I will now endeavour to record what I can of my great grand father, born and brought up in England during the first half of the 1800's.
This was a time in England when children at an early age were still being required to work hard and long hours, child labour was commonly used in the dark and dirty coal pits, it was common for the wives to work at the spinning wheel while their men folk were working up to fifteen hours a day and earning just enough for the bare necessities in life, and while the huge land lords were making more money than they could possibly use.
These were the prevailing circumstances during the childhood days of of my great grandfather George Williams.
King George the third died in the same year that my great grand father was born, 1820. George would have lived in England during the reign of King George the fourth and later queen Victoria.
In the year 1847 Britain was hit by one of it's worst economic depressions in history, when bad harvest coincided with a business slump after the boom in railway building.
George Williams had married Elizabeth Davies (Born 6pm 10/1/1825) at Parish of Leeds county of Yorke, the daughter of William Davies at Leeds on the 17th May 1846 and both were I believe of only small means and so I believe would have suffered considerably by the poor state of the English economy, the unbalanced disproportion of wealth and the discouragement of trade unions by the anti-working class governments at the time.
Maybe this is why George and his wife were prompted to seek adventure in Australia.
Lets now just turn back again to the events in Britain at this time.
Karl Marx was living in London, Henry Ford father of the great Ford Motor empire was to leave Ireland in 1847, Charles Don who was to make political history in Australia was born in the year that George Williams was planning to migrate to Australia.
According to history 1851 was a year of peace in Europe, George was quick to seize the opportunity to leave a land hard hit by poor economic conditions to seek adventure elsewhere.
What schooling George received we do not know, but because of the humble conditions under which he was brought up we could well imagine it to have been limited.
However, I believe that George would have learned of Sir Frances Drake and other adventurers who set sail from Plymouth and so desired adventure for himself, his time came on the 25th August 1851, almost 118 years before the historic adventures of the 1960's when man set foot on the moon.
George and Elizabeth would have left Gloucestershire in August 1851 arriving at Plymouth the great port of adventure, boarding the sailing ship "Hydaspes" of 595 tons, with their two small children and Georges younger brother John, said goodbye to England forever and set sail for the vast adventurous country of the south seas AUSTRALIA.
Not a lot is known of their voyage other than that the Williams family aboard the sailing ship Hydaspes with captain Arthur Hole enjoyed a fine passage and generally fine weather and their course took them further south than the latitude of Kerguelein Island. It is believed that on this voyage the passengers were given rations and then required to do for themselves. It is also known that the passengers experienced a serious out break of Whooping - cough resulting in the deaths of four adults and seven children.
However George Williams the adventurer and family were able to come through all this and arrive safely at Port Adelaide on the 27th November 1851, right into one of Australia's' biggest mining booms in history. The Williams brothers were not to miss this opportunity. At this time the convicts were still arriving in Australia. It was the year of the great exhibition in London, and over there in America Abraham Lincoln was planning his rise to power.
The Williams family arrived in their new country as assisted government emigrants no 10938, describing themselves as agricultural labourers of Gloucestershire and their embarkment order showing that the voyage was made at a cost to them of one pound each with children travelling free, only in cases of large families were children's fares required, so this did not apply to the Williams family. The cost to passengers paying the full fare was seventeen pounds.
Further research reveals that their residence prior to migration was at Hay Lane Horsley, about six miles south of Stroud Gloucestershire, the same home that had been occupied by Georges' parents and also his grandmother.
After landing at Port Adelaide George Williams and family moved to "Cheltenham Cottages" I understand these cottages were built principally of mud and straw in 1849, and stood facing the spot were the Cheltenham cemetery now lies, were many of George and Elizabeth's' descendants were laid to rest in the years that followed. It was here that George and Elizabeth with their young family were to first set up home in Australia.
George was a bearded, hard working man, strong willed and fearless, these marks are only to evident as we trace the movements of this adventurer. Elizabeth on the other hand was known to be the refined type, proved to be a brave and true pioneer of their adopted country Australia.
It was in this home at Cheltenham that Elizabeth was to spend many lonely months together with her young family while George was seeking his fortune on the Victoria gold fields.
It would have been in this home the George and his brother John would have conferred together before embarking on yet another adventure by seeking gold at Bendigo.
It was also here at Cheltenham (Although not in the same home) that my grandfather Charles was born, and seventy two years later was laid to rest on almost the same spot.
