MEMORIES CONNECTED WITH THE EARLY Gold Discoveries IN VICTORIA

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 36, 1 December 1894, Page 6

MEMORIES CONNECTED WITH THE EARLY Gold Discoveries IN VICTORIA

(Bt an Old Identity).

(Written for the Southern Cross.) [all rights reserved.] CHAPTER XY.

Han Burns decides to make Things lively.—Reinforcements for both Camps. Characteristics op the New-Com-ers.

Striking contrasts to Melville were the drunken, foul-mouthed, loathsome creatures we were brought into contact with a few weeks later, and whose unwholesome society fate thrust upon us for several months. After the departure of Mclnnes we prospected various likely - looking places at some distance from camp, and discovered gold in each in what would now-a-days be considered highly remunerative returns. Only one spot, however, came up to our expectations, and we decided to settle down regularly to work there. It was situated about a mile from our tent, and as the latter belonged to Burns we were obliged to divulge to him our discovery, and offered to “ lay him on” to a payable place if he would shift camp to the works. This he consented to do. We concluded the ground was equally profitable for about 40 yards square, and he was given his choice of a part of it. He declined, however, to choose any particular portion himself, preferring, he said, that I would make a selection for him, giving as a reason that I was the “ lucky ” member of the party in consequence of uny having been the first to discover .gold in that quarter. Thus urged, I pegged off for him about 60ft. square, and for thefirst timefora month he set in to work with a will. By a strange Treak of fortune I selected for him the best piece of ground that was opened during the six months I was on the creek, while the part reserved for ourselves became exhausted after a few weeks’work. That, however, did not cause us much anxiety, as there was abundance of auriferous wealth to be bad in every direction for the seeking. The stripping was only a few feet deep, and with a tin dish only Burns washed some 18oz. out the first week. In a few hours one day he filled from ;a “ pocket ” a match-box with nuggets varying from half-a-dwt. to balf-an-ounce. Being unable to abstain Irom drink for any length of time, he then, with his readily-acquired wealth, and only a small part of his ground wrouget out, decided to have a “ spell,” as be called it. Liquor in large quantities was now flowing into Spring Creek and Tipperary Flat —where the Irishmen were located —but as Burns made it a point, for reasons previously mentioned, to keep clear of places where there was a chance of being recognised, he elected to go back to Ballan, where he held his orgies during the time we were at the survey camp. There, while his money lasted, he knew he was safe from arrest, as few respectable people stayed at the one shanty in the place longer than was absolutely necessary to obtain hasty refreshments. There also he was more likely to meet the class of men he delighted to associate with—the outlaws that made the neighbouring Bullarook Forest a refuge during the day, and emerged from it at nightfall to fraternise together and plan robberies. Ballan was at that period a place cf bad repute. Being on the high road to Ballarat, and skirted by densely-timbered country, it was a point of vantage for road agents to prey on the unwary travellers that were constantly passing to and fro between Melbourne and the great Eldorado. The 23 miles that Burns had to -tramp to indulge his craving for liquor was a secondary consideration

with him. He possessed an iron constitution, and was used to bush travel. The track: also had become fairly defined by this time, and no fear was entertained that any need again be lost in journeying between Cartwright’s and Ballan. After measuring off his claim he placed landmarks upon it to enable him to detect if it had been encroached upon in his absence, and with a light, jaunty step, inspired b\ T the possession of some £7O worth of gold, he disappeared one morning, with a fervent hope on our part that Providence would so ordain that we would never see his face again. For some days prior to his leaving I noticed that he frequently endeavoured to shape into a curl in the centre of his forehead a lock of his naturally straight hair. Enquiring his object in making such a tonsorial alteration, I received an evasive answer. Later on, however, I learned from one of his associates similarly adorned while in a half-drunken and confidential mood, that the curl was the distinguishing mark of the Van Demonian convict brotherhood, and that their token or password was “ Diamond cut Diamond,” or for the sake of brevity, “ D. cut D.” A fortnight had passedwithout a sign of Burns’ return, and we had begun to hope that we had seen the last of him. It was not to be, however. On the fifteenth night after his departure we were congratulating ourselves on being relieved of his presence when the sound of approaching footsteps broke on the surrounding stillness, and to our extreme annoyance the miscreant staggered up to us, and threw himself down in front of our fire. He was far gone in drink, and in an incoherent way demanded food. Having satisfied his hunger be became communicative, and related particulars of bis jollification and the choice friends he had met with. He then inquired if we had been working his claim, and, without waiting for a .reply, added in a threatening manner —“If anyone has

