I was recently sent the following family story from Rae Knee, whose great-great-grandfather, Isaac Lloyd, came to the Western Australian Goldfields.
In the quiet town of Hertford, England, in 1834, Isaac Lloyd was born to John, a skilled blacksmith, and Emma Baldwin. His early years were marked by a christening in Ruthin, Denbigh, Wales, a hint of the journeys that would define his life. In 1844, at the tender age of ten, Isaac and his family—parents and siblings Josiah, Hezekiah, Felix, and later Eliza Jane—boarded the Abberton and set sail for a new life in Australia. They settled in Payneham, South Australia, a land of promise and opportunity.
Isaac Lloyd – Image Rae Knee
By 1855, Isaac, now a young man, took his first steps into the world of enterprise, securing the license for the Glynde Inn, followed by The Rock Inn at Third Creek near Magill, SA. The clink of glasses and the hum of conversation filled his days, but ambition stirred within him. A year later, in 1856, he married Emma Francis Loader, a union that would bring both joy and sorrow. Together, they welcomed ten children: Caroline, James, another James who died young, William, Emma, Alfred, Elizabeth, Louisa Jane, Arthur Edward, and an unnamed daughter born in 1872. Tragically, Emma passed away that same year in Sandhurst, Victoria—now Bendigo—leaving Isaac to raise their children alone. By then, he had traded innkeeping for the craft of a wheelwright and coach builder, though financial troubles loomed, marking him as insolvent in 1856.
Undeterred, Isaac rebuilt his life. In 1873, he married Hannah Crowley (who already had several children), a woman who would stand by his side through triumphs and trials. Together, they raised seven more children—Isaac Cornelius, Barbara Eleanor, Catherine, Anastasia, Jacob Daniel, Francis May, and Matthew—most born in Sandhurst, except for Matthew, born in Broken Hill, New South Wales. The family’s life was a tapestry of movement and reinvention, as Isaac’s ventures grew ever bolder.
Hannah Lloyd (Crowley) – Image Rae Knee
In 1889, the Lloyds found themselves in Broken Hill, where Isaac’s entrepreneurial spirit shone. He built the Crystal Palace, initially a horse bazaar, which he cleverly transformed into a roller-skating rink, capturing the town’s imagination. Ever the visionary, he proposed running tramcars through Broken Hill’s principal streets, though the Town Council deferred his ambitious plan. Yet, not all was smooth. In 1894, Isaac faced a darker moment when he was fined five pounds or two months in jail for assaulting his son Jacob. Perhaps seeking a fresh start, the family left Broken Hill and headed west to the goldfields of Western Australia.
In 1897, Isaac leased the Golden Ridge Hotel in Boorara, securing a publican’s general license the following year. The hotel became a hub for miners and dreamers, its walls echoing with stories of the gold rush. Isaac, never one to rest, also took up mining, partnering with the Gaze Brothers of Kalgoorlie to form the 24-acre Golden Ridge Central Lease. As a builder, he constructed a house for the Mine Manager of the Golden Ridge Proprietary Mine and served on the local progress committee, helping to shape the community’s future. Boorara was later to be named Golden Ridge and then Waterfall.
Map showing the location of Boorara:
But fate was unkind. In 1898, typhoid fever struck, landing Isaac in Kalgoorlie’s Government Hospital. He recovered, only to be felled by the same illness in March 1899. At 65, Isaac Lloyd passed away, his body laid to rest in Kalgoorlie Cemetery. Hannah, his steadfast partner, lived on until 1937, passing in Leederville, Western Australia, and was interred in the Roman Catholic portion of Karrakatta Cemetery, Perth.
Isaac Lloyd – Kalgoorlie Miner 4 March 1899, page 4
One of Isaac’s grandsons, Vivien Colley Lloyd, son of Jacob, was granted one of only three scholarships to Hale Boys School in Perth, WA, in 1933
Westralian Judean 1 May 1933, page 21
Isaac Lloyd’s life was a saga of resilience. A father to seventeen children, husband to two remarkable women, he wore many hats—coach builder, wheelwright, publican, miner, builder, and entrepreneur. Three times bankrupt, he rose each time, undaunted, chasing new horizons. His story, woven through the dusty trails of Australia’s colonies, is a testament to a man who dared to dream, even in the face of adversity.
Grave of Issac LLOYD, Kalgoorlie cemetery – Photo Danelle Warnock
Moya Sharp
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