Hilda Jarvis (Nee Jones) ‘The Goat Lady’. This is a photo of her taken in 1990 by Roger Garwood and features in his book ‘Off Like Flies’. I was lucky to meet both her and her son, George. Towards the end of her life, she had to move into town and lived at the ‘Little Sisters of the Poor’. This was where I first met her. She missed her goats terribly!
Hilda Jarvis Photo © Roger Garwood
The area soon became famous for alluvial gold found there. Within a couple of weeks, over 500 men were at these diggings, leading the government to create a town site. The main mine at Bulong was the Queen Margaret. The initial settlement was known by the name of the first lease ‘IOU’, but a surveyor was instructed to carry out a survey at ‘IOU’ and suggest “a better name for it”.
The name ‘Boolong’ was proposed, the Aboriginal name for a small soak nearby, but spelt Bulong to comply with the Royal Geographical Society’s system of orthography.
By 1989 Mrs Hilda Jarvis was the only remaining resident of Bulong. She was affectionately known as the ‘goat lady’ as she ran a small herd of goats in the town.
Her father was once the mayor of Bulong. There are still mining operations at Bulong, not for gold, but nickel and copper.
Francis, Hilda and Mary Jones
Moya Sharp
Hello lovely memories of visiting Hilda to see the goats.
I am a artist and I have painted a lovely painting of her
What a fascinating life these wonderful women led.
Hard, harsh, yet I bet they were gentle to the core.
Love the stories on this site.
Thanks
Chris
Thank you so much Christine, glad you find the stories of interest.
Moya. did the Goat Lady have other Jarvis relatives other than George. My uncles business partner was Frank Jarvis. I have just about worn out my copy of ‘Kunanalling and Beyond’. Again thank you for sending me the book.
Brian Mutzig
Hi Brian I dont think there are any relatives locally, none that I have heard of anyway. Glad you like the book.