Few knew his true name, Charles Harris, and even Charlie himself seemed uncertain of it at times. The early goldfields of Western Australia were filled with vibrant characters, but the tales of ‘Charlie the Goose’ stand among the most captivating. In those days, as now, nicknames were common. Some, like ‘Billy the Liar,’ were self-explanatory, while others remained shrouded in mystery. Many men adopted multiple aliases, switching identities as easily as one might change clothes in an era where reinventing oneself was effortlessly done.
As you will see from these stories, taken from the newspapers of the day it is said that Charlie was born in South Africa and others say he was born in France, I think we will never know the truth and I am sure that Charlie himself would want it that way.
Charlie The Goose (Or “French Charlie”)
It is said that he was born in France and had been a champion athlete in the Navy, but deserted when he heard of the gold find in Western Australia. Charlie was in Southern Cross when Arthur Bayley reported his find and was among the early prospectors at Hannan’s, Black Flag, Siberia, Kanowna and the I.O.U. (later called Bulong), Leonora, Laverton, Burtville, Malcolm and Lawlers.
One of the raciest recollections of early prospectors who knew him was the way Charlie tricked a knowing crowd who were following him to a new alluvial and reefing patch he was supposed to know about.
The crowd followed him, half a day behind, until they were about two days north of Kurnalpi, tracking him easily as, in addition to a dozen riding and lightly packed horses, he had with him a very light spring cart. The wheels of this vehicle were easy to follow as if he were farm ploughing and when they led to an immense outcrop of granite away east of Pendinnie, the following crowd smiled broadly. Charlie had gone in there for water, there being a splendid series of soaks in the earth basin along the southern edge. There was also a splendid shade forest of salmon gum, and when the pursuing party came up a day behind and saw the wheel tracks, halted and disappeared up on the granite, they were puzzled.
All around were tracks of Charlie and those of his and scores of other horses, but no wheel marks! They scanned the high and low branches of the gums, thinking Charlie might have strung it up, not wanting to be encumbered with it. Then they searched the wells and soaks, but there were no traces of wheel tracks.
The truth came out a long time afterwards when Charlie came back to Coolgardie with a fine shamy of gold, got all on his ow,n undisturbed by the mob. It appears that when he reached the patch of granite, Charlie took the light spring-cart to pieces, packed a wheel on one horse, another wheel on another, a shaft on this, the other there and so on until the whole vehicle was distributed among the spare and lightly laden horses. Twenty miles further on he put the cart together again, and because the wheel tracks were so numerous, no one knew which tracks to follow. This gold fine was called ‘The Goose’s Puzzle’.
The Evening News Queensland -30 Dec 1933
TRUNDLED IT FROM CAPE YORK TO COOLGARDIE.
‘”CHARLIE THE GOOSE.”
No more appropriate memorial could be placed upon grave than reposes over the remains of ‘Charlie the Goose’ one of Western Australia’s best-known prospectors in the Wiluna cemetery. No one could ever get Charlie, who was French born (Supposedly), to remember his surname, ‘Charlie, the Goose’ being the only appellation known not only to others but to himself it was thought.
On his last resting-place is the wooden-wheeled, homemade wheelbarrow which Charlie trundled once from Cape York to Southern Cross and from here to Coolgardie, with all his worldly belongings being packed upon it. Another good long push was from Dundas to Darlot, still another, from Hannans to Kurnalpi. He took the old wheelbarrow, which he had had since the roaring nineties from Perth to Wiluna, and when he had gone to his last costeen, some of his old mates saw that the ancient salmon gum and gimlet carryall were placed above his grave as a memento of his imperishable past.
Charlie the Goose got his nickname from a lottery that he used to conduct on the fields. He had a lottery barrel and marbles much the same as the present-day Lotteries Commission, and the sweep was conducted among the miners. Charlie’s share was a percentage of the takings. To extract the winning marble from the barrel, he had trained a goose. It just stuck its head through an opening in the side of the barrel and withdrew it
with a marble in its beak. That was the winning number.
Once, when Charlie and two mates were working on alluvial ground, other miners were puzzled by the repeated disappearances of Charlie while his mates were working out in the open with the rest. They set about tracking Charlie down. It was a puzzling case for Charlie’s tracks led them in a circle. They finished up where they had begun, and nowhere was Charlie to be seen. Finally, a closer watch was kept on Charlie as he sneaked away. Halfway around the circular track was an overhanging tree. There Charlie stopped, looked around, swung himself up onto a bough, climbed along the branch, swung to another tree and from there back to earth some distance away— and then to new alluvial ground. Shortly afterwards, the other miners were working the new ground, but Charlie had the best claim pegged and had already got the best of the value from the other ground.
A popular resort on the Murchison field was a bough shed where ‘Charlie the Goose’ ran a refreshment room. It was unlicensed, but this was no hindrance against being served with drinks that had a kick in them. Also, one could get a mug of good broth for a shilling, made from good beef supplied by Tullock, Willis and Kerr. Quite a lot of gambling was carried on openly. The stakes were put up in nuggets or fine gold, and the gambling was the cause of frequent disturbances. It was the subject of a roll-up on one occasion when Charlie was accused of stealing 20 ozs of gold. He was acquitted, but the gambling stopped.
Magnet Mirror and Murchison Reflector – 30 September 1933
Sadly, there are no remains of Charlie’s barrow on his grave at Wiluna today, but I’m sure he will never be forgotten. Now he has passed on to join that great band of western battlers gone before, who have played such a noble part in the exploration of the goldfields of Western Australia.
You may like to read more of Charlie’s exploits – http://bit.ly/22TgxVO
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