Adec Preview Generated PDF File - The Sydney eScholarship ...

people from a variety of cultural backgrounds in addition to the Australian
Aborigines and that of various European nations. The routes used by
travellers generally followed those established by explorers such as
Charles Sturt. Variations to the route were the result of supplemental
intelligence gathered by the prospecting parties. Thus travellers heading
for Coopers Creek generally followed the Darling River to Laidley's Ponds
and then to the outskirts of Mount Murchison Station, before intercepting
Sturt's route further west, following this via Sturt's old camps to Coopers
Creek. Woore noted it was still possible to identify the tracks made by
Burke and Wills in 1860 and by Sturt fifteen years earlier at the time of his
initial survey of runs in the early 1860s. He also noted that the boat taken
by Sturt to Depot Glen was suspended in the branches of a tree a little
below the Depot Glen camp, perhaps deposited there during the floods
which coincided with Sturt's departure from the site.
Shaw (1965:16,33) states that hotels existed on the Darling River at
Laidley's Ponds in 1859, and at Wilcannia in 1865. Woore, however,
mentions "Malpas's Parro Inn", the location of which has not been
determined, but otherwise makes no mention of 'shanties' or wayside inns
away from the river frontage.
Wilcannia became a major centre for the river trade, and banks, large
stores, and the suppliers of a great variety of goods and services were
established in the town. The first current account Ledger of The
Australasian Joint Stock Bank (WBC1), which opened in Wilcannia in
1874, records transactions with hotel keepers, storekeepers, labourers,
hawkers, teamsters, tanksinkers, and a washerwoman. The names
recorded suggest a variety of nationalities and cultures may have been
present, including American Negro wharf labourers and Chinese
gardeners, wool scour labourers, station workers and cooks. Similarly the
Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, opening its doors at Wilcannia
in 1874 included in its customers woolscourers, commission agents,
storekeepers, chemists and the local newspaper proprietor (NAB2). The
'Commercial' does not appear to have attracted Chinese custom, but when
the Bank of New South Wales (the 'Wales') opened in 1881, its' ledgers
(WBC2) suggest Chinese customers included a barber, a storekeeper and
a baker.
The Chinese were also mentioned occasionally in The Wilcannia Times
which commenced publication on January 2, 1879. The first reference is to
John John, Chinaman hairdresser(Wilcannia Times, 2 January 1879), and
on Thursday October 14, 1880 Charlie Bow is mentioned as having
appeared in the Small Debts Court at Wilcannia. The debt was for goods
sold and delivered by J. Sheahan to the value of £4/6/9. Charlie Bow had
an account with the Australian Joint Stock ('AJS') Bank, where his
occupation was recorded as Chinaman Labourer. John John, a Chinese
Gardener in business with a partner called Tommy, also banked with the
AJS Bank.