Billy Blue or Billy Bulloo's Gold

[RM Outback]

1 more and your a member :beer:

 

[Crispy]

A member . so did u no Ronny and Harold crisp

 

[RM Outback]

A member . so did u no Ronny and Harold crisp

No mate I didn't know them, my reference to member is related to your post count. And the quoted post sees you with the mandatory 10 post's :beer: now you are a member of PAF :clap:

 

[Goldchaser1]

Yeah I half grew up at tolwong guys ..

Sent a personal message back crispy,yes i think i remember meeting you once when i was a kid.....

 

[Somethingobscure_]

Hey Gold legend

Did you finish your book?
Im keen to get some more info on old Billy Bulloo if you have.

Cheers

 

[Matt43]

Yeah I half grew up at tolwong guys ..

Hi Crispy, You have any more info about Tolwong or Touga properties I thought National Parks owned them now. I'm interested in this area, the history, families, then the legends of Billy (his secret gold stash), Bushranger gold stealing/hideout stashing stories also from this same area. Been reading a couple on the Clarke Brothers, Ben Hall, etc. Would love to get out there this year and do some exploring on the ground but obviously don't want to go where not allowed/wanted. Any help/advice welcomed. Cheers

 

[user 14190]

Crispy has not been back on since July 2020. My source of info on that area is now gone, but I understand that National Parks now Control all but the two properties and there are trail cameras on most of the tracks/roads. The last source of info that we had was a half owner on Touga, but he died a few years ago now. The owner of Tolwong has closed the gates to everyone since she became owner, some sort of family dispute. I have not bothered much about the area since the half owner said that National Parks was very active in the area and to be very careful if we did go in, never bothered as it is a fair way for no result, so unable to help any more. We did find another relative, but the moment we started asking about that area the welcome that had been offered was gone.
Good luck

 

[Matt43]

Thanks for the info 2lateagain, much appreciated. Why is Natio Parks all over it, is it to do with trying to catch illegal prospecting, and/or general idiots, damage, vandalism, etc, in the Park? Seems National Parks are pretty hush hush on the properties/area, as I have inquired several times about their role, ownerships, management, etc., and nothing back. Thanks again, I'll share any info I can track down. Does any know the pubs/places Billy use to visit when he came into Marulan?

 

[user 14190]

Matt, I think you nailed the reasons for the interest from NP. I think that you will now be struggling to find anyone who can give actual reference to anything to do with Billy because of age, there will be stories that have been told, but again you would have to go to Marulan and find the older residents and see what they have to say and they will need to be well into their nineties now. A lot of the info that I have learnt over the years is second or third hand and anything I ask about now comes from the descendants, so a lot has been added or left out in the telling.

One of the things I have learnt after living in a number of small country towns in NSW and asking about prospecting for gold, there has always been a hermit that lived in a humpy way out of town and once a week/month whatever would come to town and pay for what he wanted with gold nuggets, people would follow him for days to see where he was getting the gold, but none were ever successful, so to me there are stories that make me wonder, but I find it hard to have the same sort of tale with local variations told. As I have gotten older maybe my children will tell that we used to go off and occasionally come back with gold, not enough to buy much, but it would be a great start to another myth in my family.

The only one I know is true was a hermit in a humpy towards the north of the state. The humpy was just a small frame with sheets of corro tied to it, he lived there for many years and the only possessions were old iron bed and small table and a few old utensils. He got the local signal man on the railway to buy his needs when the signal man went shopping and he always paid with notes. After he died a number of people sneaked in and dug the place up to find where he money was hidden, but nothing was found. The signal man decided after a while that it was detracting from the area and decided to removed what was left and take it to the tip. As he was loading the bed frame into the trailer one of the rubber feet fell off and a number of rolled up money notes fell out. They were rolled and had a small ring of wire around each bundle so they were easy to get out of the pipe. He never said how much he found, but I know he cut the rest of the frame into bits. That is a true story.

I know that there is gold to be found IN the Shoalhaven River, but from inquiries I have made over the 40 odd years I have lived in the area, most of the mines seem to be been predominately for some other mineral or reason with gold being a small bonus. As I am not into panning because of age, I prefer to go to Maryborough where sometimes I can pick it up out of the ground and enjoy myself and not have to worry about NP looking over my shoulder.

Graham

 

[Matt43]

Thanks again Graham, much appreciated.

 

[Ubutey45]

Hey Gold legend

Did you finish your book?
Im keen to get some more info on old Billy Bulloo if you have.

Cheers

Hi mate , there’s book called The man from misty mountain and it’s about a fella called James Sturgess and it’s a real good read and tells all about billy blue and his gold and the fella who most probably found it get the book and it tells you how and why and where billy use to spend and it wasn’t marulan it was bungonia stores, good luck

This is the book it’s a great read!

 

[grubstake]

https://fusspotsatinglewood.com.au/...untains-james-henry-sturgiss-1986-soft-cover/

 

[Ubutey45]

https://fusspotsatinglewood.com.au/...untains-james-henry-sturgiss-1986-soft-cover/

Thats the book and its a great read and have read it personally 3 times

 

[tudogz]

I am currently writing a book about Billy Blue or also known as Billy Bulloo, who was an Aboriginal man from the Shoalhaven area, NSW who had a secret gold reef in the late 19th Century and possibly had a son that continued to work the reef under the same name in the early part of the 20th Century.

As there are recent mentions of Billy Blue and his secret gold reef, I am interested to know if anyone would like to submit any research or information for use in the publication.

Sounds interesting. Could become the basis of a good story.

 

[Mike678]

Thats the book and its a great read and have read it personally 3 times

Yes I also have the book . I met him at Oallen Ford think he was in his 90's then .

 

[Gold legend]

Hey Gold legend

Did you finish your book?
Im keen to get some more info on old Billy Bulloo if you have.

Cheers

It got put aside after my mentor who I wrote the book for passed away. It is pretty much finished but just tidying it up. I'm hoping to collaborate with a first nations person from the Shoalhaven area, before publishing. The book is full of my mentor/friends stories from all the old-timers and all the articles written about Billy Blue or Billy Bulloo. Including a map of where my mentor thought the gold mine is in the back of the book. Will keep you posted.

 

[Adrian ss]

Some good information here re the Tolwong Mines.
https://www.mininghistory.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/7.-McQueenArticle-2003.pdf