Australian Stories from our Past
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Australian Stories from our Past
The Long Road To Bendigo (Episode 25)
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Nine weeks on the road and the Murray finally slips behind them, but Bendigo still doesn’t feel real. We pick up our 1852 overland trek right where the party crosses into Victoria, a colony gripped by Australian gold rush fever, and we track the next month of slow, stubborn progress through Mallee scrub, sandhills, swamps, and half-formed bullock dray tracks that barely resemble modern roads.
We also step back to ask a messy question with big consequences: who actually “owned” the land they’re moving through? Squatters have rushed across the Murray frontier, and the colonial government is stuck playing catch-up, registering pastoral runs with boundaries described by river bends and tree stumps. To make sense of it, we lean on a crucial 1851 Survey Map of the Murray’s southern bank, cross-check station names in the diaries, and follow the chain of homesteads and outstations that guided travellers long before highways existed.
Along the way, we meet the landscape by name: Hattah-Kulkyne and the lakes later standardised as Lake Mournpall, the station world of Bumbang on Country significant to the Lati Lati and Dadi Dadi people, and the approach to Swan Hill. We talk about Peter Beveridge and his writings, Lake Boga and its Moravian mission, the dead-flat 25 Mile Plain with Mount Hope in the distance, and the pivotal stop at Booth and Argyle’s Durham Ox Inn where bullocks, drays, and horses are sold before the last grind.
If you love Australian history podcasts, goldfields stories, and the real logistics of migration by wagon, you’ll want this leg of the journey. Subscribe, share it with a mate who’d never survive a bullock track, and leave a review telling us what you think happens when they finally hit the Bendigo goldfields.
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Crossing Into Gold Fever Victoria
SPEAKER_02G'day, I'm Peter.
SPEAKER_05And good day, I'm Greg.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to today's Stories from Our Past, a podcast about a history of Australia from about 1800 onwards. So, in the last episode, it's October 1852, and our hardy trekkers are on their way to the goldfields. They had just crossed the River Murray.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so they've crossed the Murray, and now they're in the colony of Victoria, a colony which is infected with gold fever. What faces them now? They've been on the road for nine weeks so far, so how much longer will it take for them to get down to Bendigo?
SPEAKER_02Well, if you hopped in a car in Mildura today, you'd shoot down the Calder Highway and be in Bendigo in about four and a half hours. But you wouldn't be surprised to know that it took our trekkers a little longer than that. In fact, it took them almost another month to get there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, that doesn't surprise me.
Squatters And Shaky Land Records
SPEAKER_02Now, I need to say something about the ownership, for want of a better term, of the land that they're now travelling through. As with the colony of New South Wales, and very much unlike South Australia where they came from, the land around them had been grabbed in a wild land rush by the squatters. Our party passed from one station to another, each claimed by one ambitious squatter after another. The Victorian colonial government had little control over the squatters and were always playing catch-up. Eventually, a system was developed where squatters' runs were registered with the government and some fees were paid. However, government surveyors were not yet able to exactly define the boundaries of each run. So all the government could do was to record the extents of each run with descriptions like running from this bend in the river to this old tree stump to the boundary of the next run. Often, the registration and publication of Scotter's runs lagged behind the buying and selling of those runs. So a claim for a run might be lodged in 1851. The government gets around to gazetting that claim in 1852, only to subsequently find out that it's already changed hands or changed boundaries.
SPEAKER_05Okay, well that sounds like what happened in New South Wales and Queensland, but what's that got to do with our story?
SPEAKER_02Well, during the next month our group goes from one squatter's run to another, and they mention the names of the owners of each run. I thought that I could check the veracity of the diaries against government records, but in the end I had to take on good faith what the diary says and sometimes disregard the government records. Furthermore, the track that they follow goes from one squatter's run to another, and generally these tracks meander along close to the River Murray. Hence they bear little resemblance to modern day roads.
SPEAKER_05Yes, so it must be difficult to know their exact route.
SPEAKER_02Well, luckily no. It's it in fact is possible to see exactly where they went. In 1851, the Victorian government surveyors surveyed the southern bank of the Murray, being the boundary between the colonies of New South Wales and Victoria. One map goes from Wentworth to Swan Hill. This map shows the homesteads and outstations of the squatter runs at the time, and the tracks that connected them. Given the distance that they've travelled, they would have been near the modern day town of Redcliffs, which was a soldier settlement area after World War One, and is renowned for its vineyards. A feature of the town is Big Lizzie, a giant tractor designed to knock down Mallee Scrub.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02Bill Emmett can tell us about the next few days.