lifted them pegs or put a pick in that ground I’ll put a pick in his head.” Being assured on the subject, he informed us that he had agreed to take on three mates to assist in working his claim. Two of them would be at the creek when they finished “ a little job ” they had in hand. The latter information was vouchsafed in a significant way that implied the job in question was not a creditable one. The third partner, he said, was lying drunk at Ballan when he left, and would, he thought, arrive next evening. He himself had parted with the last of the money he got for his gold two days before. He received from the landlord of the shanty two bottles of gin on trust before he left that morning, and had drank, the last of them just before reaching the camp. While imparting these particulars ihe was smoking an old black clay pipe, and after a few minutes’ rumination he remarked—“ This is a lonely place now, but I can tell you ’twill be lively enough before long, or my name isn’t Burns.” That was the gist of his first conversation after arrival, and it is needless to say it was copiously interlarded with blasphemy and low colonial slang. What we had just heard had a disheartening effect on Johnny and myself. Besotted and besmirched as he appeared after his heavy debauch and long journey, we could have been content to remain in the place for a while if w'e had had only himself to deal with. But with three others perhaps equally depraved, we felt that our position would be intolerable, and decided, after he had retired, to sacrifice our prospects, and leave for some other field. The previous resolutions I had made to part with Burns were always counteracted by some inscrutable trick of fate, and the latest decision arrived at on the subject met with no better success.

On th« following morningthere were unexpected arrivals at our camp. In his cups at Ballan Burns had been descanting on the glowing prospects at Sailor’s Creek. His description of the place soon got wind in the township, and'the two men that now appeared had tracked him when he started the previous morning. They had stayed at Cartwright’s during the night, and got to the creek while we were having breakfast. They bore the appearance of being hard-working, honest men, and after conversing with them for some time—during which I noticed that Burns regarded them with his usual sinister side-look, as if displeased with their presence on the field—l encqunged them to remain, feeling that the company of a few trustworthy persons in so lonely and dangerous a place was highly desirable. One of the twain was a stalwart seafaring man. His appearance indicated that without inquiry. He had been a Sydney whaler in bygone years, and had left his ship when she touched at the Fijis. He had been inured to every description of hardship and danger during a long residence amongst the savages of the South Sea Islands ; but withal bad the genial, frank style of the typical British sailor. Such a man I felt would be a host in himself if we came into collision with Burns and his party, and so I again decided to hold on to where I was doing so well. The other new arrival was a carpenter by trade —a native of Taunton, England, and had been a resident of Sydney for some year* before the golden era. Of him more anon.

Having by constant prospecting gained a knowledge of several payable parts of the creek, I took these two into, my confidence, and laid them on to ground that would give good returns for their labour. Being satisfied with the result of their first day’s working, they erected their tent, and made preparations to stay. They had with them a small, light vehicle, resembling a costermonger’s handcart, containing a complete miner’s outfit, and I noticed with much satisfaction that they were in possession of an excellent doublebarrelled gun —an invaluable acquisition as a means of defence in our peculiar position. I felt that thus armed, except taken at a disadvantage, we were fully a match for Burns and his new friends. Other shelter and accommodation had, however, to be obtained, and the following day we procured from Spring Creek the necessary calico for a ‘•gunyah.” This we erected close to the new-comers, and it was our only shelter during the five mouths we remained on the creek. • On shifting our belongings from Burns’s tent, he was closely watching our movements. The last thing I took possession of was our little bag of gold containing what we had earned sinc« the Mclnnes robbery. It had been buried near the front of the tent, and when I rooted it up from the ground, with the instinct of a born thief he greedily snatched at it, and endeavoured to wrest it from me. .Luckily my male was .within hail, and in response to a signal he quickly came to my rssistance. In a nervous sort of way Burns stated that he was only having a lark. Experience, however, taught me that if there was no fear of unpleasant donsequences something more serious would have occurred at that time. To one of his thievish propensities it was a source of deep chagrin to be thus frustrated a second time in his intention to purloin our property. And it actually hidden within his own tent, and walked over by him ■everal times daily for a month! It was an incident I felt he would not forget when a seasonable opportunity offered for revenge. We now fairly understood each other, and the strained relations that had subsisted between us for some time developed into antipathy on both sides. A weight, however, had been taken off my mind in the sense of security experienced by the society of the late arrivals, and as all of us were on fairly rich ground, with nearly half-a-mile intervening between us and Burns’ tent.

