HERBERT THORNTON LETTERS

[Stanley]

Handley family
When I was interviewing Horace Thornton he mentioned a relation who had gone to Australia and finished up working on the Sons of Gwalia mine. A relation of Horace’s sent me copies of some letters he had written. Handley’s are mentioned in them.
Copy of Letters from Herbert Thornton
Manchester to Australia 1911

S. S. Norseman
Saturday 23rd Sept. 1911



Dear Mother and all,

Just a line as I promised. Well we had a rare good send off from Manchester. About forty from the shop were on the station. My hands were sore with shaking hands and as the train steamed out they all raised three cheers for us. The first stop was Stockport. Here there was some singing and a gentleman got on the train singing “Say Au Revoir, but not Goodbye”. He got into our compartment and it turned out after he had talked awhile, that he was Mr. Stanton’s brother. He knew about me, but he got a little bit mixed, and before we got to London, he was calling me Trenwith Fenwick, and last of all, when I said goodbye to him at Euston he called me Frentwick. I met his brother, he is much older and has been a sailor. Well we got to Euston and after looking about a bit found out that it would be best to take a four wheeler to Fenchurch Street Station. This we did and I enjoyed the early morning ride through London. We saw where Dickens and Lord Beaconsfield were born, went over Holborn Viaduct, through Russell Square and other places I felt familiar with. It was a terrible crush at Fenchurch Station and I wondered what it was like during the strike. Just a word to anyone coming out, send everything on before hand and come with what you stand up in. When we got to Tilbury there was a small tender waiting to take us on board. This was crowded. When we got on the Norseman all was confusion. Finding our berths, finding our luggage. Dinner was served, but unfortunately it was a dismal failure. There as many on board that we have two sittings down to every meal. For dinner, we had soup and then beef, potatoes (boiled in their jackets) haricot beans and then rice pudding. For tea we had cheese, bread and butter and jam. Between 9 and 10pm we were just off Deal and we dropped the pilot and one or two more gentlemen. It is a rum business for them to get of. Our boat didn’t stop, and the little motor boat for the pilot was being tossed about. The pilot went down the side of the ship with a rope ladder which was swinging about all the time, it was also pitch dark and they only had the light of one of those little storm lamps so you will see that it is rather a risky thing being a pilot. As the pilot left us he shouted out from the darkness, (we could not see him), ‘Goodbye & Good Luck!’. We turned in shortly after this and I think I must have fallen asleep as soon as I put my head on the pillow for I remember nothing more until 6.00a.m this morning.
Sun. Sept. 24th
The sea is as flat as a table and the sun is shining very brilliant. Everybody seems to have got a bit better tempered. For breakfast we had bread and butter and jam, Porridge and mutton chops and coffee. Everybody seems to be settling down. It is very warm. I should think we are now somewhere off the coast of France. There is no land in sight but we meet an occasional ship pass now and then. There are only one class of passengers carried so we have the run of the whole ship. It is becoming a bit rougher now, and a good few people are sick. Lily [his wife ] is complaining of dizziness, so I expect she won’t be long. I have just heard that we have had 9 stowaways on board, 3 of them were from Poplar. I think they have started them all to work. I met Mr. & Mrs. Gill at Fenchurch Street Station. Geoffrey [his son ] fairly does enjoy it all he runs about and never seems to be bothered with anything. We have had a little service tonight, but I would not get to it as Lily was so ill.
Monday 25th Sept.
I slept all right again last night. Got up at six this morning. The sea is very rough, we are tossing about. There are a lot of weary faces coming on deck this morning. I have not felt any bad effects yet. Although I always feel a sickly feeling when I go down for my meals. The ship is not going to stop anywhere until we reach Melbourne. We are fitted up with wireless and I see that a great demonstration as been held in Belfast against home rule. There are about thirty passengers sit for meals where Lily and I sit. This breakfast, there were six turned up, same for dinner. Lily seems a good lot better today. One of the stewards told me this dinnertime that we were about a third of the way through the Bay of Biscay. I don’t care how soon we are through and into a bit smoother water. Ships are getting a bit scarce now. Although this morning 1 saw what looked like a fishing smack about a mile away.
Wednesday 27th Sept.
