El Dorado of the Ovens Goldfields by Dudley Sheppard (Secondhand Book)

SECONDHAND BOOK

The Ovens Gold Fields, covering a large corner of North East Victoria and the gold of El Dorado, contributed substantially to the astronomical production of the precious metal obtained from the region.

This well researched book is unique in that records in detail the history of one town where boom mining of last century, with its deep shafts and drives, developed into twentieth century mining by open cut sluicing and also dredging. This is the town where the mammoth Cocks El Dorado Dredge worked so profitably, ceasing operations just one hundred years after the discovery of gold on the field.

The book relates how the name El Dorado was introduced to a third continent of the world and how an overlander, William Fury Baker, requested that the area place name be changed to ElDorado at least fourteen years before any discovery of gold.

It is not only a book of gold and gold mines but of people. The writer gives a most colourful account of the town’s rise from a primitive community through to boom years, then recession, then later a resurgence of deep mining – not omitting the tragic events, and in the twentieth century to a community that commanded great respect for its civic attainments.

Of general interest are the biographies of such people as John Cock, after whom the twentieth century mines were named; David Reid, the eighteen year old overlander whose father told him the blacks would eat him (which they very nearly did), and on whose pastoral run the town of ElDorado became established and whose fortunes and life are related in detail; Michael O’Neill, the colourful figure of the leading mine of the earlier days and Hugh Falconer, a great mining identity whose name is indelibly engraved within the mining records of Victoria. Together with his family, he made a notable contribution to the industry and to the community at ElDorado. The biographies are completed with the story of Tom Gidley, not only ElDorado’s clever cattle and sheep duffer, but also a bushranger in a big way.

This is a book for general reading as well as a reference work. It spans the era from the early rip-roaring mining days to a modern rural community.

Specifications:

Condition: Good – minor wear and creasing, some page spotting. Signed by the author.

Publisher: Research Publications Pty Ltd

Year: 1982

Format: Hardback

Pages: 142pp

ISBN: 0959839860

$35.00

1 in stock