1860 Record LAW REPORT.
James Lancelot Stormont moved to the area of Black Hill (Chronology) near Ballarat in March 1852 and was one of the first to use a machine for crushing quartz and extracting gold, however it proved more rewarding to abandoned this method and resort to alluvial mining.
James seems to follow new goldfields and his name appears at Whipstick near Bendigo (Sandhurst) as hundreds of thousands of people arrived to participate in the gold rush. and James followed the fever from Ballarat to Bendigo and back again. Mining continued to be the main activity in the region and by the 1880's, a range of secondary industry, mostly concerned with supplying the needs of the mines, had arisen. We can trace his goldfield movements from a 1855-1865 newspaper records (on Trove) beginning with his role as Arbitrator at the Mount Edgeton Hotel ion 16-17th. February 1855 - Decision dated 17th Oct., 1855. Jas. Lanct. Stormont & W.M Harris Arbitrators \ W.M French Umpire; handed down reads as follows:
Decision: "We the arbitrators and umpire nominated and appointed by Messrs. Henry Dallas and John Lemetre, plaintiffs and Henry Caughey and Co., defendants, to try the case respecting the crushing of quartz belonging to plaintiffs by defendants, do hereby award to the said Henry Dallas and John Lemetre the sum of £75 sterling to be paid by the said H. Caughey and Co, within 14 days from the present date, being the net proceeds we consider that accrued from the treatment of the quartz by the said H. Caughey &Co. and said H. Caughey and Co., to retain the gold in their possessions which was the produce of the quartz the plaintiffs had crushed by the said H. Caughey & Co., and shall give to the plaintiffs a receipt in full discharge of all claims against them, for the crushing and treatment of the said quartz.
Furthermore there are traces of court hearings (Stevens vs King) regarding a patent for a crushing machine. James Lancelot Stormont appears in Government Gazettes and in newspaper articles and Law Reports of these court proceedings. A summary of the reports by Neil Huybregt appears on the Federation University of Australia web pages as follows: Federation University Australia - Stevens'_patent_rotating_stamper_head; Court challenge; Newspaper transcripts.
1860 Record:- Law Report - STEVENS AND ANOTHER V. KING.
LAW REPORT. (1860, April 3). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6.
LAW REPORT. (1860, March 12). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 7.
LAW REPORT. (1860, May 31). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6.
LAW REPORT. (1860, June 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 3.
LAW REPORT. SUPREME COURT. OLD COURT-HOUSE.-THURSDAY, MAY 31. 1860, CIVIL SITTINGS BEFORE TRINITY TERM«(Before Chief Justice Sir W. Stawell and Special
Juries of Twelve.
1856 - 1860 - Stevens an; Cd Another V's King -
James Lancelot Stormont of Sandhurst, a civil and mining engineer was involved in a case regarding the infringement of a patent issued on 7 June 1858 by the Government of the colony of Victoria to the plaintiff William Stevens as the first and true inventor of certain improvement for the construction and working of stamps for crushing minerals.
The Argus 1st June 1860 - James Lancelot Stormont gave evidence, in substance as follows - I came here in 1844, and settled on Ballarat in 1852. I constructed a quartz - crushing machine within 20 yards of where Dr. Otway constructed one in the end of 1853, at Black Hill. My machine was made at the end of 1852. The stampers had round heads, and had a vertical and rotatory motion. The vertical motion was given by cams; the horizontal motion by spur wheels. There were three stampers. It was erected in a public place. Dozens of persons saw it, and made fun of it. I worked it for about five or six weeks there. I crushed about 10 or 12 tons on the Black Hill. I then removed it to the bottom of Rotten Gully, a mile or a mile and a quarter off. It could have been seen by all who came. I explained it, and got laughed at for my pains by Cornish men. There were not many persons at Ballarat then. I worked it there again five or six weeks - as much as before. The shaft revolved with a disc. The crushing produced about 10 oz. of gold to 20 tons . It was worked by hand. I made it myself.
I recollect Mr Crossley. He lived about 10 yards from my tent. In 1852 I saw a drawing of an engine in Galloway for crushing flint, with round headed stampers. The revolving motion was the application of my own head. The whole machine was 6 feet high, and the stampers were 6 inches in diameter. I could not say if Crossley saw it. I told Dr. Otway of it. My mill was removed before Dr Otway. I told him that I had tried the grinding as well as stamping process. I had a mate, D. Laby an American - who worked with me. He advised me to go into quartz. He went to California.