We are just off Lisbon. We cannot see it but there is a chart which shows our position every day. We have had very nice weather every day so far. Today it is very hot in the sun today. They have put awnings over all the decks. Lily soon got better after we got out of the Bay of Biscay. I was never sick and have never yet missed a meal. Today we had soup, roast Pork, apple sauce, green peas and potatoes and rice pudding. Breakfast, I generally have a mutton chop. Geoffrey is keeping very well, he eats like a little horse. There is a lot of children on the boat They are forming a sports committee today. We had a short service last night in the main dining room. I shall have to post this letter on Friday. I think I said before, we do not stop anywhere, except just to take the mails off. There is very little going on, each day is like the day before. Today the buzzer blew and all the crew rushed to the boats. It was Boat Drill. The sea is very blue. The waves are about 5ft high. We do about 290 to 300 miles in 24 hours. I hope you got the P.C. all right. I gave a newsboy one or two to post for me on the ship, and the money for the stamps.
Thursday 28th Sept.
The sea is rough his morning, the sky overcast. Yet it is very warm. The post goes out tomorrow Friday, although I don’t expect we shall arrive in Tenerife until Sat morning. It is a pity we do not stop anywhere. A sports committee was formed last night so I don’t suppose we shall be long before we have a bit of fun. I don’t know whether I can get stamps for his letter or not so if it as no stamp you must pay up and be cheerful. We cannot get any fruit on board and everybody seems to be wanting it. Well I think I shall have to close my letter now, I will write one, chance we get a post at Cape Town.
We are all in the best of health, always ready for our meals, which are good and plenty of it, and as comfortable as it is possible to be under the circumstances.
Hoping all are well at home, I remain
Your affectionate son,
Herbert.
S. S. Norseman [no date]
Dear Mother and all,
Last time I wrote we were just about 300 miles tom Tenerife. On the Friday we were on the lookout for land all day, and about 3.30 in the afternoon we sighted it. There was a lot of argument amongst the passengers whether it was land or a dark cloud that we could see. Anyway it gradually grew into form, and as we were at tea, the ship came to a stop in the bay. The sun had just cut and the rows of white houses backed up by the very rocky wild looking mountains was very pleasing to the eye after having seen nothing but water for a day or two. We did not anchor but simply drifted in the bay. After a time a small tug boat came out from the harbour and we lowered our mail bag onto it. I hope you have received the letter all right, I could not get any stamps for either letters or P.C.s. Since then I have got some stamps from one of the passengers. The voyage is getting rather monotonous now. We have had very fine weather till today Thursday, October 4th, it is raining very hard this morning. We had a concert on Saturday night. A Service on Sunday, conducted by a chapel parson. Of course we are on the equator. It is very hot at midday but I have not felt any discomfort so far. It is very hot sleeping, the little cabins like ovens. But we sleep without any clothes on. I should think half the passengers, men & women, take their beds on deck and sleep out. I don’t think it is safe as we are about 30 miles off the West Coast of Africa, and there is a very heavy dew falls at night. When the wind blows from the land it can very easy carry malaria with it, so I think it will have to be very hot before I sleep on deck or even outside the cabin. One of the passengers has gone mad and they have him fixed up in a straitjacket. On Monday we ran into a shoal of porpoises. It is surprising what a little bit of a thing attracts attention. A bird, or a fish, everybody goes to side to look at it. I used to think the moon shone clear at home, but it is nothing to a tropical moon. We can quite easily see to play cards on deck by moonlight. It is the best part of the time at night, moonlight, and such nice warm balmy winds blowing. I often wonder whether there is a miserable black fog on in Manchester or not. Flying fish are common. Yesterday we could see a waterspout it would be about 10 or 12 miles away. We pass very few ships now. It is a grand sight to see a liner pass in the night. Of course the ships signal to one another by flashlight at night. Geoffrey and Lily and myself are keeping in the very best of health and despite this very hot weather we all three eat like horses. We get very good food and plenty of it. Afternoon is a great institution on board. About 3 o’clock everybody can be seen holding little tea parties on deck.
