8 page booklet about 'The History of Samson Cottage, Speck Gully, Golden Square'. A condensed version compiled by Arthur Doye. Researched by Lee Robertson whose Great Grandparents built the cottage in 1856. Sketch of cottage by Julia Mureurs on front cover and colour photo on back cover (2006)Arthur Doyesamson cottage, golden square, speck gully

Coloured Sketch Samson Cottage, Speck Gully, Golden Square Signed but artists name is not clear Rear of sketch references: Samson Cottage, Symons Street, built 1856

coloured booklet titled The History of Samson Cottage, Speck Gully, Golden Square Cover has a copy of aa B&W sketch by Julia Mercura of the cottage Cover also notes: thee booklet is a condensed version - compiled by Arthur Doye from research by Lee Robertson whose Great Great Grandpaarents built the cottage in 1856. An eight page booklet includes photographs and ssketches illustrating the history of the cottage

Copy of a newspaper page titled Cornishman's day at Sparrowhawk. Also a smaller article titled Long Gully was in the Boom. There is a photo of Knipe's Castle and a sketch of a wrestler throwing another wrestler in the air. Mentioned in the articles are the pyrite burners chimneys, local indenties, wrestlers, the mines, the gullies, hills, housess shops and businesses, and Fire Brigade practice sports on Christmas morning. Item 11010.140b is an enlargement of Knipe's Castle scanned at a dpi of 1200.bendigo, history, long gully history group, the long gully history group - cornishman's day at sparrowhawk, st mathew's church of england, old hercules mine, st just point, old spadger, bendigo city, eaglehawk borough, marong shire, liddell's, cook and spargo's, deeble's, edward's, iron-jawed dick, dooley dick, tom the scientist, jack the local blondin, jumbo the whistling butcher boy, larry adler, dick davey's pub, billy williams, billy couch, billy martin, billy nicholas, the midway, victorian consuls, the gold mines (ironbark company), old hercules, kent (carlisle), paddy's bull of a whistle, cornish united, kock's poineer, old alabama (hustlers and redan), happy valley, moonta, speck gully, st just point, derwent gully, pinchgut, american gully, victoria hill, rae's hill, danger hill, windmill hill, redan hill, comet hill, comet mine, halley's comet, pengelly's (now truscott's), stamp's (later lewis and dunstan's), hattam's (later semmen's), bamford's drapery, cooperative store, weller's butcher shop, ebbott's coach factory (later payne's), philpot's shoeing forge, dennis's mining smithy, stoppelbein's tinsmith shop, wallace's bakery (later malcolm's), connell's bakery, fire brigade, knipe's castle

The discovery of gold in Smyth's Creek in 1854 and subsequent gold rush to the Caledonia diggings led to the establishment of Queenstown (present day St Andrews). The first recorded burial was July 31st, 1861 and it was officially declared a Cemetery Reserve in 1866. Many graves are unmarked and unrecorded including many Chinese and other itinerant miners. The cemetery was closed for new burials in 1851. The last recorded burial was in 1981 in an existing family grave. In Loving memory of David Band Died 30th Decr. 1862, aged 51 years. John Cork Knell Died 11th April 1867, aged 42 years. Eliza Smith Died 20th Jany. 1874, aged 3 1/2 years. William Band Died 20th Feby. 1883, aged 51 years. Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p73 The discovery of gold at Smyth’s Creek* in 1854 brought 3000 people to the area in search of their fortunes.1 However in the harsh conditions many miners and their families died young, and were buried in unmarked graves. Their stories died with them but by 1861, the first burial was recorded at the Queenstown Cemetery – that of William Dalrymple aged 65 – although the cemetery was only officially declared a reserve in 1866. Even before this in 1856, a double burial had been recorded for the twin baby daughters of George Harrison at Market Square, the miners’ settlement – presumably where the cemetery is today. In 1951 the Queenstown Cemetery at 70 Smiths Gully Road, Smiths Gully, closed for burials. However the last burial in a family plot, that of Grace Evelyn Smith, occurred in 1981. Today only 55 headstones remain, but more than 380 burials are recorded. Remnant bushland dominates the cemetery where many graves are merely mounds and others have been damaged by vandalism and the neglect of time. Bushfire in 1962 destroyed the picket fencing, grave markers and cypress boundary planted in the early 1900s. The box/stringybark woodland in the 1.7 hectare Cemetery Reserve is regrowth from then and the indigenous and heritage vegetation is protected. Thanks to the volunteer Cemetery Trust and Friends & Relations of Queenstown Cemetery, the cemetery is maintained, stories recorded and the burial index corrected and expanded.2 Close by the cemetery on the site of today’s Peter Franke Picnic and Nature Reserve stood Market Square, the Caledonia Diggings village of tents and stores, the forerunner of Queenstown, now St Andrews. Many of the Caledonia Diggings miners were Chinese, many of whom, with itinerant prospectors, were buried in unmarked graves. Histories are being recorded of other immigrants, mainly English and German, who settled after the gold rush, some of whose descendants fought and died in the two world wars. Names on many headstones are also recorded on the district’s roads, reserves and war memorials such as Motschall, Joyce, Howard and Coutie. The oldest surviving tombstone is that of Scot, David Band who died in 1862 at 51 years. His oldest daughter Elizabeth, with husband John Knell, owned the Queenstown Hotel and the post office. Child-rearing in a colonial gold town was often tragically difficult, as demonstrated in the first 20 years, when 41% of the 34 burials recorded were children. Settlers endured harsh conditions graphically illustrated with the deaths of Annie Joyce at 30 years and of her family. Annie was married to gold miner Walter Joyce. Their third child Walter, born in 1886, died in March 1887. Eight months later Annie died of breast cancer. Walter died in 1909, aged 53, of miner’s phthisic caused by stone dust destroying his lungs. It was so hard to make a living that burials were usually held from 2.30 pm to allow mourners to work a day before paying their last respects.3 Most burials before 1890 were recorded as Anglicans, as the only church on the Caledonia Diggings was the Church of St Andrew, until 1897, when the Primitive Methodist Church came to Panton Hill. Generally miners came to better themselves, but some, like Grace Hopkinson (nee Milward), born in England in 1828, came from a well-off and educated family. According to family legend Grace emigrated with husband William, to live in a tent, but had kept her personally embossed sterling silver cutlery service. Amid the tough environment were some successes like that reported in The Evelyn Observer April/May 1901 of miner William Hopkinson who was buried at the cemetery in 1912 aged 81. The Observer stated that Hopkinson ‘recently dropped across another find in his claim at One Tree Hill’. The lump of gold found this time weighed more than half a kilo. Mr Hopkinson referred to it as ‘another little speck’. *Today’s Smiths GullyThis collection of almost 130 photos about places and people within the Shire of Nillumbik, an urban and rural municipality in Melbourne's north, contributes to an understanding of the history of the Shire. Published in 2008 immediately prior to the Black Saturday bushfires of February 7, 2009, it documents sites that were impacted, and in some cases destroyed by the fires. It includes photographs taken especially for the publication, creating a unique time capsule representing the Shire in the early 21st century. It remains the most recent comprehenesive publication devoted to the Shire's history connecting local residents to the past. nillumbik now and then (marshall-king) collection, david band, eliza smith, gravestones, john cork knell, queenstown cemetery, smiths gully road, st andrews, william band