Gold Rush Ancestors

'Hands up' those who have Gold Rush ancestors or family and what can you tell us about them?

I'll kick it off ...... my great grandfather and his brother (my Great Grand Uncle) were theatre entertainers and they arrived in Melbourne in the early 1860's and went their separate ways. I have tracked my GG Uncle using the newspapers from Melbourne to Barry's Reef near Blackwood, Victoria where he was the piano player in the Pub there circa 1867. The trail finishes in Grahamstown near Adelong, New South Wales where in 1880 he is still at the piano providing occasional musical entertainment at local gatherings. He disappears from the records at this point and was declared legally dead by a Court in Scotland in 1895. My G Grandfather was at the Thames Rush, on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand. He was there from it's very beginning and married there in 1869 when it was still a "canvas" town that coincidently also became known as Grahamstown. Heady days indeed and what wonderful stories they could have told.

casper

My great grandfather on my mothers side came to Beechworth in 1852 and was one of the first miners on the diggings. He ran a restaurant called the "Full and Plenty" at 3 mile creek, one of his brothers ran a Ginger Beer business in the Woolshed Valley.
My great grandfather on my fathers side was one of the pioneers of the Beaufort diggings before moving to Daylesford where there is a mineral spring he discovered that carries his name today. He actually came to Australia in 1842 from Cornwall and worked in the copper mine at Burra in South Australia before chasing gold in 1852. Family members were still digging tunnels under Daylesford in the 1950's.

Great history, and when it's in the family it must make you proud of your heritage. Cheers Rick

Puddler Bill said:

My great grandfather on my mothers side came to Beechworth in 1852 and was one of the first miners on the diggings. He ran a restaurant called the "Full and Plenty" at 3 mile creek, one of his brothers ran a Ginger Beer business in the Woolshed Valley.
My great grandfather on my fathers side was one of the pioneers of the Beaufort diggings before moving to Daylesford where there is a mineral spring he discovered that carries his name today. He actually came to Australia in 1842 from Cornwall and worked in the copper mine at Burra in South Australia before chasing gold in 1852. Family members were still digging tunnels under Daylesford in the 1950's.

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Puddler Bill, a great story, many thanks for sharing. I have a copy of the 1857 'The Ovens Directory'. (Reprinted in 1952 - Background to Beechworth). Hope this is of interest for you.

Woolshed - William gardener & Co - Ginger Beer factory
Woolshed - James Stirling - Ginger beer manufacturer
Woolshed - John Hattersley - Ginger beer manufacturer
Some people are simply listed as supplying 'refreshments.'

Three Mile - E Dillon - Restaurant
Three Mile - Thomas Eddington - Restaurant
Some people are simply listed as General Store keepers.

Secondly - are you any connection to 'Puddler Bill' where there are two places named Puddler Bills Gully around Dunolly/Painswick? Puddler Bills Gully near Dunolly is also know as Slaughteryard Gully. Puddler Bills Gully at Painswick is up near the cyanide vats.

Thomas Eddington owned the Full and Plenty at Three Mile Creek. He came to Australia as a convict for stealing a pair of shoes. The shoes he was convicted of stealing were 4 sizes too small. In fact he was keen on a girl whose father didn't approve of Thomas because he wasn't upper class. The father was a friend of the local magistrate so he was "fitted up" and sent to Tasmania as a convict. He was my great grandfather.

No relation to the Puddler Bills you mention but spent a lot of time in Dunolly about 25 years ago chasing gold and liked the name.

The Ginger beer factory operated by William Earl was in the Woolshed in from 1854. He was my Great Grandfather on my mothers side on her Fathers side and my mum's maiden name was Earl.
Another ancestor on my mothers side from my Grandmothers line was Henry Kneebone, one of the pioneers of the district also. He mined at Bowmans Forest which is about 10k's from Beechworth. He was a very well respected and very successful miner. He was also from Cornwall. So Cornish blood runs strongly through my veins. Henry's old stone cottage still exists on private property and is restorable. We have the bill for all the materials used to build it

Thomas Balcombe was a Government Surveyor, not sure how much he liked gold but he liked it enough to paint a picture of the gold fields. His Sister was more famous for having an affair with Napoleon when she was 17 after he got exiled to the Island of St Helena. It was Napoleons way of thanking her dad for taking him in. hahahaha

Puddler Bill said:

Thomas Eddington owned the Full and Plenty at Three Mile Creek. He came to Australia as a convict for stealing a pair of shoes. The shoes he was convicted of stealing were 4 sizes too small. In fact he was keen on a girl whose father didn't approve of Thomas because he wasn't upper class. The father was a friend of the local magistrate so he was "fitted up" and sent to Tasmania as a convict. He was my great grandfather.

No relation to the Puddler Bills you mention but spent a lot of time in Dunolly about 25 years ago chasing gold and liked the name.

The Ginger beer factory operated by William Earl was in the Woolshed in from 1854. He was my Great Grandfather on my mothers side on her Fathers side and my mum's maiden name was Earl.
Another ancestor on my mothers side from my Grandmothers line was Henry Kneebone, one of the pioneers of the district also. He mined at Bowmans Forest which is about 10k's from Beechworth. He was a very well respected and very successful miner. He was also from Cornwall. So Cornish blood runs strongly through my veins. Henry's old stone cottage still exists on private property and is restorable. We have the bill for all the materials used to build it

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'ere you go PB..

casper

all my wifes side came from ireland in the 1860's for the gold rush...mainly amherst and talbot, some made their way to kalgoorlie others settled in hamilton and Ararat, thanks to trove we located where their house was in nuggety gully road and have been detecting there looking for relics...with permission i might add!

very fascinating as she is doing ancestry.com so she has a lot of info

my side we're all clothhead arabs from egypt so no records there except for a pyramid or two!

