Titled French's Corner and Village Parliaments. French's Corner was once the meeting place of the old Cornish miners where they used to discuss local and international affairs. Headings of the paragraphs are - Teetotallers - Most of Them, Pre-Federation Days, A Shoemaker's Group, Last of his Group, Smith with Curving Nail and Shoeing Force. At the end of the article is a photo - Looking south from the Blacksmiths Shop up the main street of Long Gully.bendigo, history, long gully history group, the long gully history group - french's corner and village parliaments, manchester arms hotel, french's hotel, mr french, uncle tom foss' shop, phillpot's smithy, a crossley

Copy of pages 3 and 4 titled French's Corner and Village Parliaments. Some passengers travelling on the tram would ask to be put down at French's corner. The conductor had no idea where it was. The passenger would be returning to where he used to live or work. The old who met at the pub corner were mostly teetotallers, but they met at the pub where the publican provided the two forms of seats for them and if business was slack he would join in the discussion. Another group met at Uncle Tom Foss' shop further down the road. This group was made up of old men over 80 and they met inside the shoemaker's shop. One old man used to go to his granddaughter's house and sit beside the kitchen fire and then he would tell her he had a pain beneath his ribs and she would give him a little wine to drink. Then he lost the last of his cronies and he went slowly up the hill and told his granddaughter he had nobody left but his old stick. The pain of being left without contemporaries made him forget about the pain in his side. There was another group that met at Philpot's smithy. The men would talk and argue while the smith was shoeing the horses. This smith has a long finger- nail on his left hand which he would use to pick up horse shoe nails as he was shoeing the horse. The bottom of the page has a photo of the main street of Long Gully taken from the Blacksmiths Shop.bendigo, history, long gully history group, the long gully history group - french's corner and village parliaments, manchester arms, french's hotel, mr french, uncle tom foss' shop, philpot's smithy, a crossley