The Holtermann Collection

Hill End in 1872 was a gold town at its peak. According to the Empire 7 June 1872, "The streets were thronged by a motley crowd; the stores and places of business crowded with customers; the little theatre so densely packed by an admiring audience, that there was not what is facetiously called 'standing room,' and even the public-houses, whose name is legion, were crammed. Yet I saw less, far less, drunkenness than can be met with in any street in the metropolis after 10 o'clock at night. There were very few inebriates, no filthy dishevelled women, no crouching loafers, no abject vice. The general aspect of the crowds of decently dressed folk who thronged 'The Hill' was that of respectability - rough indeed in many respects, and loud and noisy too, in some instances, but not disreputable, and altogether good-humoured."

Digital order no: a2822400

This panorama of Hawkins Hill was taken by Beaufoy Merlin, who erected his camera in a tree more than a kilometre away across a gully nearly 300 metres deep. In the centre of the image is Krohmann's mine, with the twin buildings and two storied structure of Beyers and Holtermann's immediately to the left of it. These two mines contributed to the 12.4 tonnes of gold extracted from Hawkins Hill, but such are the vagaries of goldmining, that Rapp's, on the extreme right, returned little to its investors, despite digging to a depth of over 380 feet [115 metres]. An almost identical view of the Hawkins Hill 'Golden Quarter Mile' taken by Merlin appeared as an engraving in the Australian Town and Country Journal 18 May 1872.

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A month before discovery of the 286 kg Holtermann "nugget" [estimated to hold around 93kg of gold], Bernhardt Holtermann (second from left) Richard Ormsby Kerr (centre) and Louis Beyers (fourth from left) posed with 3,663 ozs [114 kg] of gold specimens from their claim. The specimens were described in the Sydney Morning Herald 28 September 1872 ; "To say they were good would be to say but little - they were almost without rival - magnificent - the talk of this town, where specimens are not unknown." Holtermann took the best to the Sydney Mint for smelting, "as being clotted with gold it would be almost impossible to crush it in the ordinary way." The item of clothing on the floor to the right is Beyer's waistcoat.

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The monster Holtermann gold specimen was crushed at Pullen and Rawsthorne's new battery, seen here surrounded by cords of timber to power its steam engine and a pond to supply water to its machinery. The most modern in Hill End, it operated fifteen heads of stampers, each weighing 4½ cwt [229 kg], specially built by engineers P. N. Russell in Sydney. It had a fifteen horsepower engine noisily driving the stampers at seventy blows per minute. The new battery commenced operation in February 1872 and by the end of the year, 1943 tons of stone had been crushed, yielding 15,333 ozs [477 kg] of gold. The remnants of Pullen's old battery can be seen in the foreground

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Landlord Bernhardt Holtermann and tenant William A Bray stand outside the new brick Hill End Dispensary. Holtermann had a particular fascination with patent medicines, and was proud that he had cured fellow passengers of life-threatening illnesses on his voyage to Australia in 1858, using medicine he had on board. When he retired, he promoted and sold "Holtermann's Life Preserving Drops", which cured everything from toothache to dysentery. His Life Preserving Drops may have been popular, but their efficacy was another matter entirely. In the end, Holtermann died on his 47th birthday in 1885, after 18 months' illness. His doctor recorded the causes of death as 'cancer of the stomach,cirrhosis of the liver and dropsy'.

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The American and Australasian Photographic Company established a studio in Tambaroora Street, Hill End in 1872. Beaufoy Merlin's assistant Charles Bayliss stands, hands in pockets, in the doorway, with studio operator James Clinton behind him. Beside the door is a frame containing large photographic views of Sydney, including the General Post Office and harbour. Among the group of curious miners who have chosen to be part of the tableau is the driver of Merlin's outdoor photographic van, to Bayliss's immediate right. The miners could also have their portrait made in the studio and a standard carte-de-visite is visible in the window, above the boy. For the sartorially challenged, the A&A studio supplied suitable clothing.

