Brad Mitchell's Family, from Hawton
Clarnette
Note Hawton's document has
been edited to remove information covered in other pages and
information about living or recently living people.. It stops with
Brad's death in 1918
Thomas
Mitchell married Margaret Burton .The family lived
at Ventadon, which is close to Stoke Climsland, in Cornwall.
It is interesting to visit Stoke Climsland today and to go round all
the headstones of the old graves which have been set up around the
grounds of the Church (of England) in the small village . Here you
can read of our ancestors with many Mitchells and Hawtons on the
engraved headstones, and from the dates of the deaths it is possible
to follow a lineage from one generation to another.
We have a Diary written by Braddon Mitchell which
covers the period from 1871 up to 1906 and it is from this diary
that I have been able to put together a somewhat sketchy story of
the Mitchell family as they established themselves in North-West
Victoria in and around the small township of Bethanga..
We can only guess that
the early years at Osborne Flat must have been tough for the growing
family , but at some stage William B must have moved them to another
place called Hillsborough because that is where Braddon’s diary
begins. ( Baillier’s Victorian Directories--1868 have an entry
: Osborn Flat -Mitchell,William B., farmer ).
Hillsborough was about 10 km.
south of Beechworth and was the centre of a gold mining area. So it
would seem that either William B found that he couldn’t make a
living out of butchering or farming, at Osborne Flat or that the
lure of gold had got into his system. It is more likely the latter,
as you will see from Braddon’s diary that he worked in the
several gold mines around Hillsborough. . There is also
another factor which may explain his interest in mining , and that
is that he came from Cornwall which is well known for their tin
miners. At that time Beechworth was a rich gold mining centre and as
well as several gold reefs at Hillsborough, there were other reefs
between Yackandandah and Beechworth and another rich goldfield at El
Dorado which was18 km. west of Beechworth.
Today Hillsborough is
non-existent, it doesn’t show up on any present road maps. However a
book of the history of the Beechworth Goldfields does include a map
of that region which shows Hillsborough and its local gold mines as
well as many other mines, and this helped to follow the movements of
William B and his sons William and Braddon as set out in
Braddon’s diary. ( see ‘Beechworth .. A Titan’s Field ‘ by Carole
Woods. first published 1985.)
The following is a summary Brad Mitchell's diary,
from the start of the Dairy on 7-1-1871 to the final entry on 14
March 1907.
At the start of the
diary, Braddon was 17 years old and his brother William was 20
years. The family was living at Hillsborough , and the diary tells
how William B and the boys would obtain work either at mines around
Hillsborough or as far away as El Dorodo on the other side of
Beechworth. The would be away for several months at a time and
return home when the work ran out.
During 1872 and 1873 they
would be working at the local gold mines or following a ‘rush’ to a
new find of gold or tin in the area even as far north as
Koetang or Bethanga. Several times they would work a lease for
gold or tin but had to abandon it because there was insufficient ore
in the lease to make a living.
On 13 March 1876
William Mitchell registered a mining claim at Bethanga in the name
of four men-himself, his father William B., and Braddon . It is not
clear if the fourth man was younger brother Fred (who would have
been 14 yrs at that time) or whether it was a requirement for
registering a claim that at least four men had to be working a claim
. The Mitchell family worked their claim for two years until they
sold it on 1 March 1876 to a company Harris and Hollow for 3000
pounds (stg). During this period they took out 644 tons of ore from
the mine, and the yield of gold was 923oz13dwt5gr,for which they
received 2800.6.1Pounds. (i.e the price received was at the rate of
3.1Pounds per
oz).
The Mitchell claim was
one of the richest at Bethanga and was situated on the North
Gift Lode. I always wondered why they gave up gold mining but the
reason can be found in the book ‘A Poor Man’s Diggings ‘
by Dr. June Philipp , published in 1987. It is the story of the
Mining and Community at Bethanga , Vic. 1875-1912. On page 36
reference is made to the Mitchell’s claim and the returns of gold
that they had taken from the mine. In August 1877 the Mitchells
found that the grade of gold in the ore had started to reduce
and at the same time they had begun to strike a copper ore. They
sent samples of this ore to Adelaide for assaying and the results
came back showing grades of 20%, 32%,40%, and 41.25% copper.
These are very high grades for copper and for a while they must have
considered carrying on and mining for copper instead of gold which
had by this time had reduced to a grade of around 18dwt. to the ton.
(these days such grades would be regarded as being very rich
indeed).
