Stories of Bywong Town
A brief history of Bywong
A gentleman by the name of Thomas Alchin moved to Gundaroo with his family in 1894. He made the aquaintance of J.F.Lowe [a Gundaroo school teacher] who may have been the first person to discover signs of gold at Bywong. They formed a partnership in July 1894 and a couple of months later struck a reef on their claim. At a depth of 40 ft [about 12m] it returned more than 51 oz of gold from four tons of ore.
News of this find started the 'rush' to Bywong. Forty men were reported to
be in residence in November 1894, 250 in the following March [1895] and a
peak of about 300 by late 1895. In December 1895 Surveyor Goodrich laid
out the "Village of Bywong" with four streets - Burbong, Burra,
Bungendore, and Gundaroo. Conditions in the township were harsh, with
many people living in tents and humpies. More permanent residents erected
slab or pise huts. A public school was opened in October 1895 with John
Gunnell as teacher. The average attendance was 20 students, and schooling
continued there until 1906. The General Store/Post Office was run by Henry
Hyles until his death in 1904.
In March 1896, three blocks of land in Gundaroo St. were set aside for the construction of a government well. This was constructed by three Chinese well diggers commissioned by the government. It was a 'seepage' well, but during the severe drought from 1895 - 1908 it never functioned because the water table was below the bottom of the well. There was no alluvial gold at Bywong and shafts were sunk to recover the reef gold for the batteries that had been set up to process the ore. Amongst the many problems facing the miners was a lack of water and the fact that they did not own their own crushing plants. These two factors appear to be the reason why no large scale mining ever took place there. In addition to this was the 'faulting' that occurred in the area, which meant that the reefs containing the gold became lost to the miners. They had neither the skills or the knowledge to relocate the reefs when they were lost. With the easing of the drought and advances in farming techniques, most moved back to a life on the land.
Arthur Shepherd [one of the original former Cronks family] stayed on at the township until 1961, and was responsible for it's early preservation. A period of disuse and vandalism occurred in the 1970's. The granting of a special Crown Land and Mining lease to Bywong Reefs Pty Ltd. halted the destruction, and after some further preservation work it has remained largely unchanged until the present day.
District News
BYWONG 10 September 1909
A very pleasant dance and reunion was promoted and brought to a successful issue at Bywong on Saturday last, by the old boys of Bywong school headed by Sylvester Gallagher and James Schofield. The occasion being to give a send off to Mr. Elias Kershaw and his young wife [nee Shepherd], an ex-school mate who are leaving Bywong to reside in Gundaroo. About twenty couples attended, amongst who were: Mesdames Kershaw [3], Misses Kershaw [3], Mesdames J Gallagher and J Harriot, Mrs & Miss Martin of Brooks Creek, and many others. Mr Tully of Sutton, overflowing with good humour, was elected MC, and contributed greatly towards the success of the party. Mr James Schofield jnr., brought out his new phonograph with a large repetoire of charming and amusing records, which were listened to with delight. Mr Stinson of Brooks Creek and Mr A Shepherd discoursed excellent music on the violin, with Mrs Harriot and Mrs Schofield [both good players] alternating with the concertina and accordian. Songs & recitations were rendered and at midnight an excellent supper was partaken of, and afterwards - "on with the dance, no sleep 'til morn when youth and pleasure meet. To chase the glowing hours with flying feet" - until daylight appeared and hearty "Good mornings" exchanged, when a most friendly and happy gathering broke up.
The Bywong District
A correspondent to the Sydney Herald writing from Mac's Reef on the 22nd
February says - We have had a splendid fall of rain at Mac's Reef but
unfortunately it did not extend far, as it rained but very little at Bywong,
which is only two miles distant. Only one battery - Mr. Bingley's - will be
able to start crushing until more rain falls. Cartwright and party, at
Bywong, are working a large body of stone showing splendid gold. A parcel
of stone sent to the Mines Department for assay from White and party's
Lone Hand Claim, Mac's Reef, has yielded the return of 22oz 2 dwt. 15 gr.
