The story of Yarrandyte commences not so much with the actual discovery of gold in the township, but rather to an event which occurred nearly 3 years before and some 7,000 miles away.
In the year 1848, a young man from Sydney by the name of Marshall accidentally discovered the famous Californian Goldfields whilst repairing a windmill in the San Joaquin Valley. The unprecedented excitement which followed caused a rush of migration from New South Wales and for a time the wellbeing of the Australian Colonies seemed threatened.
In the year 1851 William Hargraves noticed the similarity of the geological formation of the Sacramento Valley to that of the country around Bathurst, N.S.W.; he resolved to try and discover a goldfield in Australia and the result was the discovery of the well known Summerhill Creek Goldfield. Hargraves became famous throughout Australia and received Government Rewards in excess of £16,000.
Thus it was on April 26th, 1851, that the Melbourne press made the sensational announcement of the discovery of gold at Bathurst; within a week every boat for Sydney had been booked out, warehouses had become deserted and, in short, the colony was in a similar situation to that of New South Wales after the discovery of gold in California.
But though the majority were bent on joining the rush to New South Wales, there were many who were unable to make the journey and various efforts were made to discover the precious metal locally. Towards the end of May letters appeared in the Press reporting the likelihood of gold to the Plenty Ranges and on the 6th June, the Argus stated that as many as 300 persons were searching in the locality, and that the Superintendent C. J. Latrobe had been compelled to send a party of mounted police to maintain order. Several rumours of gold being sold in the city were current but none were substantiated.
On the 9th June the Mayor of Melbourne, Ald. William Nicholson, called a public meeting at the Mechanics Institute; several prominent personalities of the day were present, including John Pascoe Fawkner, William Westgarth, John O'Shaunessy and Richard Heales etc. It was decided to offer a reward of 200 guineas for the discovery of a goldmine or a deposit capable of being worked within 200 miles of Melbourne. The sum of £100 was subscribed before the meeting closed. At a meeting of the committee the following evening, a Henry Dent Esq., presented specimens and made a claim upon the reward but on examination they were found to be only mica.
Two days later the Argus made a most enthusiastic announcement that gold had at last been found by a Melbourne businessman, Henry Frencham, and a jeweller, J. Liv Walsh. Frencham left the specimens in a sealed envelope with the Town Clerk. An emergency meeting of the committee was called the following night, when an expectant crowd of more than 200 assembled outside the Town Hall; much excitement ensued but Mr. Hood, a Collins St. Chemist, had the embarrassing task of announcing to those present that he could find no trace of gold in the specimens.
John Michel, proprietor of the Rainbow Hotel in Swanston St. and formerly of Surrey, England, was the next to make a claim on the reward.
He formed a party comprising of himself, William Habberlin, James Furnival, James Melville, James Headen and Ben Greenige. For several weeks they searched among the hills in the Upper Yarra and Plenty Ranges without success, but on 30th June they found some likely quartz rock on the banks of the Anderson or Deep Creek. On the 6th July it was tested by Mr. Webb Richmond who accompanied them to the locality and, after making various tests, gave them a certificate which read as follows:
"I found a vein of quartz running through the lower sandstone bearing strong indications of an auriferous deposit, and have since tested specimens I brought from the spot, many of which exhibited traces of gold, but as they were taken from the crop, none were very rich, therefore I can give no opinion of the probable richness of the vein."
Michel showed both the quartz and the certificate to Lieut. Gov. Latrobe, but the latter was not very impressed, chiefly because the gold was in quartz, and the colony at the time had no means of treating it. Michel's party then agreed to call it a day and were never again associated together as a party, but on or about the 10th or 11th of July, Michel made a proposal to his friend Habberlin, that they continue the search together, and offered to meet all expenses incurred therein. Habberlin agreed, and after searching the hills for some days, they made a fairly substantial alluvial find on the banks of Anderson Creek, probably about a quarter mile downstream from where the Gold Memorial Cairn is now situated. This was possibly about 5 o'clock on the evening of the 18th July.
The grains were tested by Hood and exhibited at a meeting of the Gold Committee on the 14th. Also, before the Committee were claims from William Campbell and James Yamende for discoveries made in the Pyrenees Ranges about the same time as that of Michel.
Mr. Hood told the meeting that he was of the opinion that the existence of gold had been proven beyond doubt, and that the labour of the committee was at an end. The reward, he said, should be paid to the person who pointed out the locality to which the most diggers were likely to be attracted.
An animated discussion ensued however, and it was ultimately decided to publicize the fact that gold had been discovered in the press, and to leave the decision on the reward until a later meeting. Though a committee sent representatives to investigate both Anderson Creek and the Pyrenees, no decision was ever agreed upon, and the reward was never paid. Michel was successful, however, in proving his claim to be held "as the first publisher of the discovery of a goldfield in the Colony of Victoria" before a Royal Commission which investigated the subject two years later. This was largely because he gave the Government all the particulars at the time of his find and made no attempt to cover up the locality as the others appear to have done.
