Bernardt Otto Holtermann
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Portrait of Bernard Otto Holtermann
Holtermann sitting on a tricycle with child, while the other children are in the gig or on a Saint Bernard dog and an Aboriginal groom Fred Grunway holds the horse, 1878-79
Holtermann Family and aboriginal groom with carriage at St. Leonards Lodge, c 1870
Source: Stanton Library
[BY BEAUFOY MERLIN]
THERE IS probably no species of light reading in which future generations of Australians will take more interest, than narratives of those energetic and persevering men, who, in a special manner, originally as assisted in developing the country's vast mineral resources—more especially her gold, copper, and tin. Chief amongst these is the gentleman whose name heads this article, and who, amid danger and difficulty, privation and years of disappointment, succeeded at last not only in obtaining the reward of his persevering efforts, but in opening a road to prosperity for hundreds of his fellowmen.
Mr. Holterman is by birth a German, and possesses some of the best traits of the German character coolness, patient industry, and calm determination. Had he not, he would never have been able to surmount the many difficulties which beset his early life in the colonies.
Mr. Holterman arrived in Melbourne in 1858. At that time he could not speak English, beyond a few words picked up during the voyage. Nothing presenting itself in Melbourne, he set sail for Sydney a few weeks after his arrival in the former city, with a view to find out a relative of his. In this he was disappointed, as his relation had gone to the "diggings," but to what particular diggings could not be ascertained. Mr. Holterman, friendless and alone, wandered about Sydney on the look out for employment, but, as he could not speak English, he failed in obtaining it. Disheartened, but never despairing, he lost no opportunity of trying to get something—anything honest—to do. At last he succeeded in obtaining a situation as steward to a small vessel bound for New Caledonia. He remained in this service for about half-a-year when circumstances again brought him to Sydney to seek employment. After many efforts to win the smiles of fortune by trying sundry occupations; he was at last forced to put up with the situation of waiter in a small public-house, in King-street, where he received the munificent sum of ten shillings per week and his "grub" for some seventeen hours work out of the twenty-four, every day in the week. This "billet" did not at all suit his tastes, and he was constantly on the alert to find something more congenial to his mind, and at length disgusted with it, he and a mate, Mr. Beyers, started off, one bright morning for "the golden west." They "humped their swags," like many less fortunate diggers, and made for Bathurst; from thence they trudged over a rugged and hilly country, carrying (each) some sixty pounds weight, till Hawkins' Hill was at last reached, and the weary travellers, quite exhausted, threw themselves down in a shady nook, to get a few hours' repose. Holterman mentions the satisfaction he felt on reaching the Hill. The painful experiences of that dreary journey, through a desolate and trackless region, made him at times feel that it would never come to an end — that he might die on the way; but, on reaching the height, he felt hopeful and contented.
After a few days' observation, his mate and himself selected a spot to work, from which they afterwards saw a large quantity of gold extracted. While working hard to procure a livelihood by surface digging, their great object was to come upon a gold reef. Others had sought before them to find that golden vein; but others did not persevere like them. With undaunted determination, Holterman and his "chum" continued their labours, although many discouraging circumstances occurred to bar their way to success, chief of which was their ignorance of blasting. They were nearly blown to pieces a dozen times in consequence of the clumsy way they applied gunpowder to their purposes. Holterman fell down the shaft on three occasions, on one of which he was severely hurt, and nearly killed two of his mates who were at work, some seventy feet below. He was flooded out several times, and the labour of pumping, when this occurred, was particularly trying to the patience of all concerned. The head of the enterprise and his friends had frequently to take four days work in the neighbourhood in order to get a little money to enable them to go on with their own special business of sinking. No one ever lent them a shilling. The party, at one time, consisted of four or five, but they were soon reduced to the two whose names are now so honourably associated together on the share market. A frightful explosion, caused by about twelve pounds of loose gunpowder igniting, gave such a shock to Mr. Holterman's system, besides inflicting severe wounds and contusions, that the people in the neighbourhood believed he would never recover; in fact, several persons came to his funeral one morning, a rumour of his death having been circulated. The illness and prostration caused by this accident lasted six weeks; at the end of that period of acute pain and privation, he went to work again with renewed courage.
