Upper Araluen was proclaimed as a gold field in February 1853, but there is no information on the activities in this area until 1857. The western side of the Upper Araluen area extends beyond to the Anglican Cemetery from the rugged land below the Major’s Creek Falls. This area includes Apple Tree Flat, Deep Creek and the source of the Araluen Creek. There is evidence that gully sluicing was used to separate the gold from the soil. And the shape of the tailing mounds (mounds of washed silt) suggest that area near the falls was mined by he Chinese.1New South Wales Government Gazette 18 March 1859. The Dirty Butter Creek area forms the eastern side of Upper Araluen.2Sydney Morning Herald, 24 August 1864.
Whist Upper Araluen is divided into five different areas, most sources use the term Upper Araluen without specifying the exact locality.
From Richard Kennedy’s reminiscences we learn a little of the hardships of gold mining in 1855 near Apple Tree Flat3Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal, 20 February 1942. (Reprinted from 1907) …
Now, about the beginning of ’55, two of the Californians whom I mentioned previously, viz., Jim Cloves and Larry Goodman, found gold on the surface just behind where Bill Morris lives, on the western side of Apple Tree Flat, but there was no water to wash put the gold, so they wheeled some, of the stuff down to the creek close by Captain Crawford’s claim on Weedy Flat. They found it would be payable if they could get water on to the ground, so they decided to bring the Major’s Creek water on by means of a race, which was no light under taking. They took levels from the Major’s Creek above where Norman now lives, and commenced cutting a face, which ran round Fuller’s Mountain and round the head of Fuller’s Creek, then around the breast of the hills looking over Apple Tree Flat. Cloves and Goodman put on ten or a dozen men to cut this race, and it took them three months to complete the job, and when it was completed, to their great dismay, a very dry spell came on and they were short or water, and their plucky undertaking proved a blank. I am sure this old race can still be traced. This ground was afterwards worked in later years, and, I am told, was fairly rich. I do not know if the old race was ever made use of in working the ground, but I should think it was.
In October 1857 one of the few reports of mining near Dirty Butter Creek was published. A party had arrived from the Ovens Valley in Victoria and commenced a tail race to open claims on government land between Dirty Butter Creek and Weedy Flat, where the camp ground is today. General opinion at the time pointed to a lead in that direction. They obtained an overshot water-wheel to work the pump.4Sydney Morning Herald, 29 October 1857.
By May 1858 the workings were scattered over a large part of Upper Araluen to Deep Creek. At the junction of Deep Creek and Bell’s Creek several parties were earning £3 to £4 per week. Deep Creek had many comfortable dwellings and numerous tents. Coarse gold had been found and could be claimed quickly with little expense compared to the efforts needed at Araluen.5McGowan, The Golden South, page 53.
In September 18586Sydney Morning Herald, 7 September 1858. the Sydney Morning Herald describes some aspects of life in Upper Araluen – firstly stating that a lock-up is shortly to be erected, and a police force stationed. It seems these fields were not as quiet as those of Bell’s Creek, and law enforcement was sometimes necessary.7See below for an example of the wilder side of life.
Mining for wages in 1858, in this area, were not remunerative enough to support families. Necessities were very expensive. Provisions had to be brought into the valley from great distances over ill formed tracks by horse and wagon. It is hard for us to comprehend the time taken to travel these relatively short distances. For example, police and gold escorts would take eight hours to travel from Braidwood to Nelligen. Nelligen was where goods were initially purchased, upon arrival by ship from Sydney. The return trip would take nine hours up the Clyde mountain. No doubt these escorts would be lighter and faster than one filled with goods for sale. To make ends meet, many miners were obliged to take employment although they had claims of their own. The want of rain often in summer time, also compelled the miners to work for those who were able to pay for the cost of building a race, as without water, the soil containing the gold could not be washed. Unless the claim was next to a creek, races needed to be constructed – this could take months of work. On a brighter side, the services of a medical man were to be added to the comforts of the inhabitants. Dr. Hodgkinson was soon to be available.
