James Esmond
Encyclopedia
James William Esmond was an Irish-Australian gold prospector
and miner, and was one of the first people to discover gold in Australia.
, a town in County Wexford
in the south-east of Ireland
, in 1822, the son of a merchant. Migrating to the Port Phillip District
(later the colony of Victoria
) in 1840, Esmond worked a number of jobs, including working on stations
in the Western Port
region, and driving the mail coach
from Buninyong
to the region around Horsham
, a major town in the Wimmera
.
, Esmond sailed for California
to try his luck. Arriving too late to be successful as a prospector
, Esmond took work as a supervisor on the diggings, before returning to Sydney
, New South Wales
in 1850. Esmond travelled on the same ship as Edward Hargraves
, the man credited with first discovering gold in New South Wales. Esmond returned to Buninyong, and took work as a contractor digging post holes. There he met Dr George Hermann Bruhn, a German
doctor
and geologist
who was returning from Clunes
. Bruhn told Esmond that in Clunes he had met with the pastoralist Donald Cameron; gold had been found on Cameron's property in March 1850, and Bruhn told Esmond of quartz
reefs there which were likely to bear gold.
Esmond set out for Clunes, with his colleague James Pugh. Having investigated the area, they concluded that there was gold there, and so they hired two sawyer
s, known as Burns and Kelly, to work the site. Having recovered several ounce
s of gold from the site, Esmond travelled to Geelong on 5 July 1851 and showed the gold to Geelong Advertiser
journalist Alfred Clarke. When questioned by Clarke about the location the gold came from, Esmond was vague; but once he returned from Melbourne on 15 July, having purchased materials to make a cradle, he told Clarke that the gold had come from Clunes. News of the find was broken in the Melbourne newspapers on 16 July, and by Clarke in the Advertiser on 22 July. Esmond sent the first saleable gold produced in Victoria – fourteen ounces – to Clarke on 22 August, which was later sold in Melbourne.
Esmond would later claim that he first found gold on 28 June. Mining engineer and amateur historian Peter McCarthy has suggested that Esmond had "set up as a prospector in the Pyrenees
on his return and kept himself fed somehow, without officially stealing the Queen's gold, for several months." On 22 May 1851 the Government of New South Wales
had issued regulation
s under crown land
s legislation to control gold mining, impose mining licences and collect licence fees. Meanwhile Victoria
was to become a separate colony
from New South Wales on 1 July 1851, and the Government of Victoria
– which had very few police or military forces at its disposal – would be responsible gold mining from then on. McCarthy suggests that Esmond nominated 28 June (or 29 June in some sources) as the date of discovery because, accounting for the travel times between Clunes and Melbourne, his claim would reach the authorities there on 1 July 1851, when he would be free from New South Wales' strict licencing scheme.
In 1853 and 1854, the Legislative Council of Victoria established the first of several Select Committees to consider rewards for the discovery of goldfields. The committee considered Esmond's claim of discovery, and accepted that he found gold on 28 June 1851 and that the site was revealed on 22 July. However, the committee also considered the claim of Louis Michel
, who had discovered gold at Anderson's Creek, in the town of Warrandyte
; the committee determined that Michel had both discovered gold and reported the discovery on 5 July 1851, the same day that Esmond showed the Clunes gold to Alfred Clarke in Geelong. Ultimately, the committee found that Michel was the first to discover and publicise a goldfield, but that Esmond was the first actual producer of gold, and both were granted rewards of £ 1000.
Esmond continued to be involved in gold mining, eventually moving to the goldfields at Ballarat
, where he became politically prominent among the miners' organisations, ultimately commanding a section of miners in the Eureka Stockade
. In 1865, Esmond started a gold mining company conducting deep shaft mining in the area north of Clunes. Despite his efforts, the company was unsuccessful, and he ultimately sold it.
later in life, and struggled with financial problems; the mining community sought government aid for him, though none was forthcoming, but public donations had raised £150 for his family by the time of his death. Esmond died on 3 December that year, 36 years to the day after the Eureka Stockade. Historian William Withers, in his obituary
of Esmond on 5 December, wrote that he walked to the top of a hill overlooking Ballarat and saw a shining white shaft of granite
marking the spot where the Stockade took place, a monument erected six years earlier to mark but not commemorate those who had died there. Withers' respectful tribute to Esmond, one of a number of Eureka diggers who had recently died, was unusual at the time, when the Stockade was still regarded by many as a disloyal rebellion.