The most trying part of this struggle was the necessity of earning money by working for others, or trading, so as to enable him to go on prospecting the vein. At last the moment of success arrived—gold was struck—and one of the most persevering miners in Australia had at last reached a fortune. It was an almost unexampled struggle. For eleven years did the two brave men, whose names have been mentioned, fight against difficulties of the most serious kind, and, at length, succeeded in conquering them.
Hawkins' Hill was the principal scene of their operations, although they began business on Hill End, then started at Chambers' Creek but failed there, chiefly in consequence of bad machinery, and made many other efforts, but all subservient to the one great purpose of fully developing their favourite spot on Hawkins' Hill.
No portion of his toilsome career was more trying to Mr. Holterman than the last months he spent at Chambers' Creek. He had procured a quantity of stores, on which he naturally expected to release a fair profit. The diggers, however, in their usual nomadic style, deserted the creek, and the unfortunate speculator was left alone to regale himself, if he could find any enjoyment in the act, with his own stores. At the close of this period he was literally tired of life; but his native energy came once more to his aid, and he started as ferryman at Root-Hog, on the Macquarie River. He worked this business so well, that he made good wages out of it; and, having got a few pounds together, he returned to the Hill. At this time he was offered 200 and an eighth of the whole for his interest in what afterwards became famous as Beyers and Holterman's claim, but he was so sanguine of its ultimate success, that he refused to sell, poor and pinched though he was.
It may be mentioned that at a critical period of his struggle, his brother, a man of energy like himself, joined him. This was a fortunate circumstance, as they mutually stimulated each other to perseverance. They undertook to sink another shaft at Hawkins' Hill, in conjunction with some former mates of Mr. J. O. Holterman, and after an arduous struggle, working sixteen hours a day, during several months, living all the time on credit, they felt as if they must give it up.
There had been five months' wet weather, and they became ill, weak, and dispirited. The struggle was now a very serious one—life itself almost depended on it. They went to a depth of 150 feet, and no gold, they started driving to the westward but no gold appeared; one of the party lost hope to such an extent that he offered to sell his share—one sixteenth of the whole—for L300; but no one would give him more than L60 for it, for which sum Mr. Holterman bought it, having had to borrow the money at interest to pay for it. Such was the belief he had in the claim, at that trying time. Five weeks after this transaction the party struck a vein 19 feet west of the shaft, which went 50oz to the ton, on the first 30 tons; 40oz to the ton on 32 tons; 30oz to the ton on 46 tons; and 12oz to the ton on 124 tons. Since then a still richer vein has been discovered.
In bringing this rapid resume of a laborious but remarkable career to a close, it only remains for the writer to assure the reader that no statement is made except on the most unquestionable authority of living witnesses, who gave him, with much greater elaboration of detail than he now presents them, the particulars of the long and hard struggle which is here briefly recorded. No one but Mr. Holterman himself can give an idea of the varying phases of fooling which agitated him, and through which he passed, during his twelve years' struggle for fortune. Such a life as his, and his ultimate rewards, furnishes an excellent example to young men, who are too apt to succumb to the first blows of adversity. It would be well for them if they imitated the energy, directness of purpose, manly integrity, and public spirit of Julius Otto Holterman.
Hill End, 30th October, 1872.
B.O. Holtermann (2nd from left), Richard Ormsby Kerr (centre) and Beyers (2nd from right), with reef gold from Star of Hope mine
B.O. Holtermann with the Holtermann nugget, Hill End
Source: Mitchell Library. SLNSW
B.O. Holtermann with the Holtermann Nugget
Source: Mitchell Library. SLNSW
1873 - THE NOMINATION FOR EAST MACQUARIE.