Bell’s Life and Sporting Review, 1 January 1859, enlightens us as to the state of some of the relationships in this area, relationships which necessitated a police station …
It appears that there is some absurd jealousy existing between a few of the diggers residing on the Upper and a few on the Lower, Araluen diggings. Mr Sweeney, of the Cornstalk Inn, has recently been besieged in his father in-law’s house at Upper Araluen, and having no assistance at hand was obliged to keep within doors. On another occasion, we believe, he had to show fight, and was successful. In consequence of these occurrences some parties owed him a grudge, and hence many expected that a storm was brewing, and that it would burst on the race-course. Rum, we fancy, had largely to do with tho riot, in fact, more than any other cause. A great number of men, furious with rage and liquor, engaged in a most disgraceful melee, some using their fists, others using their waddies, and others fighting with bottles or whatever weapon they could pick up. The report of blows delivered con amore and with telling effect on the sculls of the combatants were heard all over the plain. We need scarcely say that nearly every blow felled a man to the earth. A more disgusting or disgraceful exhibition we have rarely witnessed. The fight, seemingly, was got up and sustained by a few lovers of pugilism. Mr Sweeney, whilst striving to make peace, received a blow or a punch in the cheek, and the next moment the man who administered the blow was felled to the earth by a neighbour using a waddie. It was with great difficulty that peace could be restored. The police exerted themselves in a most praiseworthy manner. Corporal Nichols exhorted, entreated, commanded, and threatened the mob, but to little purpose, as they were determined to fight it out ; the only alternative, therefore, was to rush them, and this was what the police did, and with good effect. There were but two policemen on the ground, a force altogether disproportionate to the occasion. After the riot was suppressed a number of the fighting men paraded the ground yelling like demons and almost begging people to go and fight with them. Nobody appeared, however, to take the hint. So anxious were some of them for a scrimmage that they even went so far as to give the first blow with a view of provoking to battle. One of these worthies, with broken head and shirt-front besmeared with blood, struck the writer of this report a blow with a view of getting him to fight. He the digger was passing on one side the road,on his way home to Upper Araluen, and we were on the other side going in a contrary direction, when he ran across to us and hit out, but without doing us much hurt as we did not covet the honors of the ring we walked straight on and took no notice of him.
In February 1859 the first of the floods to affect Upper Araluen were experienced. Floods were to become a regular force to be reckoned with throughout the whole valley, usually causing months of repair work. This one, for Upper Araluen was a rather gentle introduction for what was to come …
Heavy rains occurred in early February 1859 causing floods in Araluen but Goodenough claims, that the Upper Araluen has, we believe, escaped the general destruction. Braidwood Observer.8Sydney Morning Herald, 8 February 1859.
In …March 1859 the NSW Government Gazette9New South Wales Government Gazette, 18 March 1859. published the rules, framed by the Local Court at Upper Araluen, for gold mining here, on 16 March 1859. Rules, no doubt, were made to reduce confrontations, but the main reason for the rules was that the Crown owned all the gold in the ground. All gold on private as well as on Crown Land. Previously, NSW regulations had been proclaimed and then modified in 1851 and in 1852, then in February 1853 sixty four regulations were published for all claims in NSW.10Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 9 February 1853.
The Upper Araluen rules of 1859 covered the size and shape for each claim, distinguished between business license holders and miners ; rules on vacating a claim ; on tail races and rights to water ; machinery and on the number of claims that can be owned by one person or party.
In June 1859, the Empire reported that there was very little doing at Upper Araluen. Some few parties were at work on the top part of the creek, some doing better than others. It was thought the ground was worked out, except for, perhaps, the banks. In mid-June, when gold was discovered in Merricumbene, a rush to that locality ensued, leaving the Upper Araluen and Bell’s Creek fields almost deserted. However, it was stated that Captain Stove and party, opposite Mr Armstrong’s, were doing very well, also Harrison and party at the junction of Bell’s Creek Falls and Deep Creek. King’s party, on private ground, opposite Goodenough’s were making better than wages.11Empire, 18 June 1859. Newspaper reports for July and August said Upper Araluen was still very slow,12Empire, 30 July 1859. although fresh ground had been opened up near Mr Budd’s store.13Sydney Morning Herald, 27 August 1859.
Access to the valley from Braidwood was very primitive for many years, being limited to initially a bridle path, then a narrow track. In July 1859 there were rumours that a road to Araluen via Dirty Butter Mountain would be constructed. As the journalist wrote at the time …
… the road will be a great convenience ; it is to be hoped that the government will lose not time in having this road made.14Empire, 27 July 1859.
