1850's Bendigo Diggings - Gold carts and highwaymen

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Hello everyone.
Recently purchased a 4500 Gpx and love'ing it.
Fairly new to gold and new to this forum. - wondering if anyone know's any history of the Bendigo gold diggings ,about what company owned the horse driven gold carts? Was it Cobb and Co or were there many private companies?

Im trying to find out any information of my great great grandfather Thomas ross Cameron who came to Victoria in 1853 on the ship "the sea" (which sank on its following voyage).
He followed in the footsteps of his many relatives in and around Penola and the likes - (one being his cousin Merry MacKillop who was around 10 or so at the time he arrived, whose parents had lived in Scotland).

Then moving up to Bendigo to drive the Gold wagons (horse driven carts) and finally settling in Kyneton for a number of years before leaving for NZ.
During this time he and Annie had a son in Kyneton called Samuel.

Reason im asking on this forum if anyone knows about these gold wagons is - that i have a tie to the Victoria gold fields that obviously runs natural in me like so many others.
I have always been fascinated with the gold fields before finding out any history.

Finally I have purchased a detecter for the old fulla as well - a Minelab FT16000.

I have no idea what im doing, but it sounds all good and feels rather funny while searching for gold up there in the same territory as my grandfather did.

While im here - heres a quick story id like to share for anyone willing to read on (one of the only ones that have run through- four generations from 1850s Bendigo. Hope i dont bore you but i find it interesting and hope someone on here may .

Thomas Ross was a very good horse trainer from Ardochie Scotland so after arriving in Victoria bound for NZ where many of his close family already were he set upon working the goldfields as a gold horse wagon driver and to pay off the voyage that lasted i think around 6 months.

To cut a long story short apparently one day while driving the gold carts he was held up at gun point from a well known gang of highway men.
Shots were fired and the many people accompanying the team hid under the horse and carts.
This team also consisted of women and maybe some young children , including Annie my GG grandmother (wife ) of Thomas ross.

The story goes - the leader of the gang went by the name of Mc'Caughley (if spelt right? im not sure?) Or a name Captain Snooks !

It is said that when his team of men robbed the men and women of there belongings , captain Mc'caughly warned his gang members that if a lady or child was harmed in the act that he would personally take it into his own actions as to shoot the perpetrator dead on the spot.

Becouse of that he was hailed a gentlemen robber afterwards by my grandfather when ever talked about.

The twist in the story is - Many years latter after moving to New Zealand by complete coincidence Annie answered a knock on the door and when she opened it recognised the same highway man Mc Caughley standing in front of her . Apparently he also recognised her but neither of them said a word and the man carried on .

Its not known what the man wanted or anything other than that. We think Mc Caughly left for NZ afterwards to hide from detection as many crooks from around the world did at that time.

Amazing really.

Cheers everyone - awesome forum. will keep an eye out.

Zane Cameron :Y:
 
Hi Zane, welcome aboard PA.

Firstly, three relevant books from the State Library of Victoria:

Digging for gold : a guide to researching family & local history in Victoria's central goldfields / Helen Doxford Harris
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-...erything&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L

Tracing mining ancestors : a brief guide to resources in Australia and New Zealand / Shauna Hicks
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-...erything&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L

Family history research in the central goldfields of Victoria / Dorothy Wickham
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-...erything&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L

Secondly, some background on Cobb and Co:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb_&_Co
https://www.australiangeographic.co...2011/10/cobb-co-coaches-historical-transport/
https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learni...technology/communication/cobb-co-coach-travel

As these references show, Cobb and Co's business was the long distance express conveyance of passengers, their luggage and some freight. I imagine they also carried cash and gold from the goldfields bank branches back to the city, but you'll need to delve into more detailed histories to confirm this.

I doubt that Cobb and Co had any involvement in the "gold wagons/carts" that your distant relative may have driven in and around Bendigo. These would most likely have been run by local hauliers, carrying ore from smaller mines to stamper batteries, for crushing and recovery of the gold therein. Less glamorous than Cobb and Co perhaps, but an essential goldfields service and the drivers would have been able to come home to their families every night after work.

I hope this helps.
 
Hi Zane, welcome aboard PA.

Firstly, three relevant books from the State Library of Victoria:

Digging for gold : a guide to researching family & local history in Victoria's central goldfields / Helen Doxford Harris
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-...erything&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L

Tracing mining ancestors : a brief guide to resources in Australia and New Zealand / Shauna Hicks
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-...erything&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L

Family history research in the central goldfields of Victoria / Dorothy Wickham
http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo-...erything&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L

Secondly, some background on Cobb and Co:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb_&_Co
https://www.australiangeographic.co...2011/10/cobb-co-coaches-historical-transport/
https://www.naa.gov.au/learn/learni...technology/communication/cobb-co-coach-travel

As these references show, Cobb and Co's business was the long distance express conveyance of passengers, their luggage and some freight. I imagine they also carried cash and gold from the goldfields bank branches back to the city, but you'll need to delve into more detailed histories to confirm this.

I doubt that Cobb and Co had any involvement in the "gold wagons/carts" that your distant relative may have driven in and around Bendigo. These would most likely have been run by local hauliers, carrying ore from smaller mines to stamper batteries, for crushing and recovery of the gold therein. Less glamorous than Cobb and Co perhaps, but an essential goldfields service and the drivers would have been able to come home to their families every night after work.

I hope this helps.
The gold was usually carried by armed "gold escorts" from the towns at periodic intervals.
 
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