Made their way to the Goldfields

[Portrait photograph of group of young men, two with violins] [picture] / Charles Newling. Accession No : H2005.34/2027

OLD IDENTITIES OF BEECHWORTH.  BEN EAGLETON.

(" BILLY NUTTS.")

Being the Reminiscences of a Colonist of 57 Years.

I have spoken of the number of excellent musicians who made Melbourne their temporary home. Among these were some who, finding too much competition in the city, made their way to the goldfields with varying fortune. The only ones I became acquainted with were settled at Beechworth when I arrived there some years afterwards, towards the end of my seven years' practical experience of mining. These were Burke, a fine performer on the cornet ; Radford and Griffiths, violinists; and Ruxton, a pianist. Of these, I became acquainted with Radford, who at the time was playing for the dances at the Clarence Hotel at Yackandandah, and who expressed to me the bitter disappointment to his early ambition, which many more had suffered. In converse with me one evening he said with a sigh— " I thought when I came to Australia I was going to make a name, perhaps a fortune, but I soon found there were plenty as good as me ; and here I am now, a fiddler in a pot-house." Griffiths was a married man, with a family, and was reduced to dire straits. He ultimately went to New Zealand, and I never heard of him again.

OLD IDENTITIES OF BEECHWORTH. (1909, July 24). Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855; 1857 - 1890; 1892 - 1955), p. 12. Retrieved September 30, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198711942

Fortunately George Griffith did returned to Melbourne, and unfortunately died there in 1874.