Diary of a gold digger

Unidentified man, photographed by William Mariner Bent at Bendigo, circa 1870.  Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria collection. H2007.44/24

I visited the library of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria on a quiet Friday afternoon to read the 'Diaries of Edward J. Mallandain', which included an account of the voyage of the Panama from London to Melbourne in 1852.   This had been extracted and transcribed by Charles Mallandain.  Whether Charles M had imposed his own construction on the events of the voyage of the Panama is difficult to say ( had he left out all the interesting bits about musical interludes that I was keen to read?) but apparently Edward's on-board preoccupations were largely to do with disagreements  between the other passengers, and noting all the bible services on the poop deck followed by a declaration that he didn't attend.  He mentioned only a few fellow-passengers by name, and even then, usually by initials, and nothing at all about any dance or musical parties.

The difficulties he experienced in getting himself and his goods on shore are nothing short of a disgrace, and it was amazing to see how badly the passengers were treated at the end of the voyage.  It was not explained why this happened, but it was a very lengthy period of over a week after arriving in Hobsons Bay that the ship docked and allowed cargo to be removed - by which time Mallandaine had gone to a lot of trouble and expense to have his unloaded while the ship was still anchored out in the bay.

Mallandaine was certainly prepared to work hard with a pick and shovel, and his efforts with these were mainly rewarded when he got to the goldfields.  On Sunday 19 December 1852 while in camp at Bendigo he "received visits of Bennett, Fielden, Griffith, Clark re Fryers Creek & Co".  He showed his gold to them.

Whether the visitors were all shipmates from the Panama I cannot say  - PROV and its passenger lists is temporarily unavailable this evening - but even if they are, there is no clue to say whether or not that Griffith was my ancestor.

However, I enjoyed reading the manuscript, so I was glad to have spent the time on it.

The Adventure Begins

Zealous gold diggers, Castlemaine 1852, by S T Gill.  Courtesy of the State Library Collection.

My great, great grandfather, George Griffith, clearly had the lust for gold.  He emigrated to Victoria by 1854, where he formed a relationship with a young girl from Surrey called Susan Rochester.  They did not marry, but had a large family together, several of them born in Victorian goldrush towns before the family returned to the Melbourne suburbs.


George died in Fitzroy on 31 Dec 1878 aged 54. His death certificate revealed a previously unsuspected adventure. His daughter Mary Jane, the informant, answered the following question: "Where born and how long in the Australian Colonies, stating which" with, "Liverpool, England.  In New Zealand and Victoria, periods not known".


The conundrum of *when* he was in New Zealand  took many more years, and many more records becoming available before this could be answered - though not with precision. There was also the intriguing presence of a number of photos taken in New Zealand in a photo album which had belonged to his daughter Mary Jane.


The question arises as to who are the men in the album - relatives, perhaps, or diggers he met in New Zealand?


The purpose of this blog is to try and find out more about those photos, and to find out more about George's period in New Zealand. Where did he go, what did he do, and whom did he meet?


He seems not to have taken his family with him. It appears that they remained behind in Melbourne, but this will also be up for examination.


If anyone can identify any of the photos, or make any comments about them, or suggest places I might look to follow George's adventures in New Zealand, I would be very grateful indeed. I will start off by posting some of the New Zealand photos.