In search of Edinburgh Castle gold
…and a look at Burtville Cemetery
Visualise England’s Edinburgh Castle back in medieval times when bold knights fought with broadswords, slayed the odd dragon or two to keep their hand in, and were rewarded for their troubles with vast amounts of gold. There are many such stories, but this isn’t one of them. The Edinburgh Castle in my story is a dirty great big rock on the edge of the desert region of Western Australia where the old-time gold diggers earned their living.
Years ago, our “crew” secured tenure to a likely looking prospecting tenement at the old Edinburgh Castle diggings in the Mount Margaret goldfield of WA. The tenement bordered an old abandoned show named “Redeemed” that had a long history of very rich crushings. As our tenement boundary was at the southern end of the Redeemed workings and there was a large quantity of old-time shaker heaps on our block, we reckoned that the prospectors of that time were onto something given all the work that they’d put in. We thought that the gold would have either been shed from the Redeemed workings or hopefully, and this was what we had to find out, from our block.
The name of the Edinburgh Castle diggings no doubt originated from the shape of a large flat-topped rocky hill in the area that, if you try hard, resembles an old English castle. The hill can be seen on the horizon for miles. Other old workings in close vicinity to Edinburgh Castle are the Golden Ring, Edith Hope, Ophir, Sailor Prince and Rowena. All of these old shows have fantastic records of production. To reach Edinburgh Castle, a dirt road is taken from the south of Laverton and on through Mount Weld pastoral station. The actual diggings are further south from the station and can be readily identified when you are nearing them by the vast quantities of old dryblow and shaker heaps scattered about the countryside. These are a very good indication that surface gold had been found in the past.
Our first trip after gaining tenure was somewhat dampened when we found that someone had expertly gridded and detected our block. We later found out that an American fellow had gone through the whole area before our arrival and had left with a bundle of gold. At times when we weren’t on our lease detecting, we were on virgin country further out trying to find some ground that had been missed by the old timers.
Prior to one particular trip, old Jack was getting anxious to get away and decided to jump the gun by leaving three weeks before the rest of us. He planned to move around amongst his old prospecting haunts and then meet up with us at Edinburgh Castle on a given date. Three weeks later, Gary, Harold, Darrel and myself drove throughout the night and arrived at Jack’s camp about nine in the morning. We had been concerned about the weather on the way up as the sky was very overcast, but as it hadn’t rained for several years, we figured it was only a flash in the pan and would probably blow over.
Old Jack was glad to see us and to have someone to talk to. He was very sunburnt, very gaunt and looked like a bit like an Egyptian Mummy with the wrapping off. He had found some good gold and was eager to show us but before we had a chance to set up camp, it started to rain. It rained heavily for about an hour and turned the whole countryside into a quagmire. Jack was grabbing buckets, tubs and anything that would hold water so that he could replenish his water supply. When the rain stopped, we set up camp. There were scattered showers for a day or so afterwards, but it was that initial rain that made movement very difficult.
Darrel had found some nuggets on an ironstone and quartz shed on a previous trip and as the area he’d worked was close to camp, we decided to spend time there, at least until the ground dried out to enable us to move about. Gary was the first to pick up a nugget, followed by Darrel with three in a confined area. Darrel hadn’t been detecting long prior to that trip but he’d quickly picked up the knack of swinging a detector.
He decided to mark off a plot for “chaining” which is the usual thing to do when ground is found that has potential. By gridding the ground with a chain in tow, you can be assured that no area remains unscanned with the coil. This proved a good move by Darrel as he started picking up more nuggets. Old Jack also decided to mark off an area right at the end of where Darrel’s chain lines ended. Meanwhile Gary and I were doing a “wander” and hoping to jag onto some fresh ground. Harold didn’t have a detector at that time and had come along for the fresh air and sunshine which we hoped to have in a day or so. He spent his time walking and exploring in the nearby scrub.
The “remains” of Burtville cemetery
Old Jack took about an hour to remove all the rotted logs and debris from the area he planned to chain. He wasn’t taking any chances of losing a nugget because there was a log or something else in his way. He started detecting right at the end of Darrel’s chain line and had only walked a matter of a few feet when he locked onto a nice rounded nugget of about half an ounce that was lying on the surface beneath a small bush, not two feet away from Darrel’s last grid. “You know, I was going to chain another line but that bush was in the way,” Darrel sighed.
The ground began drying out after a couple of days which allowed us to start moving out a bit. A quick look around the old Sailor Prince workings didn’t raise much interest in the crew but further down the track we came to the old Rowena workings. Gary had seen an old shaft on the side of a hill prior to reaching these workings and decided to have a swing with his detector. He picked up a bright 3-gram, ribbon-shaped strip of gold that had apparently been part of a leader the old timers were onto.
“I bet this slipped through the wooden slats of the cart when they were loading it,” Gary said.
At Rowena, the monumental landmark of Edinburgh Castle can be seen about a mile further on. The Rowena workings are set near the base of a long line of breakaway country that is actually linked with the Edinburgh Castle mount. The dry blowing heaps at these workings were the largest and most concentrated I have ever seen. The old prospectors must have known their stuff as we couldn’t even raise a colour.
After leaving Rowena we went to the Edinburgh Castle mount which we climbed. The sight was breathtaking in all directions. To the east of the mount the true desert starts and there is very little in between where we were and the South Australia-Northern Territory borders.
