James Oddie

James Oddie, University of Ballarat Historical Collection.

Background

James Oddie isoften referred to as the Father of Ballarat. When his father died in 1839 James became an apprentice moulder. He moved to Manchester, England, in the employ of James Nasmyth. As a boy he witnessed the agitation for Parliamentary reform and Chartist demonstrations.

Oddie migrated to Australia with his wife on the Larpent and arrived at Geelong on 28 June 1849, the same year in which his wife died. In 1850 he married Mary McCormick.

Oddie ran a foundry at Geelong until the announcement of gold in August 1851. He became one of the first prospectors at Golden Point, Ballarat, and was known to have been digging for gold in September 1851. He then travelled around the goldfields with Thomas Bath, returning to Ballarat to establish a store on the diggings.

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

In 1854 Oddie moved his store to near the Eureka Stockade, and attended many of the protest meetings, and witnessed the battle.

Post 1854 Experiences

Oddie was recorded on the 1855 Electoral Roll, under the electoral qualification of Freehold. He ran an auction business in partnership with his brother Thomas Oddie.

In 1856 Oddie became the first Chairman of the Ballarat Municipal Council. He sold Raffaello Carboni’s book The Eureka Stockade.

It was said that “Among the few who stood by the grave [of James Esmond] in the new cemetery was another pioneer, Mr Jas. Oddie, F.R.S., who was in Eureka when James Esmond, under the command of the late Peter Lalor, formed one of the band of insurgents who fought the British troops in the endeavour to secure fair play for the diggers then in Ballarat.

His Wesleyan upbringing was evident and Oddie was one of the initial party to establish a Wesleyan Church, first at Magpie, and then in Ballarat. His philanthropic nature was apparent and many of our worthy institutions owe their origins to James Oddie. He was a member of many committees, including Ballarat Hospital, Benevolent Asylum, National Schools Committee, Female Refuge, and many others.

In Ballarat on 6 May 1856 Oddie chaired a meeting in which it was agreed to follow the lead of Melbourne Stonemasons, who had gained the eight hour day a fortnight before. Great strides were made during the 1860s, but were more difficult to achieve during the recession of the 1870s.

Peter Lalor Statue, Sturt Street, Ballarat, c1954.

Oddie was a lifelong friend of Peter Lalor. He supported Peter Lalor’s electoral nomination, was responsible for the Lalor Statue in Sturt Street, and was instrumental in the organisation of the 50th anniversary of Eureka celebration is 1904. He accepted the Eureka Flag from the King family for preservation at the Ballaarat Fine Art Gallery, another worthwhile institution that he started.

At one time Oddie was one of Ballarat’s wealthiest citizens, but he was financially crippled in 1990 as a result of the Mercantile Bank collapse.

Oddie demonstrated an extraordinary respect for the diggers who fought for their political and civil rights in Ballarat in 1854. He also secured Von Guerard's "Old Ballarat in 1853" and Samuel Huyghue's plan of the attack on the [Eureka Stockade] for the gallery

Obituary

'Sketch of the Ballarat Goldfield, 1851, University of Ballarat Historical Collection.

James Oddie

In 1856 became first Chairman of the Ballarat Municipality. He was elected Vice President of SMB in February 1881, resigning in 1887.

Oddie erected and equipped the astronomical observatory for SMB at his own expense in 1885. A site was reserved at Mt Pleasant in Ballarat East gazetted by the Government in November 1884.

Oddie was a trustee of the SMB Museum building, and was a generous benefactor to SMB. He died on 3 March 1911 aged 88.

In giving a short biographical sketch of Mr James Oddie, we feel sure that we cannot fail to interest the students. So closely was Mr Oddie connected with Ballarat's early days that this article should be doubly interesting. These indeed were the days in which Ballarat "hummed;" days in which Ballarat was a canvas town, when all that was necessary to own, manage, and work a mine was a tin dish and a shovel (no Petrology to pass), and when gold was talked of by the pounds and "dwts." Were scorned.

Mr Oddie took an active part in the proceedings of those days, and when the "Mag" reporter called on him he was very willing to furnish us with some particulars of his interesting career.

Mr Oddie arrives at Geelong in the "Larpent" on 29 June 1849. He did not immediately come to Ballarat, but started a foundry in Geelong, where he remained for more than 2 years.

In the year 1851 the Victorian Government offered a reward of £200 to anyone who should discover a goldfield. Two parties were formed, each under the guidance of a man who had some knowledge of alluvial gold. Prospectors from this parties discovered "color" at Golden Point on the same day. This was in August 1851. AS a result of this prospectors were attracted to what is now Ballart.

At this time Mr Oddie began to be affected with "yellow fever", and cast longing eyes Ballaratwards. He was the lucky possessor of a horse, but had no dray, when one day two men, who had a dray but no horse, came to him and proposed forming a party to go to the diggings. This was speedily agreed to, and they set out a few days afterwards. They arrived in Buninyong on the Saturday before the 1st of September, and remained their till this date. People in "the ancient village" were very excited about the gold discovery only six miles away.

Mr Oddie and his party arrived at Golden Point on 1st September, 1851, at half-past tow in the afternoon. They were following the track of a bulock-waggon, which was on its road to the sheep station, which included present Ballarat and a good deal more; and hen they arrived on the scene bullocks still stood in the yolk. Near them a woman (YES A WOMAN!!!) was standing looking at the new settlement. According to Mr Oddie's firm belief this was the first woman in or "on" Ballarat. Unfortunately her name is unknown.

