{"id":1067,"date":"2020-03-31T14:07:43","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T03:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michelledennis.com.au\/?page_id=1067"},"modified":"2020-07-11T15:43:42","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T05:43:42","slug":"nicholas-john-bolle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.michelledennis.com.au\/?page_id=1067","title":{"rendered":"Nicholas J Bolle and Rosanna Farrell"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\"A<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas John Bolle<\/strong> was born in Dorstadt, Germany in 1836 to parents Heinrich (Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm) and Friederike Hartmann (Anne Marie Friedericke).<\/p>\r\n

Nicholas was baptised on 31 August 1836 at the church of the Holy Cross, Dorstadt, Lower Saxony, Germany.<\/p>\r\n

Heinrich (1791-1854) and Friederike (1792-1873) had eight children – Heinrich (1816-1873), Franz (b 1819), Elisabeth Louisa (1822-1897), Franziska (1825-1826), Maria (1827-1827), Antonious (1829-1832), Sophia (1832-1839) and Nicholas (1836-1899).<\/p>\r\n

The youngest of eight children, he was born into a working family, his father\u2019s occupation given as a \u2018tagelohner\u2019 (day labourer) and a \u2018brinksitzer\u2019 (a poor farm labourer who cultivated land at the edge of the village). So, was it poverty, and a chance to improve his fortunes that made him leave the security of his home, and lure him to the other side of the world?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Around the age of 20 he immigrated to Australia and made his way, most likely on foot, 150km in a northerly direction to the Bendigo goldfields. He would have followed a long line of fortune seekers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Gold was first discovered in 1851 along the banks of the Bendigo Creek, and had resulted in a major goldrush to the area. Thousands of men from all over the world, eager to seek their fortune, flocked to the area. The Bendigo goldfields contained 37 different gold-bearing quartz reefs that extended across an area of about 16km. Between 1850 and 1900, Bendigo produced the most gold in the world. Today, the amount found would be worth around nine billion dollars. (Bendigo at the time was known as Sandhurst).<\/p>\r\n

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Rosanne Bolle nee Farrell<\/p><\/div>\r\n

Somewhere along the way, 23 year old Nicholas met an Irish immigrant lass from County Wicklow, 20 year old Rosanna Farrell<\/strong> and they were married in December 1859 at St Kilian\u2019s Roman Catholic church in the heart of the rapidly expanding city.<\/p>\r\n

Rosanna Farrell was born in 1839 in Dublin, Ireland to parents Daniel Farrell (1807-1869) and Hannah Fox (1807-1877).<\/p>\r\n

She was baptised on 29 July 1839 at St James catholic church in Dublin. Rosanna immigrated to Australia around 1858. Family story tells how Rosanna brought with her from Ireland a set of scales which she used to measure ingredients for the family’s cure all balm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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St Killians original sandstone church<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By 1859 (before she was married) Rosanna was expecting their first child, who they named Nicholas William Michael<\/a>, and he was born at Ironstone Hill, a goldmining area in the Whipstick Forest, 15kms north of Bendigo in July 1860.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