However nearly all the other
claims were running out of gold and the copper ore was showing up in
their diggings. This ore was called ‘blackjack’ and was
regarded as valueless as it was hard to process. It was later seen
that the whole Bethanga goldfield was a common type of orebody
consisting of an overlying cap of gold rich gossan with a rich
copper orebody beneath. This copper ore nearer to the surface was a
copper oxide mineral ,black in colour, and therefore a dirty ore to
work, hence its name blackjack. Below this is the main orebody
of copper sulphide which is usually quite rich in copper. The
Mitchells probably sold their claim because the gold grade was
falling or it could have been that they had been made an offer they
couldn’t refuse by Harris and Hollow of the Great Eastern Copper
Smelting Co. After taking over the claim the new owners found that
it contained a rich body of copper ore. Three nuggets of gold
extracted from the claim at Bethanga are now held today by members
of the Clarnette family.
Braddon’s diary doesn’t have many entries during
the time they they were working the gold mine. However William B.
must have brought his wife Margaret and the younger children to live
at Bethanga . In the book by June Phillips, referred to above, there
is a reference to William (the son) being part of a local
committee to try and have a new building built for a school.
.The diary resumes in April 1878 immediately after the sale of their
claim.
On 1 April 1878 , William and Braddon left Bethanga for
Gippsland reaching Drouin on 10th, Brandy Creek on 11th, and Little
Moe on 12th April. They went on to ‘the Sarwick ?’ where they pegged
three blocks. Presumably these were prospecting claims as the area
is not far from the Walhalla gold mines . At any rate the claims did
not reveal any signs of gold and they returned to Bethanga, arriving
back on 4th May. The two brothers spent the next seven months
looking around the Bethanga region pegging clai ms at various places
along the Mitta Mitta river without success.
On 5th July Brad injured an eye and left for
Melbourne the same day to get treatment. He returned to Bethanga on
29th August. The costs of his visit were 35 pounds.
On 12th Sept. he wrote ‘Mother and his sister
Dinnah moved back to Hillsborough’, so we can assume that the whole
family had been living at Bethanga during the time that they had
been working the gold mine.
On 9th Jan.1879 he wrote ‘left
Bethanga - for good’, so by then the whole family had returned to
live at Hillsborough.
On 13th Jan79. William started out
for the New England district in New South Wales to carry out
prospecting. Braddon went to Melbourne on 18th Jan. and caught a
boat called the ‘Cheviot’, and sailed to Sydney. He then sailed on
the ‘City of Grafton’ to Grafton in northern N.S.W. and then headed
inland for Glen Innes arriving there on 12th Feb.Braddon then spent
the next six months prospecting in northern N.S.W. looking for gold,
tin, and copper-needless to say without any great success. He
returned home on 17th July 1879. He had been away 25 weeks and 4
days, he had travelled 1000 miles by ship, 24 miles by horse, 858
miles on foot, 713 miles by rail and 169 miles by coach. The total
cost of his trip was 39pounds,6shillings,8pence. Braddon doesn’t
mention whether he met up with brother William in N.S.W. and carried
out any prospecting together.
In Dec.1879 William Burton and the
sons William and Braddon went to Bethanga to look at land owned by a
man called Finlay with a view to buying some of it. They had a good
look at all of it and although they thought some of it was poor they
attended the Sale on 12th. Dec. William bought 325 acres at
4pounds 6sh. per acre (1340pounds), and then the three of them
bought Section B of 418acres at 4pounds,12sh.6p.per
acre.(1933pounds). Brad took 200 acres, Will took 90 acres, and
Father took 128 acres. In the next few days Brad pegged out 80 acres
of crown land along the river frontage of the Mitta and
applied for it at the Lands Office at Beechworth. The family bought
cattle and put them on their land over the next few weeks.
Braddon had to go down to Melbourne
on 25th Dec to see the eye specialist Dr. Grey the next day. The eye
was alright but he was given a prescription for glasses.
During 1880 the diary describes how
Brad and Wiliam pegged out many claims for blocks of land and
how they had to appear before various Lands Boards to support their
claim or to fight off other claimants. At times Brad had to go to
Melbourne to fight his appeal but usually ended losing his case.
On 16 August 1880 Brad shifted down to his
paddock near Bethanga to live and to work his property.
The diary has many entries during 1880,1881
1882 showing that he fenced his land, bought and sold cattle, pegged
more land and applied for leases. During this period the family home
was still at Hillsborough where Margaret lived with Minnie. It
is not known whether William B. worked his land near Bethanga or
whether he spent most of his time at Hillsborough.
Braddon worked his ‘paddock’ during 1882,
1883 and 1884 until on 10th Nov. of that year he set off
prospecting again down into Gippsland . This was only a short trip
as he returned to Bethanga on 29th Nov.. Before he left Bethanga he
leased his paddock to David Mitchell for one year and ten months at
145 pounds per year, so he had probably become tired of farming or
he wanted to try his hand again at gold prospecting. On 6th
Dec, he ‘shifted my traps’ to Hillsborough. He seems to have been a
bit unsettled then, for over the next year through 1885 up until
early 1886 he went back and forth to Bethanga .
