Tuesday Day 10

Tuesday Day 10

Waking up here is a joy-each morning a magpie flutes its musical notes and the swarms of green paraqueets chatter excitedly. Spent the morning sorting out film for the 6x7 camera Donna has lent me. At lunch interviewed Gerri Gill who is a lecturer at La Trobe and has a very similar approach to the moment indigenous peoples were overwhelmed by the gold rush. They were already knocked back by two devastating waves of smallpox, which seem to have spread from Arnhem Land in the north- contracted from visiting Javanese fishermen! So the Europeans are not entirely to blame.

In the afternoon spent an hour or two browsing the special collection in La Trobe Library, which has original texts and images from the early days of Bendigo- terrifying to see the chaos and mud of the goldfields and the attempts to impose architectural order on a ravaged landscape.

For a time Bendigo was the wealthiest town in the world. Met up with a local restaurateur Greg who spun me the whole story of George Lansell candle maker –who became the richest man in the Commonwealth and had a tunnel built from the stables in Fortuna house to his strong box. They carried two tones of gold at a time in sealed drays, which traveled under guard on the train and then the boat to England –never leaving sight of the guards. Hopefully will meet Russell Jack today –on Greg’s promise-the man who organized the Chinese Museum and the Easter parade.