time passed more cheerily than any I had felt since my arrival in the colony. Our seafaring friend’s nightly recitals of his adventures and hairbreadth escapes in the South Sea Islands, and in Auckland during the Hone Heke war, were instructive and entertaining. Even in these distant parts the accounts of the fabulous gold discoveries in Australia had been freely circulated, and all that could leave for them had done so. Jack Curtis, our whaling friend, had caught the fever badly with other white residents of Fiji, and although from his robust physical proportions and fighting capacity hehad become a prime favourite of Thakombau —the then cannibal king of these islands —and was permitted by him many indulgences, including an unlimited supply of wives to work for him, Jack could nob resist the temptation offered of making arise on the Australian diggings. He wanted, he said, only £2OO. With that he would go back to the islands, and be independent for the rest of bis life. He was not long in realising his modest ambition, for he acquired gold valued at more than £2OO in less than two months, and to our surprise, after darkness set in one evening, announced that he intended to leave for Melbourne that night. With so many desperadoes infesting the locality, he thought it safer to travel at night than during the day. By sleeping in secluded spots, in the bush during daylight he hoped to reach Melbourne in two days. He had not divulged his intention even to his mate until he was ready to start in case his departure became known to Burns and his confederates —two of the latter having arrived on the creek, as expected, shortly after we removed to our new quarters. Jack wisely concluded that if they became aware he was leaving with a quantity of gold the information would soon be conveyed to their friends in Bullarook, and he would, in all probability be “ bailed up ” or murdered. Curtis had been -working payable grouud -when he thus hastily decided, but having realised the amount he wanted, and longing for the easy, sensuous life he had been so long enjoying, no persuasion or inducement could alter his resolution to clear out. Accordingly after dividing their gold, and partaking of supper, he made up a light swag and left on as lonely and dreary a trip,as can well be imagined —a journey that few except the hardiest and most courageous would care to venture upon. I never heard of him afterwards, but it is to be hoped that The sweet little cherub that sits up aloft Kept a watch o’er the life of poor Jack. The mere-fact of a man venturing at night-time on such a perilous journey through a densely timbered forest infested by bands of cut-throats, will afford some idea of the risks and anxieties of-tbose who won wealth on the outlying goldfields at that period, and who had to convey it on their persons to distant places of safety. Curtis’s mate was named Tom Kintock. ’He had a wife and family in Sydney, and these responsibilities, together with having the pick of an unlimited area of auriferous ground — a chance that might not occur again in a life-time induced him to remain with ns. Our position had become materially weakened by onr friend’s departure, butas we still had the double-barrelled gun —Curtis having left without any weapons of defence —the proximity of the outlaws to our camp did not occasion us much anxiety.

We had on several occasions at a distance seen Burns and his mates at their workings, and from a rise convenient to their camp noticed as they squatted round their fire at night that they had procured a fresh supply of liquor. This they appeared to freely use, hut up to the time of Curtis’ departure they exhibited no B io-ns of intoxication, and had not troubled us with their presence. A few nights later, however, the three worthies put in an appearance when we were about to retire, and made a show of friendliness by offering us drink from a square gin bottle.

We had anticipated a visit from them for some time, and had agreed on a policy of reserve and on no account to accept of drink if they offered it, in case it was “ hocuased,” and he placed at their mercy from its effects.

The reason of our hesitancy in accepting their offer was quickly interpreted, and in order to convince us that the drink was genuine Burns poured out about half-a-pannikin and each of the three drank a portion of it. Being thus assured that there was no intention to stupefy ns, and desirous to live at peace if possible, we each partook of a small quantity, and conversed with them for some time. Their 4 visit was evidently with the intention of restoring confidence, and for some weeks later they called regularly and exchanged ideas on various subjects. They never omitted an opportunity to enquire as to the returns our ground yielded, and under pretence of being candid, informed us of their own weekly earnings since setting in to work, but being satisfied that they had sinister intentions toward us, we were guarded in our 'answers to their queries. Their now frequent visits enabled ns to form a fair estimate of the character of the two rascals we had been informed by Burns had a “ job in hand ” when he left Ballan. Although insignificant in apppearance, and guarded in their language and demeanour during each visit, we were conscious that both had an amount of low cunning and duplicity in their nature that compensated for lack of physical strength —thus making them almost as dangerous as their senior partner. They were addressed by Burns as “Bat ” and “ Jerry.” Bat was a small, wiry, hatchetfaced person, with an egg-shaped head. By his own account he was a native of Birmingham, and like Burns had the short, jerky step that denoted long service in chain gangs. He was what onr American cousins would designate a “ sneak thief ” one that would commit any petty larceny—even to the robbing of a blind man of his last copper —but who would not risk danger to accomplish his purpose. He would be useful as a spy or tout for the more daring members of the thieving fraternity, and was doubtless generally engaged by them in these capacities. There was not a redeeming feature in his composition. He was the essence of meanness, cowardice, and deceit, and it did not need a physiognomist to discern that he would sell his friends either for a money consideration, to save his own skin, or to gratify malice. In short, from his fox-like craftiness, and his ability to secrete his pigmy person in places where more robust fram'es would become discernible, he required to be kept under stricter supervision than the other members of the gang. His qualifications to harm us were unfortunately overlooked unljil too late, as my mate learned to his vexation and cost shortly after making his acquaintance.

