A VICTORIAN LEGEND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7948, 25 January 1906, Page 3

A VICTORIAN LEGEND.

' There recently died in Viotoria Daniel Cameron, tbe hero of one of the most picturesque stories of the early days of the gold-diggings. The story of Daniel Cameron, after his election to the Legislative Council in the early fifties, riding fiown the range from Woolshed Valley to Beechworth at the head of his redshirkd supporters, oa a horse shod with massive shoes of gold, has gone all over the world, and been quoted time and again as an example of tbe barbaric extravagance of the goldfields, It is unfortunate that the facts of history seriously detract from the picturesqueness of this itn pressive story, but it ia so. The facts of the case, aa given to the Melbourne Argus by an eje-witaess, who afterwards rose to a prominent place in the Civil Rervice were as follow:—The diggers of Woolshed Valley put up Mr Cameron as their candidate for the seat ; and iu a remarkably short space of time subscribed tbe £2OOO monetary qualification, which he lacked. Johnston, the king of tbe diggings, started ihe fund with £IOO. Johnston had-led six men to the diggings, and after weeks and weeks of fighting against water, had confessed liimself beaten. "The boys," however, out of generosity, gave him a week's work free, and by striking the richest part of the field, provided Johnston with ever £50,000 in a few weeks. Jt was a case of Woolshed versus the- world at the election, and there was wild excitement. Johnston paid £145 for the first round of drinks on polling day. When the 'voting was over, nearly the whole of Woolshed accompanied Cameron to Beecbwoitb, k for the declaration of the poll, and * it is just at this point that fiction was brought into the incident. There waß at this time in Beechworth u circus . proprietor named Brown, who had a keen eye for an advertisement. One of the 'attractions of tne circus was a horse trained to lie on its baok and flourish its, hoofs in the air, snowing the audience that it wore shoes of gold. The shoes, which wore of fairly solid gold, were taken off after the performance and exhibited. Brown saw in the demonstration of Cameron's supporters a fine advertisement, so he proposed that the new member should bo drawn through the streets of Beecbworth in a gaudy circus carriage, by the with the gold shoes. The visitors tumped At the offer, ttn news spread like wildfire, and people poured into the streets to see the unique spectacle. Cameron was overlooked, the desire was to see the horse with the shoes of Woolshed gold. So this most interesting story becomes degraded to a mere matter of good business for a circus.