There is a notice up to say that Father Neptune is going to visit us tomorrow, so I suppose there will be some fun. I was in a tug-o-war team yesterday but we lost. The sea as been so calm we can scarcely tell we are moving unless we look over the side. Most of the passengers are going to Sydney. Early this morning Thurs. Oct. 5th the man who went mad died. He was buried just after sunset. The ship was stopped for a little while, but was started again before the service was over. One of the engineers told me that it is usual to for the ship to stop all the time, but the parson (chapel) made the service so long that they had to start the ship again as it was drifting to much out of its course. I suppose the parson was making the most of the opportunity. The passengers sang Nearer My God to thee, after the funeral. The man who died had other troubles besides being mad, and so his brother told me, the doctors had performed two operations on him on board. I think nearly all the passengers were at the funeral, but more as sightseeing than for respect to the dead man. This ship is full of Scotsmen and women and rats. And I think I would rather have the rats than the Scotsmen. They are the dirtiest lot of people that I ever saw. We have a Dutchman and woman on board. The man can speak a little English, but the woman none. They carry an English-Dutch phrase book with them and I notice now that a brawny Scot is teaching them English. I would like to hear him speak when his education is finished. Owing to the man dying all sports and concerts were postponed for the week. On Monday Father Neptune came on board and it was real fun I believe. Only carried rather too far. I could not get a very good view of the performance so I went down and had a sleep in my bunk. It was as well that I did so, for I heard afterwards that they were looking for me to go through the ordeal. We have crossed the equator now, and I might say that I saw many people with overcoats on. There has been a very cold wind blowing all the time, and about 8 am and 5 to 7pm it is rather cold. We have only had one wet day so far. We shall have been on the water three weeks on Sat. It is said that measles have broken out on board. Anyway all our party are still quite well. Geoffrey requires a lot of watching, as he will be climbing up the railings. All those who were shaved etc. by Father Neptune’s barber received a certificate to say that they have been over the line, and are now members of father Neptune’s family. One young fellow, the wireless telegrapher, would not be dipped or even pay a fine in lieu. He was rather roughly handed and he swears he had crossed the line before. If he can produce proof, he is to receive compensation, if not, I don’t know what they are going to do with him. Stanton showed me a letter from Trenwith the other day. It said, ‘There is a young lad from Carleton travelling to Australia by the Norseman, he knows us and will be able to tell you anything you want to know’. He concludes with this ‘I don’t know what class he is travelling, but I should like you to look him up.’ Stanton pointed this out and laughed and said ‘I am travelling third class because there isn’t a fourth.’ Stanton is very fond of telling tales which I think he rather stretches at times. We have only seen one ship since Friday Oct. 6th it’s now Oct. 12. Lily got into the last lot for the whist drive, she didn’t win. The winner got 93 Lily got 73. On Sunday morning 15th Oct we passed the Cape of Good Hope. I was not up early enough to see Cape town or Table Mountain, but I saw the land, in fact we could see land up to dinner time. It was a lovely morning and the sight of land seemed to brighten everybody up. On Monday Oct. 16th there was a pillar fight. A pole was strung across a large canvass tank full of water and the competitors sat cockstride on it and tried to knock each other off the pole into the water. The Pillars were sopping wet and it was all the men could do to lift them. On Wednesday an obstacle race took place. We ran into a very thick driving fog on Tuesday afternoon and everything was miserably wet. It was just like a day in England, when a thaw has set in after a heavy snow. The buzzer was blowing every three minutes up to 12 midnight. It is rather foggy again today and the buzzer keeps blowing at intervals. It is now very cold, especially at mornings. We are now about 4270 miles from Melbourne Yesterday we did the best run of the whole voyage so far 308 miles in 24 hours. The chapel parson who conducts the services, has a half plate camera with him. He told me he had 500 post cards with him and that he would not have enough. He charges 2 ½ d. each so he will, make a bit by the time he gets to Melbourne. When he is preaching he is always talking about the rich man and the eye of a needle and about people hoarding up riches but he isn’t above charging 2 ½ d. for a post card that costs him less than 1/2d all out. Him and me are not particular friends just now. He gave out one Sunday that the service would be Church of England. The next week I was talking