James Toft, a convict; died at Rio de Janeiro from dysentery on the way to Australia. His wife was Elizabeth Mobbs. Their daughter, Sarah Toft, married Hely Pullen in 1825 at St John's Church of England, Parramatta (NSW BDM 3526/1825 V18253526 3B). Their children included:
- Martha - born 1831 and registered at St Peter's Church of England Campbelltown (NSW BDM 10877/1831 V183110877 1C; also 550/1831 V1831550 15)
- WILLIAM Toft – born 1834 (NSW BDM 649/1834 V1834649 19)
- Sarah E – born 1837 (NSW BDM 355/1837 V1837355 21); married Timothy Hoy
- Henry – born 1839 (NSW BDM 101/1839 V1839101 149; also 413/1839 V1839413 23A)
- MARIA ELLEN – born 13 March 1842 (NSW BDM700/1842 V1842700 26A) (listed as MARY E) married James Daniel; died 15 March 1909 aged 67
- Jane – born 1845 (NSW BDM 219/1845 V1845219 30A)
Note: The father's name in the above records is given as Elly, Hely, Ely, Heley and Henry.
___________________________________
WILLIAM TOFT PULLEN
Charlotte Pullen nee Hoy, and four subsequent generations
Source: Australian Pioneers Wordpress
William Toft Pullen married Charlotte Hoy in St Luke's Church of England Liverpool in 1855 (NSW BDM 201/1855 V1855201 43B). Their children, registered in Mudgee unless otherwise specified, included:
- REBECCA A – born 1856 and registered at St Paul’s Church of England Redfern (NSW BDM 4839/1856 V18564839 42B).
- AMELIA – born 1858 (NSW BDM 9679/1858)
- WILLIAM – born 1860 (NSW BDM 9278/1860)
- HENRY – born 1862 (NSW BDM 10291/1862)
- CHARLOTTE – born 1863 (NSW BDM 10416/1863)
- CHARLES – born 1865 (NSW BDM 11657/1865)
- EDWIN – born 1867 (NSW BDM 12393/1867)
- ARTHUR – born 1869 (NSW BDM 14247/1869)
- ERNEST – born 1870 (NSW BDM 13155/1870)
- EMILY – born 1872 (NSW BDM 17884/1872)
- JESSIE – born 1875 at Hill End (NSW BDM 19863/1875)
Miss [Rebecca Ann] Pullen, [daughter of William Toft Pullen]
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Master William Pullen
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
House [of W.T. Pullen] with woman and children, (next to the Great Western Post Office Store), Tambaroora Street, Hill End
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Family members outside Pullen's house, Hill End
Behind fence: Mrs Charlotte Pullen, nee Hoy and Rebecca
In front of fence: Charles. Charlotte, Amelia, Henry/William,
Behind fence: Mrs Charlotte Pullen, nee Hoy and Rebecca
In front of fence: Charles. Charlotte, Amelia, Henry/William,
unknown in pram
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
NEWS ITEMS
1871 - CRUSHING MACHINE
Messrs. P. N. Russell and Co. [foundry owners] have just completed a fine fifteen stamper crushing machine for Messrs. Pullen and Rawsthorne, of Hill End. It contains all the latest improvements which Mr. Pullen's experience in quartz- crushing could suggest, and is perhaps about the most complete machine of the kind both as regards batteries and tables that we have seen.
Source: The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912) Sat 19 Aug 1871 Page 7821871 - [PHOTOGRAPH]
On Saturday last a large number of ladies and gentlemen were present at Messrs. P. N. Russell and Co's
foundry, to witness the casting of the great bell intended for the new Post Office buildings... On the same day, the fine fifteen-stamper crushing machine, just completed by this firm for Messrs. Pullen and Rawsthorne, was thrown open for exhibition, and a fine photograph of it was taken .... After the photograph, was taken, the machine was taken down, and yesterday morning portions of it were already on their way to their destination.
1871 - [EN ROUTE]
The Hawkin's Hill claims at Hill End, are, as usual, busily engaged in raising stone for crushing. Chappell, says the Times, is still crushing for Mr. James Brown. Vickery's engine is engaged upon Rawsthorne, Porter, and Co.'s quartz. The fine new powerful crushing machine manufactured to order by P. N. Russell and Co., for Messrs. Pullen and Rawsthorne, is now on its road from Sydney.
1871 - [IMPOSING APPEARANCE]
Pullen and Rawsthorne's crushing plant is rapidly going up, and will, when completed, present quite an imposing appearance.