George and John Williams the adventurers together with several other men, believed to be a gang of eight decided now to put into effect their ideas of striking it rich in their new land and so set forth for Bendigo in search of the precious metal Gold, and so George was to join in one of the greatest gold rushes in history, it was a rush that was to empty both Melbourne and Geelong of it's entire male population, prospective miners were pouring into the gold fields from all parts of the world, 17,000 South Australians alone were said to have left their homes to seek their fortune in Victoria, most of whom were induced to return and spend their earnings on the land, George was one of these.
Let us now remember that at this time there was no made roads, no public conveyances, or railways, very few horses and these animals were at a prohibited price that George would not have been able to purchase one of these, and so there was no other choice but to walk], so thus George did, not once but twice on both occasions walking there and back. However, between the gang they were able to obtain a bullock and dray.
Now let us consider the dangers of their journey, George and his men were required to pass through, mile after mile of dense unsettled scrub land with no made roads., tracks having to be cut in many places, guided by the rising and setting of the sun, passing by many uncivilised natives ready to fight and kill, indeed George was to have experiences with the Australian natives in the years that followed, not to forget the danger of bushrangers, of which George and his gang were later to encounter.
George and his men were well aware of these dangers, so took measures to over come them. George and his gang left Adelaide with all their belongings whatever they may have been, picks, shovels, bedding ect, loaded into their bullock dray and the gang walking along side, armed with their old muzzle loading guns and in this way made for and reached Victorian gold fields and bach again. As I said but not once but twice a distance of approximately 380 miles each way, but not without an encounter with the feared and hated bushrangers. These men would have had to rely on what they could catch for food but this would not have poses any great problem for the men, for we could imagine plenty of animal and bird life about at that time.
As they would have neared the gold fields and we might say came to the more civilised country many strange sights would have met there eyes, for at this time great numbers were heading for the same destination. Many Chinese had joined in the great rush, by 1858, 53,000 Chinese alone were said to be on the gold fields.
These Chinese on the road to the diggings became a familiar and curious sight with their loosely hanging jumpers and trousers, slippers turned up at the toes, umbrella like hats and long bamboos on their shoulders suspending their rice bags, tin dishes etc.
Now let us just picture George and his men as then neared the great gold fields of Bendigo, the bullock dray laden with goods, men with long flowing beards, and with thoughts of returning with a fortune, walking through the seven mile long row of shops, boarding houses etc in this great city of Bendigo with a population of 40,000 people in 1852, George was one of many.
Now let me point out that George and his gang would have been on the gold fields during the "Eureka Stockade Uprising" in the nabouring gold fields of Ballarat.
George no doubt encounted many experiences during his time on the gold fields, especially when we think of the many types that he would have come up against. However, George Williams the adventurer was not to spend his efforts in vain, just how much of this precious metal was to come his way we do not know, but we have evidence that George did return with some of this gold for which he set out to find.
Ned Kelly the bushranger, robber and murderer was born in this decade, George and his men of course were not to meet the Kelly gang, but they were not to escape a hold up for on this return trip to Adelaide they were exact spot unknown, but believed to be about midway out of the bush appeared masked horsemen and at the point of guns the Williams' were ordered to drop all guns and while some of the horse men held them covered other carefully searched through their belongings, through their clothing, from some of them a few coins were taken, but the prize of the Bendigo diggings they did not find, and as quickly as they had appeared they disappeared leaving George and his men to reload their goods.
George new of these dangers, he would have heard of the experiences of others who had made the same journey, he would have realised that no one could expect to return from the gold fields without contact with this type of men and so George and his gang had carefully hidden their precious metal in a hole they had drilled for this propose in the heavy wooded axle of their dray.
However as a result of his adventures in Victoria he was able to purchase and later resell a number of allotments including a dwelling in the Cheltenham area.
It was in the year 1856 that George was able to fulfil what was probable his lifelong ambition, he was able to take up and farm his own land.
In this year, George, his wife Elizabeth and young family boarded their bullock dray which he had purchased from his gold returns, together with James Ferries and family whom George had befriended at a cattle sale, headed south east over the mount Lofty Ranges, not looking for gold but for the land that had been allotted to them.