to him on the Sat night before and he was asking me what Sunday it was. I found it for him and then he wanted to know which of the psalms he should sing. I told him that. On the Sunday he missed the psalms, didn’t read the right lesson and only said the Lords Prayer out of the prayer books, and sang Moody and Sankey hymns. I told him afterwards that it wasn’t much like a Church of England Service. He said he thought it much nicer than the Church of England Service and that the psalms would not have been liked by the people. Anyway since then he doesn’t look my way now. I did help him to print a few post cards, but I don’t think I will help him again. We are expecting being in Melbourne about a fortnight today (Friday Oct 20) so we should be in Australia Nov 5th.
Friday Oct 27th
We have had a week of very cold rough weather. Occasional fog interspersed with snowstorms and hail. In fact one day at tea I had some corned meat and there was small pieces of ice in it about as big as peas. Early one morning the ship gave a lurch and then there was a crash of crockery. One fellow said he thought it must be day breaking that we heard. The ship is getting light on the water now owing to the coal and food that has been consumed, consequently it rolls about a bit more. The food still is good but very badly cooked. We are now a little under 2000 miles from Melbourne but don’t expect to be there before Sat. Geoffrey has been bad with diahorea for two days but is better now. It is bad for children this cold weather as it is too cold to take them on deck and the accommodation is very rough below. This boat has been chartered by the Aberdeen Line from the Dominion Line. It is an old cargo boat done up for emigrants. It is all right for men but rough for women and children. I would not advise any grown up to come via the Cape to Australia. It is so monotonous we have not seen any land for nearly 3 weeks now.
Friday Nov 3
We are now only a matter of 80 miles from Melbourne and all is excitement. We sighted land about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and during the night as the moon came up it was a welcome sight to all of us to see the different lights as we sailed along the coast. I retired about 11 o’clock but there wasn’t much sleep as everybody was so excited. Our Pilot came on board about 3a.m. We anchored out on Melbourne Heads for a long time waiting for the doctor. The doctor came at last and it took him some time to examine 1100 passengers and 500 [?] crew. But anyway it was over after a time and we were allowed to proceed on our way up the river towards Port Melbourne. I think I shall never forget the sight when we landed. Men meeting their wives and children, mothers meeting sons, people rushing about the decks with letters, and luggage everywhere. Mr. Brown the man whose brother died on the voyage received a cablegram to say his father was dead. Mrs. Chilton’s friends met us on the docks. The sun was shining very brightly, and I am sure I saw nobody that wasn’t glad to put their feet on Terra firma again after 42 days confinement. Mrs. Chilton, Mrs. McVay and Lily, with our Australian friends left the docks in a cab. There wasn’t room for me and Fred on the cab so we walked and took a car. Of course we got lost and eventually arrived at our destination at 7.30p.m Six hours tramping about Burnley in boiling sun. All the houses are built of wood bungalow style and stand in their own ground everybody owns his own house. But I will write more about this another time.
Well we had our tea and then went after lodgings. We were out until 11.30p.m but did not get anything suitable so we slept rough at Mr. Woolsey’s (the man that nominated us). We managed to get lodgings on Sunday afternoon. I pay 15/- for myself, 12/6 for Lily and 5/- for Geoffrey per week with washing. On Monday we were up early and after work. We first went and registered at the Government Labour Bureau. Then I had seen an advert in the paper, I found that place out and applied there. The man took particulars and my address and said he would let me know by post card if he should require me. After that we took train to Williamstown. Applied at Gray Bros. Shipbuilders etc and got a job to start on Wed.
Morning. Today (Tues Nov 7) is Melbourne Cup day a big horse race, and there is a general holiday. I received your letter all right and was pleased to hear from you. I shall have to close now as the English mail goes out today. What I have seen of Melbourne so far is very nice. Broad Streets and plenty of trees in the streets. Our address is 71 Richmond Terrace, Richmond, Melbourne. But we shall not stay here as it is to far from our work. So send out letters to Coppin Street until we give you a proper address.
Hoping all are well as we are. I remain, Your loving son, Herbert
I wrote you from Tenerife, also J. Lawson and a few more. I hope they received them by now.





