In February 1859 William Randall left Darling Store (now called Wentworth, at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers) in the paddle-steamer Gemini and demonstrated that the Darling River was, in that year at least, navigable as far as the Barwon River, very near to the Queensland border. (Alan Morris, Rich River,1952 p20). However, his was not the first paddle-steamer to reach the site of Wilcannia.
The Albury, which commenced its journey in late January 1859 with Captain Francis Cadell in charge, has that distinction. The Albury reached Mount Murchison pastoral station eight days later, where Cadell delivered flour and other stores, and loaded one hundred bales of wool for the return journey. (‘Navigation of the Darling’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 March 1859, page 7)
Cadell’s pioneering journey was the beginning of river boat transport on the Darling River and a township developed at the place where he had loaded that first cargo of wool. The settlement was initially known as Mount Murchison, taking its name from the pastoral run, but as economic activity increased, it become known as Wilcannia and was one of the few accepted locations for the unloading and loading of river-borne cargo.
Wilcannia is the second-oldest town on the Darling River, and was one of the more important ports for the river’s paddle-steamers. Its reputation was enhanced by the fact that it was, in many years, the furthest up-river the steamers could travel on account of low water levels. The Darling has always suffered the humiliation of disappearing from time to time, even though, perhaps, today its problems are more man-made than ever before.
This image of paddlesteamers at Bourke in 1893 shows the height of the river bank at that location when the river was navigable beyond Wilcannia. Of course, when the water was low, the top of the bank could be another ten meters above the water.
Where there is a bend in the river the bank on the “inside” of the bend is usually somewhat lower than that on the “outside”. However, along much of the Darling River the banks are this height on both sides. At Wilcannia, as some of the early photos show, there was a break in the bank on one side and then on the other, making location quite useful for the loading and unloading of the river boats and their barges. The breaks in the bank were also where floodwaters could escape – or return to the river if the floodplain had already been inundated.
A punt, similar to that shown in this image, was in use at Wilcannia from the 1870s until the centre-lift bridge was completed in 1896.
Part of the difficulty for the Darling River is that it has a fall of only 74 meters over the length of its 1,472 kilometer course, but this also has the advantage of ensuring that the current is almost always leisurely. Accordingly, the slowish steam-powered vessels that were constructed to meet its needs were more efficient than might initially be thought, and in the years where navigation was practical at least to Wilcannia, the freight-rates charged by the operators of the steamers were usually quite competitive. However, the encroachment of railways to the river port at Bourke, and to Broken Hill, eventually led to the paddle-steamer’s demise.
As well as leading to the demise of the paddle-steamers, railway construction was the downfall of Wilcannia. No railway was ever routed via Wilcannia, in part because the easterly approaches to the town incorporate a major flood-plain of the Darling River. Yet, that floodplain was the very reason why Wilcannia became a major river-port. The meaning of the Aboriginal Australian word or expression Wilcannia is “gap in the bank where floodwaters escape”, and of course, that gap meant that the river bank was lower at Wilcannia that at almost any other place along that part of its course.
Another factor in the railway construction decisions was the number of townships that could be serviced by the chosen route. A more southerly line ran through many more towns than would have been serviced had the route from the eastern seaboard to Broken Hill passed through Wilcannia
Note that in comparison to Bourke (pictured above) the river bank is much less steep.
Regardless of its fate, Wilcannia has a lot of history hiding behind its slumbersome façade, with names including Charles Dickens, Sir Sidney Kidman, and lesser-known ones like Donald Morrison, Sgt-Major Parr and Walterus Brown included in its fabric. For many years, however, there has also been an undercurrent of distrust and justifiable antagonism associated with the town. Wilcannia, (as do several other towns across New South Wales) has direct links to one of the more infamous 20th Century attempts to address the plight of Aboriginal Australians – the victims of which are referred to as the ‘stolen generation’. This particular subject has been addressed in several books, some of which include Lament for the Barkinji (Bobby Hardy, 1976) and Slipped through the Net (Elly Inta,2009). Another of particular interest is The Destruction of Aboriginal Society (C.D.Rowley, 1970). All address the subject in much more adequate terms than can be assembled for this forum.
