There’s gold in ’em hills
Gold! Today, a Mineral Resources Tasmania researcher sent me a copy of this 1879 survey map showing John Ellis’s 10-acre lease in Salisbury Gorge at the south end of the Cabbage Tree Range, at Brandy Creek in the West Tamar…
Tin mines
The Cornish have mined tin for at least 2,500 years from the time of the Bronze Age. In modern times, the technology developed by the Cornish was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. They were expert in designing and…
Currency lads and lasses
The first generation of children born of convicts in the Australian colony were called 'currency lads and lasses' to distinguish them from the free settlers (Sterlings) who were born in the British Isles. Tasmanians have played down the achievements of…
The Anson
My maternal 2nd great grandmother, Bess, received a death sentence in the Old Bailey. At length, her sentence was commuted to transportation for life. On arrival in Sullivan’s Cove in Hobart Town, she was taken to the prison hulk The…
St Just in Penwith
I’ve traced my paternal ancestry to 1705 with discernable roots back to 1555. Some were farmers, some were miners. Many were both. They mined tin around St Just in Penwith, near Lands End in the far South West of Cornwall.…
