Gawler in the 1850s by John Smith
| Type of thing | story in the Bunyip |
| Date made or found | {{#set:Date approximate={{{Date approximate}}}}}1915
|
Bunyip 29.1.1915 p3 via Trove by Mick Vort-Ronald
GAWLER IN THE EARLY DAYS. MR. J. SMITH LOOKS BACK (to 1850s)
In a cottage in Gawler South there lives a man who is probably the oldest resident of Gawler. He has lived in the same house for 40 years, and came to the town 64 years ago, a good while before it earned the name of the Colonial Athens. It' s a long way to look back, but Mr. John Smith , for such is the name of the pioneer referred to , put on his considering cap last week at the request of "The Bunyip" representative, and it was wonderful what he could remember of Gawler Town over three score years ago. It was most interesting to watch him as memories chased each other when he unlocked the doors of long ago. His recollections of the early days would fill columns and columns and make most interesting reading, but as it is impossible to devote that space to the subject we will merely deal with Gawler Town as it was when Mr. Smith arrived in 1850.
Mr. Smith was 70 years of age last September, and it was 64 years ago on December 1 since he came to Gawler with his parents. "We lived in a butcher's shop on the site of Mr. Sheard's shop," said Mr. Smith. "The place was owned by Mr. John Reid, and we were the first tenants." Now, this Mr. Reid, known to young Smith in those days as "Old man Reid," was the owner of a sheep ran which extended practically from Murray street to Cockatoo Valley, and out as far as Mr. James McDonald's farm on the Sheoak Log road and embraced Willaston, including what is now the Willaston Cemetery.
Murray Street in 1850.
"I suppose you can't remember much of Gawler then," was the question put to Mr. Smith.
"Oh, yes I can," he said. "That was the time when Murray street was a mudhole." That started the veteran, and he needed no prompting afterwards. He seemed to enjoy his reminiscences as much as the interviewer.
Murray Street, it appears, was part of the main road from the Burra to Adelaide, and was extensively used for carting copper and goods. Like any other country road that has not been metalled, it naturally got badly cut up at times, and Mr. Smith has many a time seen the bullock drays stuck in the mud in the middle of it, and the teamsters having to "double bank" to pull out a load of copper.
At the north end of the street, where the rise is now, there used to be quite a stiff hill, through which a cutting was afterwards made, as the height of the cemetery indicates.
Running across the main street, almost at the corner of the cemetery, there was a creek. which crossed the Lyndoch road where the Freemason's Hall now stands. Not many yards further on was another, which cut a passage across from about the site of the present Foresters' Hall. This one was a continuation of the gully south of the Hutchinson Hospital on East Terrace. These two creeks, which were five or six feet deep, emptied into the flat at the back of the Old Bushman Hotel, and which was then nothing but a lagoon, on which Mr. Smith has often seen ducks shot. There was yet another creek across Murray street and that was at the other end. It ran through that deep gully in Mr. Martins property, and flowed down through the Globe Hotel yard into the river.
Adelaide to Gawler.
The present luxurious mode of motor car travelling from the city contrasts strongly with the method that obtained in the days we are speaking about. A two-wheeled mail cart, drawn by a pair of horses, used to make three trips a week, and the fare for passengers was 30s. each way. Of course, there were no metal roads, and the journey could take a whole day in the wet weather. Passengers had to pay their fare before they started, and if the vehicle got stuck — well, the males would have to walk the rest of the way. Later on a sort of American bus, drawn by four horses, took the place of tbe two-wheeler.
Buildings in Murray Street.
There were not many houses and shops in Gawler Town then, but what were here were nearly all on the two sides of Murray street. Starting from the north end on the western side, Mr. Smith said it was all open country from the Old Bushman Hotel, a wattle and daub shanty, down to the site of the present Beehive Stores, where there was a butcher's shop, kept by A Mr. Webster. The Gawler Arms, which was the next building, was a small shanty, kept by Mr. Bassingwhite, whose widow the late Hon. James Martin subsequently married. In between the Gawler Arms and their own shop (Sheard's) were three little shops — a barber, a painter, and a tinsmith. Mr. Christopher Cox, father of Mr. W. H. Cox, was the painter, Mr. Searle the barber, Mr. Hardy the tinsmith. Then below Smith's butcher's shop there were three more — a baker, a bootmaker, and another. Mr. Smith could not remember who kept these, but thought a man named Aggarty was the bootmaker.
