Beyers'
tastes were simple. All he asked from life was to live
quietly amongst
his many Hill End friends. Not so Holtermann;
he was the restless type, with every
day presenting the opportunity of engaging in some
fresh
activity. As one of the town's wealthiest
citizens, Holtermann began to interest himself in a
host
of personal and civic activities. He
purchased ground and built two blocks of smart shops
in
brick(4);
he, secured a controlling interest in
the Hill End Observer; he associated
himself as a guarantor with the building of the Church
of England and Presbyterian Churches;
bought
himself the latest in the way of American
buggy turnouts, complete with a pair of high-stepping
dapple greys; became (in company with
Beyers)
an office-bearer of the Sons of Temperance
Lodge and contributed substantially to their efforts
in the direction of building a large
Temperance
Hall(5).
In
between times he visited the other areas in New South
Wales and
Victoria where there
were finds of gold. He surveyed Sydney
in some
detail searching for a fine piece of
ground that would be suitable for a great house that
would
be worthy of the family name. He was
forever thinking of ways of adding new lustre to
the name of Holtermann, and, going further,
gave thought
to plans for adding new fame to his
adopted land.
Through
all this he. did not, of course, lose touch with the
source of his wealth.
When on the 17th April, 1872, the Beyers and Holtermann
claim was floated into a company
(under the title
of Beyers and Holtermann "Star
of Hope" Goldmining
Company), the old partners not only
received £72,000 for their
two shares, but Holtermann
retained a large shareholding and
also arranged to have himself appointed
mine manager(6).
However, it is fairly clear that
he did not
take the appointment and its responsibilities
over-seriously. This
is clear from the letterbook of the
company which, extraordinarily enough,
has survived the passage
of time. He asks for leave of absence-is
granted it, yet fails to return until
months after the
due date. On other occasions, he
appeared
to be absent even without the routine.
of requesting
permission. Still, it is fairly clear
that on most of these occasions he
could not have been
very far away, and, certainly,
when a particularly rich vein was
located early in October he was quickly
back
on the job giving
personal attention to both the mining
and the crushing. Some of those mid-winter
days were
almost certainly spent in the company
of Merlin as he photographed the
more important N.S.W.
country towns.
Merlin's
fine coverage of
Sydney Harbour in those days of
the great sailing ships, at first
thought to have been
made at this time, has now been
more accurately dated to late July or
early August, 1873, by
the fortunate inclusion of a Harry
Rickards' concert poster, the occasion
being the company's
second opening in Sydney.
And
then, suddenly, the great day!
The
occasion was the 19th
October,
1872, the day on which
there was found in the company's
mine the largest specimen
of reef gold ever
known in the world.
It was detached as carefully
as possible (some broke off in the
process) under
the supervision
of Holtermann and Alfred
Bullock, the assistant mine manager,
and eventually brought to the surface.
Looking
back, it is clear that from the first Holtermann regarded
the
"nugget" as his
very own; it assumed the
significance of some great
mascot or talisman
that would carry him
forward to everything the
world had to offer. There
must be
a photograph, of course
- one that
would permanently record
the outward appearance
of the great
specimen and those associated
with
its discovery(7).
The finding of the "nugget";
to the left is to
be seen Holtermann
and
to the right
Alfred Bullock; those
in the back row,
commencing second
from the left, are:
L. Burns, J. Smith,
D. Hogan, J. Williams,
H. Burgess,
M. Hogan, J. Hendry,
A. Greek, H. Miller,
E. Williams,
E. Whalen; in the
front
row: Gunivitch, R.
Kerr, Holtermann,
Bullock, W. Roberts.
(Photograph
by Beavis Bros., Bathurst)
The western side of Hawkins
Hill, showing line
of reef; the Beyers,
and Holtermann
claim would
be about the centre
of the buildings shown. (Photograph by Merlin)
Next
he would make a generous
offer to the company for its purchase(8),
he would suggest £1,000
or more above the
estimated market
value of the gold content.
Alas for his
plans; the
Board was far away
in Sydney and there had
already been
some awkward enquiries
over missing
specimens
that someone or
other sought to preserve
from the devouring jaws of
the crusher.
In any case,
Boards are notoriously
lacking in sentiment
where hard cash
is concerned ... and so
it was that
the great "nugget" duly
went with the other
matrix material
to Pullen & Rawsthorne's
Battery. All that
remains today is
its portrait and
those few figures
on
paper which
showed
the results
of the month's
crushing-a grand
total of 15,581
ounces, this from
72
tons of stone,
or a return
of 57 ounces to
the ton(9).