The River Trade
From the 1860s until at least 1915 Wilcannia was a hub for commerce and a port of transshipment for goods destined for the far west of New South Wales. Although it was not always possible to reach Wilcannia by the river, the shallow draught of the steamers plying the Darling improved the odds that goods consigned via Wilcannia would, in most years, reach at least that point of their journey within the planned timeframe. In return, Wilcannia was also where Afghan-led camel strings, and sometimes horse or bullock teams, laden with bales of wool, transferred their cargo to the one or two barges each paddle-steamer had in train.
Of course, all this activity required a degree of organization, a facility that was provided by merchant firms such as Cramsie Bowden and Co, Woodfall Swanson and Chambers, E. Rich and Co, and Knox and Downes, aided considerably by the presence of a major Post and Telegraph Office. The Wilcannia merchants also established branches or agencies at strategic locations throughout the Far West, including places like Tilpa, Bourke, Brewarrina, Warri Warri, Milparinka, Wanaaring and Tibooburra, and operated a substantial business supplying not only the towns involved, but also the remote pastoral holdings that were scattered across the area.
In those years when the river was not navigable the Wilcannia business houses became involved in arranging alternate strategies, especially for ensuring that the wool got to market, and, even when the river was a possibility there were, in later years, slightly more expensive arrangements that ensured wool got to market more quickly. These involved organizing camel strings to collect bales and ensuring delivery of these to the railheads at Bourke and Broken Hill – for a small fee of course…to be deducted from the monies received. One such event is mentioned in the pages addressing the history of Milparinka, and, in particular, that of the Afghans in the Far West.
Many paddle-steamers and the barges they hauled were actually owned by the Wilcannia merchants, but there were some that remained independent for most of their careers. The latter generally provided supplementary capacity for the Wilcannia firms. There were other independents that acted as water-born hawker’s vans, peddling their wares to pastoral stations scattered along the river. Two of these were the paddle-steamers Daisy, built in 1896, and Charlotte built around 1900.
However, those merchants who did not own or hold paddle-steamers under contract were at the mercy of some fairly unscrupulous operators. An example is found in the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, Wilcannia Branch, manager’s letterbook…
W.C.Palmer & Co. was one of the more established merchant firms at Wilcannia when gold was discovered at Mount Browne, and as the township of Milparinka took shape, the firm opened a branch store there, managed by Edward Allerton. The Milparinka store, which looks to have been an attractive stone-built structure, ceased trading in the early 1880s. (If you visit the Milparinka pages it was at location “9” on the plan of the town.)
“ 29th October 1883
I beg to explain the paragraph in attached referring to Mr Palmer…
Last year a steamer belonging to the Echuca Steamship Co started from Echuca with a cargo for Palmer & Co but could not get beyond Menindee which is one hundred miles from here. The steamer returned to Echuca leaving the cargo at Menindee. A rise in the river shortly afterwards occurred upon which some steamers left Wentworth and reached Bourke, but the Echuca company left Palmer’s cargo at Menindee until the river (again) became unnavigable. Upon the next flood they brought it on here. Palmer got the goods and refused to pay for the freight, owing to the delay. The Echuca company did not seek by law to access the freight but waited for some months for some more cargo for Palmer & Co, brought it here but refused to deliver it unless the amount owing on the first instance was paid. Palmer and Co proffered payment of the freight on the second cargo which was refused. They then seized the goods, hence the action of the Echuca Company for the recovery of £10,000/0/0 damages. The action was decided in the plaintiff’s favour with the verdict for £114/0/0 but the expenses will cost about £500/0/0. The firm’s trade liabilities are still very heavy and it is almost impossible to obtain a reduction of the debt without crippling them. They renew largely and up to the present have managed to carry on fairly well, they owing £600/0/0 now upon the St Ann Station, and as the latter should be worth £15,000/0/0 it is most important that it be ….” etc.
W.C.Palmer & Co were already in trouble if the details of the Bank Manager’s letter (quoted above) are any guide, but their experience with the Echuca Steamship Company also highlights at least one of the pitfalls that were associated with the river trade. The Echuca Steamship Co. may have also faced financial difficulties at the time of the episode involving W.C.Paler & Co, as is suggested by their own history. The image alongside was taken on the Murray River, but it does suggest how a cargo could be abandoned.
