Attach:Site/PageHeader/softflow.gif Δ

MOUNT MORGAN.

By Battler.

night too quickly passes,

we are growing old

let us fill our glasses,

toast the Days of Gold;

finds a wonderous treasure

all the South ablaze.

you and I were faithful mates

through the roaring days.

-Lawson

Faithful mates, ye gods! Mount Morgan was responsible for more chicanery and more broken old time friendships than any other business, mining or otherwise, Australia was ever interested in.

In the early days of Mount Morgan it was noted for wilfully careless mismanagement, waste of stores, and waste of money. Gold-stealing was rampant. When miners in W.A. told me how the company was being taken down by gold-stealers and in other ways, I sent word over; but no notice was taken. Wesley Hall was considered too clever a man to be taken down. Before Mount Morgan was discovered Rockhampton was jogging along in a prosperous and quiet way. The citizens were clannish and helped each other in their financial troubles.

T.S. Hall was at one time manager of the Australian Joint Stock Bank at Clermont, and at the time of the Griffin murders was acting manager at Rockhampton. It was in Melbourne the Pattisons and Halls first met, in the days of the rushes to Bendigo and Ballarat. Walter Hall at that time was booking clerk to Cobb & Co.

After a few years T. S. Hall was transferred to Goulburn or Wagga. When the Q. N. Bank was ready for business in Rockhampton he accepted the management, and no doubt took a lot of business from his former employers. He was of a frugal nature, and would not spend two shillings if one would do. Another trait he had was not to buy what he could borrow, be it a horse or a gun. He owned a couple of shops in East Street. The rent was collected regularly.

His friend, W. K. Darcy, a solicitor (who had his name expunged from the roll when he got rich), was battling on well-oiled breakers, and just keeping off the rocks. A lot of tripe has been written about Darcy and Mount Morgan.

One of the worst that I came across appeared in "Life" a few years ago, which tells of Darcy's association with the mine. According to this writer, who stated Darcy was a New Zealander, Darcy, as a solicitor in Rockhampton, had as his principal clients sheep graziers. Among them was a well-known character named Sandy Morgan, who owned a large ranch among the hills. One day Morgan turned up at Darcy's office with a piece of quartz. To the solicitor he said: "What is this stuff? There is a whole mountain of it on my place." Darcy saw at once it was gold quartz. He sent it to Sydney to be assayed, and when he got the report he knew there was a fortune within his grasp. With Morgan he organised the Mount Morgan Mining Co. In exchange for his savings and his work as organiser he took one-third of the capital stock of £1,000,000, which had been subdivided into shares of one pound each. This was the inception of the famous Mount Morgan Mine, one of the world's wonders in gold production, which is still giving forth its yellow treasures."

And so on for another half column. Then the article goes on: "It developed that during Darcy's absence (in England) the stock in the Mount Morgan Co. had gone to £17 a share, his agents sold all the way up the scale,. £1,200,000, to his credit, and was getting richer every minute.

Darcy was what Americans call a good sport. It was part of his equipment as a big and breezy colonial. No sooner had he heard of the spectacular rise of Mount Morgan stock than he said: "No share of gold mining stock is worth £17. I am going to reimburse every one of my pals who sold out less than the top figure." It was no idle promise, for he expended more than £70,000 making up these deficits."

What awful tripe written about a man who left Rockhampton as he did. I wonder whether he paid the writer! At the time of the boom in Mount Morgan Darcy and Hall persuaded William Pattison to go to Sydney and hold the market. They then unloaded 10,000 of their own shares on to him at £15 per share, and he had to pay for them. The slump came just after. That was done by men he counted as friends for many years. "Let nothing be said of the dead but what is true."

Before Mount Morgan was discovered William Pattison, what with city, country and station properties, sat behind £80,000. I still have his statement. He threw away a good bone for a poor shadow when he got mixed up in Mount Morgan. He not only got mixed up with a lot of crooks, but shortened his life doing so.

Hall was interested with Pattison in different mines about Morinish and Cawarral. Pattison was one of the few who put a battery at Blackfellows' Gully and the Native Cat. His mining experience went back to Ballarat, Bendigo, and Gabriel's Gully. His brother Joseph took out the third miner's right on Bendigo.

The Morgans were practically newcomers to the town. Mrs. Fred Morgan was a particularly energetic woman, and controlled the hotel business (the Criterion). Fred did not waste much time around the hotel; when not interested in his racehorses he was out prospecting, and did very well with the Galawa mine at Cawarral.

