Battling for Gold, or, Stirring incidents of goldfields life in West Australia
John Marshall
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Oct. 24, 2017)
John Marshall, (1859-1908) was an adventurer, journalist, public figure and Digger’s leader on the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie gold field who wrote of the early days on West Australia's gold fields in "Battling For Gold." This 1903 book has remained the greatest collection of Australian gold rush stories ever written and it recounts with vivid detail McCann's nugget, the great Coolgardie fire, the Londonderry golden hole, the gold field's rioting, dangers, disease, death, and of course gold, gold, and more gold! Regarding the quest for gold, Marshall writes: "I sometimes start at night and wake up with a pang to think that the beautiful dream in which I have been indulging is only a dream; that I have been living in a fool's paradise, and the following morning shall see me out again on the 'wallaby,' with my swag on my back, ever on the weary quest for gold. But when I am fully awake and feel the eider down quilts on my couch, and see the evidences of wealth and luxury on every hand, the old, hopeless feeling, so well known in former days, gives place to one of exultation, and I realise that the old life has passed away, and a new and better life been opened to me." These stirring pages of gold field battles will continue to live on forever in Australian history. Contents The Discovery Of Gold In Westralia Finding Of Coolgardie Off To The Goldfields The Expected Storm The Bogus Gold "rush" At Coolgardie The Lucky Prospector Fire ! Fire ! Fire ! The First Great Fire Battling For A Home Goldfields Experience The Great Londonderry Golden Hole The Mount Black Rush Premier's First Visit To Coolgardie Sir John Forrkst's Triumph Danger, Disease And Death The First Goldfiei.ds Wedding Amenities Of Goldfields Political Life A Special Cyclist Chased By Dingoes "bail Up!" Or Robbery Under Arms Fortune, But, Alas! Too Late The Open Call Exchange The Great Golden Mountain The First Murder On The Goldfields Robbery Under Arms The Diggers Roll Up A Dear Drink Father Long And Hi Horrors Of Thirst The "graveyard Rush A Goldfields Riot Queen Of The Earth The Power Of Gold The Price Of The Goldfields Sacred Nugget At Kanoavna