He was baptised at the age of two months in St Kilian\u2019s in September 1860.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Text\r\n
St Killians church today<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The church built of sandstone with a slate roof and completed in 1857, was a grand building with 22 buttresses and four entrances. Sadly however, only 30 years later, the building was condemned, and demolished. A new weatherboard cathedral built of oregon was built to replace it, opening for use in 1887. It is one of the largest wooden churches in the world and is still used today.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Refurbishment work was completed in 1982 and in 2002 the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the church was celebrated.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Three of Nicholas\u2019s children were also married in this church Agnes in 1890, Isabella in 1907 and Matilda in 1906.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Between 1860 and 1877 Nicholas and Rosanna produced nine children, all born in or close to the dense Whipstick Forest goldfields, just north of Bendigo. Every two years it seems they would make the 15km trek into the city to baptise their latest child at the largest catholic parish church in the district. Their birth certificates list the children\u2019s birthplaces at the time –<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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gold nugget<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1860\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nicholas<\/strong><\/a>, Ironstone Hill, Whipstick forest
1862\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Agnes, Sandhurst
1864\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oswald, Scotchman\u2019s Reef
1866\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Henry, Whipstick Forest
1868\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rosanna, Eaglehawk
1870\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Louisa, Eaglehawk
1872\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mathilda, Nerring (later known as Sailors Gully)
1874\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Teresa, Nerring
1877\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Isabella, Whipstick<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In March 1863 Nicholas registered his first mining claim, naming it Bolle\u2019s Reef. Having worked this reef until it no longer paid, he went on a prospecting tour of the area and found another gold reef towards Elysian Flat, staked a claim and registered it under the name of his beloved wife \u2018Rosanna\u2019.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sadly, as was often the case, the cost of hiring men to get the gold out of the ground, and removing it from the clay and quartz, outweighed the amount of profit he was making from his discoveries. In November 1863 while living and working at Old Tom Gully, Nicholas appeared in the Government Gazette as insolvent.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas continued to struggle on, scoping out the surrounding area in the Whipstick Forest, and having some little success and by 1869 he was given a government reward of 25 pounds for discovering a new area of gold in the Whipstick. The Government Gazette records this reward –<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"A<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By 1872 Nicholas had established a quartz crushing plant at his mine in Old Tom Gully, a remote place in the middle of a heavily wooded ironbark forest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mining was a dangerous business, and in 1875 Nicholas was called as a witness in a coroner\u2019s inquest into the death of a John Bashton who was accidentally killed in a mining accident at nearby Easter Claim in December. In 1881, he was again called to give evidence when one of his employees Mr Thomas Garrett was killed while working at his claim at Old Tom Reef. So we are fortunate to have Nicholas describing his day\u2019s work in his own words.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Whipstick<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Whipstick Forest (so named as the scrub was so dense, and the timber so high \u2013 whip like in form) was deemed almost impossible to penetrate in the 1862 edition of \u2018The Victorian Goldfields\u2019 by Sands & McDougall. It was described as \u201cso thick, the traveller walking through it could not see a yard before him or around him, nothing but blue sky overhead. Water was scarce and uncertain to reach. Every step had to be cut through a dense undergrowth of creepers and rank vegetation. The compass was the only guide through it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"A\r\n
Victorian Miners Right<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The writer goes on to explain that he visited the mining camps in the forest and \u201ccame across a party of Germans at Jacobs Reef, working beside a small cottage, which was invisible at a distance of a dozen yards. An old man and an old woman and a little girl were busy fossicking for gold in a gravel heap. The area was guarded by dogs guarding it, and warning stragglers away.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Ten tones of stone had been taken from the ground by hand, and the yield was only a pennyweight of gold. The week before 89 ounces had been obtained from 21 tons of quartz. Five men could take out 20 tons in a fortnight of digging, and as wages of the hired men were 3 pound a week and the crushing and carting was done for 10s and 4 s, the owners of the claim had been fortunate, living on credit notes from the butcher and baker until they could pay.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Not far from Jacobs Reef was the one known as Unfortunate Bolle\u2019s Reef, lately found by Germans, and the results of the first crushing. It was extraordinarily rich at first, but unfortunately it was only a patch, and was exhausted as soon as found.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Many gold nuggets were found on the surface which attracted a flurry of miners to the area. In 1868 the local newspaper reported that a considerable quantity of coarse, shotty gold including several nuggets up to 30 ounces in size were unearthed at Bolle\u2019s Flat, Whipstick.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the Argus Newspaper (Melbourne, Victoria) on 13 June 1862 the headlines shouted \u201cGreat Discovery of Gold in the Whipstick\u201d and went on to explain that a German man named Nicholas Bolle and an Englishman named Frederick Price, who had been working there sometime, but had never done more than kept their heads above water by dint of hard work, were the fortunate discovers. Nicholas was described as one of the earliest pioneers of the Whipstick, but disgusted with ill luck had tried other fields, but returned 18 months ago and struck stone just below the surface. The locality was visited recently, and Messrs Bolle and Price showed round among them the largest specimens, one half the size of a man\u2019s hand which was valued at about 30 pounds. During the afternoon, someone pocketed this valuable piece. Later 16 pieces were exhibited at the Bank of Australasia in Sandhurst (Bendigo). Their total weight being 137 ounces of gold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"A\r\n
quartz crushing battery<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas operated a quartz crushing battery at Old Tom Mine. Many Whipstick reefs were very rich on the surface and to a shallow depth, but most were unpayable deeper. At first there were no crushing batteries and the cartage of quartz to Bendigo was costly for the early quartz prospectors. Later noisy crushing batteries were set up in the forest, pounding the quartz to sand and freeing the gold from its matrix.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Labourers dug out the quartz and carted it to the crushing battery. Then they shovelled it into the battery. They also carted wood for stoking the boilers, and to use as underground supports.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1862 the battery was described as a \u201cprimitive looking battery of from four to six stamps driven by a small high-pressure engine and worked by a party of Germans\u201d. By this time a small settlement had developed around the area, dotted with neat permanent residences around Old Tom Gully.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1875 Nicholas described his day\u2019s work while giving evidence at an inquest into the death of a man at the Easter Claim Mine, where he was a shareholder. He describes being lowered down underground via a windlass (with his 15-year-old son Nicholas) to a depth of 64 feet where they would work at digging out sandstone. The wooden props holding up the roof around him failed and John Bashton was killed. Mining accidents were unfortunately very common.\u00a0 Nicholas would eventually register these 13 separate mining claims \u2013<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1863\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolle\u2019s Reef (later known as \u2018unfortunate Bolle\u2019s Reef\u2019)
1863\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rosanna, at Elys Flat
1863\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tyneside Co \u2013 200 yards, Moores, Whipstick
1868\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolle\u2019s Claim \u2013 75 x 65 Bolle\u2019s Flat
1868\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whipstick Co \u2013 200 yards Old Tom Gully
1869\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolle & Co \u2013 150 yards Nuggetty Whipstick
1871\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolle & Co \u2013 320 x 150, \u00a0Easy Found
1871\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bohemian Reef \u2013 150 x 150 on top of a hill, 1 mile east of Old Tom Gully
1875\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolle\u2019s \u2013 north side of Truck Gully, \u00bd mile north of the Camp Hotel
1876\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 South Easter \u2013 Easter Reef
1876\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Derby \u2013 top of Sandfly Hill
1878\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bolle\u2019s Reef \u2013 on the crown of Flagstaff Hill
1882\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Old Tom Mine \u2013 quartz crushing machine and puddler<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Text\r\n
Whipstick map showing Bolle’s Reef<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas appears in the Marong Rate books paying rates on property in the Eaglehawk and Nerring areas \u2013<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1866\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Weatherboard cottage, Old Tom Gully \u2013 8 pounds
1870\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hut \u2013 12 pounds
1875\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Splitter hut, Whipstick Forest \u2013 4 pounds
1880\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cottage 8 pounds and Quartz Crushing Plant, Old Tom Gully \u2013 50 pounds
1888\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nerring
1888\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eaglehawk<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"A<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas appeared in the Eaglehawk Court of Petty Sessions three times over a number of years regarding goods sold, but defaulting on payment (1863), his pigs causing damage to his neighbours property (1869) and cutting down tree saplings without a license (1894).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1881, after almost 20 years working in very primitive conditions, in a remote bush location, Nicholas finally struck the gold had he had been searching for.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