Ballarat then consisted on seven tents, one of which had been erected that same day. Mr Oddie and his companions lost no time, but at once set to work to build a dwelling with saplings. It was constructed of green timber, and the roof and sides were made of interlaced boughs. The dimensions were so small that when bedtime came no walking space was left. Mr Oddie, being the youngest of the party, was persuaded to sleep nearest the entrance, which faced west * the weather side. It was no unusual thing to be walked three or four times in the night by sleet and rain driving through the boughs. This hut formed their dwelling for 28 days, at the end of which time a more permanent abode was constructed. The sides were still interlaced boughs, but the rood consisted of a tarpaulin. To this edifice Mr Oddie bought his wife from Geelong.

The party had commenced operations, and were getting about 1¾ ozs per day for eight men. On one afternoon the reporter of the "Geelong Advertiser" who had been sent up to report on the field, asked Mr Oddie how much he was getting. Mr Oddie gave the required information, and for doing so was reproached by other parties of diggers in nor gentle terms, for they feared a "rush".

A party a few claims away was getting 30 ozs per day, but Mr Oddie's best afternoon was 8 ½ oz. The gold at the time sold in Ballarat for £2 12s 6d per oz., though in England was worth £4 4s. After the report was published there was a general rush to the field, and after ten days there were only 3 men left in Geelong. An in 15 a great number of people from Melbourne arrived.

Gold was then found at Clunes by a man name Esmond, who at the tie of his discovery was digging post holes. This man had previously been in California, and thus had a knowledge of the yellow dust. This Mr Esmond afterwards came to Ballarat, and on Mr Oddie's invitation washed a dish of dirt, and was presented with the gold obtained.

Previous to Mr Oddie's arrival at Ballarat, a Government Commissioner had bee up to advise issue licenses, but as no payable dirt had then been the diggers and measure out their claims; also to found he promised to return to Melbourne and come back in two months, and if the field had been payable the diggers were to purchase licenses. On the 19th September, however, two other Commissioners came up, Doveton and Armstrong, with 15 black troopers under Captain Dana. This infuriated the diggers, and a man by the name of Connor, in whose hut the Commissioners were officiating, got up on a stump and spoke to the diggers with regard to the "breach of promise" on the part of the Government. He was the first , however, to pay his license, and on emerging form the Commissioner's office (his own hut) he was struck by his fellow digger. Through Mr Oddie's timely intervention, however, further trouble was averted , and Connor allowed to go on his way in peace instead of in pieces (N.B. * Joke). This little incident was probably the origin of the trouble between the Government and the diggers.

With regard to the phenomenal yields of this field at that time Mr Oddie tells some interesting stories.

Two brothers, who were quarrymen, were working at the other end of Mr Oddie's claim, and eventually came close up to his hut. Mr Oddie's mates protested, but he, being of a peaceful turn of mind, and consisting there were acres of untouched ground, said their would be plenty left for all and no need to quarrel. It was not until 20 years afterwards that Mr Oddie was aware of the fact that 37lbs of gold had been got almost directly underneath his humble couch. A short distance away another party got 70lbs in 10 days.

Mr Lewis, a Wesleyan minister, from Geelong preached to the diggers in Mr Oddie's house, and the collection was so encouraging that a church was built on similar lines to the house. The Methodist Minister from Buninyong now became a regular visitor. At the end of 6 weeks gold was discovered at Mr Alexander, and Ballarat was reported as done. As Mr Oddie was leaving his camp a spring cart drove up. "Come with me?" said Mr Oddie to its occupant. "I will take you to a place where there is gold." The occupant of the cart was Mr Thos. Bath, to whom we are indebted for our engineering lab., and an annuity.

As an interesting incident of what may happen on a goldfield when new chums are looking for the dust, Mr Oddie, who had recently imported his brother to Ballarat, and escorted him to within 60 yard of a place were nuggets of 134, 126, 90 and 30lbs of loose gold had been found, related how as he came to see how his brother was getting on, he found him throwing out the precious metal by the "shovelful." "What are you doing?" he said in broad Lancashire. "Shovelling dirt," was the reply. The question and answers were repeated three times. Mr Oddie's brother was beginning to think there was a hidden meaning in the repeated question, and at last angrily asked what it was. "What doust thou call that?" Asked Mr Oddie, picking up a handful of dirt in which the golden grains clustered thick as sunbeams.

Eugene von Guerard, Old Ballarat as it was in the summer of 1853-54, 1884, oil on canvas, mounted on board, Art Gallery of Ballarat Collection, Gift of James Oddie on Eureka Day, 1885.

In The News

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS. - Sir-I think that any person knowing Mr. Oddie would know he would not exaggerate about the Eureka Stockade. I wish to inform Mr. Sadlier I am the person who conveyed the bodies of Gittens and O'Neill to Ballarat Cemetery on that memorable 3rd of December, 1854, and on the body of one of those there were 10 wounds. I will let the public of the present day judge for themselves whether that was butchery or not.

Yours. &c., . M. BOLGER.

See also

Thomas Bath

James Esmond

Further Reading

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

External links

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oddie-james-4318/text7005

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