SPEAKER_04Saturday, 9th October. Started about half past eight and travelled about 18 miles through a thick scrub where we found we had only a single dray track to guide us and went through bush country. Camped near a sheep station belonging to Mr. McGee. Sunday, 10 October. This day we usually camped, but our provisions running short, having camped so many days, we decided on travelling on and started about nine o'clock. When about four miles on the road, the bullock drays came to a dirty, muddy creek, and William Henry Neal took another road to get around the head of this dirty creek. He followed the single dray track with horse carts and arrived at another swamp about nine miles beyond where the bullock drays camped. Monday, 11 October. Travelled about one mile, Bill Emmett sent Abe in search of us thinking we had lost the road. He could scarcely be persuaded we were before them on the road. We camped that day and the bullock drays came up to us in the evening, having travelled through sand eight miles, which took them all day. Harry Neal came up to us from the diggings.
SPEAKER_05Well, for a change, they're making good progress following an unformed bullock track through the Maui scrub. They've done about 75 kilometres or 45 miles since crossing the Moray.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And in Bill Emmett's diary, he notes that Harry Neal, that's William Henry Neal's older son, who had remained in Bendigo with Ned Emmett, had come up from the goldfields to join the group. I'm not at all sure how he could have found them, but I suppose he simply rode along the only track and kept asking people he met along that track if they'd seen the trekkers from the borough.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well that sounds supposable. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Alrighty, so Bill Emmett continues the story.
SPEAKER_04Tuesday, 12th October. Started early and travelled 13 miles through a thick scrub and sand hills. Lost our Timor pony, Jackie.
SPEAKER_05Okay, and given all the trouble they've had with the Timor pony, they probably aren't too worried about losing it.
SPEAKER_02Well, when they say they lost the Timor pony, who now has a name, Jackie, they mean that Jackie wandered off into the scrub somewhere, not that Jackie died. Because at the end of the trek, they sell Jackie in Serpentine, just before they reach the goalfields. Bill then continues his story.
SPEAKER_04Wednesday, 13th October. Started about eight o'clock and travelled through very heavy sand hills and went about 10 miles, some parts through fire on each side of the road. Thursday, 14th October. Started about eight o'clock and about eleven o'clock passed a beautiful lake. One of the Montel on Pool Lakes. A station belonging to Messrs Keene and Boss and travelled about 16 miles and camped.
SPEAKER_02A few comments about this section. They are trekking through what is now the Hatter Kulkine National Park. This national park covers 48,000 hectares or 120,000 acres, and is bounded on the east by the Rimari River. The Hatter Lakes National Park was first proclaimed on 7 June 1960 and was greatly expanded in 1980 and renamed the Hatta Kulkine National Park. It was originally claimed by squatters in the 1840s, but in 1915 a sanctuary was formed to protect the beauty of the Hattar lakes. In the diaries, they refer to the Montel or Hornpool lakes. The spelling of these lakes varies enormously in old documents. It appears that the first squatters to claim a run there were Orr and Ewell, who called the run Mornpool. The 1857 list of holders of stock in the Wimera district notes that Or and Ewell had three runs, Mornpool and two others carrying 10,390 sheep. The diaries say that the run was owned by Keenan Boss, but the only reference I can find to these people may be PJ Keane, who had a run called Murabul, and this was transferred to another squatter in 1851. For our story, a close examination of the 1851 map shows the homestead of Keenan Ore on the lakeside of Lake Moorpool. This must have been the route that our group took. Today, the National Park Service has finally settled on the name of the lake as Lake Moornpal.
SPEAKER_04Bill Emmett then continues. Friday, 15th October. Started about eight. A very cool, pleasant day. Saw the Murray twice and travelled 20 miles and camped beside a Billy Bong nearly opposite the station. Saturday, 16th October. Started half past eight and passed Grant's sheep station and camped in the scrub. Unusually scrubby and porcupine grass scattered about. Travelled about. Sunday, seventeenth October, camped all day. Mr Mayer, hey, camped with us.
