Do Not Read This Title

A story of gold, and what people will do to get it. Mostly though, it's a story of numbers.

In writing this, I've relied on extracts from two books: Town With A History, by Coultman Smith, first published 1978 and Beaconsfield Gold, by Janet Kerrison, first published in 1963. (From now on, I'll refer to these as TWH & BG)


Boiler house
Early attempts at mining in the district were for iron, in the 1870s there were a number of small companies extracting iron. The quality wasn't sufficient to make it a viable long term proposition though. It's still there of course, and with modern methods, probably profitable but it doesn't have the same allure as that other metal.

( Read more... )

Let's go back 200 years, to when the British discovered that the southernmost tip of their new southern land is actually an island. In 1803, two parties are sent out to establish settlements. 23 year old Lt Bowen takes his group of marines, convicts and free settlers to the southern part of the island, to a cove on the eastern shore of the Derwent. Lt-Col Collins goes to take control of the strait separating the island and the mainland by establishing a settlement at Port Phillip Bay, where Melbourne now is. The chosen site is not considered suitable though, and so they up and move down to the Derwent. Collins isn't very impressed by Bowen's choice of site either, so he moves them all over to Sullivans Cove on the other shore (and that obviously worked.)

Meanwhile, up north, there is still the worry that the French might settle in Bass Strait.

In May 1804 instructions were received from London that a new settlement should be founded at Port Dalrymple in Van Diemen's Land and that (Lt-Col William) Paterson should be put in charge of it. After an attempt made abortive by bad weather, Paterson sailed from Sydney on 15 October with a detachment of soldiers and seventy-five convicts to found this outpost.*

(From Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online edition)

At first they camped on the eastern side of the river, at Outer Cove, where George Town is today (which is why George Town sometimes claims to be the oldest town in Australia), but shortly after, the settlement moved to the other side of the river and a little town built.

( Which is where we're going now. )

Gold was discovered at Brandy Creek in the 1870s, and it wasn't long before a substantial town, renamed to Beaconsfield, grew up. It was said to one of the biggest in the state at one stage. According to Town With a History, by Coultman Smith, in 1899, the population was "2,699, with 7 hotels, eight boarding houses, five bakers, four blacksmiths, two doctors, two watchmakers, a solicitor, a tailor, 15 general stores, six greengrocers, five drapers, a state school, and four private schools."

( Read more... )

Gravelly Beach, is another small riverside town.

These places have a lot of houses for the size of the town. They are close enough to Launceston that most people would go there for shopping and other services, or nearby Exeter for quick visits.

As you come into Gravelly Beach from the north, there's a long section along the river with newer houses, then the older ones and then this little shopping centre, if you can call it that.


( Read more... )