adam storey - australia visit

[pejay]

hi there,
hoping someone will be able to help, this adam storey b. 1822 married an ann renner. went to australia in approx 1850 with a squire william watson, as his valet, not sure why - or how long they were there, maybe they got lucky and struck gold! they were apparently there for several months, adam storey was a fisherman, and apparently squire william watson wanted someone who knew the sea. but i know nothing else about this, i am not sure when australia had the goldrush i vaguely recall reading about it in my schooldays, very many years ago.

[Brian Turnbull]

The first gold was discovered near Orange in NSW in 1851. Later gold rushes were at Bendigo and Ballarat in Victoria in the latter part of 1850's 1860's.

[Procat]

Hi Pejay,

This may be a good overall view:

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/goldrush/

[pejay]

Hi there and thanks for the help, it all seems to look like they were indeed looking for gold! i wonder if they found it ?

[Procat]

Many did and of course many didn't.

Quite a lot made more money by charging exorbitant prices for goods sold to the miners than the miners made from gold.

The cost of labour went through the roof as so few remained as employees compared to the numbers that went to the fields.

In 1851 - 52 one third of the male adult population left Melbourne for the diggings.

See if you can get a book called The Roaring Days by Michael Cannon from the library. Tis a good read.

[pejay]

hi there,
thanks for advice i will try to get the book from the library, will continue and see if i can find out anymore about him, i am told that after his death he left his family comfortably off - whatever that means, so maybe he did find a bit of gold after all.