Cross examined.
- I came here in 1844, and to Ballarat in 1852 - in March, 1852. Dr. Otway was not there then. There were only two tents. There was no one on the hill - Black Hill; about two tents between that and Rotten Gully. There were a number of persons in the immediate vicinity. I gave an order to a storekeeper, who kept the Melbourne Store, for the stamp heads. The stamps were made of wood, shod with iron. The machine was not a mere model. We had to shepherd our alluvial claim. I showed the machine to H. Hall. He is not here. I last saw him when Sir Charles Hotham was here, at the levee. He approved of it. I cut it up, as the timber was wanted, in the latter end of January, 1853. It was made in August, 1852. I heard of Stevens 's patent, and objected, but found I was too late. I heard of the first trial, and volunteered service to King. I told my evidence to Fulton, to Robert Fulton.
To a Juror.
- I abandoned my machine because it didn't pay so well as alluvial.
Re examined.
- I was making trials in crushing, then. I have received as much as £ 8 per ton, five years ago. I believe mine to be the first machine made in Victoria. Alluvial washing was more profitable than crushing, then. One bucket of stuff paid each man of nine £ 384. It took all I was making by the machine for food then..
[i] Victorian Pioneers Index set #3 - Public Records of Vic (PROV) office in North Melbourne - lists Jemima Bloomfield Stormont (Boyd), James Lancelot Stormont and their son Robert aged 1 year arrived on the vessel. James and Jemima aged 24 and Robert (18 months) on 21 July 1844 arrived as assisted emigrant passengers aboard[i] the barque “Dale Park”[ii] and disembarked at Williamstown on Port Phillip Bay near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The surname shown on ship’s register was “Stormount”. James and Jemima are both listed as being able to read and write. References:- Images - 315-324, also sets 9 pages on the Dale Park
'Perilous Voyages to the New Land' by Michael Cannon, pages 115-6, the surgeon Dr Thomas Veitch, reported with satisfaction that only 8 deaths had occurred during the voyage, all young children or infants, some of whom were boarded at Cork 'in a dying state'. Only two passengers had misbehaved, Ann Mullen a single woman and James Sedgwich, married man, and both 'were soon brought to do their duty by confinement and stoppage of their rations'.
"The Somerset Years", by Florence Chuk, page 71 begins a chapter on the Dale Park, including a description of the voyage.
Some passengers were refused bounty grants -
[ii] They sailed aboard the barque "Dale Park", 402 tons, Captian John .J. Coombes, master from London 17 March and Cork 30th March to Port Phillip. Surgeon Superintendent Thomas Veitch Their surnames on the ships register show in one instance as "Stormount".
LAW REPORT. (1860, April 3). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6.
The Argus (Melbourne 1848-1856) Friday 1 June 1860
The Gippsland Times 1866-67 - J.L.Stormont appears in newspaper advertisements as "Survey of every description made"and an Hydraulics Engineer in Sale, Victoria. He carries out work for Sale Borough Council in 1860s until dismissed in April 1867, over issues with managing the contractors.
Bairnsdale Advertiser and Tambo and Omeo Chronicle (Vic. : 1882 - 1918) 4 May 1893 and NSW Police Gazette 15 Mar 1893
Victorian Pioneers Index, set #3 - Public Records of Vic (PROV) office in North Melbourne - lists Jemima Bloomfield Stormont (Boyd), James Lancelot Stormont and their son Robert aged 1 year
Delegate is a border town located in the south east corner of New South Wales. The partially dirt road from Bombala runs through Delegate and continues to Orbost in Victoria's East Gippsland. The road has changed little since it was established by a number of explorers who moved through the area looking for suitable grazing land and bringing herds of cattle into the fertile plains of East Gippsland by 1835.
1903 - One Jassa Lancelot Stormont died in 1903 at Bendoc, Victoria aged 80.
1843 - there was a Belfast street directory record for Stormont, James, Painter and Glazier, 50 North Street, Belfast.
01 Feb 1895 - LAW REPORT. SUPREME COURT.—THURSDAY, JANUARY 31....http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/14013190?searchTerm=James%20Lancelot%20stormont&searchLimits=