W.M. Veitch

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EUREKA STOCKADE.
INTERESTING SIDELIGHTS
In conversation with a visitor to Wagga Mr W. M. Veitch, of 'Cana' Vale. Coolamon some new and interesting sidelights were thrown upon the story of the early diggings in Victoria, and the famous Eureka Stockade, in 1854. and some of which hitherto have hitherton appeared in print says the 'Wagga Express'. Mr Veitch, who has been a resident of the Coolamon district since 1884, was engaged black smithing on the diggings, and two of his brothers. Thomas and Walter, were in business there as wheelwright and saddler. These two brothers both of whom were natives of Scotland, have since pased into the other world, but Mr W. M. Veitch. is a native of Melbourne, and distinctly, remembers attending with his brothers the opening of the first Presbyterian church erected in Melbourne. The dissatisfaction among the miners, Mr Veitch stated, dated from the proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor in 1851, respecting the issue, of licenses for gold digging, which provided that before a man could search for gold he should pay 30s for a li cense to do so. The diggers murmured at the enforcement of this law, but so intent were they on their work that they paid the tax with tolerable submissiveness and gave but a passing thought to the, injustice of it. The man ner in which it was collected, however, was calculated to crea te discontent and the murmurings became distinct protests up on the issue of a further proclamation announcing the intention of the Government to increase the license fee to £3 per month from 1st January, 1852. The opposition to this was so strong that action was abandoned. The subsequent reduction of the licen se fee to 13s 4d. as the outcome of a mass meeting of the miners settled the question for a short time only. The new Bill did not please, while the tyranny of1 tho officials and police was quite as bad as ever. The riot resulted after the visit, to the goldflelds on 4th Sept., 1851, of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Charles Hotham, His visit to Golden Point was to inquire into the, dispute, but he gained wrong impressions of the field by the fact of the miners showing him over the rich est part first the great gravel pits on Golden Point. Here the alluvial was being cradled with astonishingly rich results, and nuggets several ounces, in weight were being picked out of the wash. There was a tall man the re, from the Emerald Isle, who was familiarly known as "Long Charlie"-- his height was 6ft. 4in. Long Charlie picked up Lady Hotham in his arms and carried her across the mud, and then with His Excellency's walking stick, forced the crowd of miners back while the cradling was being witnessed. Long Charlie then picked out some nuggets from the cradle and rubbing them on his trousers to brighten them, dropped them into Lady Hotham's hand bag. This demonstration led the Governor to think the miners we re steeped in riches, so that when he returned to Melbourne he gave orders to enforce the license stronger than ever. Shortly after this Governor Ho tham was called home, and reprimanded for being the cause of the riot. Either Lord Melbourne or Lord Peel was Premier at the time and orders then came out to place the royalty on the gold won instead of on the license, which action should have been have occurred. Possibly had Governor Hotham been taken to the Dedan [Redan] lead, to the Band of Hope, and the Extended, his report would en at the outset, and no trouble would have been different. Here the gold was finer and was sought at deep levels. The Extended shaft took two years to put down. The richest gold was in the gravel beds of Golden Point. A disturbance arose over an argument regarding the license question at Bentley's hotel one night, with the result that Bentley was supposed to have killed a man by striking him on the head with a shovel whilst he was standing in the back doorway. This infuriated the crowd of miners. Bentley was arrested, but was acquitted. It was learned that the magistrate had an inter est in the hotel. The miners, af ter the acquittal, surrounded the hotel and tried to get at Bentley, but he had wisely taken his departure before they arrived. The police guarded the hotel, but the action of a boy in throwing a stone through a window, brought matters to a climax. While the police were endeavouring to catch the boy, some miners rush ed in and set the building on fire. Being built of light mat erial and a two-storey structure, it burnt fiercely, and was soon razed to the ground. Satisfied wi th their revenge then, the miners returned to the Snd the Southerntockade, and piliffg tho licenses in a little heap burned them also. They, then with cheering, hoisted the Australian flag. To the best of his memory Mr Veitch says the flag was made of calico, with the Union Jack a Cross in red stars. A few days later Mr Veitch was at the Commissioner's Camp, and being then only 14 years of age was told not to go out, as alight was going to take place. Eight talk had been in the air for some days, and as they were wanting to see everything, he and his mates sneaked out. They saw the soldiers, about 200 of the 40th Regiment, march past from Soldiers' Hill. They had about a mile or a mile and a half to go