Alfred Madocks

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Background

Madocks arrived in Victoria in May 1852. [1]

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

On 19 December 1854 Madocks wrote a letter outlining his experiences at Eureka Stockade. [2] The letter is 4,500 words long and was written to Emily Gill who was in England. The letter began on 19th December, 16 days after the battle at Eureka. He wrote while residing in a timber hut shared with his mates near Clayton Hill, Ballarat.


Dearest Friends
The excitement caused by the late unfortunate affair has prevented my answering your very kind letter which I received about November 2nd before this.... I arrived here two and a half days after leaving Geelong and was at work next day and soon felt comfortable again. Since then I have bottomed two 140 feet shafts, worked out one (sharing 2lb weight [of gold] among 12 men) and half worked out another, but little better. These are worse than good honest blanks because they take time and experience, and more than that, prevent one perhaps from other chances which might make a fellow's pile. Had it not been for the late disturbance we should have been halfway down with another by this time,but all the work was suspended, the water rose in the shafts, and scores of rich claims were smothered. Our drives caved in and the bottom of hte shaft burst. A sweet pretty job we had all last week. Even worse it is uncertain if we can repair it and the ground is not worth sinking a fresh shaft for. So much for civil war as regards personal interest. But we must not complain for we might have lost a number of our mess. As it was, one of our mates got shot and the poor fellow died next day. Another was taken prisoner and narrowly escaped getting lagged.[3]

Post 1854 Experiences

In 1856 there was an unclaimed letter for Alfred Madocks at the Ballarat Post Office.[4]

See also

Further Reading

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


References

  1. Anthony Fyson, Eyewitness at Eureka IN History Today Volume: 54 Issue: 12 2004.
  2. Anthony Fyson, Eyewitness at Eureka IN History Today Volume: 54 Issue: 12 2004.
  3. Anthony Fyson, Eyewitness at Eureka IN History Today, December 2004, pp. 28-35
  4. Ballarat Star, 09 October 1856.

External links



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Caption, Reference.