1871 - [YIELDS]
In our commercial article will be found the usual monthly notice of the yields of our gold-fields, comprising a comparative statement of the yields of 1870 and 1871, with the amounts received each month from the various quarters. This is, we believe, the greatest average yield ever given on this field. One of the lucky shareholders in this claim, sets £3000 for his share of the crushing. The account of the crushings during the past week have been as follows: At Pullen's machine, Byer, Halterman, [sic] and Co., 50½ tons best stone, 1441 oz.; 100 tons, seconds, 280 oz.; 8 tons, trial crushing, 2½ oz ; 2 tons, last stone from best vein, 450 oz; same claim crushed at Chappell's engine, 50 tons, yielding 161 oz. Hwkin's claim, Louisa Creek, at Pullen's, trial crushing of 56 cwt., 13 oz. 15 dwts. At Price's engine, 86 tons from Brand and Fletcher's claim will be completed to-night; this is the first crushing which has taken place at this engine, and as usual with such machines, slight details will require amending— especially the water arrangements.
Source: The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912) Sat 30 Dec 1871 Page 1399
1872 - MINING.
We have just received a return of the quartz crushed at Pullen and Rawsthorne's machine, Hill End, during the year 1871. The machine only commenced work on the 16th February, and from that date to the end of December, 1943 tons were crushed, and the return was 15,333 ounces, being at the rate of nearly 7 oz. 17 dwts. per ton.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Mon 12 Feb 1872 Page 9
1872 - [BREAKAGE]
1872 - Latest Mining. TAMBAROORA.
THE Times of Wednesday says:—Yesterday (Tuesday) we had an opportunity of inspecting the cake of gold from Messrs. Rawsthorne, Porter, and Burns' claim on Hawkins' Hill. It weighed 1330oz 13 dwts, was the produce from 304 tons of stone, and the result of sixteen week's work. Upwards of 50oz are yet expected from the black sand and pyrites, which has not yet been put through the barrel amalgamator. This is the first crushing of consequence that has taken place at Messrs, Pullen and Rawsthorne's new machine, and the proprietors of the claim express themselves highly gratified at its efficiency and gold-saving power. We are informed by one of the claimholders that the stone was not expeoted to go over 2oz to the ton; and the same gentleman expresses his opinion that to the care bestowed during the crushing by Mr. Smith, Pullen, and Rawsthorne's engineer, is in a great degree to be attributed this highly satisfactory result.
Messrs Beyers and Co. commenced their crushing at Pullen's engine, which unfortunately broke down in the midst of the work, the big spur wheel giving way. This is a new engine from Messrs Russell and Co 's foundry.
Beyers and Holtermaun commenced crushing last night at Pullen and Rawsthorne's machine. A return of 8000 or 9000 ounces is expected. The specimens on the bank, the good stone, and paddock stuff, are to be crushed together.
Among the crushing plants at Hill End, Pullen's claims the distinction of being the first made in New South Wales. It was made by Chapman Bros, for Mr. Thomas Chapple, of Mudgee. Mr. W. T. Pullen bought it from Mr. Chapple, and took it from Old Louisa Creek (Hargreaves), to Hill End, and started crushing with it in 1868. It was a circular battery of eight stamps, and the first crushing was from Paxton's claim. After some time Pullen and Rawsthorne erected a large 15 head battery, and it was there that Beyers and Holtermann's rich mass of stone was crushed with 11 tons of other from the same vein; the yield was 11,000 ounces of gold! Holtermann assisted Pullen in breaking up the big lumps with hammers prior to its being crushed.
The following photos were taken by Beaufoy Merlin of the American and Australasian Phtotographic Company and are part of the Holtermann Collection.
Pullen and Rawsthorne's "Little Wonder" Stamper Battery, opposite the southern end of Clarke Street, Hill End
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Machinery [stamping bars, with a plate saying "P.N. Russell & Co., Engineers, Sydney, 1871] of Pullen's battery, Hill End
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
Pullen and Rawsthorne's stamper battery at the southern end of Clarke Street, Hill End
Pullen and Rawsthorne's stamper batteries, Hill End
Pullen and Rawsthorne's stamper batteries, Hill End
Source: Mitchell Library, SLNSW
1875 - [Notice of Compulsory Sequestration.]
In the Supreme Court of New South Wales. (12,635) IN INSOLVENCY.
In the matter of the petition of the Bank of New South Wales, Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, praying that the estate of William Toft Pullen and Robert James Rawsthorne, of Hill End, in the said Colony, may be sequestrated for the benefit of their creditors according to law.
WHEREAS on the petition of the Bank of New South Wales, Sydney, in the said Colony, the estate of William Toft Pullen and Robert James Rawsthorne, the abovenamed insolvents, was, on the fifth day of November, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, by order of His Honor the Chief Commissioner of Insolvent Estates for the Colony of New South Wales, placed under sequestration, until the same should, by sentence of His Honor, be adjudged to be sequestrated for the benefit of the creditors of the said William Toft Pullen and Robert James Rawsthorne, or the said petition be discharged according to law: And His Honor did appoint Thursday, the eighteenth day of November, a.d. 1875, for the said William Toft Pullen and Robert James Rawsthorne to appear before him, to show cause why their estate should not, by such sentence, be adjudged to be so sequestrated: His Honor did at the same time appoint Alfred Sandeman, Esquire, of Sydney, one of the Official Assignees of Insolvent Estates within the said Colony, to be Official Assignee of this estate.—Dated at Sydney, this 5th day of November, a.d. 1875.
