Today we did a bit of a route march around Perth, having decided that the tourist hop on/off bus was for wimps. We called in at the Perth mint, on account of it being just down the road, and it turned out to be very interesting. I had thought it was just a heritage building but actually it is still operating - not producing standard coins, but gold coins and bars for investment purposes. There was a load of stuff about the diggers who flocked to WA in the 1890s after a couple of prospectors found a 6 kilo lump of gold just lying around in the dirt out in the desert, 600km east of Perth in a place called Coolgardie. There was also a fun demo of making a gold bar in the original smelting room, complete with crucible, furnace etc. And real actual gold. Plus an impressive strong room full of gold bars and nuggets from around the world, guarded by some creditably laid-back security guys. Couldn't help thinking that the place is due some kind of Ocean's 11 heist...
Had a coffee then off to St. George's cathedral, where my grandfather and grandmother were married in 1929, pretty much directly after she'd stepped off the boat from England. It's one of the older buildings still standing in Perth, but looks strangely new compared to our Norman ones. Walked the mile or so to King's Park, a hyowge great botanic garden not much more than a stone's throw from the CBD. Pottered around there and had burger and gassy beer for lunch, then back to the apartment via the WA art museum, which had some good aboriginal art and a varied selection of mainly 20th century art, mostly Australian of course, but including a Barbara Hepworth. A whole bunch of pretentious mediocrity as well, naturally.
Ate in again, and felt obliged to try another bottle of the local wine. Thus fortified, we did some online research into Donald Bell's circumstances, and found a birth record for him. There were also records for Alice Maud Barwick's marriage to Archibald Bell and then, after he died in 1906 (when Ding was only two) her second marriage to John Oliver. The really interesting thing was Archibald's death record, which placed him at Coolgardie at the time of his death. He had obviously gone out to the gold fields to find fortune but died out there, as so many did, leaving a young widow and small child. So, my great grandfather was a genuine gold rush digger. We have drawn a blank on Scottish records though - more research required there.
2 comments:
Didn't realise you were researching the ancestors. Must be fun doing it on the ground.
Have fun. Even if you don't read any of the bleeding comments.
I do so read the comments. You just don't read my replies.
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