SPEAKER_02When they say they saw the Murray twice, they must have been near the current locality known as Women, which is where the high bank of the Murray runs close to the track. The eighteen fifty one map shows women as an outstation of Grant's squatter run. When they refer to porcupine grass, they must certainly must mean spinaffects, which is quite common in the area.
Bumbang Station And River Life
SPEAKER_05Well they seem to be making good progress, and they're not complaining about the constant rains, so that must have made them happier. Do you know anything about the stations that Bill mentioned?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Let's start with John Grant's sheep station, which was called Bumbang. According to government records, it had an estimated area of nineteen thousand two hundred acres, with an estimated carrying capacity of two hundred head of cattle or four thousand sheep.
SPEAKER_05Well, with that inaccurate description of the bounds of the run, how can they possibly say they had a carrying capacity of 4,000 sheep?
SPEAKER_02Who knows? I guess that it was a bureaucrat's requirement to come up with a number. Anyhow, some history of Bombang. This was the traditional land for the Lati Lati and Dadi Dadi people, and Bombang Island remains a significant site for them. In 1847, John and Mary Grant, their three teenage sons and a daughter, occupied the run, with 15 miles frontage on the southern side of the Murray River. Applying for a pastoral lease in 1849, John Grant asked for 20 square miles of land. Although the First Nations people call the area Bumbang, the name of the run on the 1851 map is Taltal. At this location, the Grants built a pine log homestead and outbuildings and established an orchard and a garden. In 1852, they were able to supply fresh food to the first paddle steamers on the Murray. The original Bumbang homestead burned down in 1926. John Grant's pastoral lease extended from where Robinville stands today southward for several miles and bounded the Murray River to the north, east, and west. In 1851, Bumbang was transferred from Donald J. McLeod to James Hamilton.
SPEAKER_05Is there a pastoral property there now?
SPEAKER_02No. The township of Robinvale is there now. The town was established in 1924 by Herbert Cuttle, who named it Robinvale in honor of his son, George Robin Cuttle, who was killed in France in 1918. The surrounding land is a post-World War I soldier settlement irrigation development, which was expanded after World War II. Robinvale has a very impressive Anzac Memorial Park.
SPEAKER_05Okay, and I assume that the Mr. Mayer they refer to is simply just another traveler on the track.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I guess so. They don't give any details. Anyhow, Bill Emmett continues his story.
SPEAKER_04Monday, the 18th of October. Started and travelled through scrub and sand hills and came to Mr. McClennan's McCubbin's station on the river. Travelled about 15 miles. Tuesday, 19th October. Scrub and sand hills and camped in a swamp. Travelled about 12 miles. Wednesday, 20th October. Started about 8 o'clock and travelled through a miserable country. Sand hills and porcupine grass and mallee scrub. 12 miles and camped on a plain near Hamilton's. Lost a beautiful kangaroo dog and sheepdog. The owner had been offered 20 pounds. These dogs were poisoned, poison having been laid by the station owner.
SPEAKER_02When Bill says the owner of the next station was McCubbins, I'm fairly sure he's referring to either McCullum or McLeod, who had stations along this stretch.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so we have the McGlennons, the McCubbins, McCallum, and McLeod all mention this locality. There seems to be a mini Scottish colony here thereabouts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, certainly does. Youngura Homestead, which is now a homestay on the banks of the Murray, was McCullum's head station. The original homestead was built in 1852. In 1846, Alexander McCullum took up Younggura Squatting Run of approximately 57,600 acres of land on the Murray River, which could hold approximately 1,500 cattle or 10,000 sheep. The land encompassed Murray River Frontage between the land east of Robinvale and Boundary Bend, with its southern border stretching between the present-day location of Bannerton in the west and Youngera, or West Nurong, in the east. He and his family lived at Younger Station. Unfortunately, his wife died at the station at the age of 30. McCullum held the license until 1870. Youngera Station, along with the surrounding Bumbang and Mount Miles stations, were offered for sale in 1870, but none of them were sold. By 1876, both Yungera and Bumbang stations were owned by a Henry Miller.
SPEAKER_05So by now they should be getting close to Swan Hill, shouldn't they?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
Swan Hill And Peter Beveridge
SPEAKER_04Bill Emmett continues their story. Thursday 21st October moved on about eight o'clock and travelled to Coghills about 12 miles and camped. Friday, 22nd October. Again, got away about eight o'clock and went through a very pretty country, about 13 miles, and camped on a beautiful flat near Beveridge's station. Saturday, 23rd October. Started about 9 o'clock. The first passed a miserable country but improving as we came near Swan Hill opposite which we camped.
