His
interest in the healing art was destined to remain
a matter
of deep concern with
him all his life. (See appendix: "1874-The
Diary Year," to be published later.)
"Some
14 lbs. of blasting powder exploded in his face,
two
feet
away, when he was hanging on a rope
20 feet from the bottom of the shaft
and 110 feet from the top." (Town and Country
journal, Apt. 22nd, 1876.)
It
would appear that credit for finding the vein
in the Beyers-Holtermann claim must
go to Mark John Hammond,
later M.L.A. for Canterbury, N.S.W.
The matter will be referred to again in an appendix.
The
shops were situated at the corner of Short and
Tambaroora
Streets and along the latter up
towards the present Presbyterian
Church. Between the last
brick
shop
and the church stood the wooden buildings
which housed the Hill End Observer and the A. & A.
Photographic Company.
The
occasion of the laying of the foundation stone
(perhaps in October, 1872)
was the subject of a number of "news" photographs
(by "A.& A."),
one of which is reproduced. Local
recollection suggests that the
hall was never actually
completed.
The
old records throw interesting sidelights on current
economic standards. The
sub-managers
at the
mine drew
wages of 60/- per week while
the first local accountant (Salier) received
30/-,
and his
successor (James
Barrie), 20/-. Candles, a major
item, cost 11d. per pound and
blasting powder (which was ordered
by the half-ton), 13d. or 14d. per pound. Later
on, after
the rich
crushings
of
November.,
1872, Holtermann was emboldened
to recommend an increase in the wages of the
two sub-managers
from
60/- to
70/- per week; this was duly
agreed to by the Board. Holtermann
forthwith took the liberty of
marking the payroll as 80/-. Fortunately, the
Board was
in a good
mood and
confirmed his action; it also
agreed to his
further recommendation
of "a holiday on full pay
for all hands on Christmas Day." But
not," said
the Board, "for
any of the other holidays."
"After
two day's work, the mass still being a fixture,
crowbars were brought into requisition;
and
the result, attendant on the
labour of three
men for
some hours, was that the specimen
... by the united exertions of twenty men and
a horse, was brought to the surface
and conveyed to Hill End, where
it was
exhibited for a small fee for the benefit
of the District Hospital." (Town
and Country journal, 22nd Apl.,
1876.)
Several
contemporary accounts refer to the fact that
a "showman" wished
to purchase the big specimen.
It is fairly clear that there was only one "showman" likely
to be interested in purchasing
a specimen worth £12,000
and that would be Holtermann
himself.
Payable
gold today is reckoned in pennyweights rather
than in ounces.
A
small syndicate
would perhaps show
a profit on five or six "weights" to
the ton.
These
would represent mainly quartz figures. In the
rich alluvial
period
the returns averaged
about 20,000
ozs. per annum.
The
new caravan appears in several of the pictures.
It was inscribed "B.
0. Holtermann, Photographer. Photographs
purchased." However,
there is no evidence that any photographs
were ever purchased, with the exception
of the "A. & A." coverage
of Gulgong and Hill
End, which action would,
no
doubt, be dictated
partly
by, sentimental reasons
and partly as an act
of generosity to Mrs.
Merlin
in her widowhood.
The
life of Charles Bayliss is to be the subject
of a special
chapter - Chapter
Three.
While
enlargement was possible on albumen paper, it
was the
exception rather
than
the rule. The
paper was very
slow and the only possible light-source was sunlight
directed
by an arrangement
of
mirrors. An alternative
was the indirect
method of making a positive and then an enlarged
negative by projection;
for this
procedure
artificial light
could be used
for illumination.
The various enlarging processes of the
day were the
subject
of a lengthy article
in the British Journal Almanac for 1878.
Two
sections of one of these photographs are reproduced
in
the portfolio.
In
this issue there are reproduced both Bayliss'
montage and
the actual window as
now preserved
in the S.C.E.G.S.
archives - see footnote is below.
It
is considered that the "world's largest
wet-plate photographs" are
worthy of
a special
article
and
it is therefore
proposed
to devote
an appendix
to them and
their production.
Holtermann
did not accept the newspaper
suggestion,
giving to his eldest son
his own
Christian names; nevertheless "Burt" remained
as a nickname
to the mates with whom he
played
football as a lad. He
did not
live to see his twenty-first birthday,
dying on
June 27th, 1897.
With
the exception of a showing at Calcutta in
1884,
this
was the last public
appearance
of the
famous
collection. Nothing has been
ascertained as to the fate of these
original
prints.
The
house was rented in turn by R.
Saddington and Edward
Chisholm.
On
Holtermann's death,
the
tower and its grounds (stated
to
amount to about eight acres) were
purchased
by Sir Thomas Dibbs.
The
latter sold
the building and some of the
land to the trustees of
the
Sydney Church
of
England Grammar
School in
1888.
While there has been
a considerable
amount of rebuilding, the
tower
and at least one
of
the rooms remain as a permanent
monument.
The
tower was renovated in 1934, when the
old-fashioned
ornamentation was
removed
and the whole refaced with modern
brickwork,
while the circular windows
were
altered
to conform with the general
architectural
scheme.
A
brass
plate
set into the base
of
the tower describes it as "Holtermann's
Tower" and
gives
its
present
height
as
73ft.
5in.,
also
its latitude
and
longitude,
for
it
is
now
a permanent "trig." station.
Owing
to
new
buildings
and
much
tree
growth
it
is
not
quite
the
landmark
that
it
would
have
been
in
1874.
Surprisingly,
no
photographs
have
been
found
in
the
collection
showing
the
tower
looking
back
from
Milson's
Point.
The
area was long ago subdivided, but
there
remain memories of
Holtermann's
residency in
the
names of nearby streets,
viz.,
Holtermann Street,
Merlin
Street, Emmett Street
(named after his wife,
whose
maiden name was Emmett), and
Myrtle
Street.