Gold and 12 dwt. 22gr silver per ton.
They are down 50 ft., and their reef is 1 ft. thick. The gold seems to make coarser as sinking is proceeded with.
Bywong - Monday
White and party at the Lone Hand, Mac's Reef, are down 50ft and have good leaders about 6in wide on both walls showing gold.
Low, Alchin and Co whilst driving their No 2 shaft have struck some really good stone again.
Johnston, Pearson and party, at the New Year's Gift are still sinking on a well defined reef, the country being very hard.
Bingley and Browne's battery starts work again on Tuesday.
April 18th 1895
Mining - We have just heard that Cartright and Co. have struck some excellent stone in their deep shaft, equal, if not superior to, anything yet found at Bywong. A splendid reef has been opened out over two feet wide by Mr. Kershaw at Dairy Creek showing gold freely throughout the stone. It is rumoured that a first class battery will shortly be erected at Schofield near Bywong. This is much needed. Johnston and Co's battery is idle for want of water.
April 23rd 1895
We have been informed that the last stone sent from Lowe's claim at Bywong to Park and Lacey gave the excellent return of 26˝ oz to the ton. Messrs. Giles and Co had 9 tons of stone from their reef crushed at Pringles battery, and it went over an ounce and a half to the ton. Johnston's battery has been idle for want of water for the last fortnight but has again started owing to the splendid fall of rain on Saturday.
May 9th 1895
Bywong reefs "Hit or Miss" finished at Bingley's at ˝oz to the ton. If it goes the same down at the 80 ft drive it is a splendid property. The reef is 15ft wide. The shareholders, however, who are getting 40% tribute thought it would go over the ounce.
I cannot see much work being done at the township, except the sinking of the well. I asked a high official if he had any idea how the water should be got up, supposing they have luck and hit it at 150 ft.
It seems that the road from Dairy Creek here is very rough and unless a circuit via Gundaroo be made, teamsters are asking - and very justly - a pound a ton, owing to the risk to plant and animals.
The men about Johnston's are most to be pitied. They have reef, mill, dam everything but water, but if there was any show of well water, Johnston and MacAlister would long ago have sunk for it.
August 29th 1895
I vistied a town called Millynn's Bywong. There's many a house on it, but it is a far better site than the actual village. Just outside one corner of it is Walker's claim which owes it's owners a lot of money for the graves sunk all around it. The pick of the field is Lawes. There is no error about it. The gold shows in every stone and they know how to work it. I fancy Walkers is the same reef or a branch of it. Next to Lowes is Earnshaws, said to be better. I saw two lads having a lark at a windlass. I left.
October 24th 1895
Mr. EW O'Sullivan has reported to the Lands Department that it is not considered desirable to survey a twonship site at Bywong as the permanence of the field seems doubtful. A few sections of allotments will however be measured in anticipation of a small village site to follow.
November 12th 1895
The Secretary for Mines and Agriculture has accepted a tender for the sinking of a well at Bywong.
WHAT'S ON THE MENU?
In the 1890's Mrs Beeton's Cookbook was marketed as the cheapest cookery book in the world. These are two of the appetizing recipes from this publication.
Roast Wallaby
Ingredients - wallaby, veal forcemeat, milk, butter.
Method - In winter the wallaby meat may hang for some days, but
in summer it must be cooked very soon after it is killed. Cut off the
hind legs at the first joint, and after skinning and paunching, let it
lie in water for a time to draw out the blood. Make a good veal
forcemeat, and after well washing the inside of the wallaby, fill it
with the forcemeat and skewer or sew it up. Truss like a hare and
put it down to a bright clear fire, keeping it some distance off when
first put down, then nearer, and roast from one and one half to one
and three quarters of an hour according to size, basting well all
the time with milk and butter. When nearly done, dredge with
flour and butter 'till nicely frothed. Sufficient for six persons.
