Puddling machines, Gulgong, 1870-75

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Detail of above photo

The calm solitude of Gulgong was broken in April, 1870, when a man named Tom Saunders galloped down to the police station at the Two Mile Flat to report the discovery of gold. By June, 500 people had camped on the diggings at Adam's Lead, and by January of the following year, the population had grown to 3,000.

Other discoveries followed at Happy Valley, Caledonian and Canadian Leads and Home Rule, and by the end of 1872 there were 20,000 people on the fields. Within four years the miners had won 300,000 ounces of gold which fetched £3/17/6 an ounce. The name Gulgong — corrupted to Goolgong, Gilgong, Gulegong. or Golgong — was on every miner's tongue.

Hub of World!

'Why, man, there is nothing like it!' said a young English clergyman on first seeing the gold town. 'The scene from here is immense, exhilarating. Yes, Gulgong is the hub of the world!'

And another clergyman from Sydney: 'It fills me with amazement. The order and good temper of these rough-looking men, the continual motion, the noise, the glare and glitter in your main thoroughfare, the picturesqueness of it all and the untold possibilities.'

For all this, Gulgong was a primitive community. One visitor described the town of poles and boxbark as the ugliest-looking town he ever saw. 'It might have been picturesque, but it was abominably mean looking,' he said.

Ugly or picturesque, Gulgong and Hill End were alive and vigorous. The cry of 'Rush oh!' had attracted Bulgarians, Greeks, Scots, Americans, Canadians, Irishmen and Chinese, as well as native-born Australians.

It was a long trip from Sydney, to Gulgong; but the trip was worthwhile for hundreds of miners. They travelled by train from Sydney to Wallerawang, by mail coach to Mudgee, and by Tom Tarrant's coach or horseback to Gulgong.

Gulgong's 30 hotels did a roaring trade in beer and whisky. One miner gained a reputation by taking 80 nips of whisky in a day; another achieved the same fame by drinking 10 gallons of beer.

The click of billiard balls came from saloons and the sound of concertinas, accordions, flutes and tin whistles filled the night air. Miners crowded into Sawbridge's 'cafe chantant' to be served cafe au lait by girls dressed in shorts and tights.

Theatre Shows.

The theatres offered burlesque ('Aladdin the Wonderful Scamp') drama ('Oliver Twist') and lectures (Mrs. Constable replying to 'Edith O'Gorman, the Escaped Nun'). But housing conditions were poor. Most miners were content to live in bark shanties for a few years before moving on to another field.

New South Wales was swollen with the profits of gold and wool at the start of the 1870s and its citizens could feel the latent vigour of their new continent, stirring around them. 'Fossickers still chance upon gold at Gulgong today; but the time of red flags has passed. 'But, golden days are vanished, and altered is the scene,' wrote Henry Lawson, 'The diggings are deserted, the: camping-grounds are green.'

Source: Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative (NSW : 1890 - 1954) Thu 5 Mar 1953 Page 10

Puddling machines, Gulgong, 1870-75
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Detail of above photo

SELECTED ARTICLES FROM 1870

[EARLY GOLD]

JULY - GULGONG. - This gold-field, according to the Western Post, is beginning to assume quite a business air. There are nearly 1000 people on the ground; and every morning some 250, "gentle shepherds" may be seen complying with the law, by taking a couple of hours' airing, shepherding the respective claims marked, out on the deep lead. The people, as a class, are very respectable and quietly behaved, and are much above the average of a new rush population ; the proportion, of bona fide diggers being greater, than is ordinarily the case on a new diggings. Four public-houses are going up, besides stores and other buildings. Fox and party last Saturday brought in and sold to the Bank of New South Wales two solid cakes of smelted gold, weighing together 10 1/2 pounds which were got from their claim within the last ten days, shallow sinking. The road to Gulgong is in some places very bad ; and people going to and fro frequently get bogged. There is a general opinion, that Gulgong will prove an extensive gold-field.

Source: Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919) Sat 2 Jul 1870 Page 5

JULY - POPULATION

That a great deal of gold has been got out of a huge proportion of the claims is unquestionable, and there is no doubt that a great deal more remains to be raised; but then the ground is so shallow and so easily workable that the claims have been worked out in a much shorter time than is usual. Here the area of auriferous deposit is so small that, having once worked out his claim, or sunk a duffer, the miner has not been able to set in again, and in most cases has left the ground. Of course it is difficult to estimate the number of the population at these places, owing to the men being so scattered about; still at a new and prosperous rush they are mostly to be seen of an evening promenading the main street of the diggings, in order to meet friends or acquaintances. About 8 o'clock you will find the street perfectly thronged, if the rush is really a promising one. Even at Emu Creek, which was not a very extensive rush, I have seen as many as three thousand men in the main street in the evening. At the Gulgong, I went out thinking to see something of the same kind; but I got back to my quarters again as quick as I could, for I felt almost as if I was in danger of being left alone, the "last man" on the Gulgong. I passed about nine people in the street, the larger part of whom were leaning disconsolately against posts, or other supports, as if they neither hoped nor cared to meet anybody, or anything. Joining this paucity of evening promenaders to the very sparse manner in which I saw the men scattered about the workings. I should say that, at the very outside, there could not be more than five hundred men on the ground.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Thu 14 Jul 1870 Page 5

JULY - A Disreputable Mor.

