The Holtermann Collection

Home Rule, 11 km south-east of Gulgong, was only two months old when Charles Bayliss took this photograph. A reporter from the Gulgong Guardian was also in town and wrote on 13 July 1872, "During the past fortnight there has been a great improvement for the better in the appearance of the township at the Home Rule. Large and costly buildings are springing up in every direction and being fitted up for almost every trade. In hotels there is a great change for the better, as in several of them notably Messrs Wright, Moss, and Oliver, the accommodation is almost equal to any on Gulgong; so visitors need not fear that they will suffer hunger or thirst."

Digital order no: a2822212

The rush to Home Rule in May 1872 supported about 5,000 miners, mostly from worked out leads in Gulgong. According to the Maitland Mercury 9 July 1872, "The scene at Home Rule is a busy one and very few people can form an idea of it unless they go and see for themselves. A township is in rapid formation, and streets are being made close to the golden holes. One digger refused £500 for a share in a claim on the right spot. Everyone appears sanguine The storekeepers and publicans look remarkably pleasant, as if they anticipated rich harvests."

Digital order no: a2822210

In the early days of gold rushes, miners usually lived in tents. Here tentmaker J. Booth has confidently set up his canvas shop in Home Rule. The burgeoning new field was described in the Sydney Morning Herald 22 May 1872, "On Friday last there must have been fully fifteen hundred persons upon the ground, and tents and habitations of every description were springing, apparently Iike mushrooms, from the ground, and such is the rapidity with which a gold-fields town is formed, I shall not be surprised to see the place well supplied with stores, and, of course, hotels, when I again visit the place about a fortnight hence."

Digital order no: a2822219

Sam Hand's boarding house was next to a butcher's shop in Home Rule. According to the Gulgong Guardian 13 July 1872,"The irrepressible Chinese have taken the lead in providing restaurants, and are well patronised especially on Sunday, when the patrons have to wait their turn outside." The Gulgong Argus, quoted in the Queanbeyan Age 4 January 1872, told the story of one Chinese boarding house owner being overrun by miners when he advertised roast beef, pork, turkey and goose for Christmas. He needed 10 extra cooks to cater for the 200 who turned up. The newspaper noted, "Five years ago, John's bill of fare would have been despised by these men."

Digital order no: a2822261

Charles Bird set up a branch of his pharmaceutical establishment in Home Rule. Noting improvements in the rush town, the Gulgong Guardian 13 July 1872 described this building as 'a natty branch establishment, where customers will find a full supply of the pure drugs; chemicals, and the other &c. which has earned for the parent shop so large a share of the public favour; and as the branch will be under the management of a qualified dispenser there will be no fear of the wrong bottle being used." The pretzel like objects in the window are hernia trusses and the poster image beside the door is the Supplement to the Illustrated Sydney News 2 August 1872

Digital order no: a2822362

With his shoes covered in flour, John Davey steps outside his bakery in the main street of Canadian Lead. Bread cost 6d a 2lb [5 cents per 900g] loaf. The woman and children to the right also appear outside Ruth Beck's North Star Hotel, three doors away. The rush to Canadian lead began in early 1872 and the Maitland Mercury 6 April 1872 was able to state "the Canadian Lead, where a month ago some four hundred people were, can now boast of a couple of thousands..." Not everyone was law-abiding. The Maitland Mercury 24 August 1872 related the story of Mrs Beck dropping a purse containing £21 [$42, worth about $2000 today], which was picked up by her little boy, but taken from him by two men claiming that it was theirs. The miscreants were arrested in Mudgee two days later, drinking the profits

Digital order no: a2822313