The man called Jerry was o£ a totally different mould to either of his friends, and were it not for the company he kept would be regarded with feelings of sympathy and pity. He was hunch-backed, and, like the other two, wore the twisted curl in the centre of his brow—the insignia of penal service. He had a singular cast of countenance. The forehead was low and broad, and from it the outlines of the face suddenly tapered in, terminating in a sharp peak-like chin. With' the exception of thin, reddish eyebrows the face was hairless. The nose was flat, and like the contour of the head triangular shaped. The eyes were small, sunken, and hoggish in expression. Taking him all in all he was a strikingly repulsive to look upon, and yet he was not what would be termed an uninformed person. He was a native of Dublin, was well-posted up in book lore, and was conversant with the history of his native country for centuries. Unlike his companions, he never used profane language except when far gone in drink. He kept a memorandum

book, and I noticed that he frequently made jottings in it relative to subjects that were discussed nightly over the camp fire. He was not obtrusive in conversation or demeanour, and seldom took part in controversial questions until his opinion thereon was requested. When the offence was discovered that made him amenable to the laws of his country he succeeded in making his way to France, and was in Paris during the stirring times of ’4B, when Louis Napoleon made his notorious coup d'etat. The scenes in the French capital at that terrible period seemed to be deeply impressed on his memony, and his allusions to them were the only times in which he displayed either emotion or fluency. His descriptions of the fights at the various barricades were minutely particularised. He returned to Ireland after peace had been restored, and was arrested, tried, convicted, and got a free passage to Van Dieman’s Land for the misdemeanour that led to his French experiences. On arriving at Hobart, after a short service in the hard labour gang, he was assigned to a country settler, where his educational acquirements gained for him respite from physical toil, and he became teacher or tutor to his employer’s family. He had only served half his time when through good conduct and interest he procured his ticket of leave and gravitated to Victoria on the breaking out of the goldfields. Jerry’s anticipations of easily acquiring wealth in his new sphere of action were not realised. His personal disfigurements prevented him from procuring honourable employment, and the hard work of mining life was unsuited to his taste and limited bodily strength. As might be expected, when other means of procuring a living failed he joined those in Melbourne that subsisted by preying on society. With them his tact and sagacity soon came to be recognised, and he was promoted by them to the position of “ planner ” or “ putter up" of burglaries and highway robberies. In the latter capacity he was located in and about Bullarook when Burns made his acquaintance at Ballan, and offered him a mateship in his claim on Sailor Creek. The foregoing, and more, of Jerry’s career I learned when, over our camp fire, his tongue became unloosed by heavy potations of rum. He was always sufficiently guarded in his cups, however, to conceal the crime that led to his banishment to Van Dieman’s Land. From his note-book that I accidentally became possessed of one day I found almost every other leaf written upon in a different style of caligraphy, and by his aptitude in that accomplishment I opined that Jerry had a penchant for forging cheques or other valuable documents when engaged in the clerical occupation he stated he was employed at prior to his retirement to France.

Whether right or wrong, Jerry considered himself ill-used by being sentenced to 14 years’ transportation, and was accustomed to express forcible denunciation of British rule in general and of the administration of its law courts in particular. Jerry’s finedrawn distinctions between Crown prisoners in Tasmania were highly amusing. When speaking of some he would refer to them by the opprobrious term of “lags,” but invariably classed himself an an “ exile,” the implication he desired to convey being that he was expatriated for some venial offence that he need not be ashamed of, and deserved sympathy instead of disapprobation. He had committed to memory quite a vocabulary of suggestive Scriptural quotations —doubtless learned in prison to incite leniency. These he was in the habit of using freely in his remarks during discussions that took place nightly over the camp fire —the object evidently being to make the less experienced listeners believe thathewas the possessor of a store of untapped wisdom and uncorrupted virtue. In short, Jerry was an arrant hypocrite and a skilled diplomatist in managing the affairs of thieving confederacies, and both Burns and Bat deferred to him on all occasions when problems affect-

in# their mutual interests were under review. His evidently was the mas* ter-mind of the trio, and for that reason we kept him under closer observation than the coarser members of his party. (To be continued.)