On 23rd. Feb.1886 Brad left
Hillsborough for a prospecting trip through N.S.W. This trip took
him through Cootamundra, Gundagai, Wagga, Goulburn, Blayney and
eventually to Parkes. Somewhere in the Parkes area Brab pegged
a claim, worked it until it bottomed out ,then took shares in
another claim , worked it until it proved useless, and so on. He
left Parkes on 20th July and headed home to Hillsborough, which he
reached on 24th July. He’d been away 21 weeks, and his expenses were
about 23 pounds.
He stayed at Hillsborough till 11th Jan.
1887 with visits back and forth to Bethanga, and one prospecting
trip to Splitters Creek. Then on 11th Jan, 87 he left home for
Wood’s Point down in Gippsland. He reached Wood’s Point by 16th Jan.
and on 21st Feb. registered the Lady Mary claim on Gooley’s Creek.
He crushed 30cwt. quartz ore on 21st March from which he obtained
26oz.1dwt.14gr. of gold. He sold 5oz.9dwt.14gr. to the bank for an
advance of 20/11/0 pounds. the cost of getting the crushing done was
3/13/9pounds.
He left Wood’s Point on 28th April and
moved around around Jamieson, Alexandra and other places
until he arrived back at Hillsborough on 22nd July. This trip had
taken 27 weeks 3 days and the cost 23.18.10pounds.. Brad then
appears to have decided to become a farmer again. He went to
Bethanga on 2nd August to help put in fruit trees.
On 12th Oct.’87 Mother and Min shifted to
the Paddock to live. ( they had been living in Hillsborough since
late 1860’s , except for a short period between 1876 and 1878 when
the family were working the gold mine at Bethanga .)
The Paddock which is referred to in
Braddon’s diary, is the land bought by William B. , William, and
Braddon on the banks of the Mitta Mitta close by Bethanga from the
Finlay brothers in Dec 1879, (which was 19 months after they
had sold out of their gold mine in 1878.)
Braddon’s diary shows a
summary of their costs and receipts for farming on the Paddock over
the period 23 July 1881 to 16 August 1901, and how they split up the
net surplus between the three of them. These figures show that
distribution to William ceased on 6th Nov 1889, although he died on
11th July of that year. A letter written by my Mother states that
William sold his share of the paddock to Braddon and bought land
near to Tallangatta.
. By the time that Brad’s mother and sister
moved moved to the paddock in Oct.1887 his father William B. would
have built a home for them to live in. Brad’s younger brother
Fred would also have been living at home with the family and it is
also likely that Margaret’s brother Samuel would have lived with
them too.
During the years from
1888 through to 1891 Brad’s diary shows that he spent his time
working the family property, although there was a short period
between 28th Nov. 1890 and 27th March 1891 when Braddon went off to
the Dart river, registered a claim, and mined five and a half tons
of quartz ore . When crushed this ore yielded 20oz.18dwt. of gold.
This appears to be the last time that he went off prospecting for
gold.
By 1895, Braddon who was 41yrs old, began
to think it was time he found a wife and as he had heard at the
Wodonga sales of a Matthew Parnaby with six sons and seven
daughters, he decided to invite himself out to their home. The
Parnaby property was called ‘The Grange’ and was about 5 or 6 miles
out of Wodonga. He didn’t take to any of the girls on his first
visit but 12 months later on a second visit he met Hannah Elizabeth
Parnaby who had been away on his first visit. Hannah and Brad were
attracted to each other and Brad courted Hannah,having to ride 18
miles on his horse to see her. They were married in 1896, he was 42
and Hannah was 29. There is no mention in his diary of his
marriage.
In the period before his
marriage Braddon built a separate dwelling on the family property
for his wife.
At some time in the ensuing
years Braddon bought his Father out of the property. Braddon
and Hannah farmed ‘Climsland Park) and brought up a large family.
The first children were twin boys born in July 1897. They were named
Frederick Summersgill Mitchell and Matthew Hawton Mitchell.( the
name Summersgill was Hannah’s mother’s maiden name and Hawton was
Brad’s mother’s maiden name)
Braddon’s diary has
an entry on 1st Sept 1897 ‘brought Annie and the boys home
from hospital’. This is the only reference to his wife or family in
the whole of his diary.
The name of the property was ‘Climsland
Park’ and this may have been given to it by William B. when they
first moved there to live, or by Brad after he had acquired all the
other shares and consolidated it into one property.
Following the birth of the twin
boys Fred and Hawton in July 1897, Brad and Annie had four
more children --- James Clifton , born 1899; Douglas
Harold, born 1901; Olive Rosa Muriel, born 12 Oct 1904 (my mother) ,
and Roy Braddon born 1906.
