Thomas Bath
Contents
Background
Bath opened the first licensed hotel, the Ballarat Hotel (later known as Baths's Hotel), on the Ballarat goldfields on 1 July 1853.[1]
Bath was made a Life Governor of the Ballarat School of Mines in 1888.
Goldfields Involvement, 1854
Post 1854 Experiences
Thomas Bath was a creditor as the result of the burning of James Bentley's Eureka Hotel, and listed as a claimant by by the Select Committee reporting Upon Ballaarat [i.e. Ballarat] riots - Bentley's Hotel.[2]
Thomas Bath signed the Benden Hassell Petition for Compensation for being shot by the military on 28 November 1854. He gave his occupation as Hotel Keeper, residing in Ballarat. [3]
Mrs Bath exhibited a pike used at the Eureka Stockade, found by her on the morning after the battle. It was exhibited during the 1876 Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute Fine Arts Exhibition.[4]
Veterans of Ballarat
TIME has been telling heavily upon the veterans of Ballarat, but does it not seem a wonderful instance of longevity that Mr THOMAS BATH, who was a pioneer of the district and a miner in 1851, is still hale and hearty, and taking the same ardent interest in our local and public affairs that he has ever done 1 At the meeting of the Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society on Saturday he announced his resignation of his official position as treasurer, owing to the advice of his medical attendant as necessary for his health; The members of the society, may always count upon his help and co operation, for there is hardly a man in Victoria who has endeavored to do more for agriculture. Those who were here in the good old times, and who occasionally pay us a visit, will tell you that one of the strangest things that strikes them is to find Mr Thomas Bath in his old form and looking none the worse of the wear, kindly, cheery, and active. What wonderful tales could the old man tell of the Fifties. He was remarkable in this particular; he went in for business. He believed, with Tennyson’s “Northern Farmer,’’ that proputy, proputy, proputy sticks; and he stuck to it, too. One of the first jewellers’ shops was situated on the Yarrowee Creek, near Golden Point, and an old photograph of the scene presents is with one of Mr Bath’s humble mansions near the centre of excitement. He was lucky; everything he touched turned into gold. The trend soon set in to the higher ground, and with a judicious eye to investment he purchased that block on which was subsequently erected the hotel which bore his name, and divided by a narrow lane from the block of handsome buildings fronting Sturt street and extending from Lydiard street to the Town Hall. Here money was literally coined in the old days. Mr Bath’sname was a guarantee of comfort, convenience, and everything that could give a hotel a status. Here were found all the wealthy diggers, public men, and visitors who flocked in daily from all parts of the world, but the business was conducted with a tact, unpretentiousness, and freedom from ostentation which necessarily had a peculiar attractiveness for the better class of people. There were some rough fellows to be met with in those days, but they found the. toffs at Bath’s as capable of giving a Roland for an Oliver as cleverly as the Benecia Boy or the Staleybridge Infant. What a roll of noble fellows the grand pioneer Ballaratians became associated with at that luxurious hostelry. Subsequently Mr Craig, whose name was rendered famous by his horse Nimblefoot winning a Melbourne Cup, took over the hotel and maintained its high prestige.. The following particulars throw an interesting light upon the early doings of some of the fortunate ones who were the first to reach the auriferous ground. A laborer named Hiscocks heard of a discovery in the Pyrenees. He made a cradle, and tested some of the spots round that place, and became the discoverer of Hiscocks’ Cully. Information of this reached Geelong, which, even at that time; bore a bright particular reputation for the smartness of the place and people, and a rush set in from that time.to Buninyong. Some 50 parties turned up, many of them embracing some of the subsequent leaders of Ballarat. Amongst the first to arrive was Mr James Oddie, who left on the 2nd of August and reached the Buninyong Camp about five days afterwards. News had just been received of the Golden Point rush, for which everybody was making. On the Ist September Mr and Mrs Bath, Mr Oddie and their parties arrived on the scene and found six tents and a shepherd’s box. Within ten days almost the whole population of Geelong had arrived on the spot, and five days later half the residents of Melbourne had joined in the rush and the place presented the remarkable spectacle of