ARTHUR HENRY, Registrar in Insolvency.
Source: New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900) Wed 10 Nov 1875 [Issue No.303] Page 3649
William Toft Pullen and Robert James Rawsthorne, Mudgee:
Estimated Liabilities £3118 12 2
Assets £28 15 4
1876 - LOYAL. ORANGE. LODGE, No. 67.
1876 - LOYAL. ORANGE. LODGE, No. 67.
The members of the above lodge held their regular monthly meeting on the 6th of Nov. ... After the reading and passing of the correspondence, the lodge was thrown open to the public, when several ladies and gentlemen who had been waiting outside with the greatest patience were admitted, and speedily decorated, that is the ladies with our regalia. The chairman made some few opening remarks...
The presentation was then made to Bro. Pullen, of which the following is a copy.
"To our worthy and well-beloved Brother William Toft Pullen."
"Dear Sir and Brother, — Your brethren of No. 67 Royal Victoria Loyal Orange Lodge, do hereby request your acceptance of this testimonial as a smail tribute of the love and respect held by them for your services as W.M. of the lodge for three consecutive years.
"We feel, in presenting this token of our esteem, that you will receive it as the earnest of our wishes for your welfare, not only as a Brother Orangeman, but as a friend. Many among us can testify to your sterling qualites as a man aud Brother, both in the lodge and out of it.
"Few amongst us have merited so much from the lodge as yourself, for a deal of its prosperity and success has been mainly owing to your ready zeal and co-operation for its good.
"We pray that our Great Master, whose cause we are sworn to uphold, against the error and superstition of the Church of Rome, may keep you ever firm in those principles of loyalty and religious freedom, for which good men and true have often suffered; and that during your future life He may preserve both you and yours temporally and spiritually; finally receiving you all into the Great Brotherhood on High,
whose pass word is salvation, and whose golden colour is reflected from the Sun of Righteousness in the purple stream of Christ's blood, and whose Grand Master is the Lord Jehovah.
"Signed on behalf of the Brethren, John H. Howard, W.M.; Joseph Law Stokes, D.M.; Colin R. Greig, Chaplain ; John Pearson, Treasurer; George Dinnett, Secretary ; Henry Stout, F.C."
Bro. Pullen, who was much affected, rose and said— Brethren, I feel almost too full to speak, after the handsome testimonial you have so kindly presented to me to-night. It is the first presentation I have ever been happy to receive, and I say from the bottom of my heart I would rather receive such an one here and from your selves than anywhere else. There are many older Orangemen here than myself, but I trust I may rank among you all for a good one. We as Orangemen should band together and make
the society strong, make it a wall of defence around our liberties and religion. We are banded together for self-defence, not aggression. When I was living at Hargraves, long before I became an Orangeman, I used to place the then Protestant Banner and the Freeman's Journal and court enquiry into the opinions of both. The three years I spent as W. M. of No. 67 were very pleasant ones, because the brethren were very orderly, and assisted me all they could. If the brethren do not work with the W.M. and assist him things will get very crooked, for he cannot support the lodge himself. I may say that I always endeavoured to do my duty. I was highly gratified when attending the Grand Lodge in Sydney one time
to hear our late lamented Grand Master S S. Goold, praise No. 67 as one of the most orderly and intellectual lodges it had been his pleasure to meet. I should only be too happy to attend as usual but for my absence from the Hill, and you must remember I am getting old. I have to ride home to-night after this meeting' closes, I do not care for the distance, but the road is very rough. I shall not say much more as I am anxious to hear what our reverend Bros, have to say. I trust the brethren of No. 67 will continue to hold the opinions expressed in the testimonial. I had my shortcomings but I trust I am forgiven any apparent harshness or offence I may have used. I hope that better times are in store for all of us. The attendance to-night is equal to the meetings of the Sydney lodges. I thank you most heartily on behalf of my family and myself for the testimonial and good wishes expressed therein. Bro. Pullen was awarded three rounds of Kentish fire...
Source: The Protestant Standard (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1895) Sat 18 Nov 1876 Page 2
1905 - GOLDEN WEDDING.
A very enjoyable, as well as pleasing, function took place on Monday last, when Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Pullen, formerly of the Clarence, and now residing at Woolgoolga, were entertained by their sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren at a picnic and river excursion on the Lady Beatrice. The outing was organised for the purpose of appropriately celebrating the jubilee of Mr. and Mrs. Pullen's golden wedding, which they that day attained. Mr. and Mrs. Pullen (the latter nee Hoy, of White's Hill - now Hoy's Hill - near Liverpool), we may here state were married in Luke's Church, Liverpool, on May 29th, 1855. Mr. Pullen, who is a native of Sydney, and both his parents natives of London, is well-known on the Clarence, where he resided some considerable time prior to his residing at Woolgoolga.
