A Sojourn in Australia
The 19-year old couple "...were married at St. Anne’s
Church, Dunfermline, Fifeshire on 14th July 1854, and left Scotland
for New South Wales on the 15th of November of the same year by
the ship Anna, which sailed from Liverpool, and arrived in Sydney
on February 21st 1855. Remaining in New South Wales till the following
year ...they arrived in Bendigo in February 1856." Because
the young couple would have been impoverished and there is a full
calendar year before setting out for Bendigo, it would seem to
suggest that their passage may have been paid, and they worked
under bond in New South Wales.
This conjecture may be supported by the fact that this was the
manner that Margaret Shepherd travelled to New Zealand in 1861.
They may have then taken advantage of the new Bendigo diggings
to seek their fortune.
The new society they encountered was one that had its detractors.
Chambers’ Journal condemned New South Wales. "The emigrant
who settles in these distant countries generally bids adieu to
comfort and peace of mind." This presumes of course that
they had these qualities in the first place! Another criticism
dealt with the lawlessness which was perceived to be a result
of the convicts.
"Robbery, violence, and indolence, stalk the land. That
portion of the free labourers who had the means to leave have
already done so; those who cannot get away are obliged to compete
with the convicts, and thus earn a miserable subsistence in
this...degraded colony"
However to John and Mary this was the opportunity which they
had travelled so far to encounter; the chance to earn a good living
without the tyranny of mine bosses. Their experience of a tough
communal life in Dunfermline would have proved worthwhile, for
the diggings teemed with others also working for their find.
Bendigo was a curious settlement, with hastily built tents comprising
its dwellings. In 1853 Mrs. Ellen Clancy observed "Almost
every tent has its large fire-place and chimney, constructed of
logs, at one end of it; and there are many with an additional
log-hut." She goes on to describe her own tent and the fence
designed ..."to keep off wandering horses, and wandering
drunkards in the night; both of which species of beasts are apt
to stumble up against your tent lines, and threaten the demolition
of the whole concern." Horses and drunkards were not the
only plague; mice were a great nuisance:
"they swarm...and we find it one of the most difficult
things in the world to catch them...(at night they were) running
over my hands and face, and waking me!"
It was at Bendigo that the friendship with William Duff was established
which developed into a partnership which weathered the passing
of time and eventual emigration to New Zealand. William had arrived
in Bendigo six years earlier to join his sister, Mary, and his
brother-in-law Charles Sinclair. William and Mary were born in
Surrey, England, and William had worked for an auctioneer before
emigrating. Mary Sinclair also would have been company for Mary
Edie, the ‘new chum’ at the diggings. The Sinclairs
were also to be firm family friends for generations to come.
John Edie Jnr was born in 1856. Whether he was born before arriving
at the camp is uncertain. A further two children were born there:
Janet and Mary-Anne. However their stay at Bendigo was only to
be for six years before a new frontier presented itself.
I suspect that he had learnt the lesson at the Bendigo diggings,
that the suppliers made a regular income, as well as being in
a good position to investigate good sites for a prospecting claim.
John had success with his mining in Bendigo, but was wanting to
see what the new goldrush in Otago offered. They had enough money
by November 1862 for John to travel to Otago with a team of horses
to start carrying between the Dunstan goldfield and Dunedin. |
