Well done Megsy, sister asylum to Beechworth and Kew. Used as an asylum for 126 years before becoming a polytechnic college. I think it's now a museum, stand to be corrected on that one.
I was born in 1883 in Victoria, the eighth of nine children. My father was a compositor and sometime gold miner.
Folklore says that I panned my first pennyweight of gold at the age of seven on the familys Melton farm, and ran away at aged 12 with a Melbourne bootmaker, and lead a (mostly) itinerant life, that ended in 1965 in Ringwood, Victoria.
Prospectors know to use info anywhere they find it, mate!
A little bit of quirky info about my Great, Great Uncle Cam, that I heard from my mother the other night.
Apparently he showed up at their home in Gippsland unexpectedly, in 1948, driving a little Austin (she thinks). This was the first time she'd met her grandpa's brother, who they all called Cam in the family. Mum said she remembers hearing the story that when he rode his bicycle across the Outback 1,500 miles, that when his tyres went flat, he stuffed them full of grass to continue the ride. She also remembers that he stayed for dinner, and when it came time to eat, he went out to his little car and came back with a little cane basket and got out a dinner plate, side plate, bowl, cup, and cutlery, and wanted to use them to eat his dinner, rather than the family's stuff! (Funny what weird things a young girl remembers!). I reckon Great-great-uncle Cam was a bit of an 'odd duck', from the sound of him!
I actually saw that one, but I didn't think it was the first one. I haven't found the answer yet though - but I've read some fantastic articles in the 1851 Argus newspaper while searching! Don't you just love reading the old newspapers?!