Walhalla
Dec 23rd



Dear Mother and all,
We received your letter and cards today. The C.H. [Craven Herald?] hasn’t come yet, I expect it will be here tomorrow. Last week was a very hot week. Yesterday was very hot during the afternoon a thunderstorm came on. It hailed pieces of ice the size of eggs. You might think I am teasing a bit but it is the truth, for I was out in it all. I don’t think I were so wet through before in my life. One of Handley’s brothers (our Yorkshire friend) came to Walhalla last week. He has started work at the Copper Mine a place about 6 miles away. He as been a policeman at Thornhill near Dewsbury. He was talking about Mirfield, so I asked him did he know Jim Cockshot. He knew him and said what a smart man he was. It makes the world feel a bit less when we meet men like this. Well the Old Tunnel is very nearly done. The rumour I told you about in last week’s letter was true. They have sacked sixty men. The remainder are to be kept on until a meeting of the shareholders on the 14th of Jan. If the shareholders decide to pull all the machinery out and sell it up, well I suppose I shall be out of work and perhaps in another job by the time you get this letter. My friend the M.P for Walhalla has given me a reference thus
State Parliament House, Melbourne.
I have pleasure in stating that Mr. Thornton of Walhalla, has for some time past, filled the position of assistant mechanical engineer at the Long Tunnel mine Walhalla, and as a director of this company and one having had considerable experience of engineers, in my capacity of manager of the Long Tunnel Extended Mine I am fully satisfied that he is a very competent workman. He possesses a thorough knowledge of the lathe and general benchwork and is fully conversant with the principals of engine fitting and construction. Mr. Thornton has had a lengthy experience with leading engineering firms in England and during his connection with the Long Tunnel mine Mr. Thornton has given entire satisfaction, not merely in regard to his engineering ability but also in respect to his moral qualities. He has proved himself reliable and conscientious and I have no hesitations in recommending him to any employer requiring the services of a trustworthy and competent working engineer.
Samuel Barnes.
Every time I read it, it makes me feel two inches bigger. He also wrote me a letter asking if I could suggest anything that he could do for me in regard to getting me another situation. I suppose he wants to know what kind of situation I should prefer. I think Xmas will be very quiet here this year. There is going to be the usual picnic out to Harris. Lily and Geoffrey are going, but I don’t think I shall venture. I think I shall spend my holiday fishing and prospecting. If I find anything or nothing I shall have had the excitement of looking for it.
There was another house burnt down last night. Furniture and all the lot. Unfortunately nothing was insured. (They sent us a cutting from Thirsk out of the Yorkshire Evening Post about Gargrave Mill) Gargrave Mill being burnt down is something like the Tunnel going down. Only here people have to leave furniture in the houses, as it cost more than the furniture is worth to cart it about. If I do come out of work I suppose I shall go to Melbourne again until I can get another job in the country. I have a few jobs to do out in the bush at different places that will fill in a day or two.
I am pleased to say we are all fairly well except Lily who has been suffering from neuralgia for about a week.
Hoping all are well at home. I remain, Your loving Son, Herbert
Last week the mosquitoes bit lumps out of us.
[The letters end here. Obviously my assumption that he went out directly to the Sons of Gwalia Mine was wrong and he must have found his way out there after this stay in Melbourne]
SS NORSEMAN
Hamburg-America’s Brasilia was built by Harland & Wolff of Belfast (approx. 9,500 tons dwt). Launched in November 1897, she made her maiden voyage from Belfast to New York on 21 March 1898. She was then placed on Hapag’s Hamburg-Baltimore route, making 13 round trips on that route between May 1898 and October 1899.
In February 1900, Brasilia was sold back to Harland & Wolff, who then sold her on to the Dominion Line. Dominion renamed her Norseman, eliminated the 300 second class accommodations she had had as Brasilia, and had her fitted as a steerage/freight ship for Dominion’s North Atlantic service. (The refitting also included an increase in the number of masts, from two to four, as shown here.) Her first voyage for Dominion, though, was as a Boer War troop transport, in February 1900.
From 1910 to 1914, Norseman was chartered to the Aberdeen Line and sailed on a London-Cape Town-Sydney route. On 22 January, while en route from Plymouth to Salonica with a cargo of mules and munitions, Norseman was torpedoed by U39 in the Gulf of Salonica; she was towed to Mudros harbour where she was again torpedoed and sank (according to Bonsor) or beached (according to Williams and Kludas). In any event, Norseman remained at Mudros until she was scrapped in 1920.

