In 1860 Lamplough was more than a gold rush: it was a town that appeared almost overnight. In December 1859 thousands of people arrived within weeks, bringing with them not only picks and cradles but also theatres, churches, sporting traditions, newspapers, libraries, and all the social institutions of everyday life.
One of the few personal recollections comes from former carrier John Chandler, who visited the rush in its early days and wrote about it more than thirty years later. What remained in his memory were three things: the dust, the grog, and the wickedness. The dust, he claimed, reached halfway up the axle of his dray; a glass of sour beer cost a shilling; and every man was “a law unto himself”. Other contemporary observers similarly complained of drunkenness, fighting, and the extraordinary number of grog shanties that lined the settlement. Lamplough briefly was known as the “Shanty Rush”.
The community quickly became more settled. Commercial Street was gravelled to reduce the dust, banks and businesses opened their doors, surveyed streets appeared, and the town acquired its own newspaper, the Lamplough Advertiser. By the beginning of 1860 it had a police camp, a Warden’s office, and a post office handling thousands of letters and newspapers.
The Christmas sports held behind the Clare Castle Hotel in January 1860 attracted thousands of people. There was wrestling, racing, shooting competitions, dancing, and the traditional contests of the Cornish miners who had made their way to the district from the copper mines of South Australia.
Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser (Vic. ), Wednesday 4 January 1860, page 2
This morning the ground presents indescribable disorder among the miners; some unprincipled men, fancying that on account of some of the claims not having been worked during the Christmas holidays such claims are jumpable, have gone to work in earnest, and the greatest disturbance that one could well fancy exists, the original claimholders insisting on their just rights, and the jumpers obstinately adhering to their prize. The miners are exuberant spirits, and, judging from the jollity of their manners during the holidays, they must have unbounded faith in their prospects here. Yesterday was a great day for sports.
On a lively wood-covered spot, at the back of Clare Castle, Christmas sports were carried on with great spirit.
The United States, the Argyle Rooms, the Imperial, and Prince of Wales hotels, had their stands there, and reaped a fine harvest. There were platforms erected for the dancers of various classes; six detachments of musicians; and everything calculated to make the assembled miners feel "glorious o'er all the ills of life victorious." The pig was there, as usual, and our cousins from Cornwall tumbled one another much to our amusement. There were at least four thousand miners on the ground, and the sports were to be continued this day and to-morrow.
Entertainment flourished. Two substantial theatres—the Theatre Royal and the Garrick—competed for audiences, while dancing rooms, musicians, and sporting events provided diversion from the uncertainties of mining life.
Most residents lived in tents or rough slab huts. Fire remained a constant danger in the crowded streets. Families shared the hardships of life on the diggings alongside single miners, and when new discoveries drew people elsewhere, entire households moved together. In December 1860 one observer described carts loaded with “tents, stores, wives, and children” leaving Lamplough for the new rush at Mountain Creek.
Life was not entirely devoted to gold or grog. The town supported circulating libraries, while several hotels stocked books and magazines for their patrons. The diary of R. E. Johns, Assistant Clerk of the Lamplough Petty Sessions, records quieter pursuits: long walks to Avoca, carving and whittling, hunting possums, target shooting, and endless games of chess, whist, piquet, and écarté with friends.
A clergyman delivering an open air sermon to a group of onlookers in the midst of the diggings. A drunken man is offering him a pipe. On the edge of the group a man seems to be demonstrating a card trick.
State Library of Victoria Accession No : H5380/1
Religion also found a place amid the noise and bustle. Itinerant preachers addressed large crowds, though not always with lasting success—one unfortunate speaker lost much of his audience when a nearby foot race began. Catholic, Wesleyan, and Anglican congregations all established a presence, with iron chapels and Sunday schools appearing almost as quickly as stores and hotels.
Lamplough’s growth proved short-lived, but for a brief period in 1860 it developed beyond a temporary mining camp.
No photographs or sketches appear to have survived, but the surviving accounts give us a picture of the rush documented more comprehensively by Denis Strangman in his 1987 article.
Related posts and further reading
- Strangman, Denis (1987). “The Goldrush to Lamplough, near Avoca in Victoria, Australia during 1859-1860”. Avoca and District Historical Society; first published Familia, journal of the Ulster Historical Foundation (Vol 2 No 3 1987 pps 3-21).
- Lamplough name index compiled by Denis Strangman: over 3,000 names associated with Lamplough
- Commemorating the Lamplough Rush
- Lamplough’s 1859 Gold Rush
- Deaths on the Lamplough gold field