However there was a petition in October 1860 for the government to construct a passable dray road via Dirty Butter Creek indicating nothing had happened in 1859. In November 1861 a single lane track down the mountain finally opened. This was very steep and dangerous and many accidents occurred.
On 15 December 1859 a proclamation was issued declaring the Local Court Area of Upper Araluen to extend as far as Jembaicumbene Swamp. Given the state of the tracks at this time the distance covered to all parts of this area would be long and physically dangerous. This must have affected the efficacy of the court and its officers …
… the Gold Field at Araluen, to be a District for the purpose of forming a Local Court under the provisions of the Act 20 Victoria, No. 29: And whereas it has been deemed advisable to alter the boundaries of the same: Now, therefore, I, the Governor General aforesaid, with the advice of my Executive Council, and in accordance with the powers vested in me by the twentieth clause of the said Act, do-hereby declare that the boundaries of the said District shall be as hereinafter set forth, that is to say :— Upper Araluen, comprising the watershed of Major’s and Bell’s Creeks, as far down as the Falls into Araluen Valley, the Long Flat, the Back Greek, and Jembaicumbene Swamp.
The next reports are of the disastrous 1860 floods. According to the Herald15Sydney Morning Herald, 20 February 1860. Upper Araluen was a regular lake. All the roads, gardens, slab homes and their contents disappeared. Mr Mullin’s store, at the junction of the Araluen and Major’s Creeks incurred more than 1000 pounds damage. Some of his goods were picked up six miles down the creek. Misfortune unfortunately followed Mr Armstrong to Upper Araluen. He had moved his family to Deep Creek after his public house had been destroyed by fire in 1857.16See discussion in the Araluen section on gold mining. In these floods, the Empire17Empire, 20 February 1860. said that a portion of Mr Armstrong’s store fell in when the bank of the creek gave way. Fortunately he had removed his goods to a safe place. It was reported later that he intended to give up his store and he built a public house at the foot of the Dirty Butter track.18Northern Times, Newcastle, 13 March 1860. This may indicate that the Dirty Butter fields were doing well. Mr and Mrs Thomas Taylor, due to this flood, had to leave their house and take up residence in the church. In east Upper Araluen, large portions of the new Dirty Butter Creek track were washed away, making it impassable. The Illawarra Mercury19Illawarra Mercury, 21 February 1860. tells us that the great race and other extensive works, which cost so much time, labour and money were all ruined, wheels swept away and the machinery covered to a great depth by sand.
In early May 1860 there was another flood, but it appears that the effects on Upper Araluen were minimal as some miners were ready to start mining again by mid-May, after repairing their claims. But operations were still very limited and business was dull. There were hopes that the future would be brighter.20Goulburn Herald, 16 May 1860. Reports were brighter in June with activity everywhere. This activity continued into July, but at the end of July there was another flood. The Empire reports …
Captain Stove, and Harrison and party’s claim and race are destroyed, having only to boast of three weeks’ washing after three months excessive labour. William Grant and Son’s paddock and race destroyed had just commenced washing. Morrison and Wisby’s paddock and race completely destroyed. This industrious party had only washed half a day before the flood, after ten weeks’ hard toil. Rooney, Greenlade and party’s works shared the same fate. Gallagher, Gannon, and party’s paddock and race are once more laid waste, after a most arduous and unsuccessful expenditure of five months’ labour. Groven, Cole and party’s extensive works received considerable danger ; this party are the principal sufferers upon the upper diggings, and I regret to add that the majority of them are married men with large families. Those parties who are engaged in some of the gullies will, I have no doubt, reap the benefit of golden harvests, having abundance of water now at their command.21Empire, 7 August 1860.
In mid-August the Herald22Sydney Morning Herald, 14 August 1860. reported that most of the miners were energetically employed in reopening their former extensive works. Morris’s and Stove’s parties had suffered greatly, their claims being completely levelled. But they were back at work in August. The Herald also reported that a number of Chinese miners moved to this area and seemed to be permanently settled. McGowan states that by late August the majority of claims at Upper Araluen had been reopened and washing was to resume shortly.23McGowan, Conservation and Heritage Overview, p 32. The machinery, including four steam engines, used to pump water, and appliances were successfully working the paddocks which had been stripped since the last flood.
