THE OLD DIGGINGS DAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1851, 29 January 1902, Page 21

THE OLD DIGGINGS DAYS.

By Stephen Treseder

NO. IV. ."Bill Jewell," the original prospector of the " Yamholes," willingly gave us all the information, he could about the place, aud •had we followed his advice we should probably have struck something good. He £aid he reckoned that in about a month from the time he was talking to us he ,would have worked his claim out, and he tlien intended proceeding to a locality distant about four or five miles from the •/Yamholes," that he had previously prospected, where he had found good, payable prospects, but being a dry season, he •was unable to obtain water to carry on his work in a satisfactory manner. HowWer, he fully intended returning when he had worked out his claim there, and he .would be pleased to take us him. ..Unfortunately for us we did not accept his Viffer, as will be seen farther on. There was no getting near the prospector's claim in the Main Gully, so we proceeded to a ■hill, not far away, opposite the Main Oreek, where there was an abundant supply of beautiful, clear water, and sank a 'hole through very hard cement. On bottoming we got a very fair prospect, but after working for some time we did not ''consider it good enough, and abandoned .it (another mistake, not the first by many that we had made — we were ahvayb in too much of a hurry to get rich quickly). Having given up that claim we tried vaiious places, but with indifferent success. Having heard that there were large quantities of "wild ducks on a creek a few iiiilps away we made up a paity of five, and started , away after bieakfast one Saturday moinsing on a shooting expedition. As it was 'our intention to return eaily, v,t did not %ake any food with us. We had not gone ' more than 300 yds from our tents when I espied a beautiful duck flying up the creek, .when bang went my gun, and I bad the satisfaction of bagging fiist game. V\ c continued our journey on towards the creek ( where we were to find the ducks in Mich quantities, blazing away at anything v>e came across, such as wattle birds and parrots of different kinds. But on arrival at our destination not a duck was to be .seen. It was then time for us to thuik of the return journey, but we found (like many others before us) that we had lost our way and could not find a track of any <=ort. At last evening began to close "in rapidly, and we made up our minds that we were "booked for a night out." This would not have been much of a misfortune if we had been provided with '" tucker," hut we had nothing but our bag of game. In our wanderings we came to a creek with plenty of clear water, and this we thought, under the circumstances. would be the be<-t place to camp, a.s there was at least plenty to drink. So we lit a fire and roasted a lot of our birds and every one of us made a grand meal, after ■Which we lay down alongside the fire, and I for one slept the "sleep of the just,' 'But there was one man in the party who ■\ras very nervous ; he was frightened a.s to what would become of any of us should, unfortunately, one of us be taken ill during the night. However, eveiything eventuated all ritrht. In the morning after shaking the dust and dnt off us, and taking a " swill " in the cuek. we made tracks-, and dropped acioss a >hepherd's hut. We arranged with the occupant for a good i&td, whifik &£ agreed to supply at the rate

of half a crown each. He said he had no beef or fresh mutton, but could give us plenty of damper and salted mutton ham, which latter he fried, and we were supplied with any amount. By the time we were finished we were all blown up like porpoises, but I am pleased to say that not one of us experienced any ill effects. After a rest and smoke we were once more on our legs, the shepherd going with us for some distance to put us on a defined track that would lead us to our habitation?, where, on arrival, we soon had another meal of roast duck (the one I had shot the day previous). Thus ended our duckhunting expedition. With the exception of the one I had shot not far from our tents %ye had not seen the sign of a duck, but we were all young and healthy and had plenty of fun, although we got no ducks. I have often thought of our trip since. The saying that " Distance lends enchantment to the view is absolutely true in nine cases out of ten.

It was here that we made the acquaintance of two lunaway sailors who had left their ship in Hobson's Bay, and came up here to try their luck at gold-diggmg. About that* time (1853-4) whole crews deserted their ships soon after their arrival in port, and in many cases extra precautions were taken by the officers in charge to prevent the wholesale desertions that were constantly taking place. Among other precautions was the practice of securing the boats under lock and chain, so that when the vessels were anchored out in the bay there was no getting to the shore by means of boating it, so the two men I spoke of determined to try another method. Lying against the bulwarks was a ladder that was used in the hold of the ship when discharging cargo. This ladder the two men silently dropped overboard, one dark night, and then got down, and so fixed themselves that they floated away on the ladder with their arms and legs in the water. Matters would have been all right for them if the tide had been flowing, as it would have carried them towards the land, but unfortunately, they started on an ebb tide, and they soon found that they were drifting down the bay, and it was only a matter of time wlien they would possibly find themselves outside Port Phillip Heads. However, they were really drifting in the course of an inward-bound vessel, and were observed by the crew, who immediately put off a boat, in which they were rescued and landed at Williambtown, from which place they started off into the country to try their luck on the diggings. One was a tremendously tall fellow, whom we called "Long Jack," and his mate went by the name of "Dick." He weus in striking contrast to his long mate, and I should think that in his shoes he did not measure more than sft. "Dick" was chief spokesman, and had most to say — what he lost in stature he made up in tongue.

