Photo 14 - Workers at the Garfield Mine

When I first started studying mining in relation to my mining ancestors who include both maternal lines (John Bassett) & my paternal Lines (John Ebbott) I heard about how the miners were sent over to Australia to set up English mining companies however those back in England were slow in getting organised so the miners took things into their own hands and pushed so that it would be more difficult for large companies/monopolies to come in and push the little miners out.
It  made for a great story but it wasn't until today that I found a reference to the events in the newspaper talking about the surveys taken in 1845, 25 years earlier.

"SURVEY - A few days ago we extracted from one of our country contemporaries an account of intended operations to develop resources of the estate known as the Tungkillo Special Survey, purchased by an English company in 1845" (1870 'THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS OF VICTORIA.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), 29 June, p. 5, viewed 14 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39195123)

and later in the same article refers to a similar report commissioned from the Argus Reef that was sent to Messrs.  Johnson & Matthey, assayers, of London.

Argus REff is in Chewton, Victoria, Australia and is where the very profitable Garfield Mine was built and the one, amongst other mines, that John Ebbott was heavily involved in.

Workers at Garfield mine

Note John Ebbott standing in amongst the men near the middle

The above photo was given to me by Silas Ellery, one of John Ebbott's decendants when I went to Chewton to visit him many years ago, Silas has now passed away.