In January 1861 many long term miners left for new fields at Crown Flat. The Herald24Sydney Morning Herald, 30 January 1861. reports that the banks and the gullies were being worked by ground sluices, and as water was plentiful, nearly all the available ground was taken up. It appears lack of water was a problem in summer and autumn, and too much water a problem in winter. The pattern repeated itself again as winter approached. There was another flood at the end of March 1861, and many miners left, this time for Nerrigundah. Things recovered somewhat, and the population increased again, then another flood in April.
In June-July 186125McGowan, Conservation and Heritage, p 35. the claims in Apple Tree Flat were yielding good prospects, and gold had been struck upon the flat in many places. Reported yields were as much as 80oz per week. Those doing well were Dr. Curtis, Chrystie and party, Gilligan’s and King’s. At Huggett’s 20 hands were employed and a quarter share of Clewer’s claim was sold for 210 pound. Most of the engines were profitably employed.
In August 1861 a sad story, which illustrated the very difficult conditions which people lived under was reported …
On Tuesday night, an old man named Edward Griffiths, who had been employed for some time past at the Happy Valley Inn, Upper Araluen, as ” Jack of all Trades”, was on his way to Braidwood, to get an order from the magistrates to send him to the Infirmary in Sydney, when, coming up the mountain, he lost his way, and had to keep walking about all night to prevent himself from being frozen, the night being bitterly cold. On Wednesday he reached town, and reported the circumstance to the chief constable, who procured his admission into the hospital. He is ninety two years of age, and has been in the army -Braidwood Dispatch.26Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1861.
In September 1861 there were further problems to do with water rights, this time Upper Araluen made the news …
Great complaints are now ‘beginning to be heard’ in this locality, as to the lack of water, and consequently much litigation arises. One claim holder (Mr. Jennings) has to pay some £7 per week in order to protect his water right and to prevent intrusion. There are some few claims opening, but an opinion seems to prevail among …….. that Upper Araluen was finished, ……. The works of Mr. Jennings are of the most extensive character ; he has opened up some ground above the old claim, and although some few months have elapsed since it was taken up, good returns are anticipated at the next washings, which will take place at intervals of one or two months. The Celestials do not muster strong at the Araluen. There are a few, however, at the foot of the Mountain, and on Thursday we met another band on their way thither. Trade is not very brisk.— Braidwood Observer.27Freeman’s Journal, 28 September 1861.
So, despite thinking Upper Araluen was finished, and many moving to other areas, by December 1861 the population was settling down and homesteads going up in all directions. A school conducted by Mr Wall was well attended and there were 30 – 55 children at Sunday school.28McGowan, Conservation and Heritage, p 35.
However the new year, 1862, did not start auspiciously for some. It was rumoured that the miners had joined many sit down strikes. They had sent in applications to purchase their homesteads under the new Free Selection Regulations. No reason was given, but it seemed that the response to their application might have been slow.
By April 1862, lack of water for washing the gold disrupted recovery efforts in both Upper Araluen and the adjacent Bell’s Creek for those that did not have access to a water race. It was commented that Jennings and party were doing well with their sluice.
As in Bell’s Creek and no doubt in the rest of the Araluen valley, miners were upset by the inefficient postal system. In June 1862 a strongly worded article was published by the Braidwood Observer29Empire, 23 June 1862. …
We trust that Captain Moriarty and Mr. Wilson will not fail to bring the postal system of this district under the notice of Parliament. The time-table as it now stands is worse than useless, and we are at a loss to know upon what basis. ….. At half-past eight o’clock on the mornings of Wednesday and Sunday, mails are made up and despatched to the following places:-Jembaicumbene, Major’s Creek, Bell’s Paddock, Bell’s Creek, Oranmeir, Ballalaba, Reidsdale, Upper Araluen, Crown Flat, Moruya, Bodalla, Nerrigundah and Little River. These bags are supposed, we say, to be made up at half-past 8 o’clock, and the Sydney mail seldom arrives before that hour, and if it does, there is not sufficient time to enable the mail to be thoroughly sorted and forwarded on to the above-named places. This is not all. We contend that very serious inconvenience may arise from the hasty despatch of the mails either after or before the arrival of the Sydney mail. Cases have already occurred in which storekeepers of Braidwood have received letters by the Sydney mail which it was imperative should be forwarded to their branch establishments on the diggings, and they had to wait until the following Sunday…… But the present postal system it a complete nuisance, and Major Christie as head of the department, ought to be ashamed of himself for managing matters in such a hodge-podge manner.