The Echuca Steamship Company had been the owners of two steamships sold in 1879 and no record has been identified to suggest they owned any other vessels. That they continued to trade perhaps suggests the sale of their steamship assets was forced upon them by their own uncomfortable financial situation, and one out of which they needed to escape. If so, they may have resorted to chartering ships when they identified a cargo to be carried, or when they were approached by one or another of the Wilcannia, Melbourne or Adelaide merchants. Under these circumstances their need to maximise their revenue from every voyage would have been paramount.
The primary function of the paddle-steamer was almost always that of a tug-boat with at least some on-board cargo capacity, hauling one, or sometimes two barges. All had accommodation of some description for crew members, and probably room for a few passengers – the source of useful supplementary income. In addition, there were some, like the Gem and the Ruby, that were specifically designed to carry passengers. Ruby had an upper (middle) deck dedicated to accommodation for 30 passengers. The captain and mate were quartered on the top deck while the rest of the crew lived on the lowest deck, in company with firewood and the galley.
In the mid-1980s Ruby was a forlorn remnant of times past, sitting quietly on the grass in a park at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers – with a man called Possum* standing not far away. This Ruby, the third to carry that name, had been born in 1907 but ceased her operational life in the early 1930s. Then, against all odds, in 2004 she was given a deserving rebirth, fully restored to her former glory.
It seems unlikely that Ruby ever ventured as far up the Darling as Wilcannia – she was too big!! Although, at 2 feet 6 inches, she had a quite shallow draught, with a length of 133 feet she was too long for the twists and turns of the Darling River. The Murray was more her style. For more about Ruby visit https://visitwentworth.com.au/ps-ruby/ .
When Ruby sat marooned in that park around 1986 there was a bronze statue of The Possum not far away. Possum stood with his eyes shaded, quietly gazing at her, keeping her company… For his story, see if you can find the book written about him . (“A Man called Possum” Max Jones, ISBN 0 9590569 0 4) published in 1984 and reprinted several times
An overcrowded paddlesteamer on the Murray River, probably during an excursion of some kind.
The Wilcannia Merchants
As late as 2003 several buildings in Wilcannia still carried the names of the business houses that had owned them. One of note was E. Rich & Co., who had built a very large two-story stone warehouse (pictured above) just above the area where the paddle-steamers were almost always moored.
As at most Darling River ports, steamers arriving at Wilcannia simply nudged up to the river bank to load or unload their cargo. However, at Wilcannia, there was also a stage equipped with a crane that facilitated transshipment by providing a level approach and departure for land-side operations. This was adjacent to a warehouse on land originally owned by Edmund Resch. However, evaluation of old photographs tends to suggest that, although Resch’s warehouse was adjacent, the landing stage was also used by others.
Edmund Resh was a brewer – originally he had prepared cordials as were advertised in the Wilcannia Times. His brand has lasted well into the 2020s with a Pilsener marketed under his name to this day by Tooth & Co., of Sydney. His brewery is now the premises of the Wilcannia Golf Club. Image: The landing stage at Wilcannia, in 1985
Another notable firm that operated out of Wilcannia was Knox and Downes, whose warehouse also survives to this day. They also had a large retail store that was re-birthed in 2002 but was promptly destroyed by an unfortunate fire shortly after that extensive and very attractive restoration was complete.
E. Rich & Co, already mentioned, advertised quite extensively in Thomas Wakefield Chambers’ Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser at Milparinka.The company owned a number of paddle-steamers over the period of their operations, one of the more famous possessions being the Rodney.
E.Rich & Co was founded by Edward Rich at Brewarrina in 1872, and expanded to Bourke and Wilcannia in 1886. When the company withdrew from river operations around 1907 they sold their fleet of paddle-steamers, consisting of Brewarrina, Cato, Excelsior, Lancashire Lass, Maude, Mundoo, Pilot and Rob Roy and the barges Albemarle, Alice, Border Chief, Emily, Robbie Burns, Swan, Trader, and Victory to Permewan Wright & Co. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray%E2%80%93Darling_steamboat_people)
The extent of Rich’s business can be judged by their advertisements, one of which appears below. (On this occasion, a paddle-steamer loaded with goods intended for Rich & Co’s Wilcannia store had become stuck by low water some distance downstream.)
