Sydney Morning Herald 9 July 1857

THE GOLD-FIELDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

AVISFORD.

FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER

No. 17.

THIS spot was fixed upon by the then Chief Commissioner of the gold-fields, Mr. Hardy, for the Government camp, as it was originally looked upon as the centre of the gold country in that particular locality. It is situated on the head waters of the Meroo, and about six miles from the Louisa. The road from the Louisa falls nearly the whole way, now descending heavy hills by steep precipitous tracks, anon winding through the jagged rocks on the crest of a ridge, then travelling along dangerous sidings or mounting short ranges that stand in the way. As a diggings, it can scarcely be said to be famous, not more than thirty or forty men being employed in this locality, but it is worthy of notice from its giving its name to this particular district. Good steady wages are being earned by the men at work here; and there have been some cases of good luck, though not to any very great extent. The sinking has been confined to the banks of the creek and the flats adjoining, and never runs to a greater depth than 25 feet. One party were engaged in putting down a deep hole, and had already attained a depth of 120 feet. They were stopped by want of means, and during my visit a subscription was being made to enable them to continue their work. They left off in a stratum of blueish friable clay, resembling either decomposed or incipient slate -- which of the two, however, I was not geologist enough to judge. Some of this clay was marked by a bright greenish tint, that gave rise to the supposition that the miners were on the trace of copper. A sample of the clay was handed to a chemist, but as he had not the means of testing it, I did not ascertain the result. Avisford is placed, as I have said, on the banks of the Meroo, the southern ranges of which rise up in massive tiers to form the table land of the Louisa. Between the foot of these and the river are a series of low green undulating hills, sinking gradually into rich alluvial flats, that stretch away for some distance, and offer some beautiful land to the skill of the cultivator. On the northern side the level land extends for about half a mile, and then rises in low stony hills to the base of the vast mountains that shut in the stream. The camp is conveniently arranged, with buildings of slab for all the necessary purposes. Mr. Commissioner Miller, who has charge of this district, is stationed here. The district comprises an area enclosed within about sixty miles of length and forty of breadth, and the police force consists of a sergeant, a corporal, and ten men, though this complement is seldom maintained It includes the whole length of the Meroo River, taking in Murrendi, Married Man's Creek, Campbell's Creek, and Long Creek -- all tributaries of the Meroo, across from Long Creek to some distance down the Pyramul Creek, and the Louisa Creek, with the whole of the table land around. The population of this district I reckon to be in round numbers 2170, of which 1350 are diggers. They are divided as follows: Murrendi 1200 population, with 800 diggers; the Meroo and its tributaries 500 population, and 300 diggers; the Upper Pyramul 120 population, with 100 diggers; and the Louisa 350 population, with 150 diggers. The Louisa has a larger population in proportion to the number of diggers, than elsewhere, and I attribute this to the fact of its being a great centre of the trade of the district, and consequently giving support to a larger number of publicans, store-keepers, tradesmen, &c.; besides this, as I have before observed, most of the men there are married and have families. The orderly character of a population is to be learned much more readily from its police records, than from anything else that can be said or written respecting it; and in this view the residents of this locality certainly show out remarkably well. In the first month of the great rush to the Louisa, when, as I have before said, some two or three thousand persons invaded the ground, given up by the Great Nugget Vein Company, only 39 cases of every kind came be- fore the Police Court. This was in October, 1856. In the following month, when this promiscuous assemblage had somewhat shaken down into their proper places, the cases only numbered 18. In the first of these two months the cases were mostly out of quarrels between the new arrivals, with some few cases of petty stealing, dealt with summarily, and there were no committals for trial; whilst in the second month 2 cases were sent to a jury. In April, 1857, the cases disposed of numbered 12, of which 2 were committed for trial; and in May last, the number disposed of only reached 7, with no committal for trial. I may remark, however, as I think I have done in a previous letter, that on all the gold-fields the Bench endeavours to dispose of as many cases as it possibly can summarily, to save the expense to the Government, and the expense and inconvenience to the prosecutor that al- ways attend a committal. Twenty-five public-houses have been licensed for this district, and are pretty evenly distributed through