lawyers, doctors and men of all ranks and stations toiling in the typical diggers’ costume. . It is needless to relate the subsequent progress of gold mining in the colony ~ since that time. Nothing can be pleasanter than for these old soldiers to meet each other and recount the tales of of early days, and at these gatherings Mr Bath was always welcome. How few are left of the good old stock, and those who remain still carry with them much of the old Ballarat manner. We have refrained from adverting to the many revivals and the vicissitudes that befell this district, inasmuch as the gentleman to whom we more particularly refer, and who was through it all has journeyed in his later days along the peaceful glades of rural life, and avoided the anxieties and troubles invariably associated with the thirst for gold.[5]
Obituary in School of Mines Students' Magazine
- It is with sincere regret that the Council have to record the great loss sustained by the school during the last year, in the death of Mr. Thomas Bath, J.P., who worthily filled the position of a Councillor of the School from the 9th September, 1889, until the day of his death, which took place on the 29th of July last. Mr Bath always tool a great interest in the school's progress and during his lifetime rendered it on more than one occasion material financial aid. Further evidence of the keen interest taken by Mr Bath in the School's welfare is afforded by the fact that on his death he left a substantial sum, the exact amount of which is not yet known, to be devoted to the School's requirements.[6]
- Mr Bath was a councillor and life governor of the School of Mines in which position he did much valuable work during the more active years of his life. Although he never of late attended any of the Council meetings, he still evinced a lively interest in the School's well being, and was ever vigilant and ready to lead an opposition party if the thought the Council was working in an unwise direction. In this connection he once said to the writer, " I only attend a meeting when I want to stop something.[7]
Obituary
DEATH OF MR. THOMAS BATH. Mr. Thomas Bath, a native of Truro, Cornwall, and a resident, except for two or three small intervals, of the Ballarat district from the earliest days of its history in 1851, died at Ballarat on Monday morning from general break-up of the system. Mr. Bath, who was 76 years of age, landed in Victoria in 1849, and was one of the first to reach Golden Point before the great rush set in. What is how known as Craig's Royal Hotel was originally kept by Mr Bath as far back as 1854, and when he disposed of the business to Mr. Craig a few years later Mr. Bath, who had acquired considerable properly in the neighbourhood of the town-hall, which is still in the estate, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. Ceres, his station at Learmonth, is noted throughout the state for the quality of the stock raised upon it. Mr. Bath was a very old member of the agricultural and pastoral society, and held the position of treasurer for a period of 20 years.[6]
In The News
Claims for Losses at the Eureka Hotel
- The following is a list of the claims made to the Government for compensation in connection with the burning of Bentley's Hotel, on the 17th October, 1854. The total amount is £40,418 ls 2d, of which only £150 is recommended by the select committee to be paid, - viz., 30/ to Messrs D. & W. Wallace, and £120 to Mr Michael Walsh. A sum of £150 is also recommended to be given to Dr Carr, who is at present in the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asylum; but this amount is on account of a claim for professional services
to the wounded after the outbreak on the 3rd of December, and cannot properly be said to have come under the cognizance of the committee.
- List of Claims for Compensation for Losses Sustained through the Ballarat Riot, on 7th October, 1854
- George Waterson, clothing and working tools, £22 ; Augustus Miell, gold, bank notes, musical instruments and music books, goldrings, and two boxes of clothing, £87 ; D. and W. Wallace, tents and clothing, £30. Samuel Waldock, livery stable keeper, saddles, harness, carts, hay, corn, horses, &c. &c, £766; Henry Harris, merchandise stored in the yard of Bentley's Hotel, £45 ls.; E. F. West, clothing, musical instruments, and music books, £53 ; Chas. Smith, clothing and working tools, £20; Michael Walsh, tent, household goods, clothing of self and family, and injury sustained by his wife, £175 10s.; Chas. Dyte, merchandise stored in the building attached to the hotel, £416 ls; G. C. Smith, two boxes and their contents, which were stored in the hotel, stated value, £343 18s ; Isaac Rigby, chest of tools and clothing, £20 ; total, £1977 10s.