Many of our readers will no doubt have a vivid recollection of the daring feat accomplished by Mr. Pullen at Woolgoolga in 1883, when he successfully undertook the landing from a vessel in the open sea the complete plant for a saw-mill, which he erected at Woolgoolga, which remarkable feat, drew forth references of the highest praise and commendation from various sources, including the metropolitan press.
Mr. Pullen is now in his 71st year, and although so far advanced in years looks remarkably well and active. Mrs. Pullen is also a native of the metropolis, and holds the unique distinction of having been baptised, confirmed and married in the same church, St. Luke's, Liverpool. She quite recently paid a visit to her old home where she lately lost through death her only brother.
Source: Australian Pioneers Wordpress
At the picnic on Monday quite a large gathering of relatives and a few friends were present. On the arrival of the Lady Beatrice at Mr. Brown's Mill near Iluka, the party disembarked and a basket picnic was held in Mr. Brown's paddock. After full justice had been meted out to the numerous good things provided all the relatives present were marshalled together in a group of which several photos were then taken by Mr. W. Stevenson (Grafton), After the photographs had been taken Mr. Wm. Pullen, on behalf of his brothers and sisters present, presented Mr. and Mrs. Pullen with a suitably worded and appropriate address, together with a beautiful silver tray which bore the following inscription nicely engraved: "Presented to Mr. and Mrs. W. 'I'. Pullen by their sons and daughters on the 50th anniversary of their anniversary day. Married at St. Luke's Church, Liverpool, May 29th. 1855.
Mr. Pullen suitably responded, after which all wended their way to the.wharf to board the Beatrice - which had returned from Yamon - and returned homewards, having spent a happy time.
Before leaving Mr. Brown's cheers were given for Mr. and Mrs. Pullen and to Mr. Brown and family for their kindness to the picnicers. The group which was photographed comprised no less than four generations, there being some 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren present alone. It is seldom that such a gathering of parents and descendants is to be seen. Together with their hosts of friends on the Clarence and elsewhere we extend to Mr. and Mrs. Pullen, both of whom are now in their 71st year, our heartiest good wishes, and trust that they may yet enjoy many years of health and happiness.
Source: Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1889 - 1915) Sat 3 Jun 1905 Page 3
1917 - FUNERAL NOTICE.
1917 - A PIONEER. LATE MR. W. F. PULLEN.
1917 - THE LATE W. T. PULLEN. AN APPRECIATION. (By H.F.B.)
1915 - [ANNIVERSARY]
Mr. W. T. Pullen, of Woolgoolga, in a letter, informs us that to-day he and his good lady celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their wedding. Both are in their eightieth year, and natives of N.S. Wales. Mr. Pullen was born near Camden, and Mrs. Pullen in Liverpool. Their large family resides in this, district. Mr. Pullen has a splendid recollection of the history of Sydney in the forties, where he spent the most of his early days, and can relate many reminiscences of the old days. He was present at the unveiling of Governor Bourke's statue by Governor Gibb, when, to use Mr. Pullen's own words, her Majesty's representative said, pointing to Government House, built by our worthy late Governor under instructions from our glorious Queen as a residence for her representatives. Mr. Pullen asks, "Should it not have been retained for that purpose?" We join with the many friends in extending hearty congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Pullen, with the hope that they may still see many happy years together.
Mr. W. T. Pullen, of Woolgoolga, in a letter, informs us that to-day he and his good lady celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their wedding. Both are in their eightieth year, and natives of N.S. Wales. Mr. Pullen was born near Camden, and Mrs. Pullen in Liverpool. Their large family resides in this, district. Mr. Pullen has a splendid recollection of the history of Sydney in the forties, where he spent the most of his early days, and can relate many reminiscences of the old days. He was present at the unveiling of Governor Bourke's statue by Governor Gibb, when, to use Mr. Pullen's own words, her Majesty's representative said, pointing to Government House, built by our worthy late Governor under instructions from our glorious Queen as a residence for her representatives. Mr. Pullen asks, "Should it not have been retained for that purpose?" We join with the many friends in extending hearty congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Pullen, with the hope that they may still see many happy years together.
PULLEN. — The friends of the late Wm. Pullen, sen., are respectfully invited to attend his funeral, to move from Christ Church Cathedral at 1 o'clock THIS DAY for Grafton Cemetery, H. H. SANDERS, 'Phones 27 and 68. Undertakers.
NOTICE. The S.S. CLARENCE will leave Brushgrove at 10 o'clock THIS DAY for Grafton, conveying the friends attending the funeral of the late WILLIAM PULLEN, sen.
H. H. SANDERS,
Phones 27 and 68. Undertakers.
