INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 154, 25 August 1883, Page 11

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST.

By Nemo. * Hfo. XV. — The Ballarat Insurrection — The Most Authentic Account Ever Published — An Old Digger Tells the Sto?-y — " The Diggers' Charley " — First Days of the Ballarat Jtush — Grog Shanties — Greenbacks — The * First Woman — The Obnoxious Licences — — W The Fine Old Sport of Digger • hunting — Sir Charles Sotham, and the Quarter-deck Regime. In the course of my mining career it was my good fortune to make the acquaintance of an old digger •who had been an eye-witness of the Ballarafc insurrection, if not, as I strongly suspected, an active participator in the fight between the GoTernment forces and the insurgents at the Eureka Stockade. He was a tall, lithe man, of great muscular power, with strongly marked features, and hair and beard in which age and the storms of a. life of adventure had already began to leave their traces. The general expression of his features indicated an open and a generous nature, -with a good deal of intellectual power, if not somewhat of a philosophic and poetic temperament. But the deep lines, and the calm earnest look of his blue eyes, showed he was also a man of strong passions and emotions. He had travelled and read "much, and thought more, and, like the majority of his class, took a practical and intelligent view of things. When drawn out, he was fond of relating anecdotes of his past life and experience, and on these occasions I was greatly struck with his powers of vivid description, and his wonderful memory. One evening, after a case of unusual interest in the Police Court, in which there had been some rather hard swearing by two troopers, the conversation turned on the relations between the police and the diggers, and my friend made'some reference to the insurrection at Ballarat. Uow, at various times I had heard diggers allude to this affair, but, so far, had never heard a correct story of the outbreak. I pricked up my ears at once, and asked : " Were you present at the fight in the stockade?" " Well, I believe I saw it." " I wisli you would tell me all about it. It's early yet, and as we have nothing to do this evening, you might while away an hour or two by telling me the story." "" I hadn't much to do with it ; I was only a looker-on ; and I don't know that there is much in it that would interest you." "Well, old man, tell me the story, at anyrate. I'm sure it will be very interesting." My friend slowly knocked the ashes out of his pipe, drank off a pannikin of tea, and proceeded asTfollows, while I seated myself at the rough table, and surreptitiously took notes of his naraftive: — -" It's a long yarn, arsrl I reckon I'll send you to sleep before I'lUiiah i< i'ou r.ew-chum coves haven't $.uy idea of the state oi things In the ' times I apeali of— iv fifty-ilm*'.' and lifty-Four. ■•^Hfcjrnor^La Trobe, niter siioUni? to a snug bUtt fcsv twelve- ye: rs, went Horns; *"*vith £84,000 of a pile, and Charier — Si): Cimrte.: Hocham — ] stepped hug his r-".oes, 'ivifch a -crew o' £15,000 ! a-year, Wu diggers bad put l:t> v.i(,h ai./ :imount j of tyranny and ciioek from hordes of commissioners and traps, in gold and silver lace, with jingling swords and guns and revolvers, befoiv; that ; but when Hotham and his missus enme up to Ballarat and stroked us down the back with a lot- of soft-sawder, we got quite loyal and enthusi- | astic-like, presented 'em with nuggets and things, shouted ' God Save the Queen,' and got gloriously drunk all over the diggings. The champagne flowed, I can tell you, like a water-race. We thought things would mend. The Governor seemed such a jolly old buffer, and we called him * Our Charley,' 'The Diggers' Charley/ and so oh. " You Dever saw such a rush as there was to Ballarat. This Indigo isn't a patch on it. It was all sheep runs in 1851, with grassy slopes, shady glades, and green valleys, through which the clear waters murmured along ; Black Hill was partly timbered, the valleys were thinly spriukled with trees, and there was a forest all over Golden Point, Bakery, Specimen, and Sinclair's Hills. But when Esmond and Cavenagh got 501bs. weight of gold in two days a big rush set in, and everything changed as if by magic. At first there were only a few prospectors scattered about, pretty soon they were lost among the crowded lines and groups of tents that sprung up like mushrooms on the slopes and flats, the sound of j axes and the crash of falling timber were heard all day long, the green banks of the Yarrowee were j lined with tubs and cradles and shoals of tailings, ' while the limpid water was changed to a sludge- | channel. Little hillocks of red, yellow, and white ear.th broke out, like freckles, till the whole country was in a state of eruption. Merchants, parsons, clerks, Government officials, shopmen, ' farmers, and mechanics threw up their billets arid rushed to the diggings, many leaving grass j widows, and children to look after themselves. Business was at a standstill in Melbourne and Cieeiong. Shops were closed, houses deserted, and even schools shut up. The sailors deserted from the ships, which were laid up for, want of hands. In three years there were between 30,000 and 40,00 people on Ballarat, with lines of streets, composed of canvas and wooden houses, churches, theatres, hotels, stores, bowling alleys, flAtcing saloons, and sly -grog shops. In 1852 fiour was Is 3d a pound ; tea, 3a 6d ; sugar, Is j bread, 10£ d ; bacon, 3s ; butter, 3s 6d ; potatoes, Bd.-; and milk was not to be got for love or money!. There wasn't much coin, and we generally paid the storekeepers in gold-dust. Paper waa scarce, and we used to carry our tucker from the stores in a box, billy, or handkerchief ; I often carried mine in my shirt. Cartage from G-eelong was £80 to £90 a ton. One publican paid £1500 a-week for cartage for seven months running, jso. you can guess what a lot of swiping there, was. One chap used to run 122 pubs, and grog-shanties. Of course, you've heard of Yankee greenbacks. Well, w e had plenty of 'em at Ballarak Yp» got little lithographed Bhinplasters from five bob upwards on Melbourne or Geelong, WitH'pwimises to pay ( ' one day after sight.' One fi fe»re>,tnraefl v up its nose at' the- notes of another, and the notes were no good:. except sat fi>\i& store-.

