Amy Cail

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Background

Amy (Williams) was born 29 March 1833 at Monmouth, Wales. She married John Cail in New Zealand in 1851. They arrived in Melbourne on 25 August 1853 with their first child, 11-month-old Agnes Amy Cail.

In 1853 John Cail returned to New Zealand for his wife Amy.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag They proceeded to the Ballarat goldfields in September of that year. John prospected for gold and Amy set up a grocery store in a large tent as food was scarce on the goldfields".[1]

John and Amy were among the early arrivals on the goldfields at Ballarat at the start of the "rush", setting off from Melbourne to seek their fortune with their few possessions in a covered wagon.[2]

Many of the miners were unable to pay for their gold digging licences. Great unrest broke out leading to to a revolt which was led by Peter Lalor. After the attack on the Eureka Stockade on )3 December 1854 he became a hunted man.

According to family history Amy Cail helped hide ... Peter Lalor after the attack on the Eureka Stockade." (Women of the Diggings by Dorothy Wickham)

"She (Amy) was the wife of miner John Cail, and according to family tradition helped Peter Lalor after he avoided capture on 3rd December 1854." (Eureka Encyclopaedia) " Cail Amy - Helped to hide Peter Lalor (Monmouth, Wales)." (The Eureka Stockade: A Pictorial History Geoffrey Hocking)

"After the rebellion in which the miners fared badly Peter Lalor became a hunted man. However he had many friends who found in him a 'champion' and one of these was Amy Cail who hid him in her large tent by cutting the ropes in pretence of leaving the goldfields. Because of this Lalor was able to make his escape. He later became a Member of Parliament." (Cails of Kamarooka Document )

The couples second child George Henry, named for John Cail's father, was born in 1854. He would have been born on the Ballarat goldfields as the family was present at the Eureka Stockade which took place in December 1854.

John Cail continued to mine on the Ballarat Goldfields after the Eureka Stockade riot in 1854. It is likely that John and Amy and their family continued to live on the goldfields and that Amy continued to run her grocery store there until 1856 .

John was mining in Canadian Gully and continued to hold Miner's Rights until 1866 so was still mining until the year before the family moved to Mt. Rowan. (Gold Museum Ballarat archives)

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

In September 1853 the Cail family proceeded to Ballarat where Amy conducted a grocery store on the diggings while John searched for gold. According to family history she helped hide Peter Lalor after the attack on the Eureka Stockade. After Eureka, Amy and John Cail lived at Mount Rowan, at the corner of Colliers Road and Forest Road, where they grew vegetables to sell to miners and people in Ballarat. They sold this land in 1876, because they had moved to Kamarooka near Bendigo in 1873. John Cail died on 23 January 1905 and was buried at Raywood Cemetery. Amy died around ten years later on 15 July 1914 and was buried at Raywood Cemetery. [3]

Post 1854 Experiences

After Eureka Amy and John Cail lived at Mount Rowan, where they grew vegetables to sell to miners and people in Ballarat. They sold this land in 1876, after having moved to Kamarooka near Bendigo in 1873. She is buried at Raywood Cemetery.

See also

John Cail

Hugh McKenzie

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.


References

  1. Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
  2. The Cails of Kamarooka Document
  3. Dorothy Wickham, Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2009

External links



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