Seasonably best in winter.
Parrot Pie
Ingredients - some paraqueets, a few slices of underdone cold beef, 4 rashers of bacon, three hard boiled eggs, minced parsley and lemon peel, pepper and salt, pastry to cover. Method - line a pie dish with the beef cut into slices, over them place the paraqueets, prepared as pigeons would be, dredge over a little flour, then fill up with the bacon cut into strips, the eggs in slices, strewing the seasoning between each, and put on top the remainder of the sliced beef. Pour on stock or water to nearly fill the dish, cover with a good crust and bake for one hour. Sufficient for four persons. Seasonable at any time.
The Lowe and Alchin Claim
This is the claim that started the 'rush' to Bywong. Gold was discovered here by Mr Lowe, a school teacher from Gundaroo. He formed a syndicated claim with Mr. Alchin, a local farmer. In his enthusiasm for gold, Mr. Lowe used to leave one of the children in charge of the class while he was away at Bywong. His teaching career came to an abrupt end when a school inspector arrived unannounced and found a child teaching the class!
An ounce of gold at the time was valued at three pounds
ten shillings. Weekly wages ranged from about one pound
for labourers to two pounds ten shillings for skilled
workers. The mine yielded 22oz of gold to the ton of rock
removed. For reef mining a yield of one ounce to the ton
was regarded as the break even point. One parcel of 6 tons
mined from the this reef produced some 140 ounces of gold.
One of the original shafts with a windlass over it still can
be seen next to the open cut. Generally the reef was about
one foot [250mm] deep in the rock. At the 12 metre level,
when gelignite was used to break up the quartz, the gold
was left hanging in strands, and the gold could sometimes
be chopped out in lumps after the quartz was blasted away.
The reef was lost on the fault line at the 12.6 metre level
Lowe and Alchin, having made their fortunes, abandoned the mine.The Shepherd family then took over the claim. In 1942 Arthur Shepherd bulldozed the open cut in an effort to relocate the lost reef. It produced only low grade ore. Although lack of water had always been a set back to mining at Bywong, heavy rain filled the open cut after it was completed! The lost reef has never been located, and today only hand tools can be used to extract ore because of the historical significance of the area.
The Shepherd Family Hut
The remains of the pise hut used by the Shepherd family [originally named Cronk] after they arrived at Bywong, can still be seen near the open cut. The hut was made from rammed earth - a mixture of clay shale and animal dung, and sometime termite mounds. The termite mounds were preferred because the secretions of the termites acted as a mosqito repellent. The hut was roofed with stringy bark.
The children's mother died in Sydney in 1900, and soon after the family moved to Bywong. The children, by and large, fended for themselves on the claim, sleeping in the hut and eating at the miner's kitchen in the village.
After the Lowe and Alchin claim was abandoned two of the
brothers rode their pushbikes to the Braidwood Court House, a
distance of some 60 miles [80 kms], to be the first to lodge a new
claim. Arthur, at the age of fourteen and with the help of his older
brother, re-timbered the workings and used tiny needle points
gads to 'dolly' out the gold from the remaining small veins The
boys generally achieved a return of one ounce from one hundred
weight of quartz which was crushed in the tiny stamp mill.
Some CWA members in Bungendore became concerned about the children and a delegation was sent to investigate, with the intention of 'fostering' them to other families. They found them to be in good health and well clothed in flour sacks! The children were left to fend for themselves and records show that a number of them lived to old age.
Their descendents can still be found in the Canberra region. Arthur Shepherd raised his family in a home on the old Federal Highway, but his wife wanted to live in town. A house in Queanbeyan was purchased, but Arthur did not want to leave this area, and returned to Bywong in 1942 , first living in the village, and then in the hut [Pop's hut] next to his original pise home. He worked the open cut. keeping bees and selling honey for money. He moved into Queanbeyan in 1961 after being found ill with cancer, and died in 1964 aged 78 years.