The Gulgong correspondent of the Western Post gives the following account of Sabbath desecration on that gold-field: —

Sunday on a new rush is something (if last Sunday may be taken as a criterion) to strike one with horror who regards that day as a Sabbath, and with the respect due from a Christian. The whole day the town was annoyed and disgraced by a large ring of roughs playing two up and other gambling games.

Their quarrels, imprecations, and lewd jests, literally yelled out, rendered their conduct truly disgraceful

and unmanly, as the immediate neighbourhood of their villainous and unhallowed school contains many

respectable women and a large number of children. When night set in blackguardism was in the very zenith of its glory; and the place a perfect Pandemonium.

Several sham fights, blustering and bloodless fights of impious and filthy recriminations took place, for the purpose of getting a crowd together. Several of the unwary tempted to behold the low sport, had their pockets picked, one respectable, well-known resident being relieved of his watch, another of his purse containing £3.

The row continued until about 10 o'clock p.m., and was then stopped by the interference of some diggers, who turned out in consequence of it being impossible for them to sleep while the Babel continued. They threatened to bring sound muscular Christianity to bear on the school for their regeneration, and thus succeeded in abating the nuisance.

During my colonial experience, I have never heard language, the very quintessence of filthiness and blasphemy, like that used by these roughs. Thanks to the rush at Tallawang, and the presence this last day or two of a trooper here, the school is broken up. Surely one trooper might be stationed here; his presence would have a healthy effect.

Source: Sydney Mail (NSW : 1860 - 1871) Sat 16 Jul 1870 Page 4

1870 - UP THE COUNTRY

Crowds of festive youths are pouring into Mudgee, from Sydney, outward bound to Gulgong, where gold is to be found for the mere finding. They are gallant hearts, some of these diggers, prone to fisticuffs, and what in high society is termed kleptomania. One of them was captured in the act of carrying off the town waterworks. He gave as an excuse that he had seen some of the Sons of Temperance drinking at the tank, that he had heard it was pawned to pay for the cost of its erection, and thought he was doing no harm by taking the pledge. The Magistrate complimented him on his taking appearance, and kindly supplied him with a hammer and sufficient quartz to keep him at work for three months.

Source: Sydney Punch (NSW : 1864 - 1888) Sat 16 Jul 1870 Page 1

Click on the image above to see the full panorama.

Source: State Library NSW. Panorama of Gulgong taken from Church Hill

[Note: the panoramic image appears as three separate photos in the State Library archive.]

SEPTEMBER - NSW GOLD DISCOVERIES

The first public discovery of gold [in NSW] was made in 1851, although gold had been found by Strzelecki and the Rev. W. B. Clarke some years previously. At the end of the present year we shall consequently have had twenty years' experience of the consequences of that discovery, enabling us fully to appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of the new industry so suddenly introduced. First commenced at Summerhill Creek, in the Western district of the colony, the gold workings were gradually pushed on by the enterprise and energy of the diggers, until within a few years the whole of the country bordering upon the Macquarie, the Turon, the Meroo, and many of their tributaries were found to be auriferous.

At the present time, we have, or have had, workings on the Cudgegong River, from its head waters, near Rylstone, down to its junction with the Meroo, below Merrindee. This extent of country includes the Apple Tree Flat, the Pipeclay, the last new rushes at Gulgong and Tullwang [sic], and the Two-mile Flat, with numerous small diggings which have given employment to from twenty to fifty miners, and sometimes to even more, but which have never obtained any special notoriety.

The Meroo has been proved along the whole length of the river, from its head-waters to its junction with the Cudgegong, to be almost one continuous gold-field; many of the diggings in connection with it

having proved even richer than the river itself. Amongst these may be named the Upper and Lower Pyramul, Hell's Hole, Maitland Bar, and Louisa Creek. In nearly all the places named, goldwashing is being earned on at the present time, though more systematically and with more expenditure of capital than is as the case in the palmier days of these fields.

The whole length of the Turon has also been wonderfully rich in auriferous deposits, from its headwaters near the Crown ridge down to its outflow into the Macquarie. [More information at link].

