'Memory' is a piece of fiction, inspired by a visit to Gulgong in NSW.
MEMORY
My memory plays
tricks. Can’t always remember what I did yesterday, or, sometimes, this
morning, but I can remember things from my childhood! They tell me its age.
I was ninety two
last birthday! They look after me well here. Meals are good, even if they are a
bit mushy. Just as well, my teeth don’t handle food like they used to.
Somebody’s
coming!
“Hello Pop!”
Its little
Janey. She’s not so little now; going to the university.
“I’ve bought you
some chocolate, Pop. Are you up to talking with me for a little while?”
She’s a lovely
girl. Knows I like a bit of chocolate. It’s one of the few pleasures that I
have now.
“Are they still
looking after you, Pop?” She straightens
the blanket over my knees and wheels me to the bench seat that overlooks the
lawn and the flower beds.
She sits on the bench and takes a
writing pad out of her bag. She looks very smart, my little granddaughter.
“I have to do a
university project on an item of family history. I was hoping that you could
tell me the story about your grandfather. The one who came to Gulgong with his
family in the gold rush days.”
That would be
your great-great-grandfather, my grandpa Jed. I can remember my father telling
the story on a cold winter evening while we huddled around the fire in the parlour,
after dinner.
It was eighteen seventy when gold
was found at Red Hill in Gulgong. Jed was thirteen years old when his dad,
Luke, was one of the first to hear of the find. He loaded up his cart with a
tent, his mining tools and kitchen equipment. His wife, Elsie and young Jed sat
on the folded tent behind the driver’s seat and they set off from the worked
out lease at Hill End.
Luke was one of the first to stake a
claim on a lead close to Red Hill. Jed worked along with his dad, digging and
carting the mud and rocks to the washer-box. His mum worked around the tent.
She started a garden and put up some small fences to keep out the wandering
animals. They did really well in the first two years. Found lots of gold that
they sold to the agents who came round the gold fields every month.
When that lead was worked out, Luke
wanted to shift camp. By now, there were thousands of men in and around the
area, all with high hopes of finding gold. One evening, as they sat in the
tent, just before bed-time, Elsie spoke;
‘We have a tidy
sum of money in the bank, why don’t we settle down and build a house. We don’t
have to go chasing more gold!’
There was an
almighty row. Jed sided with his mum. He was now fifteen and was sweet on a
girl from one of the shops in town. He didn’t want to move.
The result was that Jed would stay
with Elsie in Gulgong and Luke would continue his search for gold. It was in
his blood. He didn’t know anything else.
Elsie put a claim on a block of land
in Medley Street and Jed, along with a hired hand, built a substantial timber
framed house. The walls were clad with weather boards and it was roofed with
corrugated iron. Elsie and Jed moved in and rented out the back room to a
couple of miners who were working a lead nearby.
The money in the bank was earning a
bit of interest and Luke’s regular requests for cash were moderate. Elsie
realised that the boarders in the back room made a reasonable contribution to
the household, especially when they asked if Elsie could supply them with
meals.
Young Jed was
now approaching twenty years old and wanted to marry his sweet heart. Elsie sat
with him and they discussed several possibilities. After a long evening of
talking, they came up with a plan to extend the house to include another four
bedrooms, a sitting room and dining room. Then Elsie could run it as a proper
boarding house.
Jed drew up the
plans the next day. The Council was not as strict as they are today! So he
registered the plans and started on the building. He found the bloke who helped
him before and offered him a job again. Before Elsie’s house was complete, Jed
was approached by a man wanting to settle in Gulgong who asked Jed to build him
a house. Jed told him that he would start as soon as his mum’s house was
finished. The man agreed and they settled on a price.
Two months
later, as Jed was putting the final touches to the man’s house, the local
butcher came to see him. Jed knew him and knew that he was working out of a temporary
building, made of timber poles, clad with bark, under a corrugated roof. The
butcher wanted a more substantial building. He had bought the block next door
and asked Jed to build him a weatherboard shop.
Well, as you can
imagine, Jed liked the work and agreed a price with the butcher. He decided to
hire another man to help build the butcher’s shop. The next building that Jed
put up was a brick structure. Bricks were being made in Sydney and had to be
carted over the mountains. This made him think. He had another talk with Elsie.
The upshot was that she lent him the money to start a brickworks.
As time went by
Jed married his sweetheart, Alice. He also became the first full-time builder
in town and was part owner, with Elsie, of the only brickworks west of Sydney.
Janey, it’s
getting a bit cool out here now the sun’s gone, can we move?
“Pop, that’s a
great story! I’ve got enough for my project and it’s time for your tea. Come
on, I’ll take you inside!”