SPEAKER_02Now a quick word about Peter Beveridge. Peter Beveridge was born in 1829 in Dunferland, Fife, Scotland. He arrived in Port Phillip in 1839. Beveridge established cattle and sheep stations along the Murray, where he stayed there from 1845 until 1868. He established Tintinda Station, ten miles down the Murray from the site of Swan Hill, and in 1845, with his older brother Andrew, they took up Piagle Station, about fifteen miles beyond Tintinda in 1846. Piagle is about opposite Tullibuck in New South Wales. He stayed on those stations until 1868. He wrote many articles on the customs, dialects, and myths of the Aboriginals of the Murray, Murrumbidgee, and Darling areas. He presented a paper on Aboriginal ovens to the London Anthropological Society in 1869, and he wrote The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina, as seen by Peter Beveridge in 1889.
SPEAKER_05He sounds like an interesting character.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he sure does. It's James O'Donohue's turn to tell us what happened next.
SPEAKER_03Sunday, 24th October, camped all day. Monday, 25th October, started at 8 o'clock, passed several lakes, and arrived a mile beyond Lakes Boga and Moya about five o'clock, a distance of 15 miles, crossed the Yavoka and camped.
SPEAKER_02Lake Boga is a small town and large lake, about 17 kilometers, that's 11 miles, southeast of Swan Hill. Today it has some impressive silo art, but at the time our trekkers passed, there was a different settlement there. Two German Moravian missionaries established Lake Boga Mission in 1851. The mission closed in 1856 due to lack of converts, disputes with local authorities, and hostilities with local landholders.
SPEAKER_05It doesn't sound like the Moravian missionaries were all that successful, and we're two from Lake Boga.
SPEAKER_04Bill Emmet can tell us. The men said this was not going overland, it was going over water. Got bogged and after covering about 10 miles camped on a large plains on Lake Kangaroo.
Lake Boga And The Wet Country
SPEAKER_02Kangaroo Lake, as it is known today, is known for its abundance of yellowbelly and red fin fish, and is the prime spot in the local area for fishing enthusiasts. Bill Emmet continues.
SPEAKER_04Camped about two miles past the crossing place. Thursday, 28th of October, sight about half past nine, travelled over an immense plain called the 25 mile plain, 10 miles. Saw Mount Hope in the distance, which looked like an umbrella held up in a very small cloud. Also, a hill rising out of the plain called the Sugarloaf, as Bill Emmett was on top of it, had a splendid view all around. Bill Emmett camped about five miles before the plane terminated. It started to rain and continued for some time.
SPEAKER_02I should try to work that out at some stage. They wouldn't have had much sunshine, that's for sure. Now, Bill Emmett is correct when he describes this section as the twenty-five mile plain. It is dead flat. But off in the distance is Mount Hope, which is quite scenic close up. When Bill refers to the Sugar Loaf, I'm sure he's referring to Pyramid Hill.
SPEAKER_05Okay. They must have had a bit of spare time for Bill Emmett to find time to climb to the top to enjoy the view.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. By Bill's description, they must have camped somewhere north of the modern day settlement known as Durham Ox, which is adjacent to the Serpentine Creek. Durham Ox is named after a bull, so famous that it has its own wiki page. Wow.
SPEAKER_05You mentioned in the previous episode that another party had left South Australia for the gold fields, or following the same route, except they crossed the Murray at Robinvale rather than Golgoal. Do they record their trek along the southern side of the Murray?
SPEAKER_02Yep, they sure do. Here is their description of their journey along the Murray.
SPEAKER_01We travelled up the Murray. All along the Murray here is low stunted box and a mass of small creeks and The water from the river through them makes the roads in a frightful state. Up to your knees half the day in water. After passing through this kind of country for about a week, we came on high red banks. There's a large swamp here on the river. The Maui comes onto the top of those red banks. We pass by Beverages Station on the banks of the Murray. The cattle on the station are very wild. All the backcountry is one massive malee scrub. From Beverages to Swan Hill, it's about the same class of country. We have to keep four miles out from Swan Hill to get around Lake Boga Bogey. This is a beautiful little lake. High banks all around it. The lake appears to be very deep. The owner of this lake cut a trench through the bank, so when there would be high floods in the Murray, the water would flow through the valley. We leave the Murray here. From Lake Boga, we passed Reedy Lake. From here we come onto fine open country. From Reedy Lake, we came to the Laudon River crossing place. There's a bridge across the Laudon and the public house on the opposite side. The river was flooded when we crossed. Two feet of water running over the bridge and 100 yards on each side of the bridge. We got across all safe. Fine planes on this side.