it, in the chief centres of population. This number, however, does not include one of the two inns at Murrendi, the license for which was granted by the Mudgee Bench -- rather improperly it is urged, because these districts being under the charge and supervision of the Gold Commissioners only, they alone ought to have the right of deciding upon the character and fitness of applicants for publicans' licenses. The amount of gold sent down by escort from this district has been gradually falling off for some months past, until now it barely averages 200 ounces. This, however, is accounted for by the numerous rushes that have lately been made, particularly to Murrendi and the Ironbark; and although the former is in this district yet it is at a distance of 28 or 30 miles, and the gold from there, is well as from some distance thence up the Meroo, finds its way to Mudgee. This river is being, or has been worked more or less throughout the whole of its length, a distance, reckoning the numerous bends and winds it makes in its course, of between 50 and 60 miles. The spots usually selected on auriferous rivers for sinking upon are the flats, or as they are termed by the diggers "points," that have been formed by the alluvial deposit from the waters, when some fortuitous interruption to their course, has turned their stream and given it those deep bends that are so frequent. The waters, in floods of former days, have brought down the gold along with the debris from the neighbouring hills and gullies. It has been caught upon these points in the eddies that would naturally form there, owing to the curve in the channel, and has, of course, by its own weight, sunk to the bottom of the ooze or mud that might be deposited with it. On looking at a well worked point, and on being shown those holes that have paid best, a keen observer may, by marking the bend of the stream, satisfy himself as to the correctness of this theory in very many instances. At the same time, that which pays the digger best is to fall, if he can, upon an old bed of the stream, one that has been diverted by the accidental choking or obstructing of its channel. In that case a line of holes across the flat from the upper to the lower point of the present stream, will be those that have turned out the richest, whilst beyond that line on either side will scarcely have paid working. In the former case, where the gold has been deposited by eddies, the line of paying holes will lie almost in a circle, sometimes in a spiral, in fact in all manner of forms, according to the current that has caused the deposit. The descent from the Louisa to the Meroo is a very heavy one, similar in its leading features to that down to Avisford. The distance, however, is not more than three or four miles; the last and heaviest descent down a spur of the main range bringing the traveller at once on to the banks of the river. A bridle track now runs along the river side, crossing the stream every here and there, now making a way through the thick tufty sedgy grass that covers the lower banks of the stream, anon twisting amongst the holes and heaps of refuse upon some well worked flat, or crossing the spur of some short range, with shafts gaping on either side, or what is still more dangerous, their mouths overgrown with grass,, burrs, and underwood, forming concealed pit-falls for the wayfarer. In travelling along in this way, upon turning almost every point, I came upon men at work, sometimes in threes or fours, at others, though rarer, in larger numbers; whilst every gently sloping hill had its hut of slab or bark, with an enclosure of garden ground. These mostly stood alone, though occasionally a tent might be erected near them, or perhaps a second hut seldom a third. These huts, with the children playing at the doors, a female form moving about, the green garden ground in their rear, closed up by the giant hills, with perhaps a group of diggers in the foreground, often made pictures that an artist would have rejoiced in. At all the points along the creek, the workings are nearly about the same, with the same kind of red gravelly soil to go through. The yield, however, has varied very considerably, some having proved very much richer than others. Californian Point has turned out a very large amount of gold, and at one time gave occupation to some 300 or 400 diggers. Now, it is considered to be worked out, and a party of Americans have taken possession of the spot, intending to ground sluice the whole of the old workings. To this end they have cut a sluice some three miles in length, to bring the water from the upper part of the river to the place upon which they are, at work; and have also erected some very compact machinery, worked by two horses to assist them. There are also some twelve or fifteen pug mills or puddling machines, at work upon different parts of the river, mostly upon the old ground. All of these pay well. Raggety Point now gives employment to some 30 Chinese, those indomitable diggers, who make wages out of ground that has been worked over and over again by the white man, until it is thought that not even a spec of gold remains. It has been worked over very completely; yet, there are the Chinese squatting