to the Stockade, One captain was shot down half way between Soldiers' Hill and the Stockade, and two soldiers stayed with him. The rest marched on slowly, and then, when nearing the Stockade, rushed for ward quickly and knocking down the slabs, fired a volley into the crowd. Twenty-eight miners fell and Peter Lalor was found afterward's shot through the ri ght shoulder. Lalor was taken to Geelong, where his arm was amputated and thence to Ballan. T. Glasscock, a brother of George Glasscock, of Kirk's Bazaar. Melbourne, was the man who carried Lalor to Melbourne in his tilted dray to Geelong. There was £1,000 on Lalor's head at that time. Just inside the gateway of the Stockade site. the 28 bodies we reburied, and the graveside is marked in memory of the historic occasion. One hundred men were taken as prisoners, and were tried for high treason in Melbourne, and acquitted. The Australian millionaire, the late, James Tyson, the well known grazior and owner of Riverina properties, made a small fortu no in supplying stock to the dig gings. He bred them in N.S.W. and sent them across to the goldfields, where blackfellows minded them in the ranges. A brother of Tyson's did the butchering on the Big Hill at Sandhurst. The animals were cut in quarters only and those the miners took, paying at the rate of 2s 6d per lb for it. Sir Rupert Clarke's fortune was also the result of early pioneering. His father, with two millions of money, borrowed from the late James Tyson, bought, up the strip of country extending from Gisborne to Ascot, ten miles from Ballarat. It is of rich chocolate nature, and was bought for £1 per acre from the Government. There were many millions of unclaimed gold in the Treasury at that time, so that the Government was only too glad to settle the land, though there was no Land Bill then in existence. Sir Rupert Clarke's father later subdivided much of the land into hundred acre lots, and disposed of it to farmers at £2 per acre, and leased other lots at £1 per acre. He was one of the first pioneers prepared to invest in Australian land properties, and the £1 per acre paid in those days was regarded as its full value. The success of the early pioneers was in the enterprise in making use of the opportunities thus offering. The Duffy Land was later framed by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (who was afterwards tried for high treason), and Messrs Heales and Longmore, but this measure proved to be a great fraud. An incident of the life on the diggings spoken of by Mr Veitch was a visit of the late Lord Salisbury, then Lord Robert Cecil, and Premier of Great Britain. History of the diggings stated he was making a tour of the world after completing his University course, and for the purpose of noting Colonial institutions and forms of Government, Mackay's history states: 'As Victoria had no Constitution then he could gather little information under that head during his visit to this colonybbut his brief sojourn on Bendigo gave him an insight into the life and occupation of the digger. It is generally understood that he donned the digger's clothes, and worked below ground himself, and also baked his damper, and lived generally like others of the class. Mr Veitch states that, as a matter of fact, Lord Salisbury was on a honeymoon tour, and adopted the life of the miner for the pleasure it gave him to be away from his other studios and to make his honeymoon trip a unique one. Relating the story, Mr Veitch said he had not seen a woman on the diggings for a month until one day he was astonished to see the young wife come out from the tent and skip across to where her husband was working with his dish and cradle. With her beautiful golden hair waving in the wind, he said he really thought she ws an angel. Lord Salisbury did not live exactly as other miners on the field, for his tent was beautifully lined with rich carpets, and even the bullock dray on which the couple journeyed to the field was richly carpetted. After his honeymoon at Golden Gully. Lord Salisbury returned to England, taking a little of the Bendigo gold with him. Two former residents of the Coolamon district. Messrs Swift and Hannon, who owned Cowabee Station, were also at Bendigo diggings, and another was an old man called Paddy, who was the first man allowed to sell fruit on the Coolamon rail way station. He was a familiar figure there for some years, until his death some years ago. A brother of Paddy's was shot in

the riot, and in relating this incident Paddy would cry like a child. Before his death Paddy had had arrangements made for his coffin and funeral. Mr. Veitch was subsequently, employed at the Corporation Quarry Geelong, at blacksmithing, and was there when the front pillars were prepared for Parliament House, Melbourne. At the time a slab of bluestone was broken down and in a cavity in the middle of the stone a live frog was found. Many doctors and others came to view it, amongst whom was Dr. Day, then resident, of Geelong. Another of the works on which he was en gaged was the bridge over the Barwon River, at Geelong. Mr Veitch is still well and hearty, and is pleased with the prospect of having a hand this year in taking off from 100 acres of ground one of the best crops that he has ever grown.[1]

References

  1. The Gundagai Independent, 28 September 1915.