In July 1862, the higher end of Upper Araluen was effectively deserted, but fresh ground was opened near Mr Burke’s new public house, the Horse and Jockey.30Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 1862. One engine was in full work, and another was about to be erected there.
Another comment on life on the mining fields in October 186231Yass Courier, 29 October 1862. related to the expense of food in the valley. Because of this expense married miners usually had their own poultry, milking cows as well as a few sheep and pigs, also vegetable gardens and fruit trees …
On Wednesday one of the beasts of Mrs. Stove, the owner of a few head of milch cows at Upper Araluen, who has lost seven of them, went to get water and got bogged, when it was so weak from want of grass feed that it could not extricate itself. Some, of the neighbours, however, obligingly dug the animal out, and with great difficulty set it upon its legs again, when it managed to crawl away. Mr. Wilson, a neighbour of Mrs. Stove’s, has lost 8 out of 11 head of cattle. Horses do not suffer as they can find feed where cattle cannot. The general consequences of the drought are bad enough at present, and if the weather does not change soon we fear they will he deplorable. — Braidwood Observer.
And in December 1862 a report for Upper Araluen on the same storm that resulted in the death of John Bell at Bell’s Creek32Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser, 20 December 1862. …
In George Armstrong’s Caledonia Hotel, at the foot of the mountain, the water was several inches in depth ; and we regret to state that loss of life has resulted, but whether in more than one instance it is at present impossible to ascertain, but there can be no doubt that one poor fellow has met with a watery grave, and that Mr. H. A. Cobb who was with him narrowly escaped sharing his fate. They were over taken on the mountain by such a fall of rain that can only be described as like the opening of the gates of heaven. They made the best of their way as fast as they could to the foot of the mountain, closely pursued by the rushing torrent, and when attempting to cross a gully which comes from the ranges in the rear of the spot where the Happy Valley Inn used to be, Mr. Cobb’s companion, Frederick Beetin, was swept away and Mr. Cobb himself only escaped by a miracle. The body of Beetin has not been found, although search has been made for it. The poor young man had been for some time in the employ of Mr. J. H. Blatchford of Major’s Creek; and was generally engaged in bringing up the gold on Mondays in company with the escort, for which purpose he was returning to Araluen when he met his untimely end. It is rumoured that several other persons have ben drowned, but nothing authentic on the subject has been obtained as yet.
No further reports are available until March 186433Freeman’s Journal, 30 March 1864. when things were looking up …
Mining operations this week, in Upper Araluen present better features than have been exhibited latterly. Owen’s party in possession of an excellent claim, have been doing better than ever. Pepper’s party are after opening new ground, between Blatchford’s claim and the creek, and are doing well ; P. Clune and party have got well to work, and it is anticipated they will wash to-day. Hogg and Finn’s party (Big Engine claim) are doing first-rate, and upon receipt of their new boiler, expected every day, they are hoping to do better than ever. Other claims are also being wrought to advantage. Upon the whole, mining presents rather a cheerful aspect on the upper part of the creek. At Sapling Point, a superabundance of water still acts against the miner. The late rains have effectually hindered the prosperity of this part of the Creek ; but the mischief is not great. There is some talk of a party taking the whole of Mr. Groves paddock for mining purposes, but the agreement has not yet been ratified. — About eight hundred ounces of gold were obtained out of three buckets of wash dirt from the Homeward Bound claim, Wentworth mines. Great excitement one lump is said to be worth two hundred pounds.
In February 1866 there was great excitement over new finds of gold34Yass Courier, 10 February 1866. …
Information has reached us of a new rush in the Valley, a little above Newtown, in Upper Araluen. A party of prospectors (Fassell and Edge) have been engaged during the past ten days in putting down a prospecting shaft some distance from the creek, about two hundred yards above Burke’s public-house, and on Monday last the news soon spread that they had dropped on payable gold at twenty-five feet sinking. They obtained from the bottom a prospect of half an ounce, and the gold is unlike the gold usually obtained, being of a coarse nuggetty character, like that obtained on the early diggings at Major’s Creek. A gentleman who visited the prospectors’ claim yesterday, kindly obtained for our inspection a sample of the prospect obtained, and the two nuggets which we looked at were as large as the usual size fowling shot. Quite a rush has taken place to the ground, and the utmost excitement prevails amongst the people there congregated and the business people generally, – especially in the vicinity.
