Bendigo General History - Department of Planning and Community ...

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late 1850s: The issue that occupied the most attention in the post-Eureka period, far transcending local issues was the Land Question. The licence fee had been abolished; digger hunts were an ugly memory; the digger voice had found an echo in parliament and local government was groping its way into being. One major grievance persisted - the squatters iron grip on the land. The grievance deepened as the digger’s world began to disappear. Occasional rushes flared to keep alight his hopes but as the years drifted into the late fifties, the digger, tired of scratching a meagre living, mostly on dying fields, turned envious eyes to the squatters’ holdings. The dream of returning home, fortune in hand had faded; for many, adventure had ceased to beckon. Most diggers had been in their early twenties on arrival; they were now nearly thirty. They thought of marriage, of settling down - but the lands were locked against them ... 1 late 1850s: But if the thoughts of many diggers in the late fifties and early sixties turned hungrily to the land, there were others in the Bendigo Valley content with the glint of gold in the puddling tub, or convinced of the riches awaiting discovery in the great quartz reefs that buckled and plunged deep below the valley. 2 Whipstick nuggets Sept 1857: Brandy Gully2 nuggets, 194oz & 68oz by puddler named Pahlow. A reminder of Pahlow still exists in Sandfly Gully. Enclosing an area of perhaps 1/4 acre, the remnants of an old stone wall and foundation of old chimney. Pahlow’s former home. Nov 1857: Elysian Flat. Greatest rush in the Whipstick was to Elysian Flat in Nov 1857. It was rich nugget country and from 1858 to 1904, 21 nuggets ranging from 22 to 240 oz were recovered. 16 of this number found during 1858, the boom year at Elysian Flat. 1857-58: Scotchman’s Gully: 7 nuggets of from 22 to 370ozs - the 370ozs (named Whipstick monster). 3 Nov 1857: The Elysian Flat Diggings (now Neilborough) on the fringe of the Whipstick revived ...[alluvial]...hopes. 4 1857: Whipstick - A note in 1857 tells us that one of the chief openers of the Whipstick was a Mr Moorehead, who discovered Sandfly Reef. Early that year Drunken Scotchman’s Gully, Paddy’s Gully and Sandfly and Brandy Gullies were opened up ... The gullies northwest of Scotchman’s, near Flagstaff Hill, were discovered at this time, and in May 1857 Phillips and party discovered gold about eight miles to the north-east at what became Phillip’s Gully, where 400 men were working in July. 5 1857: Bendigo Advertiser 29 May 1857 - made Phillips Gully Rush public - new and payable gold-field had been discovered by some parties working near the outskirts of the Whipstick Scrub, in the vicinity of Piccaninny Creek, about 28 miles from town. The greatest drawback to mining in the Whipstick had been the almost continual shortage of water. At Phillips Gully, the diggers united in an effort to improve their supply. By mid-June it was possible for anyone to reach Phillips Gully without becoming lost. From the recentlyfinished road from Scotchman’s Gully to the northern plains, a rough track branched off to the new rush ... At this rush the population was estimated at between 150 and 200. Three small stores and a butchers shop had been erected and the miners were busy building their new dam ... The gold in this gully was very fine, no nuggets were found and only a few were successful. For most it was a failure and the end of June spelled “Finish” to this rush. Seven years later, Phillips Gully was again the scene of a minor rush. In April 1864, some 50 miners were working here, but with unspectacular results. Today, Phillips Gully is deserted, but numerous eroded, shallow holes remain. Also there are remnants of several puddling machines, relics of those who worked in the gully later. 6 July 1857: The Whipstick Prospecting Association. By July 1857, many prospectors and residents of the Whipstick realised the necessity for a combined effort to promote a more thorough search of the scrub for mining purposes ... Little was heard concerning the Association until on 31 1 Cusack, 1973, p112-113 2 Cusack, 1973, p115 3 Perry, 1975, pp166-176 4 Cusack, 1973, p125 5 Flett, 1979, pp246-47 6 Perry, 1975, pp33-37
August 1857, a Bendigo newspaper The Courier of the Mines and Bendigo Daily Mail reported the Associations activities. “ We are glad to find that the Whipstick party have lately succeeded in obtaining some assistance (to a very small extent, however) in the town, have set to work in earnest. Four men are at work under a manager”. The committee is opening an entirely new country about 5 miles to the westward of the Flagstaff. The party have been at work only a week, but they have got two shafts down - one to the depth of 22 feet and the other 25 feet; neither of them yet bottomed ... The new ground now being opened up has been christened the Elysian Flat. The Bendigo Advertiser made no mention of operations on Elysian Flat until November 1857, when it announced, “A prospecting party consisting of Messrs. Ross, Mason, Jamieson, Smith & Glover, have struck gold in payable quantities close to the Deadman’s Hut, on the other side of the Whipstick, near the road from Piccaninny Creek to Myer’s Flat. The results are about one ounce to the load.” By November, some dozen shafts were being sunk, and the greatest rush ever in the Whipstick had commenced. The Victorian Government made rewards available for the discovery of new and payable goldfields. On 15 June 1864, the sum of £350 was recommended as payments to discoverers of the Elysian Flat Goldfield. 