The
early autumn saw him back in Gulgong. The evenings
were drawing in and business may well have been becoming
slack, with new subjects for photography to be found
only in the more distant south-eastern leads. And then,
one afternoon perhaps, Merlin was approached by a wellattired
stranger, his waistcoat adorned by a heavy gold chain
carrying two miniatures or lucky charms; this person
he had never before observed in the streets of Gulgong.
The visitor was a shortish, rather sad-looking individual
with a sparse beard, yet very much a man of ideas and
practical enterprise, and one who had survived many
vicissitudes.
After
a few mutual words, it appeared that the two could
meet on common ground. The stranger
was very much interested in photography - and he
was a wealthy man; in fact, a very successful gold-miner.
Merlin, on the other hand, was the practical photographer
in search of new avenues for his enterprise. What
better project could a wealthy miner undertake than
to arrange
for the effective photographic coverage of Australia's
progress? What fine publicity for Australia (and
for the wealthy miner) such a collection of photographs
would be when exhibited in the cities of the world?
No sooner discussed than it was all agreed upon.
Merlin
would leave at once for Hill End and there establish
a studio that would make available the regular
A. & A.
house-by-house and studio services. As soon as
that was done he would commence work, as his patron's
personal photographer, on the much broader scheme
of picturing
the greater cities of Australia's south-west. He
would photograph, in the largest possible negative
proportions,
their streets, their public buildings and their
industries.
In this way the story of Australia's extraordinary
material progress could be recorded and prepared
for exhibition throughout the great centres of
U.S.A. and
the Continent.
Beaufoy
Merlin appears to have reached Hill End in the autumn
of 1872 and to have started
operations
immediately, but it is unlikely that he spent
the whole of his time
there in view of his interstate interests and
the field undertaking referred to above. He probably
left Hill
End, for the last time, about March or April
1873,
that fact being confirmed by his photography
of the
decorations arranged by the citizens for the
visit of Sir Hercules Robinson, the State Governor,
on
March 11, 1873.
By
the autumn of 1873 his health must have
been failing rapidly and he returned to Sydney,
spending his last days in one of those familiar
two-storeyed
terraces in Leichhardt. He passed away at the
early age of forty-three of "an inflammation
of the lungs," almost certainly tubercular
in origin, on September 27, 1873, and was buried
in
the Church
of England cemetery at Balmain.
And
so, the Beaufoy Merlin story draws to its close.
One cannot
help thinking . . . if only
he had known
how magnificent was his work, how well preserved
against the ravages of time would be his
negatives and, finally,
how well they would respond to modern sensitized
papers and modern enlarging methods, giving
'contact quality'
at 4 to 15 diameters. If only he could have
seen the great travelling exhibition of his
work and
the interest
it was destined to arouse throughout the
world ....
* * * * * *
* * * * *
Before
we bid farewell to the old days, let us bring the
background up-to-date. On the fields (and elsewhere
' ) a scattering of old men and women in their eighties
and nineties are living today, most of them with
keen minds, vivid recollections and a wealth
of tales. The descendants of the miners
are legion; in Sydney, as like as not, two out of
every five at a luncheon table will tell you of their
forbears of the Turon. Gulgong still stands, sharing
with Mudgee the pastoral prosperity of the rich alluvial
flats
of the Cudgegong.
Surprisingly enough, as one walks the characteristic
narrow curving streets of the town, one notes on almost every hand
buildings whose detail of construction
bears undeniable evidence that their erection
goes
back to those first days when the throng of carpenters busily sawed
and nailed the boards of pine into 'false
fronts'
of surprising variety. Quite a number
of the buildings actually photographed by Merlin can be recognised
without much difficulty, though, in most
instances,
their days are numbered. Incredibly enough,
there is still one building which ante-dates to the gold-rush days
by some
ten years-it is the original accommodation
house and posting station for the teams
and other road travellers bound for the north-west.
Black
Lead, just north of the railway line, remains a name
on the map and many a high
mullock heap is to be seen, mutely reminding
us of
the strenuous
labours
of the deep-lead miners.
At
Home Rule, some six or seven miles to the south-west,
digging is still in active progress,
but all of it is for clay (of both
the building
and
pottery varieties). Any of the locals will be happy to point
out to you the very
spot
where four Irishmen found the first gold and without hesitation
named their claim Home Ride.
Canadian
Lead to its west is barely recognisable, for there
the pits were shallow and
mostly they have been filled in by the
graziers.
Moving
down to Tambaroora you will find it hard to reconstruct
the town from a,few pine trees, a single
chimney and one or
two overgrown
cemeteries.
Southwards
across Fisher's Hill there is still a Hill End, and
the wattles in their season still
blaze in Golden Gully
where
the prospectors
coming
down from
Hargraves met those coming up Oakey Creek from the Turon.
What remains of the town dozes sleepily on its great Hawkins
Hill
spur high above
the river.
It
enjoys a magnificent setting as the everchanging light
plays on the slopes of the valley
and on the river fifteen hundred feet below. The views
are magnificent; there are many that say that the
Split Rock
outlook is the most
beautiful in Australia.
To the west, Sargent's Hill bleeds scarlet from a thousand
erosion scars but the impression is softened by the rich
greenery of
the avenues of
great shade
trees planted 'by Beyers and Mayor Hodges, to say nothing
of a generous sprinkling of orchard trees everywhere. Of
the buildings
photographed
by Merlin, a handful
have managed to survive the passage of time but to-day's
observer is likely to be hard put to recognise some of
them.
As
for gold, one is more likely to encounter a boundary
rider than a fossiker as one moves about
the surrounding
countryside.
Nevertheless,
a panful
of gravel taken at random from any creek is likely to
show a few colours in
the dish. It is good fun, but undeniably strenuous; after
washing half-a-dozen dishes most
City dwellers would consider they had done a good day's
work.
There
is little local employment and it is difficult to
see from whence could come any new enterprise. Hill
End
does
not want
a tourist industry
and probably
it is unlikely to have one. There are no golf links
and
there is plenty of better fishing than the Turon's.
Casual walking
is hardly
to be
encouraged by the steep
slopes everywhere and the thousand unfilled, unfenced
shafts would be something worse than a nightmare for
parents.
In any case, those
fifty
odd 'V.H.'
miles
from Bathurst will ever deter all but the most confident
and well-equipped drivers.
But
hope still runs strongly among those good people
of Hill Endand we share those
hopes . . .