McGowan tells us that between 200 and 300 miners arrived in a short time. Shafts had to be slabbed due to the excess water, presumably from good summer rains. De Rome’s claim employed 140 men. During winter there was some severe flooding, but by August things were gradually recovering, yet again.35McGowan, The Golden South, p 68.
Then at the end of March in 1867 there is another flood. This one affected the whole of the valley, from Upper Araluen to Mudmelong. In Upper Araluen Bishop’s claim escaped damage and he could continue working ; Desmond’s claim, now known as O’Brien’s, was flooded in and the engine was washed down the main creek, the water flowing over it ; O’Hare’s claim was flooded and the engine was buried ; the Perseverance claim was flooded in and their engine buried ; Blatchford’s claim escaped, and work continued ; the Great Extended Company’s claim filled with water. A meeting of shareholders hoped to raise 2000 more shares at one pound per share ; the Wooden Bottom claim was filled in, but the engine was secure ; the Big Engine Company’s claim flooded and was expected to cost over 2000 pounds to place in the same position as before ; the Italian claim, now known as Berridge’s escaped ; Peter de Rome’s, Scantlebury’s, Pulford’s and Bolen’s old claim were filled, but their engines were secure ; Goodenough’s engine was flooded but was recoverable.36Sydney Mail, 6 April 1867.
And just when many had recovered from the last flood, and hoping to recoup losses, another flood caused chaos in June 1867.37Age (Melbourne, Victoria), 2 July 1867. The following is from a correspondent in the Braidwood dispatch …
It is my painful duty to have to record another flood, being the fifth we have been visited with within a period of three months. This flood has been a more severe one than any of the four which occurred prior to it. It commenced raining on Tuesday, which gradually increased in force during the night, and on Wednesday morning the main creek and its tributaries rose rapidly, the rain continuing to fall steadily all Wednesday. Thursday night we had a strong wind, which came in fearful gusts, accompanied by very heavy showers. The rain continued falling without intermission, and at times with fearful violence, until Sunday morning (in all five days’ rain), during which period the main creek rose and fell several times, the current continually varying in its course, which made it very trying for the claim owners, who could scarcely tell where to defend themselves from the point of attack. In many of the claims men were engaged night and day in endeavouring to protect their works from the creek breaking in upon them, and were most indefatigable in their exertions repairing and stopping up vulnerable places in their dams as the water began to tell upon them, with boughs, sand, bags, blankets, and anything they could lay their hands upon. By this means many of the claims were saved from destruction, others again in spite of all these precautions have been filled in. The main creek never ran with more terrific force than on this occasion, and it is surprising that more damage was not done, and that any claims at all escaped its ravages. Commencing at the Chinamen’s claim at Upper Araluen, which was saved by dint of great exertion on the part of ‘John,’ who worked hard to secure their dam ; this preserved Warren and Co.’s, Bishop and Co.’s, and O’Brien’s, but at the same time it shot the current of water over to the point of land at the foot of the mountain road, where the creek has formed a channel for itself, nearly carrying away Mr Armstrong’s house, which was only prevented by their forming a wing dam of palings, boughs, &c., which turned it off into the garden, thence it took a turn again into its old channel, sweeping away the roads, gardens, huts, fences, etc., making great havoc, carrying away Hickey and Co.’s dam, and the Perseverance dam also, burying their engine, which the force of the current playing against has turned over. The creek still retaining the full force of its current on the western side nearly made its way into Blatchford’s claim, but fortunately when within a few yards it changed its course, and this saved it from being broken into. May and Co., Berridge and Co., Piggott and Co., McCann and. Co., have so far escaped as to be only filled with water, no very extensive or material damage having been done to the tail races, etc. Pepper and Co. are filled in, the creek making a clean breast right through their claim, and it was with difficulty the engine was saved. Freeman and Co. and Brogan and Co.’s claims are completely filled in and the engines buried ; Knight and Co.’s and Gibson and Co.’s claims are also all levelled, and all the claims from here to Crown Flat and Mudmelong have suffered more or less. This is only a slight sketch of the damage done to a few of the claims, &c. To attempt to put a value upon it would be almost impossible. It will cause an outlay of many thousands to put the claims in the same position as they were this day week (Monday). The most unfortunate and trying circumstances