SPEAKER_05Just to explain it with a little less detail, and I've also been hampered by wet weather.
SPEAKER_02Yep. James, I don't know who continues the story.
Durham Ox Inn And Trading Stock
SPEAKER_03Friday, 29th of October. Threatened rain, determined to remain here, and towards afternoon, terrific thunderstorm. Saturday, 30th of October. Bullock Dreys started early. We did not overtake them till about 12 o'clock when they stopped at Booth and Argyle's public house. Bill Emmett sold a team of Bullocks and Dre for Chunky, priced£100, and Mr. Harvey sold Jackie and Charlie a Dre and Bullocks. Travelled a few miles and camped on the Serpentine River.
SPEAKER_05So what do you know about Booth and Argyle's public house?
SPEAKER_02Well, firstly, Booth and Argyle themselves. Abraham Booth arrived in Melbourne on 13 December 1840 with a friend from his local area in Derbyshire. Abraham Booth was 25 years old and his companion, Edward Argyle, was 23. Their occupation, like the majority of other single men on the ship, was recorded as a labourer. But it's reasonable to assume that both men had experience as farm workers. They were from villages two miles apart in Southeast Derbyshire. In the next decade, the partnership of Booth and Argyll built up a diversified business, seizing opportunities in Melbourne and taking up squatting leases in the countryside. In this time, they achieved the emigrants' dream of accumulating wealth and possessing land. During a period of economic depression, which saw the failure of many colonial benches, Booth and Igyle were successful in a Melbourne butchery business, which they used as a springboard to move into pastoralism. They managed their joint enterprises from Melbourne until 1849 when they went to live up on the squatting lease at Duck Swamp on the Laudon River in the north of the Port Fulham district. The Duck Swamp Run was 115,000 acres. Between 1848 and 1853, Abraham Booth and Edward Argyll also held another large lease, St. Agnes.
SPEAKER_05It sounds like they were successful entrepreneurs.
SPEAKER_02They sure were. So Booth and Argyll's pub was also called the Durham's Inn. It was the stopping place for bullock trays and horse coaches on the road between Bendigo and Swan Hill. It's not surprising that they stopped there because it gave them an opportunity to sell some of their livestock, which had always been part of their plan.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so where to next? James O'Donohue can tell us. Sunday, 31st October. Very anxious to arrive at our journey's end, determined to travel, and went on as far as the Serpentine Public House, where Dr. Lloyd sold Oscar, Horse, and James O'Donohue sold Lucy. Camped about a mile beyond.
Final Push To Bendigo
SPEAKER_02Let's hope so. Bill Emmett, next writes.
SPEAKER_04Monday, November 1st. Started about 9 o'clock and arrived at Bullock Creek, about 22 miles where we camped. Tuesday, November 2nd. Quite delighted to find this would be the last day we should have to camp before we reached Bendigo. We arrived at Myers Flat about 2 o'clock and camped. About 14 miles. William Henry Neal, always styled the governor, Bill Emmett and wife, also Harry Neal, started in the lie cart for Bendigo to see Edward Emmett. Henry was driving and unfortunately attempted to cross between two trees and caught the cart, breaking the springs, and were obliged to return. Henry Neal and Bill Emmett went afterwards on horseback. Wednesday, the 3rd of November, started as soon as we could get ready and arrived at Bendigo about 10 o'clock, completely tired of our long journey. All well.
SPEAKER_02When they say they were going to Bendigo to see Edward Emmett, they mean Edward Utella Emmett, better known as Ned. We discussed Ned Emmett in episode 19.
SPEAKER_05So they've reached Bendigo in the Goldfields. How did they fare there? Did anyone make it rich by finding a big nugget?
SPEAKER_02Well, you'll just have to wait until the next episode to see how they fared. So it's goodbye from me.
SPEAKER_05And it's goodbye from me.