He was finally able to buy himself a piece of land at the Government Land Sales in the thriving gold town of Nerring (later called Sailors Gully) bordering the Whipstick Forest, in March 1888.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In 1896 Nicholas and Rosanna appeared in the local newspaper when they were involved in a buggy accident, both having been thrown out. Nicholas injured his arm, and their vehicle was smashed, but it appears they were not seriously hurt.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1899 applications were invited by the Sandhurst Prospecting Board for those that wanted to apply for prospecting financial assistance. Nicholas Bolle of Old Tom Reef made an application for a grant of 500 pounds for assistance to expand his crushing plant, thus allowing other miners to benefit from the use of it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas died where he had spent most of his life in Australia, in the Whipstick Forest in December 1899, without making a will. His son Oswald, an engine driver also residing in the Whipstick was appointed the administrator of his estate in 1907, which consisted of 120 pounds worth of real estate, but no personal property.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Rosanna continued to live with her son Oswald in Sydney Flat, Whipstick and after suffering from a long and severe illness, most likely relating to her heart she eventually succumbed in November 1905.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Nicholas and Rosanne are buried with their son Henry in the Roman Catholic Section of the Eaglehawk cemetery, in an unmarked grave, surrounded by red bricks. (Section M, grave 201, interment no 6866).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"A\r\n
Michelle standing at the foot of the grave of Nicholas and Rosanna Bolle, Eaglehawke Cemetery 2020<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A trip to the Whipstick<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In March 2020, Brendan, the great, great, great grandson of Nicholas Bolle (1836-1899) and his wife Michelle (me!), decided to visit the Whipstick and see if we could still find evidence of Nicholas\u2019s goldmining efforts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We were amazed to find, despite the thick undergrowth, heavily wooded area, and remote location of the Whipstick Forest, there were still definitive traces of Nicholas and his family\u2019s workings in the area.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019ve explored many gold mine sites across the country, but never have I come across an area so well preserved, and sign posted and it was hard to believe, that this was all the work of Brendan\u2019s ancestor Nicholas Bolle, \u00a0and is still recorded on current day maps as \u201cBolle\u2019s Reef\u201d. Wonderful!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The Camp Hotel, Whipstick Forest now a private residence<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After driving through the old gold town of Eaglehawk on the outskirts of Bendigo, we passed the Camp Hotel which is still standing (mentioned in Nicholas\u2019s mining claim of 1875) and arrived at Shadbolt\u2019s Picnic Ground, the starting point for our walk through the Whipstick Forest.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It was a warm Autumn day, and the air was alive with the sounds of birdlife, and the frogs could be heard croaking in the nearby pond. Armed with a basic (Greater Bendigo National Park visitor guide) map, we decided to tackle the walk through the ironbark forest to the Old Tom Mine site first, not knowing what we might discover.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Would there be any trace of Nicholas\u2019s mining sites still visible over 150 years later in the middle of a dense forest?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Text\r\n
Brendan about to undertake the walk to Old Tom Mine site from Shadbolts Picnic area<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