...Mr. Holtermann, after requesting Mr. Cooper to allow him to speak first, came forward and addressed the electors. He explained that although he was a foreigner, yet he had a great stake in the district, and had the interests of the colony at heart. He had never appeared before them in a public, yet be was personally known to many of them.
He was an independent man, and though he was born in Germany yet he looked upon himself as an Australian. He had done a great deal for the colony, and was ahead of the Government in having pushed ahead the colony. He intended to spend half of his fortune in developing the resources of the district. It was not true that he was going home to Germany except on a visit, and as a proof of what he was doing for the good of the country he referred them to the Mullion and other, places. He was prospecting in three different places, in order, to find out an alluvial diggings at 400 or 500 feet depth, and he was spending thousands of pounds in this way, being single-handed in the matter. He also alluded to his undertaking in connection with the late Mr. Merlin in the matter of photographing the country. He intended to carry out his former idea, and was doing it for the benefit of the country. He had purchased a beautiful place near Sydney, and he had determined that he should live there until his bones were buried. In reference to mining he did not agree at all with the present system, and thought it should be compulsory that the reefs and leased ground should be worked. It would be his principle to make good mining under the Gold-fields Regulations, and not under laws that nobody could understand. He did not agree with the present Land Bill, for it allowed too many dummies. Free selection was of course a very good thing. He would support a bill that would do justice to the poor and the rich, and that would give the poor man a little more liberty than he at present enjoyed. (Cheers.) He should stick to the working miner whenever he was able. He believed in the eight hours' system, and would advocate railways and good roads all through the country. He did not approve of the present Government, but would support every good measure. He thought there would be a general election within six months. He disapproved of Mr. Parkes's conduct towards Mr. Butler, although the appointment of Sir James Martin was very proper. He had nothing to say against the other candidates, and no matter what anybody said about him, his own conscience was clear...
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Fri 28 Nov 1873 Page 3B. O. Holtermann was a goldminer of Hill End, New South Wales, who achieved world-wide fame when in October, 1872, there was found in his shaft the largest specimen of reef gold ever located in the world—it weighed over seven thousand ounces. Holtermann is also remembered for his building, in 1874, the residence and tower in North Sydney which is now occupied by the Sydney Church of England Grammar School ("Shore").
The Holtermann photographic collection was rediscovered late in 1951 by the grandson of its founder. The negatives numbered in all several thousand and embraced a wide variety of formats. Many local residents, together with historians, mining engineers and geologists, successfully co-operated in the task of identification.
That section of the Holtermann collection of earliest date represents a complete coverage of the New South Wales mining towns of Gulgong (sixteen miles north of Mudgee) and Hill End (fifty miles north of Bathurst), depicting every aspect of the life of those early communities with a completeness that must be seen to be believed.
The whole of the negatives in the collection were made in the 1870s by Beaufoy Merlin and his assistant, Charles Bayliss, by the wet-plate process, which involved coating, exposing and processing on the spot all within a quarter of an hour.
Throughout the making, preservation and cataloguing of The Holtermann Collection there have occurred many strange happenings. But there is one coincidence of major importance—this was the matter of the extraordinary concurrence in time and place of much of the work of "the first articulate voice of the real Australia," and of Australia's first great documentary photographer, in the respective persons of Henry Lawson and Beaufoy Merlin. It was a happy stroke of fate that these two great interpreters of the Australian Scene should have approached each other so closely when they could quite easily have been a generation or two apart in time and thousands of miles apart in distance.
In this week's issue of "The Bulletin" ten half-page photographs of early Gulgong and Hill End out of the Holtermann collection are matched with Henry Lawson's verses, to make a fascinating verse pictorial. In addition, there is a special article dealing with "The Lawson Country" and its influence on the writings of Lawson.
