Gold Fields have a most bewitching influence upon fallen humanity. The
very name begets a spasmodic affection of the limbs, which want to be
off. Then man, as a mere lover of beauty, cannot help wishing to look
upon the pretty mineral in its virgin home of seclusion, and his
acquisitiveness pants for possession of the loveliest darlings ever
rocked in a cradle. But the Australian Gold Fields put to the blush the
very fairy tales of old. The Genii of the “Arabian Nights” would have
stared, had they winged their flight over the ocean, and taken a quiet
evening’s stroll under our ranges and gullies. Need we wonder that the
dull eyes of the sons of earth twinkle with delight at the chamber of
treasure.
“They come—they come.” Well, let them come; and I for one will be glad
to see them as lucky as their hearts can wish. In order to give the
embryo digger a little insight into the wonders of this wonderful
region, I have noted down a few facts, the result of my own experience
as a Gold Digger.
Some simple hints before you start, my friend. Do not encumber yourself
with too much luggage. The drays will not carry it for “_thank ye_.”
There is no necessity for laying in a stock of everything, as
storekeepers at the mines do not now desire a thousand per cent upon
every article. This may arise from a principle of benevolence, or, as
some ill-natured people say, from competition. If you lay in a stock in
town you are likely to buy too much, as you are surrounded by good
things, and the difficulties of the journey are unknown to you. Should
you reserve the purchase of most of your requirements, till you arrive
at the ground, you will have no trouble in carriage, you will _know_
what you really want, and, from the high price, you will only _buy_ what
you want. By all means, however, provide yourself with good stout
clothes and boots, a coat and trousers of oil-skin cloth, a roll of
canvass for your future home, not forgetting a decent shooting jacket
for Sundays, when you ought to appear civilized. Tools are dearer up
than in town. A cradle may be carried in parts without much trouble.
Take up a few choice books, (not on Metaphysics or Mathematics,) because
you should be prepared in some degree to keep up your intellectual
position. A packhorse will ease the toil of a party, or a bundle might
rest on the top of a passing dray. Unless positively obliged, spare
yourself the anxiety of having your own conveyance. Otherwise a solemn
warning—_beware of a gibber_, as that genus is not an uncommon one on
the road. There are few things in life more undesirable than pushing
behind a cart at every foot of rising ground, extricating a load from a
chasm, or watching a vehicle approaching a precipice, impelled by an
animal that will persist in going crabwise.
Now, I will suppose you are fairly started. You are rather nervous, yet
sanguine. Sundry brave stories keep up your spirits. By one you are told
of a fellow benighted in the bush, who could not sleep by reason of the
hardness of his bed, but who ascertained by morning-light that he
chanced to throw himself down upon a nest of big golden nuggets. Another
tells you of a bullock driver in want of a stick, who pulled up a young
wattle, and found hanging at the root, a whole family of nuggets like a
brotherhood of potatoes; but that he was in too great a hurry to stop to
pick them up. On the way you are passed by lots of returning diggers,
some of whom carry down bags of treasure, and a few are carrying aches
and pains to the hospital. There is some difference between your smooth
chin, and their rough beards—your prim appearance and their soiled garb.
You may possibly reach the Deep Creek, twenty miles from Melbourne, on
the first day. Of course you camp. A fire is lighted, the meal is taken,
and the romance of your first night out is enjoyed. You are wrapped in a
'possum rug or blanket beside your fire, or, if you are wise, beneath a
canvass thrown over the shafts of a cart. Never start without a good
breakfast. The dreary, crab-hole, five-mile plains are to be crossed. I
had the satisfaction, when coming down, to be lost in this quarter,
wandering about hungry and tired nearly all night, because my geological
curiosity allowed the cart and my mates to get some hours a-head of me.
It is to be hoped that you have a dry season in which to pass over
Jackson’s Creek. On the other side an excellent dinner may be provided
for you by Mr. Rainy at the Coffee House. The hills now rise on each
side of you, and through one of the loveliest countries in the world you
gain the Bush Inn at Gisborne, thirty-six miles from town. There are two
inns there. Charges are no object to the successful digger, but usually
a consideration to the up-going. A baker’s shop and store will there
supply you with necessaries. I paid 2s 6d for a good loaf, 2s 6d for a
pound of butter, and 7d for a pound of sugar. Prices vary according to
the state of the roads. Near the Bush in winter you have to wade through
a “slough of despond.” Going some miles hence, round the foot of Mount
Macedon, a pretty watering place is obtained. You may, however, pass at
once into the mysterious Black Forest, fourteen miles in extent. Being
no alarmist, I shall give you no legend of powder and ball pertaining to
those realms.