The discovery of Mount Morgan has been told in different ways. I got the tale from Tom Morgan the night we camped together halfway up the Razor Back. We were taking the first portable up. In the party were William Pattison, David Maloney (his beef carter), Tom Morgan, myself, and a couple of hands whose names I forget. We had a winch halfway up and one near the top. The first day we had winched the portable halfway up and camped for the night. We had expected to do the job in one day. There was no food in the camp so I shot some pigeons and gave them grilled pigeon for tea and breakfast. We camped among the stones and I think I was the only one who had any sleep. I had just come off the track from the Thomson River. We sat chatting that night, when Tom Morgan gave me the history of finding the Mount of Gold. They had no idea of its value then.

The next morning just as the winch was started, the chain snapped (it had been used on the steam punt on the river for years) and the portable ran back to the foot of the hill, breaking one or more wheels. However, Burns & Twigg soon put matters right, and with the aid of two winches and Tom Simple and about 24 bullocks, we got the engine to the top. The "Old Man" and Davy put in a bad night, but Tom Morgan and I were more used to bush life. Tom Morgan could never boast of good health, and no doubt his illness accounted for a lot of his shortness of temper. However, he and I always got on well together.

Fred Morgan was one of the best citizens Rockhampton ever had. When he got his pile he stayed and spent it in the district, in station properties and various other lines. He was a good prospector. It was claimed he discovered gold in 1851, about the same time Hargreaves received the reward from the Government for his discovery. He showed his pluck and judgment when he opened the Galawa mine. A number of rich specimens used to lie about his garden at his residence in Quay Street.

TOM MORGAN'S TALE.

One of his employees at the Galawa was "Sandy" Gordon, and it was just that casual meeting that led to the discovery of the famous Mount. They had travelled out over the Razorback to inspect a copper lode "Sandy" had spoken of. At that time there was no traffic over the Razorback, except by an occasional stock hand. (I had been over it several times, giving some brumbies a spin.)

Tom and Ned Morgan prospected their way out and crossed the range in the dark. They made camp on Gordon Creek, better known now as Dairy Creek. In the morning they started off down the river, prospecting at every likely spot, and worked down to where Gordon said the good show was located.

The brothers were not satisfied, and returned up the river. Heavy rain fell and their first thoughts were to get out of dangerous country. As it was, they had a very narrow escape; the creek had overflowed its banks and practically washed them out of their tent. Ned Morgan shifted the horses to higher ground. The night was a wretched one, but they saved the fire with some bark. They decided to return to Rockhampton at once, but found they were hopelessly flood-bound. They packed up and made an endeavour to get to the top of the range. When they reached the junction of Gordon Creek and the Dee River, Gordon told them if they could cross they would get shelter in a shepherd's hut.

Ned Morgan was riding a game little pony named Bravo, and he at once took the lead and swam the creek. He was followed by his brother Tom and Gordon with the pack-horses. After they had turned out, a fire was got going. Ned suggested to his brother that they should take a dish and work the gullies. The weather had played up with Tom, and he was not by any means a well man, so he decided to stay in camp.

Ned Morgan's description to his brother Tom when he returned was practically as follows:- "Sandy and I travelled a couple of miles north of the hut prospecting along the gullies. We prospected quite a number of places before we got on the range, which we crossed to the west. We travelled down the gully, and a few hundred yards along I saw a big black boulder. Sandy was trailing along behind me.

"I chipped a bit off with the prospecting pick and saw something that interested me. Moving on, I saw several of the black boulders, and took a specimen from each, and also picked up some small stones. What with the rain and the fog, we were a bit bushed, so climbed to the top of the mountain to try and get a view of the camp; but it was hopeless. The scrub was very thick all around us. After 'Major Mitchelling' a bit I saw the camp from the top of the ridge. When I joined Tom I told him what I had found, but did not tell Sandy, as we did not want the country rushed before we knew the value of it. Anyhow, we went down to the creek and crushed some of the stone on a shovel, and washed it.

"WE GOT THE SHOCK OF OUR LIVES AT THE PROSPECT-THERE WAS MORE GOLD THAN STONE".

"We decided to give the mountain a good try-out. So next morning we shifted camp to the north side of the mountain The scrub was so thick we had to clear a spot to erect the tent. We had a great day prospecting, and went all round sinking pot-holes and working the gullies. We got a fair lot of prospects in light colours. Next day we prospected the mountain itself, and found good prospects everywhere. We worked on until the middle of the week, and then decided to send Sandy to Mount Wheeler to my brother Fred, to try out the samples."

