 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
and his family some accommodation. Even if Richard had no job to go to, there would have
been no problem obtaining work in the town. Geelong was still in some confusion, as
immigrants, settlers and diggers ebbed and flowed. The finding of gold near Ciunes in June 1851
and then at Buninyong south of Ballarat and but 50 miles from Geelong, had led to some 2,500
people abandoning their new homes and livelihoods in Geeiong and heading for the gold-fields.
Said The Advertiser. 'In some of the suburban villages the male population has almost
completely disappeared.'
Although many had returned,, some to spend their earnings in riotous living, the town that would
be Richard's home for much of the next 12 years was still in a state of social flux.
In 1853, according to Ian Wynd in Geelong - The Pivot: 'Wages were three to four times as
high as in 1851, and employers boarded the ships before disembarkation seeking suitable
employees. An immigration depot was established with quarters at Point Henry, in Geelong, and
on a hulk moored in the bay. A staff of nine was employed in looking after the new arrivals. To
cater for all these newcomers, boarding-houses and hoteis proliferated. In 1852 there were 22
boarding-houses and 82 hotels and taverns.'
Geelong's population doubled in the first two years of the gold-rush, rising to 16,000 in 1853.
Richard and his family were but five among the thousands who poured into Geelong that year.
Did William go to meet his son and Richard's wife and children? How did he know they had
arrived?
There must have been a system that announced the approach and arrival of every ship. Their
approach may have been noted by a signal-station on Indented Head. Certainly the moment the
pilot went on board to bring a ship to Point Henry, her name was known and would have been
communicated to the shore. Notices, chalked on slate perhaps at the Customs House or Steam
Packet Wharf in Geelong, would have announced the Banker's Daughter's arrival.
Did William ride out with a dray to collect his son's family and their baggage? Possibly he did,
and to help them financially. For immigrants, as we have seen, were unprepared for the soaring
costs of transport and commodities occasioned by the gold-rush.
It was the start of the Australian spring: the weather was mild; flowers bloomed; the grass was
green. Three years had passed since William had emigrated and six since Richard's marriage in
Gretna Green. In the interim William may never have seen his son, whose itinerant work had
taken him to the north of England and to Scotland. He may never have met Richard's wife, nor
As if to mark this family reunion, a significant and grand event took piace in Geeiong a fortnight
or so after Richard's family arrived.
The colony's Governor, Charles La Trobe, came to Geelong, and set his seal on the town's
importance and ail the progress being made by laying the foundation stone of the Geelong
Railway Station on 20 September 1853. At the same time the first turf was cut in the ground for
a railway line to Melbourne.
An open-air banquet, free to all, followed the ceremony. Thousands joined in the celebrations.
Among them, marvelling at the crowds, banners and flags, the bands, the food and drink, were
surely the two Honeycombe families, all 10 of them, their West Country accents mixing with the
other English, Scottish, Irish dialects and voices all around them. It was all very odd. For this
was Australia. But among such a polyglot crowd, unfettered and gainsome, they must have feit
almost at home.
 |