Source: Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954) Fri 28 Sep 1917 Page 2
1917 - MR. W. T. PULLEN'S DEATH. MEMORIES OF EARLY SYDNEY.
WOOLGOOLGA, Thursday.
1917 - MR. W. T. PULLEN'S DEATH. MEMORIES OF EARLY SYDNEY.
WOOLGOOLGA, Thursday.
Mr. Wm. Toft Pullen, a native of Liverpool, N.S.W. died to-day at the age of 82. He established the sugar industry at Woolgoolga in 1882, and had resided here ever since. He was call boy at the old Victoria Theatre in the time of Vincent Wallace, the composer of "Maritana," Madame Carrandini, and G. V. Brooke. He was in the early gold rushes. At 18 he walked from Sydney to Luisa Creek diggings, and was later at Hargreaves, Summer Hill, etc. He was present at the unveilling of Governor Bourke's statue in the Sydney Domain. The deceased leaves a widow, five sons, and four daughters, as well as over 70 descendants, including six at the front.
Mr. William Toft Pullen, whose death at Woolgoolga at the age of 82 years took place on Thursday last, was born in Sydney in 1834. His father arrived from the old country about the year 1808, and worked as a mechanic at the old Victoria Theatre, in Joseph Wyatt's time in the early forties. The son's first recollection of work was in that theatre, where he was employed as call-boy in 1841. Afterwards his father apprenticed him to a Mr. John Hill, a cabinetmaker and undertaker, in King street. This shop was next door to Twogood's Hotel, one of the four hotels then at the intersection of King and Pitt streets. In 1851 Sydney was experiencing a bad time, and there were many persons out of work. The ranks of the unemployed were swollen by sailors who deserted from the sailing vessels which traded to the port. In May, 1851, news came of the discovery of gold beyond the Blue Mountains, near Bathurst, and great excitement prevailed in the city. The fever for gold affected young and old alike, and young Pullen, although only 17 at the time and still in his apprenticeship, ran away to make his fortune.
In those days there was a regular line of coaches travelling from Sydney to Bathurst. A hotelkeeper in Bathurst, Henry Rotten, owned the coaches in partnership with a Penrith resident. The coach left the Post Office at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and reached Bathurst late in the following evening. Going over the mountains there was a change of horses every eight miles. The boats to Parramatta, too, were crowded, and from that town there was a string of travellers in drays, or carrying swags, making for the goldfield at Summer Hill Creek.
In the course of an interview with a "Herald" representative a few months ago, the late Mr. Pullen said: "When I reached Bathurst I bought a cradle to wash the gold, and walked the 34 miles to the goldfields. The place where they first got gold was called Lewis Ponds Creek, a little tributary of Summer Hill Creek, which itself joined the Macquarie River below Bathurst. I well remember the day I arrived at the goldfield. It was Sunday, June 1, and I could not resist the temptation of trying some dirt immediately I arrived. My luck was in from the start, as I got a little gold from the first dish I washed, and I got the gold fever right there. I met an old man named Denis Driscoll at the camp, and we at once became partners. There was hardly a man there had any experience in gold-mining, but everyone quickly became expert at the alluvial work. We had only started a few days when the commissioner (I think it was Hardy) arrived with a troop of police. There was a store in the camp, and the owner had a tun of rum there about eight feet in height, and he did a great trade. A man named Bennett, a shoemaker from Lower George street, ran another store. Our camp was made with bushes placed against a log forming a kind of gunyah, and we suffered a good deal from the cold, as it was the winter season. The creek had a blue clay bottom, and we sank our little shaft in its bed. I had to stand knee-deep in the water in using the pick, while my partner handled the cradle. One day, while I was working in the water, my pick struck a hard object several times. I put my hand down into the clay and picked up a hard lump as big as my hand. Glancing at it I caught the yellow gleam, but being afraid it might be seen I hid it away in my shirt. As soon as possible I found Denis, my mate, and told him of my find. We both adjourned to our gunyah, and washed all the dirt away, leaving a lovely, bright nugget.
I was excited at striking it so rich, and the next thing to do was to weigh the gold. My old partner thought out a plan, and sent me to the store for some tobacco, I bought about half a pound of 'negro-bead,' long twisted sticks of tobacco, and a pound of cheese, and returned to the tent. We made a little balance with a piece of wood, but the tobacco and cheese would not weigh it. I went back to the store and bought another pound of cheese and tobacco, and the lot just balanced the nugget, which worked out at 3¾lb of gold. We used to sleep on bark, and we made a hole in it and hid the nugget there. The old man used to do the cradling, which retained the fine gold, and he would throw the clay in a heap. One morning I happened to look at the heap of clay and picked up a 10oz nugget which the old man threw out with the clay. We were getting on very well, and so were many others. Every day brought a fresh batch of goldseekers, and the police made a camp about a quarter of a mile from us. They used to collect the money for licenses, which cost 30s a month. Many of us had no money, and the police would then take half an ounce of gold. My old partner hailed from County Cork, and had a very quiet disposition. The only time I remember seeing Denis excited was when some jaunty miner stood by our claim and sang an Orange song. lt was all I could do to calm him down then.
