28 January 1937

VICTIM OF THE LURE OF GOLD

Search That Became An Obsession

How the lure of gold can become an obsession until it is the sole interest in a man's life to the exclusion of all others is strikingly shown in the story of Ned Irwin, the man who first discovered gold in the Yudnamutana Range.

Ned served his apprenticeship to his father's confectionery trade in Adelaide, but decided to seek adventure in the north of the State. He had a smart appearance, and being willing to do anything for a living, soon found employment at Moolooloo station, near Blinman, as cook. He became a first-class cook, but in 1873 joined the first party of fencers on Winteratana station, this being the first attempt to fence in those parts.

While engaged on that work word was received that gold had been found on Angipena run. This was the first real discovery of gold in the northern end of the Flinders Range, and Ned determined to try his luck in the Yudnamutana Range.

He obtained sufficient rations for a month and established a camp at the foot of the range. In three weeks he had returned to the camp of his mates and was showing them some gold he had struck in one of the gullies. It was by no means an outstanding find, but it proved that the ranges did have gold in them, and his find encouraged ethers to prospect there.

Ned gave himself up to gold after, his first success. He threw up his job, and getting another supply of rations, went again into the range, this time for many years. The Daly, Stanley, and Dominic copper mines were being worked then, so there was no difficulty in getting stores. He found coarse gold in several of the gullies, and his head became completely turned. He was never the same man afterwards.

He showed the gold to his mates, making no secret of his success. He came out of the ranges only when he wanted to sell his gold and get more rations. He spent most of his time searching for a particular gully where he believed gold was plentiful. He became obsessed with the idea that such a gully existed, and that if he could only find it his fortune would be made.

As time went on the copper mines closed down and Ned had the ranges to himself. He was king of the hills, with wild donkeys, wild dogs, emus and rock wallabies as his only companions. Sometimes he would call at Wooltana or Umberalaca station for rations, but he had no visitors. He made a small handcart, which be came well known to many travellers, as it stood, still in good order, on one of the tracks long after he had left the district.

He was at the Bulyeroo Springs' gold rush, but soon went back into the hills. He was no longer young, nor spruce. He became careless about his clothes. He was given blankets, but at his first camping place he left them, preferring to make shift with the clothes he wore. His usual outfit at this time was a five gallon drum, a bag, an old shear blade, and a couple of meat tins made into billycans.

On one occasion he turned up at a miners' camp where there was a big heap of ashes. Each afternoon and evening he would make a fire on the ashes and get them warmed through, and they became his bed, with the result that his clothes be came covered with them. Although the eight miners at the camp had by no means an excessive supply of rations, some flour, tea and sugar and tobacco were collected for him. An old friend of Neds came along in a few days, and gave him some money and a month's supply of food. He did nothing until his supplies were nearly finished.

Then he went to the workings one day and noticed a small heap of pay dirt left by a digger. He was told that he could have it, so he scooped it into his bag, took it over to the water and panned it off. He was lucky, and came back with a 15-dwt. piece, so he could eat again. While his supplies lasted he did little else.

When the Nillinghoo rush broke out Ned was found camped beside a well. The miners gave him what rations they could and left him. When Mr. Rogers, of Leigh's Creek, was prospecting in the Pernanora country he used to pass this well— which he himself had sunk — and one day he noticed Ned. He was sawing away at some twisted coils of his hair with an old shear blade. The coils had twisted round so tightly on to his scalp that they were hurting him. He was a spectacle, with his much patched trousers held together by string and wire, and his clothes covered with a coating of ashes.

When asked how he was getting on he replied, 'All right.' He said that he had sufficient tucker, as he had found a nest of young rabbits. The nests then used to be made near the surface and were easy to find, but when foxes came the does went to the deepest burrows to have their young.

'The wild peaches are getting ripe, too,' he added. 'I have had a couple of feeds of them.' Ned was offered some tobacco, and he produced a pipe he had made from clay. The stem he had found in an old camp. When asked whether he was getting any gold, he produced a bundle of rags which contained gold worth about 1/6.

After some years Ned was getting too old to be left in the ranges by himself, and Mounted-Constable Catchlove and a black tracker went out from Beltana to take charge of him. They were in uniform, but Ned saw them and hid where they could not find him. The constable subsequently returned in plain clothes and persuaded Ned to go into the township for some rations. A good feed was prepared for the old fellow at the store. He ate this ravenously. He was given a new pipe and a plug of tobacco, and soon was sitting round with other diggers smoking and yarning.