George Williams the man of adventure had now embarked on yet another adventure, for after several days of travelling George and Elizabeth and family reached their destination about seven miles from were the small town of Callington now stands and about 40 miles from Adelaide. The Ferries reached their destination first which became known as "Red Creek" about two miles from the Williams settlement. The Williams' consisted of about 106 acres of uncleared land, purchased from the crown at a cost of 156 pounds. It was on this land that George was to make his mark in South Australia, and here just a few years hence that George was to meet with an early death.
He left the farm life in Gloucestershire to seek adventure in Australia and adventure he found. It is believe
that George was born near Horsley which is near to the Welsh border, so one would assume that George would
have spent his childhood days on a farm at Horsley.
Georges selection of land at Callington is still know as "Williams Hill" or "Hill Farm" it was here that the
Williams' family cleared the land literally carving their farm out of the scrub with an axe, spurred on by the
thoughts of what it would produce for them in the future.
Of course they were to first build for themselves a small cottage built of the stones collected from the land they
cleared. The remains of this cottage still remains (1972) and as I think of this home that housed my great
grandparents in the previous century the thought comes to me that in this home many times would those
parents have told their children including my grandfather of their life in England, their voyage abroad the
sailing ship Hydaspes, and of their experiences since, the very stories that we are trying to record today.
It was here in this home that Elizabeth and her young family had to stay alone while George on many occasions
walked back over the ranges to Adelaide for supplies. It was Alice (Sister to my grandfather) who passed down
the story of how on these occasions they would hang Georges coat outside the door so that the natives would
think he was home.
Maybe I could just mention here that these were the days when all the known gullies in the Lofty Ranges became a hazard for any one who dared to pass that way alone, for it was this area that was infested with cattle duffing gangs, men who would drive cattle into gullies , cattle that they had stolen from some unfortunate settler, slaughter them and then sell the carcasses to incoming ships.
George must have passed this these parts many times, how he was able to do so we do not know, it has been suggested that he could have been working in with them, this of course has only been a suggestion, I leave it to you !
On the 10/11/1865 George is recorded as having purchases an 1/4 acre allotment in the township of Callington at a cost of twelve pounds.
It was back at the farm at Callington that George on the 23rd March 1866 while using explosives to blast out an under ground tank adjoining the home, George Williams the man of adventure, due to a premature explosion, received fatal injuries and passed from this life at "Hill Farm" the following day 24/3/1866.
The body of George was laid to rest shortly after in the Callington cemetery, a tomb stone was erected with the inscription.
-SACRED-
TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE WILLIAMS
LATE OF "HILL FARM" WHO DIED
24TH MARCH, 1866
AGE 46 YEARS
It was on the 14/6/1971 that together with my wife Colleen and children, Trevor and Patricia, uncle Fred and cousin Robert, I visited the small township of Callington and was able to view in the old part of the Callington cemetery the tombstone erected over the grave of my great grand father still in good condition and the inscription clear.
After Georges death Elizabeth was to continue at Hill Farm assisted by the older children and nabours, until the year 1879 when the farm was sold.
From there Elizabeth was to move to Fullarton, a suburb of Adelaide with her two youngest daughters Eliza and Ellen who died at a comparatively early age, 18 years and 22 years respectively, and from here she moved to Minlaton to live with her youngest son Joseph.
It was here that Elizabeth became known far and wide as "Gran" she became active in church work within the church of England, and as a result on the 24th July 1912 Gran was chosen to lay the foundation stone of the church manse.
It was here at Minlaton that she was to remain until her death on the 6th October 1919, and was laid to rest in the Minlaton cemetery.
It was on the 11th of October 1971 that again together with my wife and two children we visited the grave of my great grandmother (Alone side that of her son Joseph) over which has been erected a tombstone which I found in good condition, clearly inscribed with the following words-
-GRAN-
IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF ELIZABETH WILLIAMS
DIED OCTOBER 6TH, 1919 AGED 94 YEARS
ALL PENSIVE MEMORIES AS WE JOURNEY ON
LONGING OF VANISHED SMILES AND VOICES GONE.
Children from this union were:
Born in England.
Phoebe Agnes (Mrs Ferries), James William,
Photos HERE of the ruins of the Williams Farm cottage
Born in Australia.
George Henrey, Joseph, Charles, Alice Kerural (Mrs Hanton),
Eliza (Born 1/12/1861 & died 24/2/1880) Ellen (Born 12/10/1865 & died 8/2/1887)
George Williams. 1820 - 24/4/1866.
