John Reed

Obituary

BENDIGO. - DEATH OF EUREKA VETERAN Mr John Reed, who was one of the men who drove the first soldiers to Ballarat, and who fought in the Eureka Stockade, died no Friday at the age of 96 years.

MR. JOHN REED. - A VETERAN CITIZEN.

How many pioneers of 1852 survive? There must be very few. One of them is Mr. John Reed. He arrived in Melbourne from London in November, 1852, and was at once engaged to assist in the store on the third White Hill, Bendigo, that had been opened by H. and J. Cook, of Flinders-lane, Melbourne. After 22 months' service he started storekeeping on his own account in partnership with Mr. James Brown. But they soon gave up storekeeping for carrying on the roads between Melbourne and Bendigo and other goldfields. In 1854 they undertook to drive the first detachment of soldiers to Ballarat in eleven four-horse American waggons and four express waggons of two horses each. The journey only took 32 hours, and arriving at Ballarat the soldiers attacked the Eureka Stockade. Later Mr. Reed conducted timber yards in Hargreaves street, which were subsequently leased by the late Mr. J. R. Hoskins. Born in America, the home of the trotting horse, Mr. Reed has always had a great love for a good trotter, and when in business the quality of his horses was a matter of public comment and appreciation. A sporting man writes:— "Mr. Reed, although 90, is just as enthusiastic over a good trotting horse now as he was when in America well over 60 years ago, where he had the pleasure of seeing and sitting behind some of the fastest. He says when he reads now of the wonderful records put up by Uhlan and Dan Patch (1.55) his thoughts travel back to his American days, when 2.20 would have been something to write about. He still drives out every day, and there is nothing he enjoys better than a brush on the road, especially if he is giving the other fellow the dust, but he reckons it's not much use, anyhow, now, for just as you've settled the other chap and throwing bouquets at yourself, along comes a motor car, throwing dust and paraffin at you, and is gone before you can call the driver nasty names.<ref>Bendigo Advertiser, 16 May 1914.<ref>

Further Reading

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

External links

---

File:File name.jpg

Caption, Reference.