The constable said, 'I am going to arrest you, Irwin.' 'What are you going to arrest me for,' asked Ned, quite calmly, 'I am doing no harm to anyone.' 'Look at the state you are in.' 'That's no one's business but my own. I have a miner's right, and as I don't trouble any of the other diggers, I don't see why you should arrest me.' The constable, momentarily non-plussed, then told him he would arrest him as a vagrant. Ned shook hands with them all and went off with the constable on a spare horse which had been provided. He served two months in gaol, and that was the last seen of him in the north.

First British Subject To Land In Australia

To William Dampier, R.N., belongs the distinction of being the first British subject to land in Australia. He was born in Somerset in 1652, and led a life of amazing adventures in all parts of the then-known world. He served in the British Navy against the Dutch, became a planter in Jamaica, a log-cutter at the Bay of Campeachy, a pirate, and as a member of the crew of a French privateer visited Virginia and Panama.

At the age of 36 he embarked on the privateer Cygnet, which sailed first to China, and then to New Holland, as Australia was then called. The Cygnet entered Cygnet Bay, Western Australia, on January 5, 1688, and remained there until March 12, refitting.

Dampier employed his time by making many excursions in land, and he kept accurate records of all his experiences with natives, animals, birds, and reptiles. He aso kept a detailed account of the climatic conditions and the soil. On the return voyage he deserted from the ship at the Nicober Islands, and had a perilous trip in a native canoe to Sumatra. He journeyed back to England via Tonquin and Actreen, and reached London after an absence of eight years.

He published his book, 'A New Voyage Round the World,' in 1697. This was the first authentic account of the unknown New Holland, and was read with interest by the King and members of the Government. As a result it was decided to establish a base on the coast of the new land to act as a check to the Dutch Indies.

Dampier was promoted to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy, given command of H.M.S. Roebuck (290 tons), a very old ship with 12 guns and a crew of 50 men, and told to look for a site for the settlement. His crew proved unruly, and resisted his attempt to sail to the eastern coast of New Holland, so he again visited the coast of Western Australia.

On August 7, 1699, the Roebuck sailed into Shark's Bay (so called by Dampier because the water teemed with them), and explorations began. For over a week he searched unsuccessfully for fresh water to refill his tanks, and then, the crew becoming restless and refusing to sail further south, he turned the ship northward along the coast. They sailed for over 1,000 miles, landing and searching for fresh water many times, but failing to find it. Dampier did not find any place suitable for a settlement, so sailed away again on December 5, 1699. It was his misfortune on both voyages to strike the most barren and inhospitable portion of the Australian coast line.

On the homeward journey his ship began to leak badly, and he was forced to put in to the Island of Ascension. The ship sank at her moorings, and although the crew were all saved, Dampier lost many of his books, papers and specimens. He reached England in another ship, and gave a very gloomy account of the country he had visited, so that neither England nor any other country thought it worth while to claim or colonise Australia. The accounts he gave were perfectly accurate as applied to the portion of coastline he explored, and they served to make the Dutch, French, and Spaniards believe that the country was not worth taking.

Many years later a very different value was put on Australia, as a result of Cook's voyage up the eastern coastline, and England was then able to take undisputed possession of the country.— R.V.H.

A Fair Exchange

Some years ago a northern squatter purchased a splendid looking horse, but it proved such an outlaw that none of his men could ride it. The squatter offered a substantial reward to the first man to keep his seat on the horse for a given length of time, but though many attempts were made no one qualified for the prize, and all who had seen the horse in action believed it would never be ridden.

One day, however, while the horse was in the yard and the hands were enjoying the discomfiture of the latest victim, a quiet looking stranger arrived. He was riding a flea-bitten hack and leading a superb pack horse. After hearing the history of the outlaw the stranger decided to "give it a fling," and the hands, glad of further diversion, took up their positions round the fence and prepared to witness yet an other failure. Just before the stranger mounted he turned to the squatter and asked, if, in the event of him being able to ride the horse, the squatter would swap him for his pack horse. The bargain was clinched at once.

The stranger mounted, and there followed an exhibition of horsemanship that left the onlookers gasping. When the horse at length stopped in its wild career and stood calm and subdued, the stranger dismounted and quietly proceeded to transfer his be longings from the pack horse to the old hack. He was enthusiastically aided by the men, and the squatter stood by elated at the thought of the bargain he had made.

The stranger mounted his newly acquired hack and was riding out of the gate when someone asked him 'What's this horse like to ride?' The stranger turned in his saddle, but rode on, as he replied — 'You might be able to ride him — I couldn't.' — 'Questing.'

Real Life Stories Of South Australia (1937, January 28). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 17. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92464811