About this time there had occurred «everal petty tent robberies — blankets would be missed, food would be abstracted, places would be lansacked (evidently searched for plunder), and as it was usual for the camping place to be out of the way of the diggers during working hours it was an easy matter to rob them, as the only fastening was probably a bit of stunjj tied to the " upright ' At last one day a man was caught red-handed in the act of robbing some aiticle out of a tent, and theie ■\\as soon a council of war held ah to what should be the puni»hment meted nut to the offender. It mu<-t be boine in mind that in this out-of-the-way place tlieie was no official c.imp. and consequently no police foice. «o "Judge Lynch" had to oftitiate. After considerable delibeiation it \\a« decided that the culprit (lie nd> a coloured gentleman) should receive an indefinite number of lushes Mith a cat o"-nine-tails that was specially prepared by Dick and Jack, who had both been old men-o"-war's-meii in then time They aKu were appointed to carry out the floj/uing. which they did with a hearty pood will, each taking it in turn, time and time about. After they had administered what was consideied a sufficient puii.'-hment, ami they were about to desist. Dick suddenly remembeied that he had lately lost a pair of blanket-, and he suggested that possibly "Mr Dark ip ' waa the culprit who had confiscated them, so Dick administered .in extra half dozen la-he* to make Mile that the purloiner of his blankets should not get off If the nigger was not the n^ht man the punishment was administered all the same. After the "flogging" was over the culprit was ordered to leave the district summarily, which he was glad to do, as I am sure that at one time he did not expect to escape with his life He «a« accompanied to the outskirts of the diggings by a considerable body of men. who saw the la-t of him a« lie" left the place more dead than alive. Theie were no more tent lohbenes after that while we w ere there.

The locality that I spoke of that " Bill Jewell ' had told us of v here- he had discovered vome lich surfacing ground, wafsituatt'd about four miles from where he was then hoiking, and he infoimed us that he could not leave theie at pre'-ent, but if we would wait a >-ho> t time longer he would bhow u« whtie it w.iv But unfortunately we weie unable to find it Ihat was' bad luck for v*. a- not long after we had left the " YftDoiiples '" a new

rush broke out in shallow ground at a place named (Fiery Creek, which eventually proved one of the richest goldfields in Victoria. Hundreds of foi tunes were made there with very little tiouble or expense. It does seem strange to me, when I look back into the past year% to knowhow unfortunate we were. We were always sober and steady and industrious, while any amount of worthless fellows were getting gold " hand over fist," and knocking it down as fast as they got it. Seeing that we were not doing much at the " Yatnhotes," and not "feeling inclined to wait until " Jewell " was ready to start to the "surfacing" that he had told us of, we made up our minds that we would make a start for Creswick Creek, having heard good repoits from that place. So we struck our tent, and set off once more on " Shank's pony," always borne up with the hope that we should eventually drop across a " good pile"' some clay. We had left the "Yamholes " about two hours when we were joined by a coloured man, who told us that he was proceeding to another part, and his route lay for a few miles in the ?ame direction as ours. We had left the hilly country, and were proceeding along a flat when We saw a lot of cattle coming towards us, and they appeared to be a wild and vicious lot (as a rule, cattle in the bush took very little notice of a man on horseback, more especially if he were armed with a stockwhip, but to a pedestrian they sometimes were very obstructive, and many narrow escapes from ■wild cattle are recorded). I am afraid at that time I was more given to joking than I am now, so I turned to the darkie and said, "Do you see that mob of cattle approaching? Now we shall have to look out for ourselves, as they may rush us ; but there is one thing peculiar about them — they invariably attack a coloured man in preference to a white man. So you'd better look out." I had no sooner spoken the words than he shinned up the nearest tree like a "red-shank" to get out of harm's w ay, and that was the last we saw of him. We continued our journey without molestation, and although we kept looking back occasionally while the tree was in sight we saw nothing of the nigger. I think on this journey I experienced one of the most severe storms I ever knew of. We were travelling alongside of a big, inland lake (I have forgotten the name of it) when we had to pull up and camp, but the wind was so strong that it was impossible to fix our tent, as whenivar we made the least attempt to put it up it was blown down quite flat again. However, as it was only wind we simply covered ourselves with, the tent, and lay down for the night, without doing any cookng. The next mornng we made towards a shepherd's hut where" we enjoyed an excellent breakfast that was provided for us by the old man's daughter. When we expressed a desire to pay them for their kindness they would not hear tell of being paid for it. In those days we carried a little bag of gold specimens, which was common property, and. as during our conversation at breakfust they had stated that, although they weie living so near the goldfields they had never seen any gold in its natural state, I be<-towed a nice little nugget on the good looking daughter for their kindness. You should have seen the look of my brother as J handed out the gold nugget (about 4d\\ t) '