On July 16th Michel and Greenige advertised for persons willing to explore their newly found goldfield and by August everything was in readiness to prove the riches or otherwise of Victoria's first goldfield. Though there is little doubt that far more hard work than gold was ever taken from this and the subsequent discoveries of the field, there is equally no doubt that the triumphs of the miner on the small struggling field were just as great as those at Ballarat, Bendigo or the other great names in Victorian history.
The field was named the Victoria Goldfield as it came within a few days of the Separation Day Celebrations which marked the beginning of Victoria as a separate state. The official party set out on August 8th and travelled via Kew and the Bulleen Plains. The announcement in the Argus of August 7th was as follows:
"Mr. Henry J. Hart, Hon. Secretary of the Gold Committee, and A. Fenwick, Commissioner of Crown Lands, accompanied by some 10 or 12 gentlemen, started from Melbourne in company with Messrs. Michel, Habberlin and party, to visit the Victoria Diggings on Anderson Creek, near the late Mr. Bowman's station on the Merri Creek. They reached the ground about half past 11, and immediately proceeded to work. They had taken a cradle with them but this was found to be too small, not having capacity enough to hold more than half a shovel of earth, and they were thrown back upon the primitive use of tins, pots and dishes of which there were three among the party.With these each member tried his luck, and not a dishful was washed that did not turn out a greater or lesser quantity of gold. In the dishful of soil washed by Mr. Hart, 4 small particles of gold were found, but in that washed by Mr. Gilbert, ten particles were found.We may mention that the party washed under every disadvantage. They were only three hours on the ground, they were already fatigued by a long ride, and the hole that was cleared by Mr. Michel and party was full of water; in consequence of this, nothing but surface soil could be worked. Though, after some labour, a great deal of water was baled out of the hole, and thus some of the lower earth was washed and the difference may be marked by the larger product of the soil washed by Mr. Gilbert.The opinion of all present was that, on going well below the surface soil, there was every probability that a large quantity of gold would be found. One singular circumstance is that the gold is not in scales, but in grains, which, when viewed through a microscope, have the appearance of a beautiful and chased fretwork. It is perfectly pure in quality and of a fine rich colour. The locality also abounds in a particular species of slate which is said to be exactly the same as that where the largest quantities of gold were found at Summerhill Creek, Bathurst. The gold procured by the party was handed to Mr. Fenwick, who will lay it before His Excellency the Lieut. Governor tomorrow."
By Friday August 9th more than 150 diggers were working the field scattered all the way from Jumping Creek to Morris Gully. That day was an auspicious one in the history of Victorian mining. The diggers were almost invariably a fair minded people who thought they received a fair deal, especially from the Government. On this day the first meeting of miners was held on the banks of Anderson Creek and it was decided that every digger at work should be allotted ten yards of the creek face as his claim. These were, in fact, the first miners' rights issued.
On this day a Mr. Ginger, a wood-cutter working on the side of Melbourne Hill, opened the first store; he even served meals with the aid of a camp oven and erected a hut for horses.
On the Saturday, the Argus showed a great deal of initiative when they sent Mr. De Boos to report the activities of the field. De Boos was a well known journalist in the fifties; he later conducted his own newspaper, The Telegraph and Sporting Times, and was for many years a respected resident of Avoca. He was a little sceptical about the size of the finds being made on the "creek" but nevertheless gives an invaluable account of the diggers at work and their social activities on the field.
De Boos states that about five parties were really working the creek in earnest, one being led by Michel, and another by an old Mexican miner who had had wide experience in the Californian Rush. Dozens of diggers, he says, were coming up to the creek and were lasting only a few hours; for the most part they were quite unprepared, carrying only a crust of damper and a little tea and sugar. Their only attempt at digging being to raise some of the softest surface soil and to express considerable astonishment at finding nothing.
The evenings were not as wearisome as might be expected, one of the diggers had a French Horn and another a flute; these, with the coo-ees that were passed up and down the creek, did much to amuse the diggers during the long and dreary nights.
Outside Michel's tent which was close to where he made the first discovery, the tents were rigged so as to form a square. This locale was nicknamed "Golden Square", adjoining which was camped James Fletcher, the most successful miner on the field; in the first week he and his mate found three and half oz. of gold though it needed a great deal of perseverance to do it. Fletcher had come across from the Bathurst diggings and the experience gained there no doubt assisted him. Michel, on the other hand, had very little luck and had the misfortune to have his tent burned down. He was looked on as the leader of the field and his good heart did much to inspire the less fortunate diggers.