in connection with these floods is, that sufficient time elapses between each to enable the claims to get in such a state of repair and forwardness as to be able to either commence washing or to be just about doing so. The claim holders have shown a vast amount of perseverance and spirit in the way in which they have, time after time, opened up their claims, to be again filled by one flood after another, and they deserve praise for the energy and capital which have been expended by them, nothing daunted by their repeated misfortunes. Not only has the loss fallen upon and been felt by them to the tune of many thousands of pounds, but the miner, the working man, has also been a sufferer by these disastrous floods to a great extent by his having now been out of employment for the last two weeks, during which period his sufferings and privations have been great, and at the same time manfully met. The bulk of the men employed here in the mines are married men, men who have been for some time (many for a lengthened period) working in the valley. They have their little homes, their wives, and families about them, and are not in a position to remove. The improvident have been long in want, at the same time we must not ignore the privation and sufferings of the children on that head. The provident have most of them exhausted their little resources. The storekeepers, butchers, and bakers are not in a position to extend their credit. What is to be done? This is not an evil that has been brought on by themselves, by any misunderstanding with their employers, nor by any falling off of the works on account of the unproductiveness of the mines, but by circumstances over which no human being could have any control.
Then, as if the miners had not suffered enough, another fatal accident occurred in November 186738Kiama Independent, and Shoalhaven Advertiser, 14 November 1867. …
The Araluen correspondent of the Braidwood Dispatch states that a frightful and fatal accident occurred at Upper Araluen, to a man of the name of John Jennings. The deceased was excavating a bank, and while doing so a portion fell upon him before he could get out of the way ; the quantity that fell was small, not above two or three wheelbarrow loads, but it jammed him up against a solid wall of granite, and caused such inward injuries as to produce death in about two hours, during which period deceased suffered the most excruciating agony. Dr. Redhead was in attendance, but pronounced the case hopeless. The deceased was between nineteen and twenty years of age, and was much respected.
Despite the hardships, many continued in the valley. Over the 1867-68 summer the weather was dry again and there was not enough water for washing some of the claims. This again meant no income. The dry weather continued at least until May 1868, although there were no further reports until November when it was stated that lack of water was still a problem …
The Braidwood Dispatch mentions that most of the claims that anticipated washing this week have been disappointed, as they have not been able to get the water down. This delay is productive of a severe loss, not only to the claim owners but to the working men, numbers of whom are still out of employment, and the consequence is that business continues very dull and money scarce. The monthly escort left here on Tuesday morning last with 2341 oz. 12 dwts. 18 grs. of gold, which quantity is far greater than could have been expected, considering that very few claims have been at work during tho last three weeks, consequent upon the last flood. It is very evident that at Upper Araluen and the one or two claims that have been able to wash, they must have been doing well.39Sydney Mail, 21 March 1868.
These problems did not prevent the Police Magistrate instituting a house to house canvas to raise money in Redbank and Upper Araluen in aid of the Prince Alfred Hospital Fund.40Empire, 6 May 1868.
In November 1868 some of the sluicing claims were not able to work more than half time. For a cost of 100 pound, Jennings and Co. completed their incredible hydraulic apparatus. They had made a large dam, sufficiently elevated, to give them heavy water pressure which they brought to bear on their claim by means of pipes and leather hose over 500 feet in length.41Sydney Morning Herald, 3 November 1868.
Yet another flood in May 1869. The Break-o’-Day, St Vincent’s Morning Star, Try Again and All Nations claims were filled in at Upper Araluen. Knight’s old claim and Gibson’s were also levelled. Gibson and Co’s engines were buried in the sand.42Sydney Morning Herald, 18 May 1869.
The decade ended on a high note. In his weekly report from the Araluen Valley the correspondent of the Braidwood Dispatch says43Sydney Mail, 4 December 1869. …
The escort which left to-day (Monday) took 4500 ounces —Bank of New South- Wales contributing 2270 ounces. This amount has been purchased in the space of fire weeks. ‘ The average yield, therefore, does not appear to be decreasing. … Those claims situated at Upper Araluen seem to be paying expenses, with slight profits.