1 Oct 1857: Whipstick ... In October 1857 a party consisting of P. G. Emmett, Eugene Ross, Alexander Lovell, Christopher D. Smith, Robert Jamieson and W T Glover, discovered a new goldfield north of Flagstaff Hill in the Whipstick, which became known as Elysian Flat, which was surveyed soon after as Neilborough. This party applied for and was paid a reward of £350 by the Rewards Board in 1864. By May 1858 there were 5585 diggers working in the Whipstick. The bulk of these were at Elysian Flat, but soon after this lead was lost and not rediscovered until 1862. 2 1857 - 1904: Greatest rush in the Whipstick was to Elysian Flat in Nov 1857. It was rich nugget country and from 1858 to 1904, 21 nuggets ranging from 22 to 240 oz were recovered. 16 of this number found during 1858, the boom year at Elysian Flat. 3 1 Perry, 1975, pp38-41 2 Flett, 1979, p247 3 Perry, 1975,p172
Page 1 and 2: Bendigo General History 1851: The o
Page 3 and 4: Jan 1852: Though less than twelve m
Page 5 and 6: 1852: Three quarters of a mile nort
Page 7 and 8: unpredictable nature of gold diggin
Page 9 and 10: 1853: Bendigo Reefs ... In April 18
Page 11 and 12: 1854: The old year died miserably -
Page 13 and 14: 1855/57: The Whipstick Diggings wer
Page 15: 1856: Most of the small gullies wer
Page 19 and 20: April 1858: In April 1858 the local
Page 21 and 22: Aug 1859: No 1, or Kangaroo Flat Di
Page 23 and 24: 1850s: The most easterly of the thr
Page 25 and 26: No improvement in alluvial mining i
Page 27 and 28: Alluvial mining remains much in the
Page 29 and 30: Paddy’s Gully Reef: the entire li
Page 31 and 32: 1860: Whipstick - In 1860 gold was
Page 33 and 34: The Huntly and Epsom Crushing and P
Page 35 and 36: All the claims in the vicinity of t
Page 37 and 38: Nov 1860: Kangaroo Flat Division Th
Page 39 and 40: Jan 1861: April 1861: obtained some
Page 41 and 42: March 1861: April 1861: Eaglehawk D
Page 43 and 44: May 1861: Eaglehawk and Huntly Divi
Page 45 and 46: Whipstick gullies The lead at Sebas
Page 47 and 48: operation, and proved most satisfac
Page 49 and 50: feet square along the line of the r
Page 51 and 52: June 1864. June 1864: In consequenc
Page 53 and 54: Sept 1864: I have the honour to inf
Page 55 and 56: Dec 1864: During the last quarter t
Page 57 and 58: 1865+: Coliban system: scheme to ta
Page 59 and 60: June 1865: Kangaroo Flat Subdivisio
Page 61 and 62: Sept 1865: Dec 1865: contracted for
Page 63 and 64: 1865 : Despite the Whipstick rushes
Page 65 and 66: The stampers are again at work, and
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The total number of miners is as fo
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March 1867: Sandhurst Division. [N
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June 1867: Raywood Division [E P Vi
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1868: The Old House at Home Hotel w
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1868: Snowball Gully Rush to Snowba
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1870: a depth of 1,873 feet, the mi
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Referring to this subject, Mr Koch,
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Mar 1871: It would be difficult to
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abandoned, and shares in the older
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great importance. The events most w
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Above all, Thureau was impressed by
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It is to be regretted that the Hust
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At the White Hills a considerable a
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1880s: In 1861 the Cornishman, Abra
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Dec 1880: Mining operations have be
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Dec 1881: Sandhurst Division [N G S
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The central group on this line, hav
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Sept 1883: Eaglehawk Subdivision (F
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The Old Chum Company is opening out
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The Lady Barkly Company -…Main sh
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Early in the present quarter, the V
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Duchess Tribute Company - The 684-f
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Eaglehawk Division ... mining in th
Page 113 and 114:
June 1887: Sandhurst Division - The
Page 115:
late 1880s: In 1874 slightly more t
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