The Tiny Children's Stamp Mill
[sometimes called Cronk's hand operated battery]
The children's stamp mill was built by Arthur Shepherd [senior] to enable his sons to treat the very rich ore from the dolly veins running out from the Lowe and Alchin reef, to which the family laid claim when it was abandoned.
Mr Shepherd was certainly an ingenious blacksmith. This simple but effective machine was made from surplus farming machinery left in the area. The cams that lift the drop weight bars are made from discarded plough shares. The mill is turned by hand and it is possible to treat up to one hundredweight [50kgs] of ore in a day. In 1902 it is recorded that the children's ore yielded 1 oz of gold for each 50 kgs - a very good return indeed!
The lack of water at Bywong was always a problem, but for the Shepherd children it did not matter so much. Their stamper was fed water, by hand, down a line of bully beef tins. The ore had to crushed to a powder nearly as fine as talcum powder to go through the screen. The gold was collected from where it settled behind the wire screen, at the end of the day.
The story is told that Arthur Shepherd, at the age of 16 years, turned this battery with one hand whilst reading a book with the other, which suggests that he was educated as well as strong!
Historic Government Well
The stoned lined well has never been renovated and is still in the same condition as when it was finished by the well diggers. The well is heritage listed and only one of three Chinese constructed wells in Australia still in it's original condition. In 1896 three blocks of land in Gundaroo street in the village were set aside for the construction of a town well. In 1901 the New South Wales government commissioned a team of three Chinese well diggers [renowned for their skill] to undertake the task. The well reaches a depth of 20 metres with a horizontal drive of 5 metres to collect water from the water table. The excavation was expertly lined with stone without mortar , to prevent silting and erosion, The stone walling was laid as the well was dug - requiring great skill. The well is a 'seepage' well, relying on only average rainfall to maintain the water table and thus allow seepage into the lower levels. During the 1895 - 1908 drought the well was dry and it is not known whether the well diggers ever saw the benefit of their labours.
Women on the Goldfields
As you have seen living conditions were very primitive for most people on the goldfields. Women were expected to live in these conditions but still dress like the ladies of town. All of them wore full petticoats and dresses the whole time, even thought they lived in humpies and cooked over open fires. This practise becomes life threatening when your petticoats catch fire! There are many accounts of women dying slow and painful deaths from burns suffered when their clothing caught fire. Usually there was no doctor in the poor mining areas and Bywong was no exception. The closest doctor lived in Bungendore some 12 miles [18 kilometres] away. Friends and neighbours did what they could to administer aid to the sick and dying, but with no real medical attention many did not survive.
Salting of the Mines
Salting was a common occurence on the goldfields. It is the adding of gold dust to ore to make the reef seem more valuable.
One story is told of the old timer who held a lease on a mine that was not showing any colour. He heard that a speculator was coming and made preparations for his visit. The old timer told the speculator to gather rock from any part of the reef and he would 'dolley' it for him. The buyer watched very carefully as the ore was crushed and washed, to make sure that everything was fair. As the last particles of crushed ore were washed, a tail of gold began to appear, The process was repeated with the same results. After they had walked over the reef area, the question of price arose. The old prospector said that he had been working the mine for a considerable time without any luck. He was not going to throw it away but he was getting old and it was time to return to his wife, so under the circumstances he would take 100 pounds, walk in, walk out.
What the speculator had not seen were the fine particles of gold dust which the prospector had placed in the brim of his hat and which flew into the panning dish as he panned and shook his head to rid himself of the troublesome flies.
The speculator got to work straight away on the area. He sunk a shaft to cut the reef at a lower level and found another reef which was carrying valuable gold. What the prospector had sold turned out to be one of the best gold producing reefs in the area. The old timer was for years afterwards lamenting the great fortune that he had thrown away!