1852
17 April 1852
A respectable individual, who has spent a considerable portion of his time since the gold discovery about the Louisa and Meroo Creeks, and their tributaries, thus speaks of the diggings at Long Creek, one of the "feeders" of the Meroo:-
"There are 500 to 600 people digging hereabouts, at the very least, within a comparatively small compass, all doing well. The least fortunate amongst us, if all industrious, can make his £1 per day, and many are earning a great deal more. I do not mean to assert for a single moment that there are not unluckly men amongst us, nor that claims are not sometimes opened which proves unremunerative. Plenty of men arrive here, try their luck for a day or two, and if unsuccessful, fly off elsewhere. We have also a few schemers and loungers amongst us, who have a constitutional antipathy to hard work, and live - I can't say how. Sly grog-selling is an easy way of making money, and one very much preferred to digging by the scheming and reprobate class. Bat to the industrious, persevering, honest workman, who prefers trusting to his own strong arms to trickery or scheming for a maintenance there is a certain prospect of success.
"Near where I am working there are some splendid claims. My own party have been making 6, 7, and 8 ozs of gold a day for some time - sometimes certainly less. I have just sold my share of gold, obtained since we last divided, for £93. We have to cart our stuff a short distance to water. Out of one load we have just procured 3 ozs., and this is by no means unusual with us. A claim is reckoned a very poor one here which does not turn out 2 ozs. to each party. Some men who have no other means of conveying the earth to the creek, carry it in bags on their backs; but this is a very toilsome and unprofitable process. Working singly in this manner, they earn from ¼ to ½ an ounce daily.
As ours are all bank claims, we possess a great advantage over the Turon diggers, the floods doing us good instead of harm. There are no bed-claims here, they won't pay for working. A few of the diggers tried, but as none of them did any good, the attempt has not been renewed. In some cases, a great depth of earth - what is usually termed "top stuff" has to be thrown off before you reach the gold. In our present claim, we did not get a penny weight until we had sunk 14 feet, and came upon the deposit, after which we frequently procured 5s. worth of gold in a tin dish of earth.
Not far distant from this is a place which goes by the name of Spicer's Creek, upon which there are a good many now at work, and doing well. I was the first discoverer of gold in that quarter and was in solitary possession of the secret for five weeks, during which, myself digging, and my wife rocking the cradle, we made £260. Our secrecy was finally invaded, the length of our stay having created a suspicion that we must be doing a first-rate stroke, and in a couple of days some two hundred diggers were down upon us, tearing up the earth in all directions.
Grog-shops are not only numerous but numberless at Long Creek, and a rare business some of them are doing. They carry on their traffic unmolested, and are seldom troubled by that patriotic and disinterested classes of officials, except "blue bottles."
I will conclude by expressing my opinion that the diggings hereabouts will continue profitable for a long time. There are lots of country of the same character as our present digging grounds yet untouched1
.
1858
5 January 1858
Taking the road up Long Creek, there was nothing worthy of note, to be seen the lower portion of this creek was more thoroughly deserted than, even that tract of desolation, the Iron Barks. The upper part of the creek, however, has a pleasanter aspect; the habitations have the appearance, for the most part, of settled residences, and the fact of there being three public-houses within as many miles proves the existence of either a large or very money-making population somewhere in the neighbourhood. At the Falls at the head of Long Creek we found one party preparing to set in, expressing, themselves very confident of procuring payable gold if they can overcome the water, of which they are very sanguine2
.