History Notes for the 19th July 2023
History Notes
A busy week for historical members this week. The storage shed has been completed -thankyou to the Lions Club for your dedication - some things have already been moved in. In a few weeks time, everything needed for the markets should come from the shed instead of the Dean Room. The books have been sorted into topics ready for our August stall - every book should make it to the stall for sale.
Later this week we have another museum visit organized. This time we visit Quirindi to see their collection and how it is managed. Most museums have more room than Barraba and I understand that Quirindi has expanded as well.
A couple of weeks ago while visiting Bingara's Festival Markets I managed to find a copy of the relatively new publication - Gold and An Old Bush School. After much research Elizabeth Adams published this history of Upper Bingara last year and it is full of history of the area as well as lots of family histories.
Most family historians will have heard of George Thompson, Samuel Turner and George Hammond as very early miners/settlers at Upper Bingara. These three men found their gold and for the most part invested it in stores, hotels and property while those who came later to find gold spent their money at the stores and hotels.
Elizabeth has paragraphs about Top Bingara settlers such as the O'Neal, Young, Withers, Hogg, Jones, Fletchers, Michell, Reading, Macey, White, Galvin, Miller, Collins, Claytons and Charters to name a few of them. The book is A4 and almost 200 pages so there is a lot of information included.
One of the early miners to try his luck at Top Bingara was Henry Willia ms who had arrived in Australia in 1849 and had travelled up to the New England with a bullock wagon in 1851returning in the winter of 1852 with a load of wool. The trip back to the Hunter Valley was a nightmare with the wagon losing its load on the Moonbi's and then getting bogged several times across the plains from Tamworth. On arrival at Scone, Henry spent several weeks recovering with Mr Dangar before setting out for the gold fields at "Bingera" to seek his fortune.
Henry Williams diary records his next few weeks as follows – Mr. good and bad fortune, my trials, troubles, accidents, illness, the loss of my most respected partner {the Hon Thomas Murray) robbery of my tent and produce of 8 months work, I need not enter here.
Henry apparently found some gold at Bingera but lost it in a robbery. He then walked all the way back to Tamworth and eventually to the Hunter Valley