Brad and family lived and
worked the property through to about 1918.
In 1915 the twin boys Fred and Hawton
enlisted in the Army in August and were drafted into the 8th
Reinf. 24th Battalion in Dec. 1915 before sailing to Europe. They
arrived in Egypt in Jan 1916, where the A.I.F . was
recouperating after having been evacuated from Gallipoli in Dec.
1915. As reinforcements, the 24th Batt was transferred to the 8th
Battalion to bring it up to full strength again. (The story of the
8th battalion in WW1 is told in a book ‘Cobbers in Khaki’ by Ron
Austin published recently in the 1980’s)
On 27th March 1916 the 8th Battalion and
other Australian soldiers sailed for Marseilles and then on to the
battlefields of France. The 8th Battalion were engaged in the
opening battles of the new Allied push which began in late June.
Fred was wounded in action, transferred to hospital and died on 1st
July 1916. He was buried in Bailleul Cemetry. Hawton was also
engaged in the same opening battle as Fred, but was not aware that
Fred had died of wounds at that time. He did not learn about Fred
until 26th August when he was on leave and staying with his
relatives in Cornwall. He suffered from ear trouble in that early
fighting and in August ‘16 spent a time in a hospital in Warrington
England. During the rest of 1916, through 1917 and up to August
1918, Hawton was with the 8th Batt. in France with several leave
periods back to Cornwall as well as a few periods in hospital.
I have some of his letters written back
home and these show how sick and tired he was of the war.
In August 1918 the 8th Batt. were engaged
in the final attack by the Allied Armies which ultimately led to the
defeat of the German Army. The 8th Batt. were finally relieved from
the front line being exhausted after such a long campaign.
Unfortunately Hawton was wounded in action and died on 1st Sept ‘18
in 1st South African Hospital. He was buried in the Abbeville
Community Cemetry Extension, France.
In 1992 I obtained from
the Army War Records Office the Service Records of Fred and Hawton.
As well as giving details of their movements in France , the
documents include copies of their enlistment with the letters of
consent from their father Braddon. Also their are letters to the
Army from Braddon asking for details about Fred’s personal effects
after his death. It is also interesting to see the letters written
back to Braddon by the Army, which unfortunately were not able to
give him any more information. Fred’s
early death and the death of Hawton so near to the end of the war
weighed heavily on Braddon and may have contributed to his death
later in 1918.
During the war Braddon worked his
farm with the help of his next son Jim , who would have been about
16 or 17 when the twins went off to the war. In 1917 Braddon
had decided to move off his farm, and on his next visit to Melbourne
he looked for a house and eventually bought a home in New St.
Brighton. The reason for his decision to move off the farm is
not clear, but it is possible that Braddon’s health was one of
the factors, he suffered from diabetes and this could have prevented
him from being as active as he once was.
While Braddon was in Melbourne, his wife
Hannah asked Len and Ernie Mitchell if they were interested in
leasing Climsland Park when Braddon and his family moved to
Melbourne. The two brothers and their wives agreed to take on the
lease and presumably moved into the home on the property. Len and
Ernie were William’s sons, who since the death of their father in
1889, had probably grown up at William’s property ‘Whiteford’ near
Tallangatta, and possibly had been working the farm between up to
that time.
When Braddon
returned home from Melbourne, he held a Clearing Sale to sell off
all the farm equipment and chattels. This Sale was highly successful
as it attracted a large number of interested farmers from all round
the district. The family must have moved to Melbourne about mid
1917. At some time in 1918 when it seemed that the War might
be coming to an end Braddon began to plan for Hawton’s future when
he came home. Consequently he decided to buy a farming property at
Sunbury on the North-West outskirts of Melbourne. This property was
called ‘Goonawarra’, and was right next to a property owned by
Rupert Clark and is now called ‘Rupertswood’ . Muriel recalled that
it was a large home built in the generous traditions of that time,
and the land sloped down to a creek flowing through the property,
which allowed swimming during the hot summer. This property is
now a large vineyard and winery of the same name-Goonawarra. Of
course Braddon sold the Brighton home when they moved out to
Sunbury, which took place possibly in the autumn of 1818. This must
have been some what disruptive to the schooling of the children, as
they appear to have moved out to Sunbury with their parents. Muriel
was not unhappy to leave M.L.C. and presumably she went to a school
in Sunbury.
Unfortunately for
Braddon, Hawton was badly wounded in action at the end of August ‘18
and died of wounds on 1st Sept. after having had one leg amputated.
This was a great shock to Braddon, and his health deteriorated from
then on until he died a few days before or after Armistice Day,
11th. Nov.1918.
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