Mr. De Boos was pleased to announce that despite the debasing commercial influence of finding gold, not one of the diggers worked on the first Sunday; they all laid down their tools and observed the Sabbath quietly. The following Sunday the Rev. Mr. de Gregory and the Rev. Mr. Cheyne visited the field and conducted divine service in Michel's and Habberlin's tents. The reverend gentlemen also visited various outstations. This was known as the Howe Mission and was the first religious service to be held in the Upper Yarra.
"Nothing could be more vague," wrote Mr. De Boos, "than the directions given to find the field. You were told first to keep to the left, and then to the right after you crossed the punt at Kew", but from the great sprinkling of tracks leading in all directions, the best advice he could give was to quote the official directions.
"If you go to the left. You will always go right. But if you go to the right. You always go wrong."
On August 14th Mr. Fenwick revisited the field in his capacity as Commissioner of Crown Lands, but this time it was for the purpose of arranging payments to the Government for mining Licences. The Government were well aware of the expense they would be put to in providing services to goldfields and were anxious to find out what the miners would be willing to pay.
Michel, after consulting with the diggers, suggested 10/- a month, but Fenwick was quite adamant that the Government would not accept less than 30/-, and that was all there was to it.
The idea of charging £18 a year for the right to mine gold on public property was bitterly attacked in the Victorian press. "There has been no greater injustice since the days of Wat Tyler" wrote the Argus, but it made no difference and in the end the Government had to learn by experience and the "Eureka Stockade" etc.
Large numbers of diggers continued to flock towards the Victoria Diggings. One report described seeing upwards of 80 persons on foot, and on horseback, making their way towards Anderson's Creek; another described seeing 4 drays, packed with men, women and children and laden with provisions, cradles, frying pans, saucepans, camp ovens etc., but it was feared that the unfortunate change in the weather would disappoint them.
However they appear to have had other than the weather to disappoint them. To quote a correspondent writing on the 1st September:
"When I arrived a week ago there were upwards of 60 carts parked along the creek, and more than 200 men actively employed. Today all the camps are deserted and only 60 men are working the creek.
The sad state of affairs must be attributed to the fact that, even if successful, a man cannot earn above 1/6 a day and then only after indomitable perseverance. A lb. weight of gold has not yet been collected by the combined exertions of upwards of 200 men from the first discovery to the present time."
September 1st was the appointed day when Mr. Fenwick was to visit the field and issue gold licenses for the first time in the Colony and a disappointed miner placed the following notice on a tree outside the Government tent where the licences were to be issued:
"Free Proclamation. In consequence of it having been represented to His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, that divers persons seriously affected with Yellow Fever are sojourning at Anderson's Creek on the Yarra, notice is hereby given that His Excellency, with the advice of the Executive Council, will cause to be holden, at the Government tents, Anderson's Creek on Wednesday 3rd of September, a medical commission, consisting of J. O'Sullivan Esq., C.S. Rev. Greeves, Thomas and Hewitt, for the purpose of determining whether the parties alluded to are of sound mind and in such condition as is consistent for the security of themselves and the public at large."
(Dr. Greeves, Thomas and Hewitt were well known Melbourne practitioners at the time.)
In all 24 licences were issued by Fenwick on September 1st. They were the first ever issued in Victoria and were hand written on pieces of plain cardboard. According to the Ballarat Star for 1864, one was in the possession of a family in that city and read:
"James Fletcher. Permitted to search. (Signed) N. A. Fenwick, Commissioner and dated Anderson's Creek September 1st, 1851."
These cards preceded the printed licence which was issued for the first time at Clunes, Buninyong and Ballarat on September 20th, 1851. The end of Victoria's first goldfield was close at hand; correspondents were openly stating that another 2 to 5 weeks would see it out. However there is no further mention of Anderson's Creek until November 16th when Lt. Gov. C. J. Latrobe wrote as follows to the Secretary of State for the Colonies:
"Counter attractions of other fields and the flooded state of the Yarra has caused a complete but probably temporary abandonment of the Anderson's Creek Goldfields."
On December 18th Daniel Bunce, one of Victoria's best known early writers, paid a visit to the area — his report was that, except for two men and three gold commissioners living in a Mr. Ginger's hut, the field was deserted. Mr. Ginger had gone to Mt. Alexander; why the three commissioners continued to stay on in his hut with only two men on the field the journalist could not say, but he expressed the opinion that the field was far from worked out and would one day prove as rich as its contemporaries. He was right.
Source: We believe from handwritten notes in records that the following text is an unpublished manuscript in 2 volumes (Ch1-11 and Ch12-21) written by Louis Radnor Cranfield (1927- 14 Oct 1992) F.R.HIST.S. (Fellow of the Royal Historical Society). Find a Grave Record. National Library of Australia Record.
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