Esmond was survived by his wife Margaret, their three sons and six daughters.
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
and miner, and was one of the first people to discover gold in Australia.
Early life
Esmond was born in EnniscorthyEnniscorthy
Enniscorthy is the second largest town in County Wexford, Ireland. The population of the town and environs is 9538. The Placenames Database of Ireland sheds no light on the origins of the town's name. It may refer either to the "Island of Corthaidh" or the "Island of Rocks". With a history going...
, a town in County Wexford
County Wexford
County Wexford is a county in Ireland. It is part of the South-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Wexford. In pre-Norman times it was part of the Kingdom of Uí Cheinnselaig, whose capital was at Ferns. Wexford County Council is the local...
in the south-east of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, in 1822, the son of a merchant. Migrating to the Port Phillip District
Port Phillip District
The Port Phillip District was an historical administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales, existing from September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria....
(later the colony of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
) in 1840, Esmond worked a number of jobs, including working on stations
Station (Australian agriculture)
Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...
in the Western Port
Western Port
Western Port, is sometimes called "Western Port Bay", is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in Victoria. Geographically, it is dominated by the two large islands; French Island and Phillip Island. Contrary to its name, it lies to...
region, and driving the mail coach
Mail coach
In Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach began service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside. Further passengers were later allowed...
from Buninyong
Buninyong, Victoria
Buninyong is a place in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Midland Highway, south of Ballarat on the road to Geelong. It's known locally as the drug smuggling capital of the South West region. Local Dealers are said to import the majority of their cannabis supply from farmers in Durham Lead...
to the region around Horsham
Horsham, Victoria
Horsham is the largest city by population and regional centre of the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia and is approximately north-west of Melbourne via the Western Highway. At the 2006 census, Horsham had a population of 14,125. Horsham is in the federal Division of Mallee...
, a major town in the Wimmera
Wimmera
The Wimmera is a region in the west of the Australian state of Victoria.It covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Australia border and north of the Great Dividing Range...
.
Prospecting
In 1849, having heard news of the California gold rushCalifornia Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
, Esmond sailed for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to try his luck. Arriving too late to be successful as a prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
, Esmond took work as a supervisor on the diggings, before returning to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in 1850. Esmond travelled on the same ship as Edward Hargraves
Edward Hargraves
Edward Hammond Hargraves was a gold prospector who claimed to have found gold in Australia in 1851, starting the Australian gold rush....
, the man credited with first discovering gold in New South Wales. Esmond returned to Buninyong, and took work as a contractor digging post holes. There he met Dr George Hermann Bruhn, a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
who was returning from Clunes
Clunes, Victoria
Clunes is a town in Victoria, Australia, located 36 kilometres north of Ballarat, in the Shire of Hepburn. At the 2006 census it had a population of 1,026.- History :...
. Bruhn told Esmond that in Clunes he had met with the pastoralist Donald Cameron; gold had been found on Cameron's property in March 1850, and Bruhn told Esmond of quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
reefs there which were likely to bear gold.
