Trove Tuesday: In which Gabriel wins Shire of Korong contracts

I think I'm in love... with Trove. Every time I check it comes up trumps. There's always something new and interesting in one of Australia's newspapers of long ago.

I've recently been to Wedderburn where my grandmother grew up, saw the house they lived in, saw the school she went to, the church the family attended. Myrtle's father, Gabriel Duckett, was a gold miner. I had previously thought that was his major occupation but now I'm not so sure because of several newspaper reports reporting that Gabriel was successful in applying to his local council for contracts.

In 1880 he won two contracts: to grub about 3 miles in the parish of Yeungroon for 10 pounds 5 shillings and to grub one and a half miles at Spring Hill for 5 pounds. This refers to roads and involves clearing tree stumps and timber.

http://www.nzdl.org/

Bendigo Advertiser 24 Sep 1880

In 1884 Gabriel wins a tender to light the lamps at Wedderburn for 2 shillings and 2 pence per lamp per week. They would have been the street lights fueled by kerosene. I wonder how many lamps there were.

Bendigo Advertiser 17 Dec 1884

Three years later he is not being paid as much to do the same job but this time the materials aren't mentioned so maybe the council supplied those.

Bendigo Advertiser 16 Dec 1887

A reproduction gas lamp, Uralla, NSW
http://www.urallaheritage.livinginuralla.org/HTML/kerosene_lamps.htm

In 1890 he was paid 17 pounds 17 shillings to paint the shire weighbridges. Presumably that was gross - he would have had to supply the paint himself.

Bendigo Advertiser 25 Nov 1890

http://www.flickr.com/photos/malleeroute/6612983203/

And it wasn't only the shire that Gabriel sought contracts with. In 1888 he (with his father-in-law Zachary Perryman) was successful in gaining a contact with the Railway Department to supply 200 tons of firewood (cut into 2 ft lengths) to the Korong Vale railway station.

...

The Argus 26 Sep 1888

All of this physical work is making me tired - mining for gold, cutting timber, lighting lamps, grubbing stumps, painting weighbridges - as well as maintenance jobs around the house. Gabriel must have been very busy. But I also know for sure that Sunday was a rest day because the Duckett family were all members of the Church of Christ in Wedderburn.

Trove Tuesday: In which Jane is lost in the bush

Getting lost in the Australian bush is easy to do, especially if you're only three. Finding someone who's lost in the bush is really hard.

Jane Perryman was lost in bush near her parent's farm at Woolshed Flat near Korong Vale north of Wedderburn. It's a goldmining area so there would have been mine shafts and other hazards and luckily it was spring not summer. Jane was found and lived until she was 85.

Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser, 18 Sep 1873, p1

Wychitella Nature Reserve, Korong. Photo: K Stockwell

This article was found using Trove. It amazes me that the Maitland and Hunter River areas are in New South Wales, hundreds of miles from Wedderburn, but the incident was reported as newsworthy. And I'm glad it was because the Inglewood Advertiser hasn't been digitised as yet and it doesn't appear to have been reported in the Bendigo paper.

Jane PERRYMAN, daughter of Zechariah PERRYMAN and Margaret KERR was born in 1870 in Korong Vale, Victoria, Australia. She died in 1955 in Swan, Western Australia, Australia (Registered as MILLAR on online index.). She married John MILES in 1904 in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. 

Trove Tuesday: In which a bushfire engulfs Zachary's farm

Zachary Perryman went to the Wedderburn area during the goldrush of the 1850s and ended up staying and buying land. There are still descendants in the area.

A little snippet of information about Zachary came from a newspaper search at Trove. In an extreme heatwave in January 1875 a number of bushfires raged throughout central Victoria and the town of Wedderburn was surrounded on all sides. Zachary's land was north of the town and a newspaper report details how he and his neighbours lost everything on their farms. (Note: The report names Zachary as William in error.)

Bacchus Marsh Express, 30 January 1875

Bendigo Advertiser 23 January 1875



Snip from Borung Parish map shows the neighbouring farmers mentioned in the newspaper article (above).