E. Rich & Co appear to have been reasonably stable in terms of their management and business strategy over a period of 35 years, but others went through several transformations during a timeframe such as that. Cramsie Bowden & Woodfall is a classic example, having morphed from Cramsie Bowden & Co into Cramsie Bowden & Woodfall and then into Woodfall Swanson and Chambers in a few short years. The reason for this is that the firm was essentially a partnership which, when a partner wished to withdraw from the arrangement, was obliged to dissolve and reconstitute under the names of the new or remaining partners. Accordingly when Thomas Wakefield Chambers of Milparinka prominence became involved and both Cramsie and Bowden wished to withdraw, the firm’s name changed. Whether or not this led to a firm’s customers becoming uneasy probably depended very much on the way a firm was able to manage the transition.
In addition to the merchant’s warehouses and stores Wilcannia retains a number of other buildings that date from the days it was a major centre for the river trade. Two of the more attractive of these are the much-photographed Post & Telegraph Office, dating from the 1870s and the a very grand postmaster’s residence alongside.
In the 1980s the remains of the Customs Office stood next in line, beside the post office residence. This was relic from the days when duties were payable on all goods being moved between the several British colonies that had been created on the Australian continent. It is another building that met an unfortunate fate, having been destroyed by fire around 1986. At the time, however, it was already in a very sorry state.
The riverbank below the customs house was the main place where paddle-steamers discharged and loaded their cargoes. If one considers the steepness of the river banks elsewhere in the vicinity it is not difficult to understand why Wilcannia was adopted as an ideal location for the purpose.
The Post & Telegraph Office was also a focus of the coach services that operated from Wilcannia to Hay, Milparinka, Tibooburra, Thargominda, Broken Hill, Bourke and Cobar. Although passengers probably joined the coach at the agent’s offices, a last stop before departure from Wilcannia was the Post Office. After all, one staple of the coaching business was the carriage of the Royal Mail – and of course – mail came from the Post Office. Coaches were operated out of Wilcannia by two, and at one stage, three, firms. One of the earliest was Kidman & Nicholson, who, like many others across Australia, adopted the Cobb & Co brand as their own. When Kidman and Nicholson ceased operations, they were replaced by Robertson Wagner & Co., and for both of these firms the main competitor was Morrison Brothers, operated by Donald and Malcolm Morrison.
The image alongside, of a Morrison Bros. coach at Wilcannia Post & Telegraph Office, appears to have been captured on a special occasion, perhaps the departure of the last horse-drawn coach on the route to Milparinka and Tibooburra, an event which took place around March or April 1916. Note: The are no passengers, just mail bags, inside.
When the conditions demanded such a tactic, coaches were drawn by camel team out of Wilcannia to get the mails through.
Further north along the same street as the Post and Telegraph Office is the Wilcannia Athenaeum – a building that in theory would have housed a library that emphasised literary or scientific study. It was probably named after a London club of the same name, founded in 1824, originally a club for “men of distinction in literature, art, and learning” and was the brain-child of Dickens, son of the author Charles Dickens. The Athenaeum does tend to encourage an image of how the town thought itself in its heyday.
Just before reaching the Athenæum there is a building with a scalloped verandah roof that originally housed four small shops. That at the end closest to the Post and Telegraph Office (i.e. at the far end in the photograph, was the premises of jeweller E. Vandenberg in 1880 whose name was still visible on the building in 1985.
