Joseph Oldfield

[Donnie]

Hi all,

My great Grandfather William Ernest Oldfield and his brother Joe travelled to Australia in search of diamonds and gold at about the turn of the last century. William came home and left his brother there to keep searching........Joe was lost in the outback forever and was never seen again. Is there anyway i can find out more about Joe.......Anything really.

Many thanks, Donnie

[Tony Oldfield]

I have the same story, as told by Percy Oldfield
"Joe was a young man when he accompanied Dad to Australia to seek their fortune. On a trek to the Outback, they came across what they were convinced were raw diamonds which Dad tucked into the pockets of his waistcoat. Several days later, they were confronted by a fierce-looking hunting party of Aborigines. They tried to communicate using sign language, but the leader of this group kept pointing to Dad’s waistcoat. Hoping to use it as a piece offering, he took off the waistcoat and handed it to the Aborigine and the hunting party left. It was only several hours later Dad remembered that the diamonds were in the pocket of his waistcoat. Following their safe return to Sydney, Joe decided to try the Outback once more in search of gold or diamonds but Dad decided he’d had enough and returned to England. Regrettably, Joe went missing during this last venture into the Outback. Dad made several trips to Australia on the “Union Castle” ship as Bandmaster and although he advertised in all the Australian newspapers over a number of years for news of his brother, no trace of Joe was ever found."
I have a good family tree of William Ernest, please contact me for more information.
tony AT staircare DOT co DOT uk

[Kerrywood]

Hi Tony, and welcome to Brit-Gen :seeya:

Donnie hasn't visited the forums for a couple of years.

Hopefully he will be alerted to your post and will reply on this thread. If not, you can send him a private message or email by clicking his user name (in blue). Let's hope you can make a connection. :smile5: