Difference between revisions of "Alexander MacDonald"
Dottigee16 (talk | contribs) (Created page with "File:Bendigo-Petition2.JPG|500px|thumb|right|''Bendigo Goldfields Petition Cover,'' August 1853. State Library of Victoria (MS 12440) and Condemned them to hard labor on the...") |
Dottigee16 (talk | contribs) (→Background) |
||
Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
+ | Alexander Bonar McDonald of a farming family of old Scottish lineage, was during his lifetime one of the best known pioneers of the Peak Downs district. | ||
+ | Hailing from Bonar Bridge, Scotland, in the early fifties, Mr. A. B. McDonald originally settled in Victoria, where, immediately after his | ||
+ | arrival, he joined the vast throngs then assembled on the newly discovered Bendigo field. He followed the mining industry in Victoria for | ||
+ | some time and was a well-known figure among the persevering hands who continued to court fortune on the early gold diggings. When the opening possibilities of Queensland | ||
+ | were attracting the attention of the more enterprising Southerners, he decided to try his luck in the north and was amongst the earliest arrivals | ||
+ | at the copper fields of the Peak Downs. After following the industry in this locality for a brief period he became "mine host" of an hotel at | ||
+ | Copperfield, in the conduct of which he was engaged at the time of the birth of the subject of this memoir. | ||
+ | |||
+ | While carrying on his business in Copperfield he became intimately associated with the development of the pastoral industry, having purchased | ||
+ | in the middle seventies "Grosvenor Downs," a large area in the Peak Downs district. His chief energies were subsequently devoted to the administration of this property, | ||
+ | which continued his home during the many years which elapsed up to the time of his death in the year 1907.<ref>''History of Queensland: Its People and Industries, p. 515.''</ref> | ||
==Goldfields Involvement, 1853-1854== | ==Goldfields Involvement, 1853-1854== |
Revision as of 09:32, 27 January 2022
Contents
Background
Alexander Bonar McDonald of a farming family of old Scottish lineage, was during his lifetime one of the best known pioneers of the Peak Downs district. Hailing from Bonar Bridge, Scotland, in the early fifties, Mr. A. B. McDonald originally settled in Victoria, where, immediately after his arrival, he joined the vast throngs then assembled on the newly discovered Bendigo field. He followed the mining industry in Victoria for some time and was a well-known figure among the persevering hands who continued to court fortune on the early gold diggings. When the opening possibilities of Queensland were attracting the attention of the more enterprising Southerners, he decided to try his luck in the north and was amongst the earliest arrivals at the copper fields of the Peak Downs. After following the industry in this locality for a brief period he became "mine host" of an hotel at Copperfield, in the conduct of which he was engaged at the time of the birth of the subject of this memoir.
While carrying on his business in Copperfield he became intimately associated with the development of the pastoral industry, having purchased in the middle seventies "Grosvenor Downs," a large area in the Peak Downs district. His chief energies were subsequently devoted to the administration of this property, which continued his home during the many years which elapsed up to the time of his death in the year 1907.[1]
Goldfields Involvement, 1853-1854
Signed the 1853 Bendigo Goldfields Petition. Agitation of the Victorian goldfields started with the Forest Creek Monster Meeting in 1851, but what became known as the Red Ribbon Movement was centred around the Bendigo goldfields in 1853. The Anti-Gold License Association was formed at Bendigo in June 1853, led by George Thomson, Dr D.G. Jones and 'Captain' Edward Browne. The association focused its attention on the 30 shillings monthly licence fee miners were required to pay to the government. They drew up a petition outlining digger grievances and called for a reduced licence fee, improved law and order, the right to vote and the right to buy land. The petition was signed by diggers at Bendigo, Ballarat, Castlemaine, McIvor (Heathcote), Mount Alexander (Harcourt) and other diggings. The 13 metre long petition was presented to Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe in Melbourne on the 01 August 1853, but their call for a reduction in monthly licence fees and land reform for diggers was rejected. The diggers dissatisfaction erupted into the Red Ribbon Rebellion where agitators wore red ribbons on their hats symbolising their defiance of the law and prohibitive licence fees.
Post 1854 Experiences
See also
Ballarat Reform League Inc. Monuments Project
Further Reading
References
- ↑ History of Queensland: Its People and Industries, p. 515.
External links
If you can assist with information on this person, or a related image, please email eurekapedia@yahoo.com.au
To CITE this page click Cite This Page on the link to the left of this page.