“E.Vandenberg. Watchmaker, Jewelry and Tobacconist. Reliable Watches. Rotherans English Patent Levers. Best American Waltham Levers in Great Variety. The Finest of Watchwork and Jewelry Repaired. Executed with Promptness and Despatch. All Work Guaranteed at Town Prices. Electroplating in Silver and Gold. A Large Stock of Gold and Silver Jewelry. Diamonds and Other Gen Jewelry. Lockets. Colonial Gold, Alberts etc. Brazilian Pebble Spectacles to Suit All Sights 10/6d. Note the Address – Next The Times Office, Reid Street, Wilcannia.” (Wilcannia Times,17th June 1880)
In 1881 Vandenberg was a passenger on the first coach out of Wilcannia to the newly discovered gold-field at Mount Browne and purchaser of some of the first nuggets that were recovered from that field. These he displayed in his shop window – presumably only in business hours. The second or third shop, or perhaps both of these, was the office and printery of the Wilcannia Times, the local newspaper published weekly by Walterus Brown. He was an ally of Thomas Wakefield Chambers who eventually used the press that had been used by Walterus to print the Sturt Recorder Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser at Milparinka, some 300 kilometers to the north-west. In the same way that Tom Chambers s left for posterity a valuable image of Milparinka, Walterus Brown has left us with word-pictures of Wilcannia. For example: The Wilcannia Times, Thursday February 17, 1881, P2C3
“Pioneer Coach
“Donald Morrison, looking as happy as a big sunflower, started with a team of well-conditioned horses, five in number, for the rush at Mount Poole and Mount Browne last Saturday. Among the passengers we noticed Mr. Vandenberg of this town. We wish all who venture so far away from home the luck which they deserve…” (The Wilcannia Times, Thursday February 17, 1881, P2C3 )
The fourth shop in this building was occupied by a chemist. At one time this was H.C.Armstrong, whose bottles occasionally turned up at Milparinka in the 1980s…
(image: captured on the bar of the Albert Hotel, 1986)
Even further along the street are the offices of the Central Darling Shire Council. These were originally constructed as the Wilcannia branch of the London Chartered Bank and included residential premises for the bank’s manager on the upper floor.
Communications
Communications with Wilcannia were an interesting assemblage, that, in the beginning, clearly demonstrating the hub which had become.
The fastest was, naturally, the telegraph, which first connected Wilcannia to the world in 1876 by way of a line from Wentworth. From Wilcannia this continued along the river to Louth and then Bourke, and was clearly intended as an adjunct to the river trade. Another link, to Ivanhoe and onward to Sydney was established by 1886. This effort was plagued with problems, not the least being that termites (“white ants “) took a liking to the posts.
The original telegraph line to Wentworth had also allowed communications from Wilcannia, via a tortuous route, to Sydney. However, when Wilcannia was connected more directly to Sydney via Ivanhoe, Hay, and Deniliquin service improved, partly because the telegraph operator no longer needed to act as the maintenance team. By this time the telegraph also connected Cobar and Wilcannia, but the link between Wilcannia and far western towns like Milparinka was always via the old original wire along the river to Bourke and then west via Wanaaring and on, along the original “cut line” to Milparinka.
Also providing communications with Wilcannia were the mails, carried under contract with the Post Office by the coaching network. As might be expected, the time it took for the mails get through was determined by the exigencies of weather and the water supply en route. As might also be expected, passenger travel by coach was about as fast as the mails, although passenger comfort and individual stamina were significant impediments to the number of hours or days that passengers could engage in travel over a long distance.
Travel was also possible in most years on the paddle-steamers, but, obviously, this was limited to the course of the rivers and the vagaries of the rivers’ navigability. Accordingly it is unlikely to have been much used for passenger travel to or from Wilcannia, but was, perhaps convenient under some circumstances, for moving shearing gangs between riverside locations. Cargo, of course, was a different matter.
Last of all individuals could always make their own way from town to town on foot, on horseback or in a horse-drawn vehicle. Whether or not this was the most economical overall might be questioned. Of the coaching operations, an indication of the network available to the traveller can be gained through Robertson Wagner & Co’s advertisements in the Wilcannia Times…
Thursday June 17th, 1880 :
“Cobb and Co’s Telegraph Line of Coaches. Reduced Fares. Wilcannia to Ivanhoe 2/0/0. Mossgeil 2/10/-. Booligal 3/0/-. Hay 3/10/-. Deniliquin 5/0/-. The Only Firm that can Book Through to Deniliquin. Passengers Booked through to Wagga. – Robertson Wagner and Company – Proprietors. Full Particulars can be made on application at Cobb and Co’s Offices, Mount Murcheson Hotel, Wilcannia – Thomas O’Leary, Agent.”