Next came the three little shops where Wilson Bros. now carry on their butchering business. One was a saddler and another a chemist. Where the National Bank is situated there used to stand Ward's blacksmith's shop. Then came Harris' Gawler Stores, which were very much smaller than the present up-to-date establishment. On the same site as Mr. Dean's shop there stood Gozzard's bakery, which was also the Gawler post office. On the opposite corner, where the Implement Co is, were Billy Chamber's old mail stables. This is an historic spot, for it was on a portion of the stable premises that Mr. (afterwards the Hon.) James Martin started as a blacksmith in Gawler. Continuing down the street there was a small shop. Mr. Smith thinks, where Mr. Norman T. Lee has one now. The Globe Hotel was there, a four roomed house, with a little bit of a bar. The only other buildings on that side of the street were two shops, somewhere about where Mr. J. Rogers is now, and two stone cottages right on the corner of the turn.
The Eastern Side
Coming up on the other side, Mr. Smith remembers Fotheringham's brewery on the site of the Commercial Hotel, with Munro's ginger beer factory in place of the Union Bank. Then Allen and Mankey had a blacksmith's shop where Mr. Laycock's establishment is. Mrs. Beadle owned a lolly shop on the site of the Savings Bank, and the only other building on that side of Calton Road was Smith's the cooper. That was situated just about where the Oddfellows Hall is now. The next place was the original Old Spot Hotel (on the site of Mrs. Wilson's Refreshment Rooms). It was built partly of stone and partly of wood and mud. Mr. Calton was the proprietor, and to get into the bar one had to go down three steps off the side of the road. On the site of the Institute Mr. F. F. Turner practised as a solicitor, and had a residence. It was in this office that Mr. W. R. Lewis served his articles. A lolly shop occupied the next block, and then there were no more buildings till the Prince Albert Hotel, another little shanty. There were only two more shops between that and the cemetery.
The Surroundings.
Gawler South at this time consisted of about half a dozen houses, and was comprised of Crown Lands, which the late Mr. Geo. Warren surveyed. Willaston belonged almost entirely to Mr. John Reid, but the Willaston Hotel was there. Gawler East was destitute of houses, except for Canon Coombs' residence up near the hospital and Dr. Cotter's three roomed house in High street (next to Mr. Greens). In Jacob street there were two or three little old pine houses, while Church Hill boasted of four or five houses. The original Church of England was standing, and where the St. George's tennis courts are now situated was the public school. Mr Moss was the schoolteacher, and he was followed by Mr. L. S. Burton who subsequently started a private school. The Methodists used to meet in the building across the road from the present church, and the Catholics had a small church where the present one stands.
There were no halls or public buildings, and the Oddfellows and Foresters met in a room at the Old Bushman Hotel. Mr. Smith remembers three bridges over the South Parra. The first one was made of rough logs, but the two subsequent ones were of iron and steel. On the site of the Union Mill Mr. Harrison had a tanyard, which he afterwards turned into a flourmill. He subsequently went to Turretfield, and then to Port Adelaide. Referring to Mr. Calton of the Old Spot Hotel, Mr. Smith said that he went to the Victorian diggings afterwards, and his first wife's father helped to bury him, using two sheets of bark as a coffin. Gawler town had two policemen, Sergeant Richards and another. The former later went in for baking, and died in the town.
Personal
Mr. Smith himself was butcher boy for his father at the start but afterwards worked for the late Mr. Wilson, father of the present Wilson Bros. It was about 46 or 47 years ago that he started on the bones and bottle business, and he has been connected with it ever since. He has had some good times during that period, and has made up to £20 a week at the business. Incidentally, Mr Smith claims to have been the first man from Gawler to go to the Barossa Diggings, and brought in the first specimen of gold from Spike Gully. He purchased the home he lives in from Mr. Thomas Beadwall (grand father of the present generation). Mr. Smith has been married twice, and his first wife had 15 children, of whom only five are living. He was married the second time comparatively recently and has two young children. His oldest son is 47 years of age and his youngest 7 months.
References
Memories of Gawler in the 1850s by John Smith
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