on their haunches, and cradling away as perseveringly as though ounces instead of pennyweights were about to reward their toil. These men work most assiduously in the face of all difficulties, and I have seen half a dozen of them standing in a hole, nearly up to their middle in water, bailing it out with buckets. Richardson's Point, however, was in its time, the greatest place of attraction on the Meroo, as two years ago no less than between three and four thousand diggers were at work upon it. Ii is a long point or reach that runs out from the ranges on the northern side of the stream, just at the spot where they break off into a series of short ridges, to admit, the entrance of the Long Creek into the Meroo. The yield was very great here at that time, and nearly everyman made good wages. A kind of small township established itself here in the flourishing times, consisting of some thirty houses, inns, stores, shops, &c., and having become a kind of centre for the traffic on the river, still remains, though as may be readily imagined, business has considerably fallen off. Some of the old ground on this point is still being worked, though not more than some twenty persons are engaged at it. A little below Richardson's Point, the Long Creek runs into the Meroo, after joining itself to Campbell's Creek. The Married Man's Creek falls into the Meroo lower down, and this junction may be said to be the end of the more extensive workings on the river, as below that the parties are much scattered and the rude rocky nature of the banks offer but little hope of success to the digger. Following up the Long Creek to its source, we come upon a short table land, and thence to the Pyramul and the fall of water to the Turon. The whole length of the Long Creek has been worked here and there, where any likelihood of a deposit existed. The most noted spot on the creek, being Pure Point, whence very heavy yields have been obtained of gold of a very fine and rich character-whence its name. A small settlement was formed here in the palmy days of the Point, but it has now dwindled down to an inn, one of the most neat, quiet, and comfortable that I have seen on the diggings, a blacksmith's shop, and a branch of the Oriental Bank. Two rather famous gullies run into the Long Creek, -- Nuggetty Gulley and Devil's Hole Gulley. The day of both, however, has now passed away, though about half-a-dozen persons still remain working in the one, and about twenty in the other. In the latter place, it an old digger who has tended and worked on it for the last three years. At the junction of Campbell's Greek and Long Creek, about twenty Chinese have taken up their quarters, working over the old ground and making, as they told me, very good wages. Campbell's Creek resembles all the other auriferous streams in this locality, in working and in appearance. The hills which border them are extremely high and steep being, in fact, mountains rather than hills, with low points running out here and there, and forming bends in the stream, and broad alluvial flats in other places, getting less and less extensive as the head of the water is approached. Here, also, a very fair yield has bean obtained, but there is no spot particularly noted for having given a larger return than ordinary. Taking the whole of this part of the Meroo, I may safely say, that nothing is now being done except amongst the old ground, and that very little, if any, new ground is being opened. Puddling machines and sluices seem to be most in vogue with those resident here, some of them being private ventures of persons in business here, who pay wages to those engaged upon the work. The gold obtained throughout the Meroo maintains a very high character for quality. It is rather large, but thin and scaly, much waterworn, and of a bright red colour. That from Long Creek and Campbell's Creek is much smaller and finer, though still thin and scaly, and is said to be purer in quality. From Nuggetty Gulley and the Devil's Hole on the contrary, the gold is large and coarse, and waterworn on one face only. From all I could gather I do not believe that the diggers here are making more on the average than about 5s. a day per man, or at the outside half-an-ounce per week. Not one of those I spoke to seemed to indulge in anything of a hopeful tone with regard to their prospects; and even from persons in business there was nothing to be obtained but accounts of what had been done on this point, or that fiat, or in such a gulley. I was rather astonished at finding that a very large proportion of the business with this part of the Meroo was done by Maitland merchants, their traffic passing through Mudgee, by Cooral and Cassilis, from Maitlands The road between Bathurst and the Meroo certainly is anything but a tempting one, consisting of heavy hills and rocky ranges; but there ought to be but little difference between a journey from Sydney and one from Maitland -- consequently it struck me that though the merchants of Bathurst might have been somewhat dozey over the matter, still those of Sydney must have been completely blind, thus to permit their fellows of Maitland to step in and shoulder them out of what ought, to have been their own ground.