From the diary of another passenger on the same ship comes this description of the voyage. ‘……. Left Southampton 11 January 1913. Ship called at Melbourne and finally arrived at Brisbane on 10th March 1913. The SS Norseman was a cattle boat fitted out with cabins for passengers. As passengers disembarked at ports of call the cabins were dismantled and thrown overboard.’

[Transcribed with permission by SCG, 06 September 2007]
LTP 78/AL/o5
‘R- But as I say I’d been called out up Brogden to repair a set and of course I stopped fairly late to hear the band and see that everything was working all right. I used to carry a little attaché case with me. Screw drivers and drills and tackle and pliers. You know what I mean, spare 2BA nuts and bolts and what have you. And so I was coming along the street at one o’clock in the morning. I lived in Ivy Terrace and I bumps into the sergeant and a copper.
Now there was a bridge then over the Butts Beck, where the Butts Mill still is, just a narrow bridge across. We met there, course as I might have said before, being George Handley’s son-in-law I were more or less pretty well known and as a musician in the town. But of course, one o’clock in the morning and here am I with my bag which today a copper would have classed them as...
The instruments! [both laugh]
R- Instruments, burglar’s tools. As a matter of fact the sergeant said to me he says “What’s tha got in theer lad/” I says “Well, I’ve just been out repairing a wireless.” “Well” he says “Let’s have a look what tha has inside.” Course I’ve got little drilling machine, you know, if you wanted to put another nut and bolts somewhere, screwdrivers and wire and soldering iron and, you know, all the bag of tricks. Course he were only being on the safe side, I could have been a burglar for all he knew but of course he could have substantiated my story any time with the wife’s father. But coming back to the early days of wireless, I tell some people this today, they don’t believe it, their mind cannot accept it, it just boggles at it. As I said, the band we played in was in great demand for shows and concert work and it come Kilnsey show.’
This is from some associated research:
‘Arthur Entwistle left Barnoldswick in 1938 because of the treatment he received from Briggs and Duxbury’s where he suffered an accident when acid was splashed into his eyes. Shortly after, someone from B & D called to the house. All they wanted to know was, ‘how soon he could return to work’. Arthur decided to follow his brother in law’s advice, (George Handley) about moving to Coventry.’
FROM A RPORT IN THE TELEGRAPH AND ARGUS MAY 1959 ON THE HUNT FOR THE FIREBUG.
‘Police concern over occurrences in West Craven was indicated by the talks called at Wakefield HQ by Sir Henry Studdy.
Present were his two assistants Mr H Lofthouse and Mr George Blackburn and the County’s CID chief, Detective Chief Superintendent George Metcalfe.
From that conference it is expected that there will be an increase in the tempo of investigations by the calling in of more officers from various parts of the county.
This afternoon, Mr Metcalfe went to Earby Police station- headquarters for the enquiry.
SHIPLEY DETECTIVE.
He had summoned to Earby his special ‘murder squad’ team with two of the senior officers in Det. Chief Inspector Jack Handley of Shipley and Det. Chief Inspector Jack Eddington of Harrogate.’
It looks as though George Handley, Arthur’s father in law had a son called George and he may have gone down to Coventry for a job.