In the following months there was a Relief Fund set up so that people could donate money to distribute to the victims of the fires. Zachary Perryman must have applied, following the instructions listed in the newspaper article below, and then in October the successful applicants were listed in the newspaper. Zachary received five pounds which would have been much less than the value of what he'd lost I'm sure but appreciated all the same.

The Argus 15 September 1875

BUSH FIRES RELIEF FUND.

In compliance with the terms of the notice given in our columns, we have received applications for assistance from the above mentioned fund from 25 persons, whose claims amount in the aggregate to £2,267.

As the sum at our disposal only amounts to £75 6s. 6d., we have considered it inadvisable to make a pro rata division of the money, and have selected for relief those cases which appear to us to be the most deserving.
The following are the cases selected and the amounts awarded.
Mary Bull, Linton £10 0 0
Edmond Faress, Newington £5 0 0
Rosanna Burns, Huntly  £5 0 0
Charles Dunn, East Trentham, Blackwood £10 0 0
Thomas Freeman, Durdidwarrah, near Geelong  £5 0 0
William Purcell, Anakie £5 0 0
Thomas Finner, Cargarie £ 10 0 0
Zachariah Perryman, Wedderburn £5 0 0
Mary Moloney, Moranding, Kilmore £5 0 0
George Robinson, Boccoflat, near Wedderburn £ 10 0 0
Ellen Walsh, Smythesdale £5 6 6

 £75 6 6

Subscription withdrawn at request of donor £2 0 0
Total amount of fund £77 6 6

The persons to whom sums have been awarded are requested to communicate with the general manager, Argus office, Melbourne, without delay, stating how the amounts due to whom can be most conveniently transmitted.

                                                                            The Argus Saturday 16 October 1875

Zachary PERRYMAN, son of Henry PERRYMAN and Elizabeth CLAYTON was born on 23 May 1824 in Dorney, Buckinghamshire, England. He died on 07 Jul 1888 in Korong Vale, Victoria, Australia. He married Ellen STOCK, daughter of John STOCK on 07 Jan 1849 in Southwark, England. She was born in 1823 in England. She died after Jun 1854 (Adelaide or Melbourne, Australia). He married Margaret KERR, daughter of William KERR and Mary PORTER on 01 Feb 1869 (Sandhurst, Victoria, Australia). Margaret was born in 1835 in Pontspass, ARM, Ireland. She died in May 1907 in Bellevue, Western Australia, Australia.

Finding Gabriel's house

We started with a 'mud map', a rough sketch that had been drawn by someone at some stage to show where the old Duckett family home was in Wedderburn, Victoria.

Then we found an old map that showed that Gabriel Duckett* had owned a block of land in an area that matched the mud map.

Map of Part of Wedderburn, Duckett block indicated.
 [Source of map unknown because when I copied it I didn't know about noting sources!!]

Next we studied a family photograph, taken in about 1910, of some of the family standing on the front verandah of the house that they lived in. Note the verandah decoration and in particular the missing section.



Gabriel Duckett with his wife Elizabeth (nee Perryman) and his daughter Myrtle (my grandmother).

Armed with all of the above my Uncle Arthur went to have a look in 2010. And, to his surprise and mine, found that the house was still there - complete with damaged verandah decoration!



The same house 100 years later.



 *Gabriel DUCKETT, son of Benjamin DUCKETT and Jane REDMAN was born on 05 Dec 1843 in Heath House, Somerset, England. Baptised: 03 Jan 1844 in Wedmore, SOM, England. He died on 11 Jun 1917 in Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia. Inquest: 12 Jun 1917 at Wedderburn finding 'Syncope the result of chronic heart disease. He married Elizabeth PERRYMAN, daughter of Zachary PERRYMAN and Ellen STOCK on 08 Dec 1870 in Inglewood, Victoria, Australia. She was born on 10 Sep 1849 in 'Cheapside' ship, off South Africa. She died on 06 Apr 1916 in Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia.