LINES TO KITTY (A Barmaid).

I am thinking of you Kitty
While l’m lying lying here alone,
My bed is made of ferns
And my pillow is a stone;

I am camped here in a gully
In the cold and chilly breeze,
With no comrades but the mopokes
and the possums in the trees.

I see you tripping to the bar-room,
Yes I see you tripping in,
At the whirring of the gingle
Which Kerry taught me how to spin.

I hear you taking orders
With a thorough business air,
One glance is quite convincing
That you act upon the square.

“What is yours sir, what is yours sir”,
Please let the drinks be known;
Is the Boss not in it ?
Well then captain what’s your own.

Oh! if I had wings to beat me
I very soon would drop
Down beside you for a long one
With a cauliflower top.

And how is the old landlord;
Is he swaggering about ?
He is happy when he’s on the pump
Or uncorking bottled stout.

You are standing there beside him
With your winning Irish smile,
It would coax a duck from water
Round my heart it wore a coil.

Well, perhaps the day’s not distant
When on velvet I shall stand,
Then I’ll come and see you Kitty
With dollars at command.

D.M., May, 1916.

The lines of ” A Spud-digger’s Spree,”

How “Justice” was served out on the Goldfields.

Niagara was one of the little towns worth a column in the WA Post Office Directory of 1899 following Bob Menzies strike in September 1894. The town’s life was short, but while it was alive, it ‘LIVED’.

Menzies find was described vaguely in the first announcement as “beyond the 90-Mile.” It was 40 miles beyond that point of rocks, so named probably, because it wasn’t 90 miles from any camp on the map of the Yilgarn. Menzies opened his show, afterward called The Lady Shenton, in September, and in October sent a parcel of rich specimens to the Bank of Australasia for the information of the Perth syndicate that had financed him. On the strength of the samples, a British combine offered, in November, £10,000 for the property, and was there with the money, ready and willing to buy “sight unseen.” In those good days of gold, WA did not have to borrow money. ‘John Bull’ brought it in with him, and was only too keen to give it away.

Niagara was opened in February 1895. An unusual strike, for the West, for the reef was discovered before alluvial gold was found. The prospectors napped an outcrop, impregnated with gold as rich as anything in the Londonderry. The six prospectors of the show had just been paid £180,000 in cash for the holding, and they had done no work on it, beyond knocking out a tent full of specimens.

Consequently, a rush started immediately after the Niagara men made their announcement. Siberia, the 90-mile, and Menzies providing the first contingent of an army of giants who padded, hot foot and eager, to a reported strike of gold, with no more than the report to rely on.

The nearest water was at Menzies, 40 miles away, and the only mode of transporting it was the pack camel!

There never was a surplus of water on the field, though bottled fluids were obtainable directly the camp was established. The whisky was of near kin to methylated spirit, but it was the best to be had there, and the men paid the price and were grateful. Sufficiently primed with it, an otherwise peaceful prospector would challenge a bull camel to a rough up under ‘Rafferty Rules’. But it had one good effect – it brought ‘The Law’ to the camp. Not in proper form, but in a form no the less.

One of the first matters that called for magisterial consideration was the disposal of a vagrant. How a man without means or mates had made the journey was the puzzle the boys could not solve, and with water at famine prices, the camp could not afford to keep him. While the problem was being debated, he went mad, and it was decided to rope him and pack him off to Menzies. He died on the way and was buried where he finished. Papers found in his camp at Siberia led to a correspondence with people in England, and, later, C. A. White, of Hunt Street, Coolgardie, gave it out that the vagrant lunatic of Niagara camp was the son and heir of an English baronet with interests in an estate worth, nominally, £4000 a year.

It was agreed that the methylated whisky had sent him “off his rocker,” and the camp decided to set up ‘The Law’, not so much on account of the quality of the liquor, but because of the mistake it had occasioned in permitting the pauper burial of one of England’s old nobility.

When Baronet’s Heir Was Buried as Pauper!

At a roll-up called by Ted Merral, of the 90-mile (Goongarrie), it was decided that Sir John Forrest be asked to appoint a J.P. The necessary letter was written but never posted. In a fortnight, an apparently ‘official communication’ conveyed that Charley Jones, who kept the cool drink shop, had been commissioned as one of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the territory. Charley took office immediately, swore in a constable and Clerk of the Peace, and started on the work to reform of the town.

His first case – a frame-up of course – was an insanity matter. A prospector who was reported crazy was remanded for two days for observation. There was no lock-up, and Charley had to keep him in his own tent. He escaped at dark, broke into the cool drink shop, purloined all the hop beer, and took off to the bush. A warrant for his arrest was issued.

The next accused was charged with stealing specimens from his mate who was, of course, in on the joke. The constable proved arrest, and the evidence being conclusive, a sentence of six months, with hard labour, was imposed.

Pseudo J.P. and his famous “Murder Trial”

The prisoner used very offensive language and concluded by challenging the Court to fight him for ten quid, or any part of it. Before leaving the “dock” he openly stated that if he were held in the Justice’s tent he would do Charley in that night. For these deliverances’ he was charged with contempt, which he had aggravated by speaking of the Court as “the *#*#” fool who keeps the pop shop.

A second six months gaol was added to the first sentence. Charley was figuring out how he could hold his prisoner safely, unless he chained him to a tree, when Jimmy Wainwright the baker, offered to go bail for the convict, who was turned over to his keeping. The boys then went to some trouble to stage a murder charge, and were held up by the difficulty of getting a corpse, but the fates were kind, and helped them out. They heard a man had been killed in a tribal riot at Yerilla, some 20 miles away, and Charley, sitting as Coroner, brought in a finding of willful murder against ‘Jimbour’, one of the tribe. He formally declared him outlawed and warned all persons against harboring or giving shelter to the same. Then he offered a Government reward of £200 for the capture of the murderer, and for the finding of the body of the murdered man – which had not been seen by either Coroner or jury.

The commitment of the Government to a reward to be paid in real money then attracted attention in Perth, and the Crown Law Department sent I. J. K. Cohn, a real Justice of the Peace from Coolgardie, to make inquiries and report which he did. His report, on file, is a classic, in the tone of the times:

“The boys have been having a game with a fully qualified “%$!*#” flaming idiot.

On the Golden Trail
Guide to Carnegie in 1894
Gus Luck’s Early Goldfields Prospecting Experiences

Early in November 1892, two gold hunters, Gus LUCK and his mate Jack BURNS, out on a prospecting expedition from Coolgardie, found themselves cursing their luck when their camels became bogged west of Mt Robinson. It was only after the animals had been relieved of their pack that they could free themselves from the mud.

The incident made Luck and his mate turn south-east, and then work their way back to the “Old Camp.” Had they gone the opposite way, as was their original intention, history might have contained their names as the discovers of the famous Golden Mile, for the bogging incident occurred within half a day’s walk of the spot where Paddy Hannan, seven months later, made his discovery, which caused Australia’s greatest gold boom, and was the forerunner of the location of the wonderful Golden Mlle.

Mr. A J (Gus) Luck, who has been farming on the miner’s settlement near Southern Cross for the past two years, is now temporarily located in Perth.

A Link with Exploration Work of forty years ago.

In 1889 he was a member of an expedition which landed at Eucla from Adelaide, to explore a section of that little-known country for a railway company.” In “flying-gangs” the party of fourteen ventured inland as far as food supplies would allow them and relied on rock holes for water. One of these trips nearly ended in disaster. Luck and his mate struggled back over

Eighty Miles of Waterless Land

to get assistance sent out to the remainder of the party, some of whom were found in a pitiable plight through the ravages of thirst.

In 1894 Luck became associated, as a guide, with Hon. D. Carnegie, a son of the Earl of Southesk, a Scottish nobleman. Carnegie had come to Western Australia to seek his fortune, and he headed a number of expeditions to the northern fields. On the trip on which he and Luck were associated, a route was taken from Coolgardie across Hampton Plains territory, up to Queen Victoria Springs, and to the country beyond. A mount about 200 miles northeast of where Mt Margaret now stands, was named Mt Luck after the man who acted as guide to the party.

Above: Using a memento of his early days, Gus Luck, who will be 84 tomorrow, takes a bearing with a prismatic compass given to him in 1894 by D W Carnegie whom he accompanied on an expedition.

Threading, their way back, the party found gold at Niagara and reached Siberia Soak with the tucker box empty and only tobacco, matches, and baking powder among their stores. Provisions borrowed from a survey party helped them on the last stage of their return journey. What was originally intended to be a five or six weeks expedition, had lasted five months, and their safe return set a lot of uneasy minds at rest in the Old Camp.

In appreciation, Carnegie presented Luck with a compass inscribed “From D W. Carnegie, July 1894,” and this today is one of Mr, Luck’s most treasured possessions. A glance at it takes his mind back to stirring events of the early ’90s.

Carnegie, it might be added, later met his death in Nigeria from a poisoned arrow. In his capacity as Resident Magistrate, he visited a native camp to relieve them of their firearms and had just carried the weapons back to a waiting boat when the chief of the tribe came on the scene. He waved his arms menacingly at the Britishers, and Carnegie, fearless as ever returned to the camp, but an arrow struck him down. He succumbed shortly after his friends had laid him gently in the boat. Thus was severed a link with ‘Early Coolgardie’ days.

Luck played his part in the pioneering work which assisted in the opening of the Goldfields but goes his way. unostentatiously, despite the trying and hazardous times he has passed through, Luck wears well. !!

Further recommended reading The Outback Trail by A.J. Luck – Available from Hesperian Press

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Gus Luck was one of Western Australia’s most experienced bushmen when he met David Carnegie, who later wrote the classic Spinifex and Sand. He taught Carnegie his bushmanship and in The Outback Trail, he writes of his life and experiences in the bush, camels, natives, prospecting, people, and more, in a fascinating story of the 1880s to 1930s.

Augustus Jules Luck is believed to have been born on 23 May 1867 in Alsace, France to parents Jaques Luck and Eve nee Hunsicker. After his expedition with Carnegie, he returned to Victoria where he married Emma Bees in Footscray on the 3 Nov 1894 at the age of 27yrs. The couple’s had two daughters who were born in VIC, Marie Louise ‘Dolly’ born in 1898, and Margaret Florence ‘Maggie’ born in 1900, both girls died in Menzies WA in 1900. Other Children all born in Boulder WA except Eva, were: Eva May born in 1900, Augustus Jules Jr born in 1902, Florence Victoria born in 1904, Marjorie Ellen born in 1907, Valance Emma born in 1910, George Edward born in 1911, and Veronica Gladys 1917. Whilst in Boulder Gus worked as a loco driver in the Perserverebnce Mine.

After leaving the Goldfields Gus first took up a farm at Southern Cross and then he later built a house at 37 Gt Eastern Hwy in Victoria Park near Perth. He died at the Salvation Army Aged care Home in Kelmscott on 13 Aug 1958 aged 92yrs and is buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery with his wife Emma who died 20 Jun 1925 aged 50yrs.

How “Justice” was served out on the Goldfields.

Niagara was one of the little towns worth a column in the W.A. Post Office Directory of 1899 following Bob Menzie’s strike in September 1894. The town’s life was short, but while it was alive, it ‘LIVED’.

Menzies find was described vaguely in the first announcement as “beyond the 90-Mile.” It was 40 miles beyond that point of rocks, so named probably, because it wasn’t 90 miles from any camp on the map of the Yilgarn. Menzies opened his show, afterward called The Lady Shenton, in September and in October sent a parcel of rich specimens to the Bank of Australasia for the information of the Perth syndicate that had financed him. On the strength of the samples, a British combine offered, in November, £10,000 for the property, and was there with the money, ready and willing to buy “sight unseen.” In those good days of gold, W.A. did not have to borrow money. ‘John Bull’ brought it in with him, and was only too keen to give it away.

Niagara was opened in February 1895. An unusual strike, for the West, for the reef was discovered before alluvial gold was found. The prospectors napped an outcrop, impregnated with gold as rich as anything in the Londonderry. The six prospectors of the show had just been paid £180,000 in cash for the holding, and they had done no work on it, beyond knocking out a tent full of specimens.

Consequently, a rush started immediately after the Niagara men made their announcement. Siberia, the 90-mile, and Menzies providing the first contingent of an army of giants who padded, hot foot and eager, to a reported strike of gold, with no more than the report to rely on.

The nearest water was at Menzies, 40 miles away, and the only mode of transporting it was the pack camel!

There never was a surplus of water on the field, though bottled fluids were obtainable directly the camp was established. The whisky was of near kin to methylated spirit, but it was the best to be had there, and the men paid the price and were grateful. Sufficiently primed with it, an otherwise peaceful prospector would challenge a bull camel to a rough up under ‘Rafferty rules’. But it had one good effect – it brought ‘The Law’ to the camp. Not in proper form, but in a form no the less.

One of the first matters that called for magisterial consideration was the disposal of a vagrant. How a man without means or mates had made the journey was the puzzle the boys could not solve, and with water at famine prices, the camp could not afford to keep him.
While the problem was being debated, he went mad, and it was decided to rope him and pack him off to Menzies. He died on the way and was buried where he finished. Papers found in his camp at Siberia led to a correspondence with people in England, and, later, C. A. White, of Hunt Street, Coolgardie, gave it out that the vagrant lunatic of Niagara camp was the son and heir of an English baronet with interests in an estate worth, nominally, £4000 a year.

It was agreed the methylated whisky had sent him off his “rocker,” and the camp decided to set up ‘The Law’, not so much on account of the quality of the liquor as because of the mistake it had occasioned in permitting the pauper burial of one of England’s old nobility.