[Stanley]

I went digging for this because something was nagging at the back of my mind about a connection between Laycock's buses, The book 'This is my Life' by J B Griffin and a mine in Australia called 'The Sons of Gwalia. At one point I did a lot of digging into this and found that the mine engineer was Hoover who later became president of the United States. Click the picture to enlarge.



I'm still not clear what the connection is but it's in here somewhere!

[Gadge]

Here's a pic that features Samuel Barnes, who wrote the reference for Herbert. His short potted bio is HERE.


He is one of the blokes standing in the shaft cage, and I think that 's a carbide lamp in the left hand of the bloke on the right hand side of the cage. It looks like he has candles in the top pocket of his jacket, as well! Pic circa 1905, taken I believe by W.H. Lee. He has obviously used flash illumination, which was a pretty heroic endeavour in 1905, involving igniting a tray of magnesium-based 'flash powder'.

To explain some of the backgound to the pic, this is located at the 'brace', i.e. the top, of the Main Shaft of the 'Long Tunnel Extended Mine' located in Walhalla, Victoria, Australia.
The brace in this case, is located well underground, in a machinery chamber blasted out of solid rock. Access is by a 960' long adit, and the vertical shaft was around 3000' deep, at the time. The shaft had three 'working compartments'; from left they are services; and two haulage compartments, with a cage in each, on the opposite ends of a single winder cable. So one cage will be at the bottom, when the other is at the brace. 'Services' includes compressed air pipes to provide underground power for machines, such as rock drills and fans; water supply [for dust suppression], and mine draining pump discharge, pipes. This compartment also contained a ladderway.

All of the successful mines of Walhalla started out with underground machinery chambers, not conventional surface headframes, as the location is a very narrow, steep-sided mountain valley. They were all hard rock gold mines. Most of them used compressed air, supplied by surface-located steam-powered compressors, to power the main winder winch.

The Long Tunnel Extended, however, had five wood-fuelled boilers in the underground chamber! Two 'rises' driven upwards to ground level acted as the main air intake, and smoke flue. The air compressor was also located in the chamber, with an air receiver buried beneath the floor.

By the way, the 'Long Tunnel Mine' where Herbert worked was an independent operation, despite the similarity in names. Samuel Barnes filled several roles at both mines, including Mine Manager and Director, during his time in Walhalla. He left there some time after 1910, when he was elected to the State Parliament of Victoria.

[Stanley]

Wonderful addition to the story Doug! When I interviewed Horace Thornton for the LTP I was surprised when we got on to the Sons of Gwalia mine and it opened out into a larger story. You have made a valuable addition. That's the beauty of the web, it can prise out information that would otherwise have been unconnected. Thanks for that!

[Gadge]

Glad to be able to contribute usefully, Stanley.

Samuel Barnes would have been the archetypal 'Cousin Jack' professional hard rock miner, as the Cornish expatriates were known here. They were world-renowned for their expertise in the field in the 19th Century, and many emigrated then, as many of the Cornish mines closed down in that era.

Mining history is a bit of a serious interest for me, and there are still quite a few relics [up to sizable Cornish boilers and steam engines] on the more inaccessible minesites in the mountains north of me.

Much of the accessible stuff was lost to 'scrappies' in the 1930's Depression years though - one spur, on a bush road I use, has the name 'Cast Iron Point'. That's because it was the main route used to winch up old machinery, from the floor of the Thomson River valley to the road, which was the closest vehicular access at that time. They used gelignite to break up the bigger castings, like stamp battery boxes and engine beds, into manageable bits.

By the way, the Long Tunnel Extended Mine is run as a tourist mine these days, just with foot tours in to the machinery chamber - the shaft isn't operational. So I've been to the point that pic would have been taken from!