Thanks Casper, hadn't seen that article. I will add it to the collection.
Laurie your in Hepburn, so you would know of Sutton Spring in Daylesford, it was discovered and is named after my Great Grandfather. He lived on Table Hill in a house called Mayfield which is still there.

haha a bloke by the name of nichol owns it now i think, he was the signwriter up until he retired...hes about eighty now

and i think i know sutton springs, but i live on doctors gully....on an old gold mine!

must detect in my back yard! i havent even cleared the bush where the shaft is yet!

Balx said:

Thomas Balcombe was a Government Surveyor, not sure how much he liked gold but he liked it enough to paint a picture of the gold fields. His Sister was more famous for having an affair with Napoleon when she was 17 after he got exiled to the Island of St Helena. It was Napoleons way of thanking her dad for taking him in. hahahaha

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/599/1391738376_nla.pic-an9093190-v.jpg

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Phew mate!!! no doubt you have visited the "BRIARS" just near Mornington where you can view the very bed they romped on

http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/vic/TheBriars

casper

casper said:

Balx said:

Thomas Balcombe was a Government Surveyor, not sure how much he liked gold but he liked it enough to paint a picture of the gold fields. His Sister was more famous for having an affair with Napoleon when she was 17 after he got exiled to the Island of St Helena. It was Napoleons way of thanking her dad for taking him in. hahahaha

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/599/1391738376_nla.pic-an9093190-v.jpg

Click to expand...

Phew mate!!! no doubt you have visited the "BRIARS" just near Mornington where you can view the very bed they romped on

http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/vic/TheBriars

casper

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haha I havent but I saw that on Postcards. hahaha

Balx said:

casper said:

Balx said:

Thomas Balcombe was a Government Surveyor, not sure how much he liked gold but he liked it enough to paint a picture of the gold fields. His Sister was more famous for having an affair with Napoleon when she was 17 after he got exiled to the Island of St Helena. It was Napoleons way of thanking her dad for taking him in. hahahaha

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/599/1391738376_nla.pic-an9093190-v.jpg

Click to expand...

Phew mate!!! no doubt you have visited the "BRIARS" just near Mornington where you can view the very bed they romped on

http://www.nationaltrust.org.au/vic/TheBriars

casper

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haha I havent but I saw that on Postcards. hahaha

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bloody HILARIOUS bit of history there

who woulda thought :lol:

My great grandfather on my fathers side came from Somerset UK he lived & worked as a gold miner & grew apples at Majors Creek NSW
He is buried at Majors Creek Cemetery along with a lot of members of of the Crandel family ,one of which was my Grandmother.
My Grandfather on Mums side was a Teamster carting all sorts of goods around the Camden,Burragorang district.He lost a leg to a log coming off the Wagon& crushing him.There are several pictures of him outside of the pub at Yarranderie sitting on his horse with silver ore loaded on a wagon harnessed to 16 horses.
There is another taken at the site of Cordaux Dam wher construction of the dam was about to get under way.
He is mentioned on a memorial to Camden District Pioneers in John Street & the old chap is buried at St Johns on the top of the hill in Camden

This has been passed down through my wife's family for generations, so we know there is a connection but the facts are lost in the pages of history.

We do know that her family used to own a brewery, don't know where or when, but ...ohhh to think what could have been. Darn it !!!

Awsome bit of Aussie History in your family there Casper, good to see the family tradition lives on!

Cheers, Tone

Wally .. That looks like quite a specimen there mate! .. Don't suppose the folks would let you crush her up, but it would very interesting for the family to have a Specific Gravity Test done on that beauty. You'll at least obtain an a fairly accurate idea of the gold content.
Hard to tell the size by the pic, would you mind giving us an idea of its size and weight?

Crushing has been forbidden in the undocumented prenuptial, it is a break only in case of emergency heirloom.

As for size/weight it takes after you avatar, Palm..er size. 2.5oz all up, Au content - unknown.

Would love to know where it came from and make friends with the rest of the reef.

Puddler Bill said:

My great grandfather on my mothers side came to Beechworth in 1852 and was one of the first miners on the diggings. He ran a restaurant called the "Full and Plenty" at 3 mile creek, one of his brothers ran a Ginger Beer business in the Woolshed Valley.
My great grandfather on my fathers side was one of the pioneers of the Beaufort diggings before moving to Daylesford where there is a mineral spring he discovered that carries his name today. He actually came to Australia in 1842 from Cornwall and worked in the copper mine at Burra in South Australia before chasing gold in 1852. Family members were still digging tunnels under Daylesford in the 1950's.

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You must be an Egan Bill

My ancestors came to Australia in 1851 arriving in Ballarat to dig for gold during the gold rush!
Family again turned to mining in the 1930s, they nearly starved to death looking for gold @ Turton's Creek in Gippsland.
The following year they headed to Bendigo and reworked an old gully washing and puddling the ground left between old alluvial shafts they survived by catching Rabbits etc.
After the gold supply in that gully petered out the next gully over the hill with no evidence of mining was tried, an amazing discovery was made and some very nice specimen gold was discovered, by looming this was traced to a reef. A claim was registered and a shaft sunk, quartz was crushed @ the Bendigo State Battery, for 3 years 3 families survived the 1930' depression on the gold obtained in the Reef. The mine was visited by a mines dept official and a favourable report was written about the discovery and the miners hard work ethic. They later applied for a government grant to further develop the reef but were unsuccessful in obtaining the funds?

I have spent some time trying to locate the old shaft with no success? I suspect somewhere in the bush remains a shaft and reef prospect with potential but nobody has connected the shaft with the history etc?

Perhaps some specimen gold remains on the slope nearby?