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Wed 7 Sep 1870 Page 10

OCTOBER - [SLY GROG—SELLING]

Fifteen informations against sly grog-sellers were tried at the Mudgee police-court on Tuesday last. The informant with the knowledge of the police, had started to Gulgong and Tallewang, and made a business-like entry of the names of the shanty keepers he had visited, the dates, and the liquor obtained by him from each. Eight of the parties were fined £30, with the usual alternative, two were adjourned, and the rest dismissed.

Source: The News, Shoalhaven and Southern Coast Districts Advertiser (NSW : 1867 - 1871) Sat 22 Oct 1870 Page 2

DECEMBER

New rush to Gulgong, near Mudgee.

... Splendid quartz reef opened at Cullenbone, between Gulgong and Mudgee.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Sat 31 Dec 1870 Page 4

EARLY SEVENTIES
Business Firms
GULGONG'S LIST
Of the business firms which advertised in the first issue of the first newspaper printed and published in Gulgong in 1871 ('The Gulgong Mercantile Advertiser') two are still familiar to the present-day generation. These are Crossing and Cox, auctioneers, of Mudgee, and George Davidson, solicitor, of Mudgee.

A list of the firms which had advertisements in the paper are as follows :—

Mudgee Drug Store, Herbert and Queen streets, Gulgong. S. H. Barnes, proprietor.
S. Belinfante. M.D.. M.R.C.S , England, physician, surgeon and accoucher, now permanently residing in Gulgong, and may be consulted at Tattersalls Hotel.
G. M. Dunn, solicitor. Perry street, Mudgee and Herbert street, Gulgong.
M. J. Sheppard. saddle and harness maker, Market street, Mudgee.
Stephen Malone, Farmers' Arms Hotel, Mudgee.
Black Lead Hotel, Gulgong, John Denison, proprietor.
G. Cooper, writer, painter. etc., Herbert street, Gulgong.
C. M. Poole, tailor, habit maker, etc., Herbert street, Gulgong.
Wilson Ramsay, T.C.D.. Member Royal College Surgeons, London, Herbert street, Gulgong.
W. J. Mills, chronometer, watch and clock maker, Market street, Mudgee.
John Petnerick, general storekeeper, produce dealer and butcher, Three Mile Rush.
Church and Hills, wholesale grocers, Sydney.
Sportsman's Arms Hotel, Queen street, Gulgong, W. Selff, proprietor.
Gulgong Labor Mart and General Registration Agency. G. A. Davis, Queen street, Gulgong.
Gulgong Auction Mart and Great Western Stock Bazaar. Queen street, Gulgong,
Geo. A. Davis, auctioneer, etc.
Rossiter's Hotel (corner of Queen and Chapel streets), Gulgong. Rossiter and Frazer, proprietors.
E. Giugni, watchmaker and jeweller, Queen street, Gulgong.
R. N. Collins, galvanised iron and tin plate worker, Herbert street, Gulgong.
Belmore Hotel, Market street, Mudgee, S. E. Tuckerman. proprietor.
Crossing and Cox, stock, station and general commission agents, Mortimer street, Mudgee.
Criterion Hotel, Three Mile, Henry Readford, proprietor.
Cooney's Hotel, corner of Herbert and Bayley streets, Gulgong.
James Curran, soda water and cordial manufacturer, Queen street (opposite Davis' Auction Mart, Gulgong.
Star Hotel, Queen street, Gulgong, W. Binder, proprietor.
George Davidson, solicitor, etc., Herbert street, Gulgong.
Golden Hill Quartz Mining and Crushing Company, J. Coghlan. secretary.
Driscoll's Hotel, Queen street, Gulgong, Jas. Redmond, proprietor.
R. Robinson, bookseller and stationer, Queen street, Gulgong.
Hill's Hotel, Three Mile, James Piper, proprietor.
B. Molloy (late with G. Rouse, Esq.), shoeing and general blacksmith, Bayly and Herbert streets, Gulgong.
W. Frost, Wholesale and Retail Butcher, Queen street, Gulgong.
Miner's Bakery, Herbert street. Gulgong, Edward Conroy.
M. A. Tissington, Stock and Share Broker, and Mining Surveyor. Herbert street, Gulgong.
McLennan and Jones, Auctioneers, Mining and Share Brokers. Herbert street, Gulgong.
Christopher Young, Wine and Spirits, Grocery, Drapery, Boots and Shoes, Ironmongery, etc.. Gulgong.
Sydney House, Gulgong, Woods and Co., Queen street, Gulgong West End.
Whitton and Co., Commercial Store, Herbert street, Gulgong.
Warburton Hotel, Gulgong, C. Driscoll (late of Two Mile Flat).
R. Angrove, general storekeeper, Queen street, Gulgong.
Excelsior Portrait Rooms, Mudgee, H. Goodes, proprietor.
Tattersall's Hotel, Cuthburt Lamrock, proprietor.