Near the base of the mount we found a wooden structure that had been made from local bush wood and was very old. It was about 10 feet long and six feet wide and looked to have had a thatched roof at some stage. The ground within it appeared to have been dug and filled in at some time in the distant past. As we looked, it finally dawned on us that the structure was actually an old prospector’s grave which was set in such a fashion and at such an angle that the occupant, whoever he was, faced the Edinburgh Castle. Around the campfire one night Gary said, “Let’s go over and have a look at Burtville in the morning.” I had never been to Burtville before and the idea appealed to me. The usual access to this centre was from Laverton but the maps showed a track leading from Edinburgh Castle direct to Burtville. All we had to do was to find this track, or any track leading that way. Scouting around near Mallock Well the next morning, we found a faint track that led off the way we wanted to go and we knew Burtville was only about 10 miles distant, so we decided to give it a go. Several miles of pushing logs out of the way and removing overgrowth from the track, our path suddenly widened and after passing several old mining centres, we were at Burtville.
In its heyday, Burtville was one of the roughest, toughest, and richest mining centres in WA, with a peak population of around 400 in 1903. It is recorded as being the most violent of places with a larger list of unnatural deaths than any other town (see article at the end of this feature story). Many of the old mines of the area tended to reveal the nationalities and persuasions of the original miners, with mine names such as Carib, Savage Captain, Jerusalem, Craigiemore, Maori Chief, Rock of Ages and so forth.
Records show just how rich that ground was. The majority of mines averaged between two and four ounces per ton. A lot of the mines far exceeded this figure with their gold returns but unfortunately the gold was mostly in leaders which gave out at shallow depth. The eluvial gold from these leaders was the main target for the early diggers. Some of the rich mines and their average yield per ton over several years are: Treble Handed, which returned an average of 5.58 ounces of gold; Tempus 2.23 ounces; Nil Desperandum 2.58 ounces; Savage Captain 3.1 ounces; Maori Chief five ounces; Golden Bell 3.29 ounces and Karridale 2.29 ounces. Even the State Battery in its first two years of operation averaged 2.5 ounces per ton crushed over the plates. It was truly a very rich field.
On the day before we were due to leave for home, gold was very scarce. We were trying all likely spots with no result. Gary had just specked a tiny nugget when he declared that it was time to knock off. It had been a long day and we had all covered our share of ground. As I was walking back to the ute and about to switch my detector off, I heard a faint signal in a loamy patch of ground. There was very little rock in the ground or nearby and I thought the target was probably a bullet or lead shot. As I scratched away with my pick, the signal got louder and deeper and after about two minutes, I had accumulated quite a heap of dirt. This amused Old Jack who strolled over, “Digging to China?” he inquired. At the same time I placed a nice little flat 4-gram nugget into the palm of his hand. With the depth and intensity of the signal, I was hoping for at least a one ouncer but at least it allowed me to finish on a high. I later had that little gem made into a necklace for my wife.
BURTVILLE CEMETARY
How many graves there are in Burtville Cemetery is unknown. There are thought to be more than 30 but whatever the number, there were only 14 named burials. What makes this cemetery unique is the fact that of those 14 named burials, only three people died of natural causes. Two were infants and no cause was given for their deaths, while the only adult to die of natural causes was a 39-year-old Italian miner, Giovani Tellini, who it was said died as a result of a fatal heart attack and not from any injuries he suffered in his subsequent fall to the bottom of his mine shaft.
The causes of death of the 11 other members of the choir invisible were: one as a result of a lightning strike; one shot to death; four in mining accidents; and five as a result of suicide by placing dynamite in their mouths and blowing their heads off.
The first burial was that of William Massey, 57, on the 28th of October, 1901. His death was reported in the Laverton and Beria Mercury of Saturday 2nd November, 1901: “A shocking fatality occurred at the Cremorne mine, Burtville, at about 2.30 on Monday afternoon, whereby a man named William Massey lost his life under awfully sad circumstances. It appears that the deceased and his mate (Sam Milligan) were working tribute on the Cremorne. On the day of the accident Milligan, who always did the “shooting,” was away in Laverton, as witness on an assault case, consequently Massey continued working alone, the scene of operations being in a rise from the 20ft level, where stoping was in progress. At the time stated above, the men at the battery adjoining were startled by the report of a shot, immediately followed by a scream of agony. Rushing to the spot a distressing sight met their gaze. It would appear that after lighting the charge Massey made an attempt to reach the surface by drawing himself up with the aid of the timber, which towards the top was staked in, and the surmise is that they gave way and let loose about five tons earth, which jammed the deceased against the opposite wall, in close proximity to the charge, which immediately exploded. The upper portion only of the deceased was exposed, he being partially imbedded. When found he was conscious and said, “For God’s sake take me out of this, my leg’s blown off.” On being extricated, it was found that his left leg was simply blown to pieces. Medical assistance was sent for but deceased only survived the shock for about 10 minutes.”
The last man buried in Burtville Cemetery was Nicholas Moreton Tredennick on the 31st of October, 1932. He blew his head off with a stick of dynamite. He joined the four other suicides by the same means, they being Robert Archibald Grahame (1905), from Torquay, England, who had been living in Burtville for about six years and was known amongst his friends as “The Savage Captain”; Yorkshireman John Calvert Addingly (1907) who was reputedly a qualified doctor turned gold miner and was known as “The Doctor” locally; Scotsman Robert McCracken (1908), who arrived in WA about 1895 and was the manager of the Lady Loch Mine out of which he reportedly made about £20,000 pounds but managed to lose the lot; and John Thomas (1909), aged somewhere between 32 and 35, who had unsuccessfully mined for gold in the district for about 2½ years before deciding that the only option left was to blow his own head off. He had no known relatives.
The man who was killed by gunshot was 32-year-old Frederick Bond who was shot on the 27th of July, 1902, during an argument at a camp in Burtville, by his drinking companion, Charles Henry Wilkins, the manager of the Mikado GM. Bond was a single man who had been on the northern fields for about six years and in WA for 10 years. He had no known relatives. In September 1902, Wilkins was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months hard labour.
Life was cheap in those days.