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of five had been elected 'to canvass the town for subscriptions for the
purpose of raising funds to enable a prospecting party to start for Mount
Poole.' (The Wilcannia Times, January 27, 1881 :2). The committee
comprised 'Messrs Browne, Byrne, Tyrrell, Ottoway, and O'Donnell' ­
Walterus Lee B. Browne, Stock and Station Agent, Storekeeper and
proprietor of the Wilcannia Times, and later to become the police
magistrate at Milparinka; John Byrne, Contractor; John Tyrrell, proprietor of
the Crown Hotel, Reid Street, Wilcannia; Edward O'Donnell, Butcher.
Ottoway was probably Thomas Ottoway, mentioned in the Milparinka Post
Office history, having become manager for W.J.Palmer & Co., general
merchants at Milparinka.
Before the association could obtain any report from its prospectors, a
further discovery of gold was announced by the Times (February 10,
1881). On this occasion the gold had been found at a locality known as
Mount Browne, some twenty miles south-west of Mount Poo/e, but still on
the Mount Poole holding.
The reports included an interview with James Evans from the party which
had found twenty-four ounces of alluvial gold in a gully near the top of
Mount Browne ridge, and stated that Mr. Ary (or E.) Vandenberg, a
Wilcannia jeweller, had left on one of the first coaches to the new field.
The Wilcannia Times reported the departure of the first coach as follows:
'Pioneer Coach:
Donald Morrison, looking as happy as a big sunflower, started with a team
of well-conditioned horses, five in number, for the rush at Mount Browne...
[Donald and Malcolm Morrison were brothers who had operated a
coaching line between Bourke and Wilcannia since at least January 1879,
charging £5/0/0 for a one-way journey between the two river ports]
Despite glowing reports of gold, the scepticism continued and in early
February 1881 the Sydney Morning Herald sent a reporter to investigate.
Meanwhile the Herald (February 12, 1881:3) published correspondence
which included the following caution:
'Without wishing to throw discredit upon the alleged gold field of
which I know nothing beyond what has appeared in the papers I
would remind you that twelve or fourteen years ago there was a
rush to the Barrier one hundred and fifty miles south of Mount Poole
where gold was said to have been found. Many thousands started
for the locality and many deaths occurred from heat and want of
water in crossing the dry plains on either side of the Barrier Range.
As a fact no gold was found, the person who spread the report
having shown gold obtained elsewhere.'
The Melbourne Age also showed great interest in the new goldfield, and
similarly to the Sydney press, carried warnings that 'Notices have been
posted in Wilcannia warning diggers not to proceed out to Mount Brown.