(For a Scotsman Sandy proved a mug; any other man half awake would have had the stone tested in Rockhampton, but Sandy was testing other samples and missed the chance of his life. - "Battler.")

"We discovered every sample absolutely charged with gold, and towards the end of the week took up as much ground as we could hold."

As Tom finished his tale, the 'possums were scratching for their homes and the stars were waning in the sky. We got the billy boiling and prepared to go on with the job.

The wonder of the whole business was that the mountain was never discovered years before. Good men had prospected all around it. They included a well-known man on the Towers later, viz., E. H. T. Plant, who worked an alluvial show on Dairy Creek within coo-ee of where the big find was made. There were also other capable miners on the spot, but they missed the big show. Fred Morgan soon realised he would want financial assistance to give his new show a chance. He approached T. S. Hall, of the Q.N. Bank. Hall would not carry on on his own, so he put in William Pattison, his friend W. K. Darcy, and his brother W. R. Hall. T. S. Hall put in £1000 and Pattison and Darcy £500 each. It has been a mystery ever since to a lot of people where Darcy mustered that £500.

As soon as Hall and Darcy found out the mine was something out of the common, their first move was to crush the Morgans out, although they had presented Hall with one-fifth of their interest in the prospecting claim as a mark of their appreciation.

When the Mount Morgan Co. was formed, Hall for the one-fifth interest was allotted 33,332 shares. There may have been a little difference about the treatment of the ore, but there is not the slightest doubt the way they afterwards treated other people who had been useful to them - they would not stop at any limit to gain their end. There was always trouble treating the ore until Captain Richard some years later introduced a scheme for chlorinating which was effective and much cheaper than former methods.

Matters were made uncomfortable for the Morgans practically from the start. My father would brook no backchat. What he said in his own business had to be done; my own temper was not one of the best, and just as the Mount was starting we had one of our usual differences and I left.

Meeting Tom Morgan, he suggested that I, with his brother-in-law Wheatly, start butchering at Mount Morgan, and he would finance us. I went out with Wheatly and we built a strong sapling yard intending to erect a gallows and shoot the cattle in the yard. We had just completed the yard when I got word from the old man that he wanted to see me. I returned to Rockhampton and at once woke up to the fact that there was a move against the Morgans. The first to get out was bluff Ned Morgan, the discoverer of the mine, and who had been in charge of the mining operations. He sold his share to the Hall and Darcy syndicate for 10 or 12 thousand pounds. Young Fred Morgan could not sign up before he was 21 years of age, and when that time arrived he demanded £10,000 before he would sign. There were some shrewd heads behind young Fred, and they might as well have made the amount £20,000. The others would have had to pay. Speaking to Fred Morgan, Senr., after he sold his own share, he said: "I am satisfied, they can have it." I always thought he had no idea of the value of the mine.

The next man to come in was John Ferguson, who was sold an interest on the distinct understanding that the shares were not to go on the market. The agreement was only a verbal one. Ferguson broke his word and sold enough shares to cover the cost, leaving a big winner, and that was the end of the friendship between Ferguson, Pattison, Hall, and Darcy. These last three had no intention of putting the mine on the market at the time. There was no need for them to do so.

The company fell in for some law suits, apart from the jumper. With the imported jumpers were several local men who joined with them - and fell in, which should be the fate of all the breed.

Fred Meyenberg, a decent German, was in charge of the first battery. He stuck to the company through all their travail. Hall and Darcy promised him an interest in the mine for his loyalty, but as soon as the jumpers were beaten, and he asked for his rights, they turned him down. This ended in another law suit, and Meyenberg was beaten.

The next case was F. B. Hall against his brothers, W.R. and T.S. Certain promises were made him and were not fulfilled. Another law case ensued, which was settled by F. B. Hall's father-n-law, William Pattison, out of his own pocket.

The Gordon freehold was bought before the Morgans sold out, and later on the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co. allowed John and Donald Gordon some 30/- a week for life. "Sandy" Gordon used to claim the ownership of the freehold. He had no claim. The freehold, as a mining proposition, was useless. It was also useless to the Gordons.

The Mount of Sorrow was a tragic find for a number of people. It broke some of Rockhampton's best citizens. Among those who went on the rocks, or nearly so, were Henry Jones (a wealthy timber merchant), Murphy and Lanigan (wealthy graziers), William and James Witman, Daniel Martin, and Rutherford Bros.