In the Black Forest are many rises, no surface stone, a great number of
stringy bark trees, some fine cherry trees, and the modest cup of the
beautiful epacris. At Five Mile Creek, at which are two inns, you pass
over a wooden bridge. Soon after you come to sweet Carlshrue. Here are a
Police station, a blacksmith, and houses of accommodation. On my way to
town, early one morning, I beheld an icy forest on the plains. The
arborescent icicles were about half-an-inch high and a twelfth diameter.
Each top gently curved over. A vast number of these beautiful crystals
standing together reminded one of a miniature giants’ causeway, or
stalagmites from some sparry cave. Going up, our party spent a pleasant
Sunday near a water-hole at Carlshrue.
You now approach the important township of Kyneton, fifty-six miles from
town. Here are inns, stores, cottages, a wooden church, a pretty stone
parsonage, and a neighbourhood of the finest alluvial black soil.
Passing the Campaspie you gain the bridge of the Coliban: that is, if
the awful quagmire permits your passage. A thriving township is just
formed here called Malmsbury. This is about twenty miles from the Forest
Creek. Attempting to get a short cut to the Loddon, my party were three
days stumbling with a gibbing horse among the slate ranges. We had, too,
the excitement of a twenty-four hours fast on that occasion. But you are
less aspiring, and, following the beaten track, you come at last upon
the scene of scenes. It is quite a beehive. Men are flitting about in
strange disguise. Heads are popping up and down in various holes around
you. The population are digging, wheeling, carrying or washing. But I
have to conduct you through the diggings, so we must hasten forward. The
old Post Office Square, the entrance to Adelaide Gully, the Montgomery
Hill, the White Hill, the Private Escort station, the Little Bendigo,
have to be passed in succession before reaching the junction of Forest,
Barker, and Campbell creeks; at which place is the Chief Commissioner’s
Quarters. This is a walk of four or five miles to the west. Desirous of
seeing other digging regions, you must return to the neighbourhood of
the Square, enter Adelaide Gully, and keep alongside the Adelaide creek
till you come to the dividing range. Once over that, you approach the
head waters of Friar’s creek, and you may follow down that stream to the
south till it unites with the Loddon. The Golden creek flows southward
into Friar’s creek; it has the interesting neighbourhood of Golden
Gully, Red Hill and Windlas Hill. Turning once more to the east you
reach the junction of the Campbell Creek and Loddon River. Pursuing
thence a northernly course along the banks of the former, you again
behold the Commissioner’s Tent. What with genuine soldiers, pensioners,
and police, there is a force of about 200 men. There you will see the
depository of Gold, awaiting the Escorts to carry it to town, and there
is the place where for thirty shillings you may procure the talisman of
a license.
But perhaps you want to go further. You have heard of Bendigo, and you
would like to try your luck there. Then on we go to Bendigo. The direct
road from Melbourne to Bendigo Creek is about 100 miles, but from Forest
Creek about 30. You keep the side of Barker’s Creek on your progress to
the northward. Now and then you pass some encampment in the wilderness.
The presence of bottles of various character, innocent and suspicious,
is always on the trail of the civilized man. On your right you have the
long range of Mount Alexander. Upon a lovely evening my senses were
feasted by a delicious scene. All the forest trees before me were in
darkness, but beyond them and through them were caught glimpses of the
granitic walls of Alexander, brilliantly shining in the last red rays of
the setting sun. It was as though I was approaching by night some
illuminated enchanted castle. The Porcupine Inn is nearly half-way from
Forest Creek to Bendigo. It is often the place of tumultuous revelries
among lucky diggers. Some people think it wise to camp beyond that
locality. The country beyond Gibson’s station is finely timbered. The
pasturage greatly improves as you progress, and few districts present
such softness and gentleness of beauty in the landscape. Bendigo has a
noble ornament in the fluted, Doric-column like trunks of its
magnificent iron bark eucalypti. There is majesty, there is even
sublimity in the solitude of an iron bark forest. Then, in the day a
variety of pretty songsters awaken the air with pleasure, and the
evening is closed in with the wild and ringing chuckle of the laughing
jackass.
Bendigo is the Carthage of the Tyre of Forest Creek. The diggings there
extend nearly twenty miles in length. The ransacked gullies are many;
as, Golden, Spring, Jim Crow, Dusty, Poorman’s, Blackman’s, Iron Bark,
Picanniny, Long, American, Californian, Eagle Hawk, Peg Leg, and Sailor.
Though most of these may be wrought out, a good living may be got in
either by the new comer, in a little tin-dish fossicking in deserted
holes. Once upon the spot you are ready to go with the rush to any newly
discovered gully of wonders.