When Baronet’s Heir Was Buried as Pauper

At a roll-up called by Ted Merral, of the 90-mile (Goongarrie), it was decided that Sir John Forrest be asked to appoint a J.P. The necessary letter was written but never posted. In a fortnight, an apparently ‘official communication’ conveyed that Charley Jones, who kept the cool drink shop, had been commissioned as one of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the territory. Charley took office immediately, swore in a constable and Clerk of the Peace, and started on the work to reform of the town.

His first case – a frame-up of course – was an insanity matter. A prospector who was reported crazy was remanded for two days for observation. There was no lock-up, and Charley had to keep him in his own tent. He escaped at dark, broke into the cool drink shop, purloined all the hop beer, and took off to the bush. A warrant for his arrest was issued.

The next accused was charged with stealing specimens from his mate who was, of course, in the joke. The constable proved arrest, and the evidence being conclusive, a sentence of six months, with hard labour, was imposed!

Pseudo J.P. And His Famous “Murder Trial”

The prisoner used very offensive language and concluded by challenging the Court to fight him for ten quid, or any part of it. Before leaving the “dock” he openly stated that if he were held in the Justice’s tent he would do Charley in that night. For these deliverance’s he was charged with contempt, which he had aggravated by speaking of the Court as “the @!*# fool who keeps the pop shop.

A second six months gaol was added to the first sentence. Charley was figuring out how he could hold his prisoner safely, unless he chained him to a tree, when Jimmy Wainwright the baker, offered to go bail for the convict, who was turned over to his keeping. The boys then went to some trouble to stage a murder charge, and were held up by the difficulty of getting a corpse, but the fates were kind, and helped them out. They heard a man had been killed in a tribal riot at Yerilla, some 20 miles away, and Charley, sitting as Coroner, brought in a finding of willful murder against ‘Jimbour’, one of the tribe. He formally declared him outlawed and warned all persons against harboring or giving shelter to the same. Then he offered a Government reward of £200 for the capture of the murderer, and for the finding of the body of the murdered man – which had not been seen by either Coroner or jury.

The commitment of the Government to a reward to be paid in real money then attracted attention in Perth, and the Crown Law Department sent I. J. K. Cohn, a real justice of the peace from Coolgardie, to make inquiries and report which he did. His report, on file, is a classic, in the tone of the times:

“The boys have been having a game with a fully qualified “%$!*# flaming idiot”.

The mysterious disappearance of Dr. Dale, who has been missing from Kookynie since Saturday last, has caused his friends in Kookynie great uneasiness. It appears that the doctor, who has been practicing at Mr. M. Schneider’s pharmacy during the past five months, went to Niagara on Saturday morning to attend a patient, and after having attended to his duties he proceeded to Jessop’s Well. He stopped at the Falls Hotel for some time, and after having had a drink, was observed to cross the railway line about 3pm in the afternoon.

Immediately the matter was reported to the police, Constable Sartori, accompanied by a black tracker, left for Jessop’s Well, when tracks, supposed to be those of the missing man, were picked up and followed along the railway line for six miles in the direction Menzies, but owing to the heavy rains they could not be followed further than the 19-mile, where there is a woodcutters’ camp. The men at the camp stated that they had not observed any strangers in the vicinity recently. The constable then made a detour to the right of the railway line and returned to Niagara at 7.30pm on Monday night, but without striking any fresh tracks. On Tuesday several search parties were organised, but they were unsuccessful. The search was continued yesterday but was again fruitless. Grave fears for his safety are held.

However Dr. Dale put in an appearance in Kalgoorlie yesterday evening after being missing for five days and was reported to be quite well.

West Australian  Perth  Saturday 7 May 1927, page 11

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LINES TO KITTY (A Barmaid).

I am thinking of you Kitty
While l’m lying lying here alone,
My bed is made of ferns
And my pillow is a stone;

I am camped here in a gully
In the cold and chilly breeze,
With no comrades but the mopokes
and the possums in the trees.

I see you tripping to the bar-room,
Yes I see you tripping in,
At the whirring of the gingle
Which Kerry taught me how to spin.

I hear you taking orders
With a thorough business air,
One glance is quite convincing
That you act upon the square.

“What is yours sir, what is yours sir”,
Please let the drinks be known;
Is the Boss not in it ?
Well then captain what’s your own.

Oh! if I had wings to beat me
I very soon would drop
Down beside you for a long one
With a cauliflower top.

And how is the old landlord;
Is he swaggering about ?
He is happy when he’s on the pump
Or uncorking bottled stout.

You are standing there beside him
With your winning Irish smile,
It would coax a duck from water
Round my heart it wore a coil.

Well, perhaps the day’s not distant
When on velvet I shall stand,
Then I’ll come and see you Kitty
With dollars at command.

D.M., May, 1916.

The lines of ” A Spud-digger’s Spree,”