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country out west from here. The rest of the journey is without road for any
practical purposes. Mr. Morrison is well supplied with waterbags and has
two ten gallon kegs which he would fill at the last known water on the
road.' (The Wilcannia Times, March 10, 1881:2).
Water on the route from Bourke to Mount Browne was more scarce than
on that from Wilcannia and early reports included several accounts of
people dying of thirst in attempting to use it. I have been unable to locate a
map or detailed description of the road followed, and certainly until the
1890s it does not seem to have been much-used after the initial rush.
4.1.3 Development of the Albert Goldfield
Map 6 shows the localities discussed below, in addition to those already
mentioned in respect to early development.
By April 1881 gold had been found at a number of other localities in the
general vicinity of Mount Poole and Mount Browne.· As the accompanying
map shows, these were generally north from Milparinka. The diggings at
Nuggetty and Easter Monday, between eighteen and twenty-five miles
north-east of Mount Poole were 'in a similar formation to those of Mount
Browne and Mount Poole, the gold being found in shallow gullies or on the
surface, the gold being coarse and of high quality' (Mines,1881:107).
Another alluvial digging was at Good Friday. Also by April 1881 a line of
reef had been opened up called the Pioneer. This was near Warratta
Creek, and other quartz-veins, named the Warratta and the Phoenix reefs
were found shortly after adjacent to the Pioneer. A further line of reef, the
Rosemount, was reported a half mile east of the Pioneer.
The Granite diggings, further north, were extensive, and comprised several
gullies and flats from which payable gold was recovered. The warden
reported in 1881 (Mines, 1881 :107) that the deepest sinking in the granite
formation was about ten feet and that 'scores of men are now engaged in
the tedious, unhealthy and defective system of dry blowing.. .' He reported
some to be making wages, but that most 'were only obtaining sufficient to
keep them in common necessaries until heavy rains fall.' These diggings
became the nucleus of Tibooburra, a township surveyed at the same time
as Milparinka in 1881. In May of 1881 a separate goldfield division was
formed to cover the Milparinka District, including Tibooburra, and Mr.
W.H.J. Slee was appointed Goldfield Warden. The Warden was based at
Milparinka which by year end was being classified as 'the principal
township on the Albert Goldfield' (Mines,1881:108).
Also by year end several of the twenty-five quartz claims near Warratta
Creek had been formed into public companies, with incorporation in
Adelaide and in Melbourne. The quartz veins were reported to show gold
freely in some instances, and water was struck eighty feet from the surface
at the Pioneer prospecting claim. However, even at this early stage the
Mining Warden warned that shortages of mining timber and firewood, and