- List of Creditors on Bentley's Estate
- The Bank of New South Wales, overdrawn banking account, £2,000 : the Union Bank, dishonored, bills, £1,600 ; Thomas Bath, Ballarat, dishonored bill, £192 10s; F. B Beaver, Esq., M.L.A., goods sold and delivered, £2,492 8s 5d; Mark Folk and Isaac Lazarus, goods sold and delivered. £106 11s ; John Ettershank, Stephen Holgate, William Eaglestone, dishonored bills, £87 2s6d; John Rutherford, James Tingeman, goods sold and delivered, £516 16s 8d; John McGuinnes, goods sold and delivered, £96 2s 4d; Charles Morgan, goods sold and delivered, £26 3s 3d ; Patricias Wm Welch, goods sold and delivered, £506 7s ; Dr Carr, for professional services, £124. Total, £7,648 1s 2d.
- Servants' Wages, and Moneys due on Building Contracts
- Patrick Hanlon, carpenter's contract work, £95; Michael McDermott, do. £125; Donald Ross, do, £150; J. Donnelly, do, £98 ; Roderick Ross, do, £160; Charles Smith, baker, balance for wages, about £110; George Waterson, balance for wages, £22, and £92 10s; Isaac Rigby, money due on contract for building, £200. Total, £1,042 10s.
- Bentley's Claim
"Claim by J. F. Bentley and wife, for the sum of £29,750, it being the ascertained value of the hotel, outbuildings, and stock in-trade, all of which were destroyed in the riot.[8]
- HISTORIC HOTEL SOLD: - FAMOUS BALLARAT PROPERTY.
- BALLARAT, Sunday.—Craig's Hotel, the oldest and best known establishment of the kind in Ballarat, has been sold by private treaty for £30,000. Mrs. T. Newton, who has been licensee for several years, was the purchaser. The property, which has been improved on up-to-date lines, belonged to Mr. Frank Herman, of the firm of Messrs. J. J. Goller and Co., merchants, Lydiard street. The price realised for the hotel, which has a historic reputation, shows a substantial advance on the price paid for the property when it was last sold some years ago.
- In the early gold digging days the old original wooden building was known as Bath's Hotel, and was the first public house to obtain a license in Ballarat. The late Mr. Thomas Bath, in later years a well known grazier, was the owner and licensee, and the contractor for its erection was the late Mr. James Malcolm, a pioneer builder of Ballarat. The poet Adam Lindsay Gordon conducted the livery stables at the rear portion of the hotel premises, and occupied a small cottage abutting. His favourite horse Cadger, whom lie rode to victory in several steeplechases, was stabled near the cottage. Reference to this racehorse is made by Gordon in his poem "How We Beat the Favourite."? In this humble little dwelling in the hotel ground was born the only child of the poet, a girl whose early death he continuously mourned. The little girl was buried in the Ballarat old cemetery."[9]
Also See
Further Reading
Corfield, J., Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
References
- ↑ John Hargreaves, Ballarat Hotels Past and Present, p.2, 1943, Ballarat
- ↑ Select Committee Upon Ballaarat [i.e. Ballarat] riots - Bentley's Hotel, accessed 09 February 2106.
- ↑ Dorothy Wickham, Shot in the Dark, BHS Publishing, 1998
- ↑ Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute Fine Arts Exhibition 1876 Catalogue.
- ↑ Ballarat Star, 4 October 1899.
- ↑ Ballarat School of Mines Annual Report, 1901.
- ↑ Ballarat School of Mines Students' Magazine, Term 2, 1901.
- ↑ Ballarat Star, 09 June 1858
- ↑ Northern Star, 22 October 1923.
External links
https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Ballarat_School_of_Mines
https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Thomas_Bath
