Gold Digging Letters

Many of these letters are written by Frederick Pearce who came to the Victorian Diggings in early 1853 to be with his (about 14 years) younger nephew, Isaac Edward Dyason. Fred stayed in Australia until May 1878, when he returned to Kent, none the richer for his 25 years toil. He has been described by Isaac's father in early correspondence as being an excellent salesperson but not a good businessman (see the English Letters) and the letters in this compendium show that he is indeed full of optimism.

These letters differ from the other two collections in that at times I did not attempt to transcribe what they contain, rather I have taken a photograph or scan and made a snippet of the area of the letter and have added it to the text. This was useful when presented with a 'map' of a mine or a 'table' of how much gold was got from a particular crushing. Most were transcribed around 2014, however a 'new' collection of 90+ letters was found in 2018 and these have been added to the 'old' letters. In this later instance I have included a scan of the original letters alongside the transcriptions.

The letters from Helen 'Nell' Cochrane (Queensland) came to light as a result of this project. They are presented as found. We know almost nothing about Nell beyond what is in her letters. She may be the Helen Cochrane listed in the following site as she is the right age (born in 1845 she would be 19 to 20 years old to Isaac's 32 yrs). Two of the three letters from George Souter Butter mention her and it sounds like he was her Uncle. George Butter was the Post Master at White Hills (Bendigo) and is written about extensively in the Dyason 1858 & 1859 diaries - as well as having a number of references in the Bendigo Advertiser. She mentions her Uncle Alexander as looking good in the Volunteer's uniform (but we cannot find any account of a Butter or a Cochrane among the Victorian Volunteer forces although a Cochrane does contribute to a prize for a rifle competition) See this site for more information on Hellen http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Cochrane-220

Addendum: Since transcribing the early Diggings letters and diaries I have discovered that Isaac Dyason was indeed a signatary to the Red Ribbon petition. Aditionally while trancribing the 1864 diary (which is when Isaac's romance with a young Helen Cochrane ran its course) I note that there may be some errors in the assigning of dates to the "love letters"- the originals of these letters were only availble in faded photocopies and some of the earlier dated letters may have been placed as being written on the wrong date. The 1864 diary is still in progress of being transcribed - but the main points are that Isaac was 32 and Nell aged between 16 to 18. Also - she had already received a proposal of marriage from McIntyre - the Mayor of Bendigo who was the same age as Isaac... Even worse is the statement late in the diary that Helen's uncle had twice asked her to 'lie with him' as it would make him 'feel much better'. This last statement adds context to one of Nell's letters where she tells Isaac that she has told her mother ALL that which transpired during her time with her uncle in White Hills. Angus Pearson - 2021.

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