All of Nicholas\u2019s mining claims were in about a 10km square area, and fortunately for us, three of them (Flagstaff Hill, Bolle\u2019s Reef and Old Tom Mine) can be reached by marked walking trails, which all start from Shadbolt\u2019s Picnic Area, which is situated at 925 Eaglehawk-Neilborough Road, Woodvale.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It didn\u2019t take long before we came across an amazing long water race, dug by hand, and lined with clay called the Raywood Channel.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Miners constructed earthen water races following the contours of the landscape to carry water across gullies and through gold working areas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"A\r\n
water race<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Miners working in groups of 8 to 10 would then wash gold from dirt in timber boxes using water from these long races. This allowed the miners to continue their work, even when nearby creek beds dried up.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Quartz<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The whole ground area was littered with dazzling pieces of white quartz, of various shapes and sizes. Some tinged with pink, or veined with black.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We could well imagine all the quartz that needed to be carted to the crushing battery and broken up to extract the gold.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We were careful to stay on the marked track, as on either side were many old mine shafts, long since abandoned.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After trekking a few kilometres through the bush, brushing away the huge buzzing march flies, and following our vague map, we finally came across what we had been hoping to find \u2013 the site of Old Tom Mine, where Nicholas and his troop of employees worked and had his quartz crushing battery.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We know Nicholas had been living and working here from 1868 when he registered his first claim in the area, and I suspect this is the area he died in 1889.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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