10 Jul 1912 - "Looking Backward." (original) (raw)

The death- of Mr. Samuel Mitchell,

better known throughout this State

as Captain Mitchell, -has removed one

of the most familiar figures of this

district. Mr; Mitchell had reached a

ripe old age, aim had spent the greater

part of his lor.g life in this State, If is

account of his arrival in the state is

of cons derable interest alike to the

pioneers and to those who have made

their home in the Victoria district in

more recent, times. In the small vol

ume of his reminiscences which was

published last year Captain Mitchell

said : "In the year 1897 t-was offered

the management of -the then celebrated

Geraldine lead mine, situated, on the

Murchison River, about 50 miLes in

land from the mouth." He accepted

the engagement ' and k. August of that

year he left -his home in Cornwall and

vratli a party of eight miners, embark

ed on Board "the good old ship .Zeph.

jr" for Swan River, as Western Aus

tralia -was then mor;- familiarly known

He tells the tale o? his arrival in the

"After a splendid, but uneventful pas

sage we reached Gage Roa-rts cn Nov

ember 13, and waited for the pilot,

"Captain Jackson,"' The late Mr Mar

mion ( who was then a youth, and aft

erwards became Minister for Lands)

was -the first -to come aboard. I may

here remark that (he arrival of an

oversea ship was a big event in those

days, because most- of the supplies

were brought out -by three or four sail

crs. Oversea steamers were scarcely

known at that time. They were nev

er seem anywhere on our coast. More

over, there was then r.o railway or

telegraph within this immense territ-

I landed -next day with my little-

band. It was the day of the election

of a member for the Legislative Coun

cil—there was no Assembly then— and

I witnessed a few fairly, lively scenes.

The late Mr. Walter Batenian was the

successful candidate. Who the other

was I do not remember. The next day

I journeyed to Perth in or.e of Be

Lotche's coaches. At that time most

of the traffic between Perth and Fre

mantle was done by a couple of coach

es running t wice a day and a similar

number of what were then callei

"Puffin' Billies"' 0n the river. These

latter were of vety crude construction!

especially to the eve of one fresh from

the old country. My -arrival in Perth

(there «was not much in common with

Perth then and now, except by name)

happened to coinciae -with the formal

opening of -the bridge over the Swan

River leading to Guildford. This

eker.t afforded a splendid opportunity

for a new comer to some extent to see;

what colonial life was, ibecav.se all

sorts and conditions of the population

within reasonable distance were

there. The volunteer corps were also'

vn attendance with their guns o»

their shoulders and their bayonets by

their sides.y Altogether I -was very: fa-

vorahiy impressed with the free and

easy style of colonial life, and

straightway mane up my- mind to

adopt Australia as my future home.

If I live to see the 13th of November

next I s-haU -have teen here 12 years,

.with a break of a short visit to the

Old Country in J87-1.. During our

.short stay in Fremantle I visited as

njanv notable people and places as I

could. Naturally the depot ("the

Imperial prison") -was one of the first

institutions I examined, owing to so

much we had heard -on our way out

about j-t, "Moon-dyne Joe," ani other

celebrities. Now with this place few

reasonable people could discover any

fault, because, after all, it was a

prison, and' -but few (found themselves

there un-lcss -they deserved it. I also

visited 1-be chain jgang (c-f which I

had heard so much) and saw it work

ing near the Fremantle. bridge. What

1 witnessed I have never been able to

eliminate from my memory. There

were about 14 or 15 men in the gang,

i nibbled like horses, only -worse, be

cause there,was a biggish weight at-:

tached to the bubbles. Under such

conditions they had to dig, shovel,

ai d wheel away- the. earth. The sight

was revolting in -the extreme. I dare,

say these men deserved severe pun

ishment , but to see human creatures

treated -like wild -beasts was enough

to make one's blood run cold. Any

way. what I saw has had an indelible

effect on myr miiih, and influenced all

my subsequent dealings with that un

fortunate class. 1 iniust admit, how

ever, that any consideration I may

havo <ri\;en them, lias met with but

few requitals. But that's by the

After a few days-' delay we sailed

in an old -dugout called the "Favor

ite" for Port Gregory via Champion

Bay. The name "Gerald ton" was not

then quite so prominent as it -is to

day. We iiuly reached the latter port

where we lauded,. a-n;i the first three

persons I remember meeting -were, the

R.M. (Mr. Durlaoher), -Dan Scott, and

G. Baston, all c n whom have long since

joined the great majority, although

neither of -them were much older than

myself. . In regard to our landing, I:

have effen thought how" ridiculous my

little party' must have appeared in the

eves 0/ the inhabitants of the town,

because each man carried a g-un as

though lie expected to meet an enemy

of some sort- But if any sueli delu

sion did exist among us, it Soon van-:

ished. I often heard my er.-usin Jack

afterwards say "They be a bravish

lot of good fellows in Champion Bay"

I -was almost forgetting to say that

on the day w-e landed there was a big

cricket match 011. I well remember

two of the players, Aubrey- BroWT. and

Harry Smith, with both c-f whom 1

became intimately acquainted after

wards. The latter -was the hero of

the day, and was carried off or. the

shoulders of his eo-partners it -the

game. I daresay ttere are some still

in Gerald-ton who well remember the

event. After -a stay in Gerald-tor. of

a day ana a half, we again set sail in

the same old tub, "The- Favorite,"

(at inapplicable name as far as we

were concerted-) for Port Gregory ,

the destination of our long sea voyage.

We reached -Port Gregory and remain

ed overnight. Next morning, Sunday,

we started for our final destination the

Geraldine Mine, on teams driven by

.Job Burton and "J-oe Allen, both of

Geraldton, I -believe, -who had each

brought down a load of ore from tho

A family affair. — In -the Kalgoorlie

Circuit Court, recently the Cliijf Jus

tice, Sir Stephen Parker, sat -to hear

a case in which one of his sons (Mr.

Frank Parker) acted as Crown Pro

secutor, and another son (Mr. Hubert

Parker) appeared for the defence. It

may also be mentioned that the

Judge's' Associate was Sir Stephen's