Following on from the first part of this tale from earlier in the year: The Story of the Murchison Part 1
Extract from a paper prepared by F Bateson and read to the WA Historical Society on the 25 October 1946.
Early in 1895, I (Frederick W Bateson) was offered a position at the Star of the East GM, about 18 miles east-north-east of Nannine, in the WA Murchison. I was at the time working for De Hamel and Speed, solicitors of Perth. I was 16yrs of age when Leslie Robert Menzie and John Ernest McDonald came to Perth after floating The Star of the East Mine. The mine was now in full swing having a 10 head battery ready to start with a further 10 head on the way.
My brother, who was at the time working on the Billabong Station, in Northhampton, and I were invited to go up to work on the battery. As he was closer to the mine than me, he wrote to me and told me to bring all sorts of things with me. I loaded myself up with such things as watermelon, cucumber, lettuce, radish and tomato seeds and to these items I added vine cuttings. I was told that a team was to leave Mingenew (383 kms north of Perth) on the 20th January with a donkey engine and other items, and was going directly to the mine. The journey should have taken about four weeks to reach ‘The Star’ but it was late March before I fianlly arrived.
Leslie Robert Menzie
I left Fremantle on January 12th on the SS Franklin, arriving in Geraldton at midnight the following night. We berthed while I was asleep, and in the morning I found that all of the other passengers but myself had already disembarked. I was not unduly concerned, and after having breakfast I went in search of Joe Dyer, a miner who was returning to the mine after a holiday in the Eastern States. We had to wait for the Donkey engine which was arriving on another boat, and which didn’t arrive until early February. Upon the arrival of the engine, Dyer and I thought all would be well. Two days later we set out by train for Mingenew. Upon arrival we found that it was a very poor place, just a pub and a store and a few other buildings. There was also no accommodation to be had, so Dyer and I had to pitch a tent near to the town sping. We had thought that we should only be there a day or two at the most. However it was not to be and it was on the 9th day that the team arrived. It was the property of a Mrs Burgess and the teamster was a red haired Irish immigrant. He was late in getting in his horses the next morning and by the time he had loaded up all of the equipment from the rail goods shed it was too late to set out that day, as the first leg was 23 miles, and uphill at that.
We started out the following morning at 9am with a hot easterly wind blowing already. It made the dust fly in great clouds and made great discomfort for both man and beast. Soon after noon the horses showed signs of distress so we camped for a couple of hours but there was little shade to be found. The wind had dropped and the sand flies became annoying so we moved on. At dusk the horses were dead-beat and needed water but we were four miles from our stop. We unyoked them, and the teamster took them on to water, while I made camp and prepared a meal. The next day we moved on to the well at Gullewa owned by Mick Morrissey. As the horses were very jaded, and our next leg was 20 miles, we rested them for the remainder of the day.
On the next few days, the going was better, with very little sand to traverse. Once again Dyer and I thought our trials were over, but as we passed the junction of the Mullewa Road, it came on to rain and continued to do so for the rest of the day and through the night. This turned the track into a quagmire and the going made heavy. However now that the water problem was solved, we were able to stop where we wished and rest the poor horses. By this time the chaff and oats were nearly exhausted and there was no grass to be found. The rain continued for a week and we found we could go no further. It was lucky that we were on the Mullewa, Cue, Day Dawn Road which took most of the carting in the area. Our teamster, realising his team would not get through, stopped every returning team to ask if they would take over the delivery contract from him. Most declined as they had contracts of their own to fulfill.
After some days, a German from Queensland, called Schrader came along. He was not under contract and drove a hard bargain when he agreed to take over the load. However it was not possible to transfer the donkey engine to his wagon so his wagon was left at Migenew and Mrs Burgess’s wagon was used and he would return it on his way back. Schrader’s outfit consisted of a wagon and eight horses and a dray with five smaller horses. The latter was driven by a Queensland aboriginal youth. I was to hear later that three of these horses died on the return journey, he was the worst man I have ever seen with horses.
Dyer and I now thought again that our troubles were at an end, when a few days later after just finishing our noon day meal, a string of camels came along with four afghans in charge. They did not pull off the track until they were within 100 yards of our teams. Soon our teams were in a mix up and we were trying to hold and quieten them but not before many parts of harness and one of the poles of the main wagon were broken. It took an hour to search for a suitable sapling to repair the wagon and then till nightfall to fit and finish it as well as repairs to the harness. This was then followed by a week of fairly good progress with only delays of strayed horses due to broken hobbles. We arrived at Nannine at noon on the 23rd March, having camped at the State well the night before. It was a little over 18 miles now to ‘The Star’.
A Worshiper of Bacchus
Schrader got blind drunk while Dyer and I were having dinner and making some purchaces as we had been short of supplies for over a week. There was no feed for the horses at Nannine, the nearest was at the three mile well where the track branches off to Meekatharra. We recovered Schrader late in the afternoon and got him on the wagon and made for the three mile well, he slept all the way. Dyer and I looked forward to ending out journey the next day. Just as we were making camp for the night, some friends of Dyer’s came along in a sulky on their way to Nannine. Next morning all the horses were gone and Schrader had a bad head.
That day was one I am never likely to forget. I was doing some washing at the well when I heard the sound of breaking glass. After I returned to the wagon I found that Schrader had been rummaging in the load and had found a case of whiskey and had rammed an iron bar into the case, breaking some of the bottles and he held it over a bucket. This whiskey was supposed to be delivered to Frank Alderman who ran the pub and store at “The Star’. Dyers friends returned and he left with them leaving me to bring on all his belongings. Next morning two of the light horses were missing so I told the boy to catch up when he found them. Schrader was still in a bad way and I had to sit with him on the wagon seat to keep him from falling off. We managed to make camp that night and the boy arrived with the missing horses which we tied to the wagon so we would have no problems in the morning. I went to sleep with the happy thought I would be at ‘The Star’ the next day by dinner time, and this time my wish was granted. I was to start work the next day.
My brother planted the seeds I took up beyond the settling pits, its was not a success as the only water available was waste from the pits. However we did get a few radish’s about as thick as a pencil. I gave the vine cuttings to Jack and Jim Bond who ran a store and bakery in Nannine. They had set up a market garden a mile beyond the 3-mile. At ‘The Star’ there were few actual buildings. A pub/store/boarding house kept by Frank Alderman. Also a two roomed shack used as an office and sleeping quarters by Menzie and McDonald. This building was made of mud brick and roofed with galvanised iron. The rest of the camp consisted up brush sheds and tents. The bakery was one of the latter and was run by a man named Joe Sparrow, commonly called ‘Salvation Joe’ as he had been a Salvationist before going to the fields. Joe’s chief characteristic seemed to be his dirt; needless to say my brother and I never sampled his bread. Occasionally he went on a spree and on one of these occasions he sat on the side of the bread trough where he had set the bread to rise, and had fallen backwards into the dough, where he was found some time later fast asleep.
The Men from Broken Hill
One of the camps was known as the ‘Broken Hill’, it comprised of two 10 ft x 12 ft tents facing each other about 12 feet apart contented by a brush roof. The occupants of this camp were all ex Broken HIll miners, Joe Dyer being one, Mark Mingay and John B Holman. They had all left Broken Hill after the big strike in 1890, and like many others did not want any more ‘dust on the lungs’. Jack Holman was the finest tool sharpener I have ever seen, both for speed and sharpening. When I left ‘The Star’ in December they were all still there. Menzie and McDonald left the mine in October and went to Perth and floated a new syndicate and went prospecting in North Coolgardie. They were successful in floating ‘The Lady Shenton’, ‘The Florence’ and the district known as Menzies.
The Lady Shenton Mine Menzies 1898
William Dick took over as manager of ‘The Star’ from Menzie, he was later to become the general manager of the ‘Golden Horseshoe’ in Boulder. Many passed through ‘The Star’ on their way to Lake Way – now Wiluna. The most astounding of these was a group of young Englishmen of good family and means, and they were let by Car-Boyd who brought them out with him from England to take up prospecting. They were a circus indeed, two spring carts with three horses each and paid drivers- one to look after the horses and the other as cook and flunky. The carts looks as if they were headed to open an emporium in the centre of Australia. Wire stretchers, kapok mattresses, marquees, stools, canvas wash basins and baths. The men themselves were in keeping. Each had two revolvers, a sheath knife and a watch on their belts. A small rifle slung over the shoulder and each with riding britches, top boots and spurs. Each was mounted on a fine horse and had a white helmet. Car-Boyd, seeing how raw they were, took them out to Quinns to start them dryblowing to break them in – but instead he broke them up, they only lasted a fortnight.
Captain William Dick
About the men I knew:
Leslie Robert Menzie was born in Baltimore USA and was brought up in the woods of Canada. He went out to the Thames Goldfields in New Zealand as a lad, and later went to sea as a wind-jammer, being adept with tools – particularly the adze – he became the ships carpenter. He came to WA in 1891 and was employed as a Timberman on the McIntosh GM at Parkers Range. A rich patch of stone was discovered south of the Parkers Range Hotel, and was know as the ‘Golden Gate’. Menzie bought some of the shares and sold out shortly afterwards for £400. He then came to Perth and teamed up with John Ernest McDonald. After his involvement in the ‘Star of the East’, the ‘Lady Shenton’ and the ‘Florence mines, he made over £40,000. He then moved to South Australian and established a mine called ‘Menzie’s Barossa’ He married in WA in 1895, shortly after discovering the ‘Lady Shenton’ to Miss Louisa Jerger of Nesbit and Jerger Jewellers in Perth. He built a substantial house in Mounts Bay, Perth which stands today and is called ‘Menzies’ and is situated at the foot of Jacobs Ladder. This house he sold before moving to SA and settling in Gawler. The Barossa mine failed, and Menzie lost nearly everything. He then went to California and bought an apple orchard. On the discovery of Bullfinch he returned to WA and prospected around this area without success. He returned to his apple orchard in California where he died a few years later.
John Ernest McDonald, came to WA in 1891 and was a master at the Perth Grammar School until be met L R Menzie. He was appointed as paymaster and accountant at the ‘Star of the East’ and was with Menzie on the discovery of the ‘Lady Shenton’ and ‘Florence’ mines. The Florence was named after my sister, who later became his wife. On severing his connection with Menzie he invested in property in Perth. He built the McDonald Building on the corner of Barrack and Murray Sts. He had an interest in a mining venture in Donnybrook WA where he was residing, and he was accidentally drowned there in the Preston River in 1900.
John Barkell Holman, MLA for Forrest, was a minister in the first Labor Government. On Jack Holmans death in 1925 – he had been a sick man for a long time- his daughter Miss May Holman, was elected to the Forrest seat in the Legislative assembly. When she was killed in a motor accident just prior to the 1936 election her brother won the seat.
John Barkell Holman
I returned to Perth just before Christmas 1894, and in Jan 1895 I went to Kalgoorlie – but they will be another story!
On the way to ‘The Star’ in February, Dyer and I saw a magnificent “Aurora Australis“, it lasted about 20 minutes. On my way back, after the completion of the Canning Stock Route in Feb 1910, just 16yrs later, I saw another. This one did not last quite so long but its colours where much more vivid. Strange to say, Dyer was then keeping an eating house half way between Nannine and Wiluna. On our way home on the 16th March we called there for lunch and the first thing I heard from him was, ‘Was the last aurora or the first the best?”
The Star of the East GM was to to produce 20,122 fine ozs of gold.
Moya Sharp
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