Esmond set out for Clunes, with his colleague James Pugh. Having investigated the area, they concluded that there was gold there, and so they hired two sawyer
Sawyer
Sawyer is an occupational term referring to someone who saws wood. One such job was the now-archaic occupation of someone who cut lumber to length for the consumer market, a task now done by end users or at lumber and home improvement stores...
s, known as Burns and Kelly, to work the site. Having recovered several ounce
Ounce
The ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 28 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
s of gold from the site, Esmond travelled to Geelong on 5 July 1851 and showed the gold to Geelong Advertiser
Geelong Advertiser
The Geelong Advertiser is a daily newspaper servicing Geelong, Victoria, Australia, the Bellarine Peninsula and surrounding areas. The Geelong Advertiser is the oldest newspaper title in Victoria and the second oldest in Australia, and was first published on 21 November 1840. The newspaper is...
journalist Alfred Clarke. When questioned by Clarke about the location the gold came from, Esmond was vague; but once he returned from Melbourne on 15 July, having purchased materials to make a cradle, he told Clarke that the gold had come from Clunes. News of the find was broken in the Melbourne newspapers on 16 July, and by Clarke in the Advertiser on 22 July. Esmond sent the first saleable gold produced in Victoria – fourteen ounces – to Clarke on 22 August, which was later sold in Melbourne.
Esmond would later claim that he first found gold on 28 June. Mining engineer and amateur historian Peter McCarthy has suggested that Esmond had "set up as a prospector in the Pyrenees
Pyrenees (Victoria)
The Pyrenees is a wine region centred on the Pyrenees ranges located in Victoria, Australia near the town of Avoca.The altitude of the ranges is 300 to over 750 m...
on his return and kept himself fed somehow, without officially stealing the Queen's gold, for several months." On 22 May 1851 the Government of New South Wales
Government of New South Wales
The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
had issued regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
s under crown land
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
s legislation to control gold mining, impose mining licences and collect licence fees. Meanwhile Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
was to become a separate colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
from New South Wales on 1 July 1851, and the Government of Victoria
Government of Victoria
The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...
– which had very few police or military forces at its disposal – would be responsible gold mining from then on. McCarthy suggests that Esmond nominated 28 June (or 29 June in some sources) as the date of discovery because, accounting for the travel times between Clunes and Melbourne, his claim would reach the authorities there on 1 July 1851, when he would be free from New South Wales' strict licencing scheme.
In 1853 and 1854, the Legislative Council of Victoria established the first of several Select Committees to consider rewards for the discovery of goldfields. The committee considered Esmond's claim of discovery, and accepted that he found gold on 28 June 1851 and that the site was revealed on 22 July. However, the committee also considered the claim of Louis Michel
Louis Michel
Louis H. O. Ch. Michel is a Belgian politician. He served in the government of Belgium as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid from 2004 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been a Member of the European Parliament...
, who had discovered gold at Anderson's Creek, in the town of Warrandyte
Warrandyte, Victoria
Warrandyte is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Manningham...
; the committee determined that Michel had both discovered gold and reported the discovery on 5 July 1851, the same day that Esmond showed the Clunes gold to Alfred Clarke in Geelong. Ultimately, the committee found that Michel was the first to discover and publicise a goldfield, but that Esmond was the first actual producer of gold, and both were granted rewards of £ 1000.
Esmond continued to be involved in gold mining, eventually moving to the goldfields at Ballarat
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
, where he became politically prominent among the miners' organisations, ultimately commanding a section of miners in the Eureka Stockade
Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict...
. In 1865, Esmond started a gold mining company conducting deep shaft mining in the area north of Clunes. Despite his efforts, the company was unsuccessful, and he ultimately sold it.
Later life
Esmond suffered from Bright's diseaseBright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
later in life, and struggled with financial problems; the mining community sought government aid for him, though none was forthcoming, but public donations had raised £150 for his family by the time of his death. Esmond died on 3 December that year, 36 years to the day after the Eureka Stockade. Historian William Withers, in his obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
of Esmond on 5 December, wrote that he walked to the top of a hill overlooking Ballarat and saw a shining white shaft of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
marking the spot where the Stockade took place, a monument erected six years earlier to mark but not commemorate those who had died there. Withers' respectful tribute to Esmond, one of a number of Eureka diggers who had recently died, was unusual at the time, when the Stockade was still regarded by many as a disloyal rebellion.
Esmond was survived by his wife Margaret, their three sons and six daughters.