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Hill End's streets were said to be "kept with an indifference to utility.. that would drive Macadam out". The road directly in front of William Meare's Criterion Store [on the left] covered a test hole sunk by an early prospector and this hole subsided in the winter of 1872 to form a bog. The Sydney Morning Herald 12 September 1872 described the scene. "As regards the mud in Clark-street, I never have heard an exaggeration. No, to Clark-street I will give the palm for mud and the ill manner it is laid out. It possesses three remarkable features, being narrow, crooked, and filthy…"

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The Colonial Wine and Dining Rooms were opposite the Royal Hotel in Tambaroora Street Hill End. Wine wasn't popular with miners and Anthony Trollope was surprised on his trip though Australia in 1871 that the labouring classes paid 6d [5cents] a glass for "spirits of the most abominable kind" when for 3d they could have half a pint [284ml] of "the best vin-ordinaire that I ever drank." The visit of local Member Henry Parkes, advertised on the poster by the door, was regarded as a success by locals. The Sydney Morning Herald 13 Septembar 1872 reported that "He fully appreciates our wants… The streets are to be formed at Government expense, and assistance given towards the reservoir, the School of Arts, and the Hospital. "

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William Jenkyns' blacksmith and shoeing forge was situated in Clarke Street Hill End. The condition of roads around Hill End ensured Jenkyns was busy. A correspondent to the Sydney Morning Herald 23 May 1872 wrote of the road between Bathurst and Hill End, "For miles at a stretch there is nothing to indicate that any money has been spent upon the road for years, and it is doubtful whether any portion of it has ever been properly made." On 3 December 1872 another wrote," I think I have travelled the worst of roads; for the sake of humanity, I hope there are none worse than those I have travelled." Despite a superficial resemblance, the man on the right is not B.O. Holtermann.

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Burgess and Moller's Blacksmith and Wheelwright business in Tambaroora Street, Hill End had the town's most elaborate signage. Proprietor Joshua Burgess stands in the foreground, leaning against one of his creations, the delivery cart of Weiss's Excelsior Lemonade Company. Moller stands in the doorway, third from the right. Despite the apparent affluence of their business, they were victims of the downturn in Hill End's fortunes and Burgess was declared insolvent in 1875.

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Architect and surveyor Charles Mayes' unusual portable building was situated at the corner of Denison and Tambaroora Streets, Hill End. Before this, he practiced as an architect, surveyor and civil engineer in Melbourne and Sydney and from 1862 had published six editions of The Australian Builders' Price-Book. Mayes didn't stay long in Hill End and in 1873 he was employed as an engineer on the Orange Extension Railway. Mayes later designed three Sydney public schools (Darlinghurst, Forest Lodge and Double Bay) during a boom time of government school construction, following the introduction of the Public Institution Act in 1880.

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Ludwig Hugo (Louis) Beyers, his wife Mary and daughters Sylvia and Gertrude were photographed in their backyard. Although earlier images show the family at the front of the neat stone house, which faced Clarke Street, Hill End, Beyers had the photographer record its backyard as well. Beyers was a mining partner of Holtermann for many years, and in 1868, they married sisters Mary and Harriet Emmett in a double ceremony at Bathurst. Beyers was a modest man, who despite achieving (and losing) great wealth, retained his simple tastes. In 1876 he became the mayor of Hill End and was elected a member of NSW Legislative Assembly 1877-1882

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With his distinctive shock of hair, Mark Hammond stands with his wife Mary and daughter Minnie outside their neat four room cottage in Hill End. Tragically, young Minnie died soon after this photograph was taken, from abdomenal tuberculosis, caused by drinking infected milk. Hammond had bought into the Star of Hope mine in 1871 and was responsible for finding the major seam. In the Sydney Morning Herald 21 September 1871, he gave a detailed description of gold veins in the mine. At that time, he was a shareholder with Louis Beyers, Bernhardt Holtermann, Moses Bell, Richard Kerr and two others. Having made a small fortune, Mark Hammond left Hill End for Sydney in June 1873.

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Thomas Browne (better known as Rolf Boldrewood) was Gold Commissioner in Gulgong, during the period of Merlin and Bayliss's photographs. Although this photograph was taken in Hill End, Boldrewood's description of the domestic miner in his novel The Miners Right seems universal. 'The thrifty miner who possesses the treasure, not less common on Australian goldfields than in other places, of a cleanly managing wife, is enabled to surround himself with rural privileges. A plot of garden ground, well fenced, grows not only vegetables but flowers, which a generation since were only to be found in conservatories… the domestic miner is often seen surrounded by his children, hoeing up his potatoes or cauliflowers, or training the climbing rose which beautifies his rude but by no means despicable dwelling.'

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