At last we worked out our claim, which measured forty feet square. We had won 40lb weight of gold, worth, in those days, £3 an ounce. So we finished up with nearly £1500. In December of that year we returned to Sydney; I was only seventeen at the time, and you can judge I felt very pleased with myself with over £700 in the bank. After a holiday in Sydney I returned to Summer Hill Creek and started mining lower down the river from our old claim. However, the field was overrun with men then, and I did not do much good, so I travelled to Tuena, between Bathurst and Goulburn. There was a rush to the place, and working on my own I did very well."
Continuing his narrative, Mr. Pullen said:"It was some time after, in '53 I. think, that I took the road to Adelong. You can get it exact, because it was the year of the great flood in the Murrumbidgee when Gundagai was washed clean away. Four of us took a horse and cart and drove all the day via Goulburn, Yass, and Gundagai. Near Gundagai we saw everywhere signs of the flood. We saw a grey horse hanging up in a tree about twenty feet from the ground. It had been drowned and caught in the limbs of the tree. On our return from Adelong nine months later the town was being built on the hill above flood level. We stayed at a hotel at Jugiong Creek on the way, and there were marks of the flood on the walls near the ceiling."
Each reference to those early days opened a storehouse of reminiscences, and the old pioneer rambled on with many a half-for-gotten tale of boyhood days. Returning to his story, he said:--"At Adelong I worked with a man named Thompson, who had left a draper's shop in Pitt street. He often referred to the splendid opportunity for sluicing at Adelong, and we got to work cutting boards for sluicing. We were working about 15 miles from Tumut, which was then a little place, with two public-houses. The sluicing paid us very well, but after nine months we made off back to Sydney. We walked to Gundagai to get the coach, but when it came we couldn't get a seat, and so we walked on to Yass. My mate and I had each 60oz of gold, and, as the bushrangers were at work then, we made a detour from the track before reaching a house, which was said to be a rendezvous for them. We reached Yass safely, and travelled to Sydney by coach. I was married in '54, and some time after we went to Louisa Creek, the other side of Mudgee. lt is now called Hargreaves. An English company had been formed to crush the quartz, and they brought out a lot of men to work there. They only crushed it very coarsely, and it was a failure. I worked there on the alluvial stuff. It was near here that Dr. Kerr's nugget was found. A blackfellow employed as a shepherd was one day shown some specks of gold in a dish. On seeing these the blackfellow said, 'Me bin fine plenty longa there, bigger'n that phellar.' The men were not inclined to take much notice at first, but they followed the black, who took them to a ridge of quartz on a hill overlooking the creek. He showed them where the gold was actually hanging together. Dr. Kerr and one of the Suttors took it into Bathurst, and the blackfellow was afterwards given a flock of sheep as a reward.
"After spending a few years at Hargreaves, where several of my sons were born, I went to Hill End, the famous rich goldfield of the 'sixties. I took the first battery the first one made in Sydney there on a dray. This was before any very rich gold was found there. I started crushing with the battery, and ultimately got good values. I crushed all that rich lot of stone for Messrs. Beyers and Holtermann in '72, and I think this forms the world's record. We got about 11,000 oz. of gold - worth about £15,000 - from about 15 tons of stone. The 11,000 oz really came from a few tons. Beyers and Holtermann got about £60,000 each from their claim. That was where the Hill End syndicate first worked. It would take us a quarter of an hour to break up the stone, and one to two hours cleaning up the amalgam. I think Hill End will again be a good place when they get lower down."
William Toft Pullen has passed away, and at the grand old age of 83. His stalwart frame and leonine countenance, so symbolical of his life and of his life's work, will be seen no more in the haunts in which he posed as a so striking and characteristic figure. Born in 1834, when Australia was yet in the swaddling clothes of nationhood, when citizenship was not as it is to-day, when the survival of the fittest was the all-ruling law of Nature, reared in the hard school of adversity, then so common, the subject of this appreciation emerged well-trained and fully equipped for the life's battle which he so faithfully fought. His early boyhood was replete with hard work, permeated with filial affection, and even after the lapse of seventy years he would glow with pride as he recounted how, when nine years old, he emptied his first earnings into his mother's apron; to him, untold wealth earned at the old Victoria Theatre; to the listeners a wealth of insight to his noble nature. Then followed an apprenticeship to the cabinet-making trade, and what system, though admittedly fraught with much pungency, has ever been responsible for better craftsmen, and where was there ever a better exemplification of its thoroughness than in the case of the late W. T. Pullen? But ere that apprenticeship had fully expired, gold was discovered. Its luring call from Summer Hill Creek was heard by young Pullen, then sixteen years of age, and known only to his mother, he left Sydney without a companion and walked from Parramatta across the Blue Mountains, his sole equipment consisting of two shillings, a single-barrelled gun and as stout a heart as ever beat in a boy's bosom. But he had mapped out his future. Dangers, solitude, and all the attendant vicissitudes did not deter him.