Then, on 14th October 1880 a man sauntered into Wilcannia from further west with a quantity of gold in his hands…
The Discovery of Gold at Mount Poole
The Wilcannia Times provided an update of sorts on 11th November, to the extent that: “No authentic information has been received from Mount Poole since publicity was given to the discovery of gold there, but some miner’s rights have been applied for. Through a source we can rely upon there appears to be every prospect of a speedy settlement of the question as to whether the gold exists in payable quantities…
A week later the Times published a letter that, although strange in its tone, was perhaps the best information that was available about the rumours that were circulating…and the joys of travel by foot…
November 10, 1880
“To the Editor of the Wilcannia Times.
“Sir,
As I know that you are always anxious to hear of any matter which affects the importance of your rising township I herewith send you some information respecting the Mount Poole Goldfields.
I started from Wilcannia about three weeks ago with bluey on my shoulder, my billy in my hand, hope in my heart and nothing in my purse. To make my pile where the explorer Poole met his untimely fate in the early days of civilisation.
I made the Dry Lake the first night where I was kindly treated to tea and breakfast by host Smith.
I journeyed for days over some very fine country until reaching a Pub, Yandenberry, I think they called it – where I was informed that I had twenty-three miles to travel without water. I being only newly married this long journey, with only my small billy to carry water in made me think of the loved one I had left far behind.
I reached Cobham about eight o’clock at night after the fatigue of a long day’s journey over sandy ridges and sterile plains.
Next morning I passed a roadside pub kept by a Mr. Blower, where you can get a nobbler for a shilling or a bottle for twelve shillings, and if I’m any judge you’ll find one of the latter sufficient. Here I was further informed that I would have to do 45 or 50 miles on one drink of water. However, being with a native of the soil, and determination in my heart, I was bound to see the end of my journey.
I travelled for about twelve miles over some very heavy country to Evelyn Creek, or Mount Poole Creek as they call it, which I followed up.
Nothing to be seen but rotten flats and dried up waterholes until reaching Milring, seventeen miles or so from my journey’s end. I came on a nice clear hole of rainwater where I quenched my burning thirst and rested my weary limbs for the night.
Next morning on my toilsome tramp I passed – on several of the waterholes – the riverina cockatoo or the struggler. I am afraid the potato crops in this outlandish part of the globe will be a failure. I would advise them, if they will accept advice from a poor tramp, to return to Riverina and sing home sweet home in that land of plenty, where the poor man fears no thirst, but alas has often to go hungry.
By night I reached the field of labour having done my two hundred miles in nine days. I found I could neither procure the necessaries of life nor implements for love or money. The latter of which I was not blessed with much of. I found a kind Samaritan however, in the person of Cobham Bill, who gave me a square meal.
Payable gold, as yet a thing of the future, only one hole (The Prospectors) gives as much as half a pennyweight to the dish. There is not the slightest doubt however from the samples of gold I have seen, belonging to the prospecting party, but that there is gold in the district and that payable too. All it requires is a little money and any amount of energy to open up the place. Such being the case, I can plainly see it will not suit the tramp.So before returning to my wife, allow me one word about the local shanties, so as to inform my friends that they can purchase a bottle of blue stone and kerosene for ten shillings, and ditto of chain lightening for twelve shillings, warranted to kill at 40 yards.I have heard from reliable authority (Mother Dutchy’s eldest boy) that the Manager of a Station not a hundred miles from the prospector’s claim, was doing the hoop-la business behind one of the counters the other night. The boy won’t tell his name because he says he’s a gentleman.
A degree of scepticism surrounded the situation until January of 1881, when more positive news was reported, but even then the returns were not frantically exciting – 1oz 1 dwt 9 gms from about 21 tonnes of dirt and no water to continue trials. Mr. W.M.Dobson wrote to the Wilcannia Times adding his contribution …
I saw in your issue of January 6 an account of Mount Poole Gold Diggings, or what you chose to call reliable information. You state that the Prospectors got 1 oz 1 dwt 9 gms to four loads of dirt.The fact of the matter is that there is no payable gold at Mount Poole Diggings. I speak from experience and speak the truth. I was working eight days and did not get enough to pay for a box of matches and I am certain there were twenty men working hard for weeks with the like result. The first gold taken into Wilcannia and the last for all I know, was about two ounces and it took the prospectors seven months to get it. This I know for fact..
