Billy Frost – the seeker of shadows

THE SEEKER – THE LATE BILLY FROST
Prospector and Explorer
By John Meiklejohn.

Round the campfires of the various diggings during the 1890s, no name was more prominent than that of the late Billy Frost. He never had the fortune to make any sensational gold discovery, but, through his unceasing activity in making journeys into unknown country, he blazed the way for thousands of others to follow. In the opening up of a number of outside fields, he was perhaps more instrumental than any other individual after Bayley’s time.

Billy Frost – Sunday Times 9 May 1926, page 3

Frost was just an ordinary untutored, bushman, inspired by curiosity to search uncharted country in the hope that golden treasure would be his reward. He did not seek glory or renown; he was simply the typical pioneer who found pleasure in the hard life he followed and the radiant ambitions he pursued.

Of Scottish parents, he was born about 1862 at sea on an immigrant sailing ship in the Bay of Biscay. He was christened William Taylor Frost. The family settled in Claremont, Queensland, where his early days were spent. His father was a stern disciplinarian, who dealt harshly with the boy, so much so, that the youngster rebelled against parental authority and sought liberty and independence by deserting his home as soon as he could.

His first job was acting as an offsider for a Bullock Driver. Then he joined a man named Bidle, helping him to take the first cattle back to Burketown after that place had been deserted owing to a visitation of the Black Plague. It was a hard, tough school for a kiddie, but he had grit and pluck. This was proved on one occasion when thrown from a horse, smashing his left wrist bone. One of the party bound it up, but Billy still kept his turn in watching the cattle. For a few days, he suffered agony, with teeth set in grim silence, before he launched a complaint. The men of the party met this with jeering retorts, telling him he was too damned soft for that country. In desperation, he tore off the bandage and showed a much swollen, highly discoloured arm, alive, with a moving mass of maggots. The broken flesh had been blown by flies through the bandage. It was only then he received a little attention and recovered, but as a memento of this, he carried a slight bend in his left forearm for life.

He left the gulf country and travelled overland to the Northern Territory with cattle when the first settlers went there. The local natives were at that time extremely troublesome, often killing or wounding the settlers, cattle or horses whenever the opportunity offered. Those were stirring times for a young lad, but his fearless determined nature eminently qualified him to meet all emergencies.

Accompanied by a man called Chapman, he arrived in the Kimberley with horses in 1890 and shortly after drifted down to do his first digging in Shark’s Gully near Marble Bar in the Pilbara Region. He was fortunate enough to secure a claim there that turned out well, the largest nugget was 70 ounces. This gold was an incentive to look for more and he resolved to follow the gold prospecting life. He was early on at the Murchison but was doing no good there when Coolgardie was announced. His party was the first to get through across country. From that time he devoted himself unceasingly for several years to making countless journeys into new country in search of water and gold. Some of his achievements are marked by many of the tin tracks in use in the backcountry today.

Among his discoveries to the end of  1896 were Goongarrie in company with Jack Bennett and Harry Herbert (Pigweed Harry), finding gold at Siberia with Bob Birmer, Aleck Cellis and Aleck Nesbit, finding Eucalyptus alluvial gully at Mt Margaret and the discovery of the ‘Lass O’Gowrie’ mine at Lake Darlot, with Jim Tregurtha and three others. After taking 600 ounces out of this last, they sold it for £8,000 cash to Messrs. Bewick Moreing and Co.

Then followed a trip to South Australia. There a party composed of Frost, Tregurtha and Schmidt combined to make a most remarkable journey through the untrodden country from Oodnadatta to the north of Lake Darlot. They started with eight pack camels and two riding horses. One horse became badly crippled and was abandoned in the Musgrove Ranges. The other horse after suffering a four days perish without water, was shot west of Warburton Ranges. For the remainder of the journey, the party were obliged to walk.

Near the Peterman Ranges, and while the party advanced towards a water soak, a number of natives formed up in a hostile manner with uplifted spears. Quick action followed, and they were driven off. On another occasion near Mt. Aloysius, a score of armed natives surrounded them in camp. However, a few shots in the air scared them away.

When they reached Barlee Spring near the South Australian border, they looked for permanent water, as John Forrest had so reported in 1874. The hopes were dashed and they faced a long and most arduous dry stretch to Bonython Creek – a trek of over 330 miles by map measurement, which involved 16 days. During that time the camels were entirely without water. In the last 10 days of this time the three men were down to 12 gallons of water to cover all purposes. When they arrived at the water supply, a most creditable achievement considering they were walking on foot, there were still two gallons on hand.