! Russian serf. Fromvthe first there had been a strong objection to the licenses. When O'Connor's party paid the first fee of 15s, thej were hooted and pelted. We were treated more like lags and tieket-o'-men than anything else. The commissioners and peelers gave themselves the airs of Chinese mandarins, and seemed to regard the digger as their natural prey. We had no political representation, no say in anything, even when we knew that the s> stein of administration on the goldfielda was rotten to the core. A movement was begun in Bendigo in 1853 against this gold license, and for representation in Parliament, and it spread all over the diggings like wildfire. But the dunderheaded authorities never saw an inch befoi'e their noses, or they would have understood that freeborn men, men who had faced dangers and carried their lives in their hands, self-reliant free spirits, were not the sort of people to be trampled upon and treated like sailors on the quarter-deck. You have no idea of the bounce and insolence of the Jacks-in-office and mounted troopers of those days. Digger-hunting was rare sport to them. They used to ring us up like bullocks in a stockyard. I've seen a score of troopers with their scabbards clattering, flourishing their glittering swords, and swooping down upon a poor digger, and an officer yelling ' Where's your license ?' And if anyone happened to be too poor to pay the £3 a month, or had left his license in his tent, he was marched off like a thief to the Police camp, and fined £5. Every now and then "you heard the cry of ' Traps ! traps ! Joe ! Joe !' and the diggers slithered away from their tubs and cradles, pursued by the traps like a pack of hounds in full cry after a hare. I've seen_as many as sixty poor devils surrounded, handcuf£ecl7i?nß~ marched off to ' The Logs ' like a chain-gang. Whenever there was a fight and the cry of " a riftgPa *ing !"-'the' peelers used to seize the chance

f but he never seemed to see that he was dealing I with a very different class of men from the yeoI men and labourers and agricultural hinds of his native wolds, that he had to deal with hardy selfreliaut men, whose open air occupation, thorough [ independence, and well-trained sinews gave them I a noble daring, and a generous impetuosity, men free of all masters, knowing that they could get ' gold if they chose to labour. Hotham was out of sympathy with that larger spirit of freedom, those germs of democracy which were quickening into life, and not being brought into that actual contract with these men which would have corrected his old-world prejudices and quarter-deck training and instincts, he was at the mercy of a horde of over-bearing officials and interested Jacks in oiEce." ■ " You talk like a book, Jim." "Well, yes, when I get on this track, I generally warm up with the subject, and somehow get carried away, but if you're getting tired of this long rigmarole, I'll shut up and we'll turn in," and my friend proceeded to take another swig of the " square," and to fill his pipe. " No, no. Go on I go on !" " I've done enough talking for one eight, and you know we must be up with the lark in the morning and try to wash out something to pay that confounded storekeeper, or he'll be stopping our ' tick,' so I'll just have a smoke and turn in. I'll tell you the rest aome other night." (To be continued.)