At that early age he played his part manfully in the economic revolution, which transformed Australia and gave her her first impetus along the road to nationhood, which she so proudly upholds to-day, It was when he first came in sight of Bathurst—not the Bathurst of to-day—the Bathurst of 1852 that the full realisation of utter loneliness came upon the youthful adventurer, and during a long acquaintance it was the only time that that brave Australian was known to admit a feeling of despondency. From this onward till 1876 quest for gold was his sole vocation. He entered into the miner's work in all its phases, with its accompanying privations; he tasted of its prosperity; he endured its toil and he drank deep of its many vicissitudes.
After exploiting a number of the early "rushes" he settled at Hargreaves, and then at Hill End, where he erected the first battery, and had the honor of crushing the famous "nugget" of Beyers and Holtermann, which yielded gold to the value of £14,000. Next he emerged as a business man on the Clarence, and with considerable success, but the love of adventure, the craving to advance his country's interests and the desire to improve his family's position urged him to seek pastures new.
William Toft Pullen's home and store, Woolgoolga, ca 1880s
Source: Coffs Collections
Woolgoolga was the scene of his attraction; his decision was to grow cane and manufacture sugar. Woolgoolga in 1880 was merely an out-station of the late Thomas Small, and Mr. William Cooper who, it is pleasing to know, is still in the flesh, was then in charge. Primeval forests reigned supreme. The aborigines hunted through the sombre timber belts or fished in the bountiful and numerous lagoons. There was no jetty in those days, none of the accessories that assist the settler of to-day and render his path comparatively easy. The hardy pioneer was left to his own resources, supported by indomitable courage and unswerving will-power. He landed his machinery through the surf; he shipped his sugar and subsequently his timber through the surf or over the rocks. Later he built a jetty—truly a pigmy compared with the Government structure of to-day, but many of the piles remain to this day, monuments of one man's perseverance and progressive ideas. The face of fortune may not have smiled too benignantly upon Woolgoolga's pioneer, but faithfully he sowed the seed, and succeeding generations have reaped and will continue to reap the harvest as long as the old Pacific laves its beaches.
Stout of frame and large of heart, so was the character of the late W. T. Pullen. But the traits that stood out most conspicuously were his loyalty to the British Crown, his patriotism to the nation and his love for Australia. Woe to the man who dared in his presence to attempt to speak disparagingly of British monarchy, and more especially of the late Queen Victoria, whom he revered.
Only recently it was with difficulty that he was dissuaded from administering a horse-whipping to a delinquent—a good, old-fashioned, punishment, certainly not in accord with the ethics of our civilisation of to-day, but remote from any chance of justice being perverted or escaped by legal technicalities or lawyer's quibbles. The triumphant victory of the Allies was his earnest and ceaseless prayer, and those who knew him best will ever regret it was not ordained that he should have lived to witness its consummation. His patriotic spirit is amply reproduced in his many noble grandsons, who are to-day upholding the Empire's honor in the fields of Flanders and France. Some of them have paid the supreme sacrifice, but glorious deaths, worthy of scions of a glorious grandparent. To mankind in general he ever extended the hand of friendship and generosity) and no man in distress ever appealed to him in vain if it lay in his power to alleviate. No absent friend was ever reviled in his presence, and the contemner allowed to escape unchallenged. The rising generation was his especial care, and for nearly sixty years he was closely identified with our educational system. No one will deny that he has his faults. Who has not? But when there comes the reconciliation of life's great ledger there will be found a magnificent balance to the credit of William Toft Pullen, and Australia must ever be proud and grateful that under her sunny skies there lived and died a good son, a good husband, a good father, and a good citizen in the person of the late William Toft Pullen.
Source: Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1915 - 1954) Tue 9 Oct 1917 Page 4
Maria Ellen Pullen (brother of William Toft Pullen) married James Daniel in the Mudgee district on 21 May 1860 (NSW BDM 2104/1860).
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MARIA ELLEN PULLEN
Maria Ellen Pullen (brother of William Toft Pullen) married James Daniel in the Mudgee district on 21 May 1860 (NSW BDM 2104/1860).
[James was born 19 February 1829 in Loanhead Midlothian. His parents were Richard and Isabella Daniel, aged 32 and 25 respectively.]
