 1931, Page 22

GOLDEN TIMES

IME ROARING 'FIFTIES

FICKLE FORTUNE

That ponderous period of the gold rush .embraces all the elements that went to make- up the "roaring 'fifties." Change of location and fortune, hardship, rigorous work, disappointment, success (often turning • to- a,shes) and unrestrained revelry—these were the experiences of those Sindbads who found themselves, not in a valley of diamonds,-but in a continent of gold, says the " Sun-News Pictorial.'' For .such they believed it to be. A party would take out a few thousands ■worth of gold, sell the claim for a pittance, and rush to the nearest supply of liquor and other amenities for a "glorious spree. 3' Often in a few days they bought back the claim. If not they sank a new shaft, firm in the belief that they would strike a gutter that might lead them to the river of gold which was part of the creed of most miners. . ■ One of the. best instances of this was the Blacksmith's claim at Ballarat, which is supposed to hold the record for a yield from a 21-foot claim. ■*The ■ blacksmith and his seven inexperienced mates sank a corkscrew and ■ insecurely slabbed shaft on to a rich gutter from which in a few days they took £12,000. Anxious to celebrate, they put their claim tip for sale, but in spite of the fact that they had not put in any drives, contenting themselves: with taking;the wash .from the bottom of the shaft only, no buyers were prepared to risk the dangers of their "bad sinking until a hard-up party of ten.'- gave £77 for the claim and tools. • The deal was closed by noon on a Saturday, and by knock-off time on the following Monday, continuous work had yielded £10,000. '■ FORTUNES IN HOURS. Then, thinking the time was ripe for a spree* the-new owners sold out for a week to'an experienced party of twelve. . In that week £14,400 , was won. The' temporary vendors resumed possession, took out £9000 in the next week,.-and sold to a storekeeper for .£•100. ' ': On the share system £500 was taken out.-in a desultory -fortnight's work. ■ Before he .knocked off on the second Saturday, one of the share gang undermined the props, so that in a few hours the. workings collapsed. He pegged out a new-claim.on the abandoned ground, and by driving hi 3 hired miners hard soon bottomed on the gutter. The first tub of wash yielded 40 pounds weight of gold, after which he won £4000 worth, making the yield from the claim £55,000. (If Mr. Lang, of New: South "Wales, happens to read this he. will probably, put a stunning t'ax-.on-spades and picks, just in case!) The blacksmith's was only ono of many rich claims known as the jewellers' shops at the junction of the Canadian and Prince Regent's, leads. Generally speaking,, wet ground made them all dangerous arid' difficult to work. Of a different complexion is the story of i a party of English university men who worked industriously in the worst of Muck; • Temperate, popular, they kept'their troubles as niuch as possible to therriselves —and .the storekeeper'who took' their personal treasures and gave them credit. Their capital gone, they were about to bottom their last' hole. Late one afternoon, from 90 feet below, came the cry: "Haul up, boys! Haul away! The day has come at last." The-'drain of their single rope wind-lass-spun at. its slow task as never before; the men at the top wound gaily— and :into their view came the body of their .-friend,, the rope noosed round his neck..- Failure was too much for him. : Not all wealth came from the ground of Ballarat in 1853. Bath's Hotel was the only "public," and sly-groggers drove:a thriving trade. > One pair of resolute law-breakers' got as farias Buninyong, where their wagon bogged to the axles. During the night some one stole their horses, leaving them hopelessly stranded. • After a mornjng council of war one went to a central store and, with a secretive air, excitedly. bought -a kit of miner's tools. The loungers at the store sent out spies, who returned with a-tale of feverish activity on a hitherto un/worked portion of the field. A rush set in, and that night the wagon was surrounded by the twinkling lights of many fires. The plotters made a. show of working a claim, but long luefore bottom was reached by the most industrious the cargo of grog was sold out, and the discoverers had unostentatiously departed. Yet Mahomet had to go to the mountain! THE LAST CHARGE. Stories of fortunes narrowly won or lost are told in. plenty. One not. generally- known concerns ' Johnstone 's Roefj jßendigo. Several parties worked on it "without success down to 120 feet., The, work was. much harder and more expensive' than in the. alluvial workings in Ballarat, and when a butcher, Dawtorn, : and. party took it over he left his ,Mn£ e .to look after his ' business, which supplied funds for the mine. At 145 feet the party confessed defeat. ' following custom, and as a sort of volley over the hardly dug grave of 'their-hopes, they fired their evening charges. That 3iight Dawborn tried in a public house to sell his quarter shave for £15, but nobody would buy. -In the morning he collected the tools at tho mouth of the shaft, and then descended to indulge in bitter cogitations.

"Every loose stone that lay around was literally staring at -him ■■ through golden pupils"'(says a chronicler). "A crushing of six tons yielded £14S0, and the despised .£ls quarter-share could not be bought..for £10,000."