At an auction at Sotheby's recently of a collection of curiosities, a lot was disposed of consisting of the " rouge pots and paint boxes, " of jibe beauj tiful J&eorgiana Duchess of Devonshire, of „a, former age. '

where you got 'em. When the diggers got slewed they used to light their pipes with these shinplasters'. There used to be a yarn that small new potatoes once served as threepennj-bits in one store, but I never saw it myself. Afterwards we paid in ounces or pennyweights of gold, and if there was any change, we took it out in matches or tobacco. " When I first got there a petticoat was as scarce as _ ag the gold is in our claim ; but we got on pretty well without 'em, though we had our own little rows and barneys. But pretty soon a, fellow got used to the cry, ' There's a woman,' and we left off running out of our tents to have a look at her. I think Mrs Thomas Bath was among the first half-dozen or so that ventured up among us vagabonds and barbarians, but in the next two years they flocked in swarms, good, bad, j and indifferent, and we gradually settled down and got civilised, like people in the towns. We used to pay 8s a dozen for washing— and glad to get it, at that -but now almost every galloot strutted about on Sundays in a white shirt, with a stand-up collar, and a good many got quite good ! and went to church. There's a good deal that's not to my fancy about women, and I never was a favourite among 'em ; but I've always noticed that whenever they get among diggers they somehow make 'em better, and there's less fighting and drinking. Thank you ; I don't care if I do. This talking's rather dry work." This remark was called forth by my producing a bottle of " Holland's " and a pannikin. My friend took a " stiffener " neat, and drawing a long breath, resumed his narrative : — " I 'spose you're getting tired of this long yarn, and want me to get on to theßiot, or insurrection, or rising, or whatever you may please to call it. For my part, mate, I don't call it a riot. It was a — a— protest— that's the word— of free men against tyranny and unconstitutional oppression, which made the life of a digger worse than that of a

to mate a haul, and yell out ' Come out o' that, ye -wretches, and show yer licenses !' Oh, it was rare sport, I can tell you, and you may well laugh, but it wasn't a laughing matter for us, and if you'd been there you'd haye often felt inclined to cry. I used to swear. In October, 1854, ]*ust before the big row, things got worse than ever. The Government sent up an order to the police to have two regular days' digger-hunting a week, and it got livlier than over. It was said that ' Our Charley ' had drawn up a secret cypher for communicating with the officials without the knowledge of hia Executive, but, of course, I can't vouch for that. It was a sight to see a big slouching fellow in clay-stained toga, with a long shaggy beard and towy hair, trembling before a fine gentleman, with hands like a lady's, and a clean shirt whiter than the whitest pipeclay. 'My license is only just run out, air ; I'm hard-up, sir ; I've got a wife and six kids, sir ; and I had to borrow some fkrar from the next tent, sir ; please let me off this time, and I'll pay as soon as I can, sir ;" and then the big official would straighten himself up, scribble something in his pocket-book, and say, ' The law makes no distinction, my man, fined five pounds,' and the poor devil would be marched to gaol. Oh, it was glorious fun ! Just think of a man who hadn't got a pennyweight of gold for a month, who was in debt to his storekeeper, and couldn't get any more " tick," being asked to stump up five notes ! " I don't know why the G-overnor and his advisers, the big bugs in Melbourne, were such a9ses as to keep on poking up the diggers in thi3 way. I think poor Hotham got frightened at the rushes, and wanted to put a check on them. He saw the officials throwing up their billets, the wardei'3 in the gaols resigning, and the population rushing away in all directions, and the poor man lost his head. Ho was one of your obstinate Yorkshire men with quarter-deck ideas of government. He was honest enough, and brave too,