William Williams

Post 1854 Experiences

Alexandra Standard Newspaper 13th September 1895." "A somewhat remarkable curse has been effected in the local hospital within the past few days. An old man (82 years of age) was sent by the Yea Council apparently to die here. His sufferings were on admission something terrible, and with his advanced years added to them there did not seem a particle of hope of his recovery. And, indeed, the patient himself thought his last hours had come, and sought for and obtained the services of a minister of his church. As a trifling series of complications we would here mention that he had three ribs broken on one side, four on the other, the lobe of right ear shot away, an arm broken in two places and never joined properly, and a skull fractured from a blow from the butt of a musket. These were reminiscences of the battle of the Eureka Stockade (in 1854), in which Mr. Williams, we are informed, took an active part. As his name denotes, his forefathers hail from Gallant Little Wales, but he was horn on the Welsh Back Bristol. The veteran has gone out cured and is, as might be expected, loud in his praises of Dr. Lethbridge. He is an old miner and intends resuming 'prospecting' at once and has, as a stimulus, an intense desire to find a good ' specimen' for the kind matron (1Mrs. Newman) and her worthy husband. More power to him, we say. When we saw him, shortly after he had taken his bed in the ward, he reminded us of some of the canvassers who had played a prominent part during an electioneering campaign in America. These individuals never trouble themselves as to the opposition they have to contend with, physically, so long as they return their man."

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