In the collection of the State Library of Victoria Accession No : H35244 (accessioned about 1900)
This photograph, often reproduced, appears to be of Chinese miners on their way to the diggings at Fiddlers Creek, also known as Percydale, near Avoca, Victoria. It is said to have been taken at Newstead, near Castlemaine.
The style of the coach suggests that the photograph is from the 1860s.
Cobb and Co. coaches from about 1863 set off from Castlemaine when the Melbourne train arrived. They went through Newstead, Carisbrook, Maryborough, Avoca, Percydale, Moonambel, Barkly, Red Bank, Landsborough, Amphitheatre, Eversley, Ararat, Pleasant Creek (Stawell).
The Melbourne curator and historian Sophie Couchman has written about the photograph and its various interpretations.
Post 5 indicates the former coach stop.
In the 1860s Percydale had two butchers, a hay and grain store, two hotels, a blacksmith, a dress shop, three banks, two grocers and a Chinese shop. Two churches, Cobb & Co. coach and horse yard, a post office and a police station next to the Temperance Hall. The Chinese population lived south of Fiddler’s Creek, tended market gardens and mined there for gold.
See also
- Couchman, S. (2020, October 22). Cobb & Co coach dilemmas: Challenges posed by photographs and Chinese Australian history in the networked environment. Sophie Couchman. https://sophiecouchman.com/2020/10/22/cobb-co-coach-dilemmas-challenges-posed-by-photographs-and-chinese-australian-history-in-the-networked-environment/
- Chinese-Australian Historical Images in Australia. (2012, February 24). Chinese-Australian historical images in Australia. Latrobe University (archived website). https://www.chia.chinesemuseum.com.au/objects/D000725.htm
