Derby and the Kimberley Goldfields DIFFICULTIES EN ROUTE. Advlce to Miners.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 156, 29 May 1886, Page 5

Derby and the Kimberley Goldfields DIFFICULTIES EN ROUTE. Advlce to Miners.

A Melbourne telegram to the ** Sydney Telegraph " of May 19th says :—The miners from South Australia and Victoria appear determined to give the Kimberley goldfields a trial, and the exodus has fairly set in. On Sunday night the B. I. Company's steamer Khandalla arrived from Adelaide, en route for King's Sound, with 34 passengers for there, together with a large quantity of stores and several horses, all of which will be added to from here and Sydney. On leaving the latter ahe will be a full ship both as regards passengers and cargo, having of the former 62 in the tteerage, a full complement in the saloon, and included in the freight are 20 cows, SO horses and 200 rams. Twenty-four horees were taken in at Adelaide,3o shipped here.and the remainder will be shipped at Sydney. The following monthly ship of the line is the Simla, and she will also be laid on to touch at King's Sound. In the interim, however, Meesra Huddart, Parker and Co., the agents here, have been advised that the Duke of Sutherland, one of the company s large steamers, having a tonnage of 3,138 tons, is to make a trip from Melbourne and Sydney to King's Sound.

A Well equipped Party. The steamer Khandalla, which lef fe Port Adelaide on Friday afcernoon for King's Sound, took away several parties of diggers for Kimberley goldfiolds. This is stated by the "South Australian Advertiser " to be the first party of thoroughly equipped diggers who have left for Western Australia, and, could the vessel have accommodated more, a much larger number of men would have gone in her. The 'tween decks have been fitted up with open berths, and nearly all these were secured by Sydney partie3 of gold diggers. The men who left by the Khandalla for the goldfields were provisioned for about six months. It may be of interest to know that it is very costly to fit out a digger in a proper manner. Each man has to provide himself with threehorses, andsomeof the men who went away on Friday had four horses each. They have pack and rid in £ saddles, harness drays and provender for the horses, besides provisions for themselves. Each man is equipped at a cost of about £100. Four of the parties were got up by wellknown Victorian diggers, who have been over 30 years on the goldfields. The Cossack correspondent of the " Perth Daily News," under date 3rd inst., telegraphs that on the Friday previous the cutter Willie arrived at Cossack from Derby with James Ellery and J. Bussell on board, as passengers. They state that before they left Derby, Mr Valentine Hest6r informed them of having fallen in, near Fitzroy River, with two men named Angus and Morgan who showed him a nugget weighing 2|lb., together with about 21b. of smaller gold, which they found while scratching the surface only 100 miles from Derby. The whole of the gold in their possession was valued at £250. The goldfields are pronounced a success. .Under date of the sth inst., the same correspondent reports : — " Steamer Albany, from Derby, brought the following news respecting the Kimberley goldfields. A man has arrived at Derby having in his possession 80oz. of gold. Up to the date of the Albany leaving Derby, 600oz. bad been brought io. At Cambridge Gulf complaints are rife, owiDg to the want of stores for diggers. The Albany had on board 180oz. of gold from the Kimberley diggings. Largb numbers of people continue to arrive at Derby from all parts. For storekeepers and capitalists there are splendid prospects It is believed that large quantities of gold from the Kimberley "district have been obtained by some diggers from the eastern colonies, unknown to the authorities. Up to date it is estimated that upwards of 1,2000z. have been eecured,and from present appearances there is every probability o* the diggings proving thobest ever discovered io Australasia. At Derby land has consider ably increased in value, and already a numder of town blocks have changed hands. At the time of the Albany's departure five teams were leaving Derby for the goldfields. The Perth correspondent of the " Ballarat Courier," under date Bth intt.j gives the following as the latest intelligence from Derby :— " The quantity of gold brought to that township from th a diggings shows about I.OOOoz. up to the 6th inst. Sofar the diggers claim the township of Derby as the place of departure of and entry for the goldfield,but the Surveyor-General ia of opinion that Cambridge Guif ia the most fit place to command the Kimberley district and it is more than probable when takinginthe immense district of Kimberley, which of necessity includes the grazing interest as well as the diggers' interest, that Mr Forest is right. Suppose you take a 'fore cabin 9 in the Adelaide Steamship Company's boats, your passage money from Melbourne to Fremantle would be £8 10s. You might, if several of you were eoing together, get it a little cheaper. From Fremantle to Derby the passage would cost you, in the ' front ealoon/ £9, , and if you determined to sail for Cambridge Gulf the voyage would be lengthened another 500 miles, and this part of the voyage would cos>t you more, in proporportion, than any other part of the voyage of the same distance; besides the boat seldom goes to the gulf unless with a Government " party, co that you may set it down at once to sail for Derby. Once arrived, make up your minds for 300 or 400 miles journeying on land before you reach the diggings The alternative route is by Queensland to Fort Darwin. From that Dort you are about 250 miles from Cambridge Gulf, but once arrived at Port Darwin, you, in certain seasons, might reach the goldbeating country as quick overland as you can from Derby. Kow then, you will see j what is before a man in search of gold at Kimberley. I hope I have made the course plain to you. If you have a good constitution and sufficient money to back you up ybu might try it, but without both these necessaries I cay ' don't,' for those men who ( returned to Derby on March 26th last suffering from ague, brought on not on the ~ diggings but in consequence of expoeure on the way down, have, after a change of air in Perth, gone to their usual trades again." yhfl tojmebip of Derby ia situated, on a spit of land running out into the eea, and is surrounded on two sides and the base of the site by a mangrove swamp of some 17 miles in extent. The . exhalations rising from this flwamp at night and during the early morning hours are wafted right over the towaehip, being productive A muph fever, an d ague.' In fact,' Derby cannot be considered to.bea very healthy place in . which to live. "Until lately the townspeople ' had to procure their drinking water four miles from their plac&3 of residence, convey1 ing if to tbeir.-;houees as' tfest' Jshey could ; bufe lately, it has been found 1 that good WAbßr can be procured in the town by sinkiDe tbrouehthe trap-reck to 'the depth of

about twelve or fifteen feet. The township consists at present of only thirteen buildings, the majority of which are stoveß, while one is devoted to the purpose of supplying thirsty persona with fluid refreshments—it ia in reality a so-called "hotel." Besides these, however, a number of tents have been recently erected within the boundaries of the townsite, so that Derby can boast, as Melbourne once did, of possessing a "Canvas Town," while the population consiets of not more than 150 or 160 souls all told. The goldfields, about which so much has lately been beard, are situated nearly four hundred miles from the port, and are also very difficult of aocess. None but strong well-equipped parties can hope to Burniount the dim cultiea of the journey between Derby and the new El Dorado. An impveesion is abroad that the goldfields are situated upon the banks of the Ord river, but this is a mistake. Mr Hardman first discovered "the colour "on the banks of that river, but the diggers who ptoceeded to the place at once left it, to follow up the indications Found in other directions. About 650 ounces of gold have been unearthed, nearly the whole of which have been taken from the ground in the neighbourhood of the Elvire. In no case, as yet known, have the prospec tora sunk more than 3 feet below the surface, the major portion of the goM obtained having been found among the roots of the tussocks of spinifex, with which the district abounds. The whole country is very lightly timbered with a species of stunted white gum, which is practically ueeless except as firewood: The g«ld is very widely distributed, "colour" being found wherever the earth has been •' panned out," but " pocbetB " (and these only of a very small kind) have as yet been found only in the beds of the gullies. In all probability the wealth of the district will depend upon the quartz reefs, with which it is so thickly intersected ; and judging from the quartz specimens brought from that district that we have seen, a pereon taking a small stamp-crushing machine there would coup all the expenses he in curred by so doing in a couple of crushings. Several diggers lately arrived at Derby from the eastern colonies, but upon finding out that tbey had still four hundred miles to travel before reaching the as yet really undefined goldfields, they sold all their belongings and departed in disguet. That there is gold in plenty in the district is certain, but it will take much capital to properly test and fully develop the auriferous resources of the country. Poor men had better keep away from Derby, or they will arrive there only to become burdens upon a small and struggling community.