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Ballarat 1851 - 1854
The following was written by William Gay who died 10th July 1926 in Ballarat (son of William Gay above).
I arrived in Ballarat on the 13th Dec. 1851 with my father, two brothers, and two other men. The road we came along was where Skipton Street now is, then down the hill, where Grant Street is now, on the West side of the Gaol hill. We stopped about half down and started to build a Bush hut, to sleep in the first night, but before we had done much to it, a man by the name Nott, that ad a store, just above where we camped, came to us, and told my father to come and stay in the store with him, till we could get a place to live in, as he was alone, and would be glad of our company, so we were very glad to accept this offer, as the next day he got the Blight, so bad, that his eyes were completely closed, or as we called it Bunged up, and could not attend to his business, for two or three weeks, so we had to attend to it for him, that was the only store on the West side of the Creek, the frame of the store consisted of sapplings, and was covered with hessing. There were two others stores on the Golden Point Hill, one was known as Adams' store and the other as Akhursts store. These two stores had weather board sides and ends, and was covered with canvas, and the Police camp was on the top of Golden Point hill in that block, now enclosed by Young St on the east, Peak St on the North, and Grant on the West & South, the first Cemetery that I can remember was where the Eastern Bowling Green is now and where Peak St crossed the North side of the Bowling Green. When we arrived on Ballarat, there were only 50 or 60 diggers on it, as it was thought that Golden Point was worked out, and the first rush was over. My father went into an abandoned clame and made about an oz a day 1 = 2.17.0 but soon after our arrival a party of diggers sunk a shaft in the flat, about 150 yards above where Grant Street Bridge is now. I seen the first tub they got off the bottom, & washed off. And the yield from that tub was 36 oz of nice rough gold, that started a rush again, and in about three weeks there were about 500 diggers on the field, the sinking avraged from 6ft to 15 ft and some of the clames were very rich, Dr Young had a clame, just about where the South West Corner of Grant St Bridge is now, it was about 15 ft deep and they recconed the bottom of the shaft gave a pound weight of gold to the square foot, I think Young St was named after Dr. Young. He lived on that corner east of Young St & North of Barkley St opsite where the first gold was found. Before the rush in the Flat started, a party of diggers was leaving, and my father bought their Bark Hut, that was situated a little north of the N.W. corner of Grant St Bridge, on a bit of a rise, and the first flood in 52, covered all the flat, from whrere the Gas works are, to the foot of Golden Point, it washed most of the heaps of dirt into the holes, so that the diggers could not tell their own claims from other peoples. The water also surrounded our hut, there was a deprission in the ground between our hut and the gaol hill, the hut being on a slight rise. My father woke us boys up about 2 oclock in the morning and we had to wade through 3 ft of running water, to reach a store at the foot of goal hill. Where we stayed the remainder of the night. The next morning the water receded enough for us to get back to the hut, and as the water got lower to where the heaps of dirt were washed away we could see little patches of gold in the small crevices in the surface, where it has been washed clean. My brothers and I got pannicans & spoons, and gathered up what we could see. I don't remember how much we got, but I think it must have been 2 or 3 ozs. After it was proved that gold could be got in the flats and gullys. The digger prospected all the low lying ground both north south east & west, so that Black hill flat, and several gullys south of Golden Point was discovered, some of them being very rich. Some time after the flood in 52, we shifted our camp to the Northern slope of Penny Weight hill, which, in fact, is two hills, with a shallow gully between them, (which can be seen yet) the western hill, had been prospected on the west side, but only on the surface, this was not very rich, hence the name Pennyweight. We worked on this for a while, but did not get much gold, one day, I took a walk on the eastern hill, and among the trees and scrub, I came across a large quartz bolder, that being considered a good indication of gold, my brother and I went the next day, and got the bolder out, (which was about 200 cwt). We looked in the hole it came out of, and seen several rough spects of gold. The bed rock (or Pipeclay) was just under the surface at that point, but deepened to the north, to 10 & 15 ft and proved to be very rich. The hill has all been sluced off to the bed rock, most of which was done by Mr. Kirk, after he erected Kirks dam, and brought the water in by an open race, shortly after the rush was over at Pennyweight Hill. We shifted our camp further south on the flat, at the south end of Westly Hill, this flat was afterwards named Gays Gully. My father and us boys being the prospectors of that also, that was about the middle of 54. It was shortly after that, the Eureka Stockade fight occured. On the day of the last public meeting before the stockade fight, my father took some gold to the police camp, it being the practice then to deposit gold at the camp, for safety my father carried the gold and I carried a double barrel gun fully loaded, after we had left the gold at the camp, we went to the meeting, it was held on Bakery Hill. There was a platform erected, and several of the leading men spoke from it, including Peter Lalor,. There was a large crowd there, also a lot of mounted troopers arround the mob. We being in about the middle of the mob, after some wild spouting had been going on for some time, some one from the platform called for all diggers to burn their Licences, in a couple of minutes the licences were held above the heads of the Crowd, and set fire to, making a little flame all over the crowd, then there was cheering, and guns & pistols fired all round and in the crowd. I thought the riot had started, we got out of the crowd as quickly as we could, not knowing whether it was Troopers firing, or the diggers firing to show what they meant after that the press gangs came round, prissing those able to fight, to go to the stockade, and taking all firearms from those unable to fight. They took weapons enough from our hut, to fire over twenty shots, some of them being paper box revolvers, (that is revolvers with all the barrels rivolve, and all the same length) it would take a good shot to hit a haystack with them at 20 yards. It was not long after that, that the soldiers came, and the riot was fought. I think most people now know the result. |
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Obituary - William Gay, 13 July 1926
The death occurred on the 10th inst. Of a noted old identity, Mr. William Gay of 58 Geelong Road at the advanced age of 85 years. Mr. Gay was born in Tasmania in 1841 and at an early age he was brought over with the family to Portland, arriving shortly after the Henty family settled there. On the discovery of gold at Ballarat the family joined in the rush here, and arrived here in (unreadable) and he was resided here practically ever since then. Mr. Gay had a vivid recollection of the Eureka Riot and other historical events. He was mining manager of the Victoria United, South Star, Dalzell-cum-Prince Regent, Dry Diggings and the famous Egerton Mine at Egerton and was connected with many other mines in the district. He retained all his faculties until the end and his great delight was to speak at of the earlier days of Ballarat. He was the oldest member of the Excelsior G.U.O.O.F. Lodge having been a member for 39(?) years. He leaves a widow and a large family of children. The funeral took place on Monday as the New Cemetery and was largely attended. Two beautiful wreaths were placed on the coffin. The Coffin Bearers were his six sons, Jack, Walter, Albert, Leonard, Arthur and Hector. Mr & Mrs. Robert McHutchison (brother & sister-in-law) were among the relatives present and who included a large number of grand and great grandchildren. The Reverend S.A. Greenham officiated at the house and the funeral arrangements were in the
hands of Hugh Dyson(?) & Sons of Ballarat and Egerton.
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