H.
P. Guyer, volunteer firefighter of Hill end. (photographer
A&A Studios)
Justifiably
enough, on
the 13th Nov.,
Holtermann
was missing again,
assuaging
his disappointment
in his plans
for the
future. They
had taken his nugget
from him,
but they
could not
take away his dreams
. .
to his dying
day it was
to remain "his
nugget" -
nor could they
take
away his pleasant
memories of the
many outings
with "his" photographer.
The
New Year found
him back
at the
mine, but
for him the
glamour
had
gone from the
area; following
the February
crushing
he resigned
his position.
There
were -other happenings,
too,
the memories
of which must have
rankled,
causing him to feel that he could
never
feel quite
happy about
living in
Hill End. With the
backing of
his
many friends,
he had nominated
himself
as a candidate
for
the new Goldfields
Division
at an 1871
State Election.
This was
also a period
of great
speculation in Hill End
mining properties.
Following
on the
finding of
rich quality
veins
on Hawkins
Hill, there was
an
influx
of strangers
to the district-speculators
and company
promoters
- as had
never previously
been seen.
Before the
year was
out no
less than
fifteen hundred
claims
had been
staked out and shares
in these
futureless
mines were
being offered
on the Sydney
market,
backed by
exaggerated references
to the fabulous
riches
already won
from the
field.
Holtermann
thought
it was
high time
that the public
should
be warned against
such bogus
ventures.
To warn the investing
public
is one thing, but
it is quite
another
to go on to
say that "speaking
from experience,
as one
who had prospected
the whole
area, that there
was little
likelihood
of
any payable
gold
being found
at
any part
of
the Hill
other
than
in
the several
already
well-established
and
reputable mines."
Sons
of Temperance
procession
forming
up
at the southern
end
of Clark
Street,
Hill
End, preliminary
to
the laying
of
the
foundation stone
of the Temperance
Hall
in IL872,
probably
about
the
time of the
second
anniversary
of
the Division. (Photograph
No.
70275,
by "A. & A.",
taken
froirn
the
balcony
of
Coyle's
Hotel.
The
two-storeyed
building
in
the
distance
is
the
old
Australian
Joint
Stock
Bank,
which
is
still
standing;
Louis
Beyers'
cottage,
situated
behind
the
trees
just
this
side
of
the
Bank,
is
also
standing.)
Copies
of
The Sydney Morning Herald of 20th Nov.
which
carried these remarks arrived
at
Hill End on the eve of polling
day
and were immediately seized upon
by
the opposing electoral faction, by the frustrated
speculators,
and
by a large
section
of the townsfolk. Tempers rose to a
high
pitch, and the following morning
(26th)
an
angry crowd burnt his effigy
publicly
in the streets. Large placards
ridiculing
him were printed and
paraded,
while the Hill End and Tambaroora
Times of the same date carried
an
editorial denouncing him as a traitor
to
the
gold-fields.
On
his return he had
challenged all and
sundry to face him and to deny the truth
of his remarks, yet none had come
forth . . . but in the end he had lost
the election by five votes.
And so there departed from Hill End the
most colourful of all its many
colourful citizens.
He
did pay
subsequent visits
to the
town. One
such visit
is noted
in his
diary for
1874, when
for April
25th he
writes: "Started for Hill
End from Bathurst, river very rough. Hill
End looking very dull, everyone complaining.
Stayed
at Tambaroora." While there he took
the opportunity of renewing acquaintance
with Beyers
and other old friends; and on May Ist he "went
with Beyers through all the mine and same
looks pretty well."
His
overall comment was only too correct. From the "nugget" year
of 1872
the annual
Gold Escort
returns from
Tambaroora (which
included the
Hill End
field) fell
quickly; 80,592
ounces, then
62,834 ounces,
then 25,266
ounces in
1874, the
year of
which he
wrote(10). By
1879 the
return was
no longer
to be
counted in
five figures.
It was
the end
of an
epoch in
more respects
than one.
Pullen
and Rawsthorne's 'new' cruching battery erected
at Hill End in June 1872 - this was the battery
through
which passed the giant specimen. It was an
Australian production of "P.N.R." and was featured
by the firm
in an advertisement in the Illustrated Sydney
News for June 1872. (photographer Merlin, 1872,
format 10"
X 12")