They were unable to do any prospecting en route, as each day was a constant lookout for signs of water. They crossed the promising looking auriferous country, as well as rich pastoral country about the Peterman and Warburton Ranges. At Lightning Rock they found a mulga tree branded with the letter F over 73, this marking John Forrest’s seventy third camp from Geraldton. Although the story of this trip has never previously been published, it constitutes one of the highest merits in the records of prospecting journeys.

Following this they struck overland from Darlot to Coolgardie. Here Schmidt left the party, the camels were sold, and Frost and Tregurtha shipped off to New Guinea. After a few arduous months, of doing no good and getting loaded up with malarial fever, they returned to Sydney. From here they shipped over to Dawson City, via San Francisco, taking part in the world’s most historic gold rush of 1898. The mighty Yukon River was the one feature of this country that impressed them both and made them envious that such another body of water was not coursing through the heart of

Their Own Loved Country.

They arrived back in the West late in 1898, went out north of Darlot, and got gold in Mt. Grey. They returned overland to Coolgardie, thence to Goddard’s Creek and Queen Victoria Springs, thence north to Lake Rason, after which they were forced back west to Windridge Brook for water. They found gold-bearing reefs at what was known afterwards as Burtville. They acquired two leases, the ‘Nil Desperandum’ and ‘The Wanderer’. They gave the first away, it has since returned to different parties who worked it over £100,000 worth of gold and it is still being worked. They worked the Wanderer themselves for two years, but the results were not encouraging.

In. 1902, Frost seized with a desire for more travel, parted on the best of terms with Tregurtha and shipped off to West Africa, British Guiana, Mexico and Panama. But out of all those countries, none fascinated him like Western Australia. He returned in time for the Bullfinch excitement, but he had no luck. He had been away about three years. Good finds now were rare and the majority of his old pals had gone, so he packed up and left for the cattle country in the north. He was lost sight of until news reached Perth last May that he had passed over, having met his death from a rifle bullet in Queensland.

Cloncurry, Cloncurry Shire, Queensland – Photo Find a Grave

Inscription: The Prospectors Prospector, the greatest of the pioneer prospectors of Western Australia, discoverer of Siberia and other fields, active in WA, NT, Qld, NZ, West Africa, Panama, Mexico and the Klondyke.

Writing in ‘Smith’s Weekly’, John Drayton announced the end of Frost as follows:-

“He was shot dead in a row on the Gilliatt road near Mackinlay Queensland on April 28. The story of his shooting was told in the Police Court at Cloncurry, by Michael Farley, who was in camp with Frost and his mate Mick Ford (sentenced to four years’ gaol on the charge of manslaughter). Farley had been drinking with them in the camp at the Five mile Windmill for some days and had arranged to go with them on a prospecting trip to the Gulf country.

Ford had been given a cheque for £50 to buy supplies – and more grog – and on the question of the return of the balance he and Frost had words. Ford had the change in a £40 cheque which he refused to hand over till the next morning. Frost put up the argument that the change was his and said if it were not given up at once, he would go to the sergeant at Cloncurry.

He caught his horse and put the bridle on and was walking back to where the saddles were when Ford picked up a Winchester rifle and said. ‘If you get on that horse I’ll drop you.’ He fired as he spoke, and Frost dropped dead with the bullet in his brain. Farley ran to where the body was lying and called Frost’s name. Ford, who had laid the rifle down, said “it’s no good calling him, I shot him in the head, and he’ll never hear you nor any other man again, I know, I did a lot of shooting when I was in France. But I’d sooner have shot myself than have harmed old Bill.”

Had Frost been content to stay and work claims at a time when he could have got them on fields where good gold was being worked, instead of chasing the shadow in the bush for the substance at hand, he would have reaped greater gain for himself. But his imagination drove him further afield, seeking the great chunks of

gold which lay in some valley forever beyond the sunset.

Apparently, he died poor. Mr James Tregurtha has kindly supplied the writer with the above particulars. He was in a position to know Frost intimately, as they were partners for over seven years. Mr Tregurtha desires to add that Frost was endowed with an unfailing determination, indomitable grit and happy optimism which qualified him to face unknown risks. He was the best of mates and staunchest of friends, as genuine as the gold he got, absolutely reliable in the worst of emergencies, totally unselfish and one of nature’s noblemen.