Maria and James had 9 children in 19 years. They included:
- RICHARD H – born 1861 at Mudgee (NSW BDM 9903/1861)
- ISABELLA S – born 1863 at Mudgee (NSW BDM 10287/1863)
- ELLEN S – born 1865 at Mudgee (NSW BDM 11485/1865)
- FREDERICK J – born 1867 at Mudgee (NSW BDM 12307/1867)
- ADELAIDE J – born 1870 at Mudgee (NSW BDM 12878/1870)
- DONALD W T – born 1877 at Hill End (NSW BDM 20825/1877)
- LEONARD JOHN B – born 1881 (NSW BDM 21522/1881)
James died on 30 December 1886 in Surry Hills at the age of 57 (NSW BDM 1304/1886). He was buried at Bathurst.
Maria died on 15 March 1909, aged 68, and was buried at Waverley.
Maria Ellen Pullen 1842 -1909 married James Daniel
Source: Richard Burke
Ellen Secret Daniel married Thomas Albert Kelly
Source: Richard Burke
DANIEL,— August 7, at Surry Hills, Sydney, James Daniel, aged 52, native of Loanhead, S, Scotland, leaving a loving wife and large family, also a number of friends, to mourn their sad loss. Home papers please copy.
Darling husband, how we miss thee.Here thy loss we deeply feel;But 'tis God that hath bereft us.He can still our sorrows heal.
1906 - HOTELS CHANGED HANDS.
The following transfers of publicans' licences have been granted by the City Licensing Court:
— Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth-street, City, from John Palvey to Maria Daniel;
The following transfers of publicans' licences have been granted by the City Licensing Court:
— Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth-street, City, from John Palvey to Maria Daniel;
DANIEL.—A tribute of love to the memory of my darling daughter, Minnie, who died on September 11th, 1900. Inserted by her affectionate mother, Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth-street South.
The Metropolitan Licensing Court sat yesterday afternoon, and dealt with the following applications:
Alterations.—Maria Daniel, Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth-street,. granted;
Source: The Australian Star (Sydney, NSW : 1887 - 1909) Fri 10 May 1907 Page 6
1907 - TENDERS
1907 - TENDERS
Alterations at Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth and Rutland sts. Plans and specifications at hotel. Tenders to be sent, sealed and endorsed, to the undersigned on or bef. May 13. M. Daniel, Pr., Com. Htl.
Source: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930) Fri 10 May 1907 Page 12
1907 - MISCELLANEOUS
Redfern. — Alterations to Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth and Rutland streets, M. Daniel.
Redfern. — Alterations to Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth and Rutland streets, M. Daniel.
City Alterations at the Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth and Rutland streets. Plans at the hotel from Mr. Daniel.
1909 - FAMILY NOTICES
DANIEL.—March 15, at Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth-street, S. Sydney, Maria Daniel, aged 68.1909 - FAMILY NOTICES
DANIEL.—The Friends of the late Mrs. MARIA DANIEL are respectfully invited to attend her Funeral; to leave her late residence, Commonwealth Hotel Elizabeth and Rutland sts, city, THIS AFTERNOON, at 2.30, for Waverley Cemetery. COFFILL and COMPANY, Sydney and Suburbs.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES.—PROBATE JURISDICTION.— In the Estate of MARIA DANIEL late of the Commonwealth Hotel corner of Elizabeth and Rutland streets Sydney Hotelkeeper deceased intestate. APPLICATION will be made after fourteen days from the publication hereof that Administration of the Estate of the abovenamed deceased may be granted to ISABEL DANIEL the eldest Daughter of the said deceased and all notices may be served at the office of the undersigned and all persons having any debts or claims against the Estate of the said deceased are required to send in particular thereof within the abovementioned time to WALTER GEORGE PARISH Mutual Life of New York Building Martin-place Sydney Solicitor for the said Isabel Daniel.
Commonwealth Hotel, Elizabeth street, Sydney, lsabel Daniel (executrix of the will of the late Maria Daniel) to Donald Daniel;
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954) Fri 21 May 1909 Page 9
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Thomas Albert Kelly and Ellen Secret Daniel's son Thomas James Kelly married Margaret Eliza Green. She was a direct descendant of James Squire and Mary Spencer both first fleet convicts. There are a number of other convicts in the mix as well such Benjamin Josiah Cramp (bushranger) the great grandson of James Squire and Elizabeth Mason also James Squire Farnell, the first native-born Premier of NSW was also a grandson of James and Elizabeth. James Squire was also of Romani (gypsy) ancestry, this trace shows in family DNA.
Thomas Albert Kelly was the son of John Kelly and Mary Ann Field (both buried in Bathurst cemetery). Thomas was born in 1864 in the Currajong Goldfields and died in Mt. David in 1898. He was part of the search party for three young girls in Bathurst in 1897 who unfortunately drowned on Good Friday.
Source: Information provided by descendant, Richard Burke
Both Thomas Albert Kelly and his Father were listed as miners in the Mt. David and Rockley areas at the time of their death.
John's daughter - Catherine Kelly b Forbes in 1867 - married Frederick Ward in Bathurst in 1888.