Then, on Tuesday 8th February, 1881 the Wilcannia Times reported that prospector who had come into town with the first little sample had turned up again…
Wilcannia, Monday
James Evans and party of three, prospecting twenty miles from Mount Poole … brought into Wilcannia twenty-four ounces of gold today, which was found near the surface. The greatest depth of sinking was six feet. One nugget weighed ten ounces, another two ounces, and the remaining twelve ounces was made up of shotty gold. Immense excitement prevails….
The rush to the Albert Goldfield was on… and around 5th March 1881 Thomas Wakefield Chambers arrived at Wilcannia by coach from the east.
Tom Chambers quickly established himself as an ally of the more conservative elements in town, but his story is much more than Wilcannia. For that reason he has a page of his own in this tale of the Far West and the people who made the history.
The Other Names
Sir Sidney Kidman – the Cattle King
Sid Kidman was instrumental in creating the coaching firm of Kidman and Nicholas together with his brother Sackville and James Nicholas around 1884. It was one of three that operated services through Wilcannia in the 1890s. Sid Kidman was also one of the first shareholders in the Broken Hill syndicate that developed into the Broken Hill Proprietary and then BHP Limited.
In the early days Sidney Kidman was horse trader (yes – literally – buying and selling horses) operating in the vicinity of Cobar, selling horses to the coaching firms then criss-crossing the outback. Kidman and Nicholas were, apparently, formidable competitors with Cobb & Co.
Although in 1884 Kidman and Nicholas was an extensive enterprise, Sid Kidman was already closely involved in trading sheep, buying mobs of 5,000 or 10,000 and selling, hopefully at a profit. His business interests expanded over time until he became known as the Cattle King presiding over a system of very large properties strategically located across Queensland, the Northern Territory and New South Wales. Two books, each unique in it’s approach to the subject, have been written about Kidman. The first, written in 1934 with input from Kidman himself, was The Cattle King by Ion Idriess and more recently Kidman: The Forgotten King written by Jill Bowen, published in 1987.
Some of the Kidman properties were in the far-western corner of New South Wales, near Milparinka. These were carved up in the 1940s and form a significant chapter in the history of that town.
The last of the Kidman properties were in the centre of an awkward situation when they came up for sale in 2015-16 and were largely rescued from foreign ownership by Hancock Prospecting who, it seems, now control around 67% of the joint venture that was eventually allowed to finalise the purchase. Most of the properties continue to operate under the family name of S.Kidman & Co. but under the wing of the Hancock organisation.
James Bradbury Parr “Sergeant-Major of the 11th Hussars”
James Bradbury Parr is buried in the Wilcannia Cemetery beneath a headstone that proclaims him a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade, who died at Wilcannia and was buried with full military honors on the first anniversary of Anzac Day – 28th April 1916.
James Parr lived to 90 years of age and was 55 years old when the gold was discovered at Mount Poole. Samuel H.Parr, who was employed by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney at their Tibooburra and Milparinka Branches was possibly related to him, but the link has not been established despite a search of Victorian and New South Wales records.
Walterus Brown
Walterus Le Brun Brown was born at Coulston, on the Patterson River, a tributary of the Hunter River in New South Wales, and died, aged 85, in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood on 12th August 1928. After living in various places including Cooma, NSW (1867) and Wangaratta, Victoria (1873) he moved to Wilcannia where he was the publisher, editor, and chief proof-reader of the Wilcannia Times published weekly from 1874 to 1888. As has already been demonstrated, much of the story of Wilcannia and the excitement that prevailed when gold was discovered at Mount Browne, comes from his newspaper. At Wilcannia he was also the District Coroner. Walterus Brown was fourteen years younger than Thomas Wakefield Chambers, but the pair appear to have been good friends and to have shared a very similar outlook on life. Walterus Le Brun Brown was a Freemason and had been so since his days at Cooma. It is quite possible that the friendship between Walterus Brown and Tom Chambers had its origins in a common regard for the principles of that organisation.
The Wilcannia Times ceased in 1888 when Walterus Brown became Police Magistrate at Cobar and, later, at Dungog. His printing press ended up at Milparinka to be used in printing the Sturt Recorder, Tibooburra and Mount Browne Advertiser.