[Stanley]

Hard rock mining was an easily exportable and very attractive skill. Those Cornish miners got everywhere. Engine and pump men too, Trevithick spent a lot of time in S America. Mining engineers as well, Herbert Hoover was at Gwalia at one time and later became US President. He'd be in his element with the Hoover Dam! Holman's at Cambourne exported a lot of hard rock drilling equipment as well. And don''t forget the railway tunnels.....

[Gadge]

Agreed; I really think that the 19thC Cornish exodus qualifies as a diaspora!
Railway tunnels weren't constructed on the same scale here, as they were in the UK. So mining was by far the greatest employer of the hard rock men here. And engineers and millwrights.

A link to a PDF of a good short story collection, published in 1898, is HERE. It has some great yarns about the 'Cousin Jacks', some very funny indeed. The author, Edward Dyson, was a hard rock miner on the Ballarat goldfield in Victoria, before he turned his hand to writing.

We were early adopters of technological advances in mining, too. Dynamite, and powered rock drills such as Holman's, by the 1870's, for example.
Indeed cartridged high explosives, in underground mines here, are still sometimes referred to as 'fracteur', after the first local manufacturer of dynamite, The Australian Lithofracteur Co!

The Walhalla mines still used 'hammer and tap' hand drilling, in some circumstances at least, in later years I'd say. This pic is 1880's or later, as best it can be estimated. Two miners drilling a shothole by hand, in the stopes [i.e. an ore extraction section] of the mine.



But the name 'Sons of Gwalia' is of Welsh origin, as you may know; Gwalia being an old poetic name for Wales. There are a few other Oz mines which had Welsh, rather than Cornish, originators. There's one infallible tell-tale for these, if it survives. It's the shape of the main chimney, if built of brick or stone - Welsh ones were always square-built, whereas Cornish were circular.

[Stanley]

That's an interesting comment about the stacks. Even here, the Cornish chimneys were always distinctive, round, heavily battered and outside steps between course changes as the y got thinner with height.

[Gadge]

The Cornish style mine chimneys are by far the most common, in Victoria, anyway. Here's a rare surviving example of a Welsh type one, at an abandoned Vic gold mine, at the Howqua United/Great Rand mine site in north-eastern Victoria, Australia. Built in 1892.

The purpose of the furnace was to roast sulphide mineral concentrates, to oxidise them, and liberate the gold they contained. The gold was usually then recovered by leaching the calcined concentrates; initially by chlorination, and later by the Macarthur-Forrest cyanide process. The Victorian Government took out a 'blanket licence' for the latter process in around 1900, which permitted its free use by any Victorian gold mine.



Description from a 1999 Victorian Government Historical Site Gazetteer:

Roasting furnace—Intact square brick stack, approximately 25 ft high. At the rear of the stack is a
partly collapsed 9ft-long brick flue, running along the sides of which are the foundations of the
roasting furnace. Although largely obscured by rubble and vegetation, there appear to be at least
seven lines of brickwork, each line a single brick wide.

[Stanley]

That's a rare picture Doug. An Australian stack from that period.

[Gadge]

Yes, there aren't many surviving brick or stone stacks here, from that period. Many of these 'bush mines' built steel chimneys on local stone bases, as these could easily be carted in as pre-punched rolled plates, and hot riveted up on site. Brick construction usually required that there be a suitable clay deposit handy to the site, to make the bricks from.

This one survived because it's in a fairly inaccessible location, some distance [~ half hour drive in a 4WD] from the nearest substantial township. Howqua township was abandoned after the mine closed in about 1903; the bricks from most accessible mine stacks were 'recycled', after their mines closed down.

There's a literary connection for this too; this is the real-life location of the 'Howqua' town site featured in Nevil Shute's 1952 novel 'The Far Country'.

[Stanley]

I think that's the only Shute novel I haven't got.... As soon as I get my eye done I'll look it up!

[Gadge]

I'd recommend that; it's one of his better novels, I think.

I had the full set of Shute novels too; must get another copy of 'Ruined City' - the old paperback copy I had fell to bits, after numerous re-reads!

[Stanley]

I thin my favourite is Trustee from the Tool Room.