1873 - HOLTERMAN'S INTERCOLONIAL EXPOSITION
An enterprise from a private source has been stored which promises to repay the originator, and do honour to the colony. Mr. Holterman, one of the most successful claim holders of Hawkins Hill, has projected a display of the country's resources on a scale and in a manner that must attract considerable attention. Mr. Holterman's scheme proposes the holding in Australia of an Intercolonial Exposition in five classes, and to then send an agent with the exhibits to the principal cities of Europe; and thus show what a vast field for industrial effort these Southern lands open to an energetic class of emigrants. One of the principal sections will be a collection of minerals, including gold, copper, tin, iron, coal, bituminous shale, precious stones, and curious specimens of the country's geological formation. A great addition to this depart ment will be £5000 worth of gold specimens from Beyer and Holtermann's claim, Hawkin's Hill.
The next section in importance is the photograph exhibition. Mr. Holtermann has entered into an arrangement with Mr. Beaufoy Merlin, (whose great fame as a landscape photographic taker is generally acknowledged), by which the latter gentleman is to take panoramas and views of all the towns and gold-fields in the colonies, in order to form a gallery which will give those at a distance a vivid and life-like representation of our homes and cities. The views taken by Mr. Merlin will be presented to the public in the form of magnificent transparent pictures—a new invention in photography, which of Mr Merlin possesses the secret. There will be also albums of each town and gold-field, containing statistical information and other valuable matter. Section 3 will show the agricultural progress of the colony. This, will be indicated by exhibits of cereals from different districts, together with samples of Australian produce, sugar, tobacco, wool, cotton, and silk. There will be also models of fruit, made natural size. Wax models will represent the flora of Australia.
Section 4 will contain models of the best machinery used at the principal gold-fields and quartz reefs of the colony; also models of gold saving appliances. Section 5 will illustrate the fauna of the country, including stuffed specimens of birds and quadrupeds. Altogether it will be seen that it is the intention of Mr. Holtermann, aided by Mr. Merlin, to give this intercolonial exposition a popular tone, which must specially commend itself to the masses in the cities of Europe.
Mr. Holtermann, after requesting Mr. Cooper to allow him to speak first, came forward and addressed the electors. He explained that although he was a foreigner, yet he had a great stake in the district, and had the interests of the colony at heart. He had never appeared before them in public, yet be was personally known to many of them. He was an independent man, and though he was born in Germany yet he looked upon himself as an Australian. He had done a great deal for the colony, and was ahead of the Government in having pushed ahead the colony. He intended to spend half of his fortune in developing the resources of the district. It was not true that he was going home to Germany except on a visit, and as a proof of what he was doing for the good of the country he referred them to the Mullion and other places. He was prospecting in three different places, in order to find out an alluvial diggings at 400 or 500 feet depth, and he was spending thousands of pounds in this way, being single-handed in the matter. He also alluded to his undertaking in connection with the late Mr. Merlin in the matter of photographing the country. He intended to carry out his former idea, and was doing it for the benefit of the country. He had purchased a beautiful place near Sydney, and he had determined that he should live there until his bones were buried. In reference to mining he did not agree at all with the present system, and thought it should be compulsory that the reefs and leased ground should be worked. It would be his principle to make good mining under the Gold-fields Regulations, and not under laws that nobody could understand. He did not agree with the present Land Bill, for it allowed too many dummies. Free selection was of course a very good thing. He would support a bill that would do justice to the poor and the rich, and that would give the poor man a little more liberty than he at present enjoyed. (Cheers.) He should stick to the working miner whenever he was able. He believed in the eight hours' system, and would advocate railways and good roads all through the country. He did not approve of the present Government, but would support every good measure. He thought there would be a general election within six months. He disapproved of Mr. Parkes's conduct towards Mr. Butler, although the appointment of Sir James Martin was very proper. He had nothing to say against the other candidates, and no matter what anybody said about him, his own conscience was clear.
B. O. Holtermann standing on Middle Head, Sydney Harbour, NSW, ca. 1875-1886
Source: Trove
BO Holtermann died in Sydney, Australia on his birthday, 29 April 1885, of "cancer of the stomach, cirrhosis of the liver and dropsy", leaving a wife, three sons and two daughters.
