704 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



BATAVIA RIVER (BAIRDSVILLE) GOLDFIELD 



BAIRD'S PINNACLES, weathered fragments of the sandstone 

 of the GEIKIE TABLELAND, form a notable landmark for travellers 

 on SEFTON CREEK and the heads of the BATAVIA RIVER. (SEE 

 MAP C.) Under their shadow, William Baird found payable 

 alluvial GOLD in RETREAT CREEK in October, 1892, and a goldfield 

 was proclaimed in the following year. " Although 2,000 ounces 

 of gold were won, the miners lost the run of gold and soon left the 

 locality. The gold was of very high value, realising up to ^4 4*. Sd. 

 per ounce. 1 



Warden A. R. Macdonald (afterwards Under-Secretary for 

 Mines) visited the field in 1892 and reported the presence of 

 150 men, only a few of whom, within a limited area, were on good 

 gold. The largest NUGGET he heard of weighed 38 ounces. 



In 1892, BAIRD AND INSPECTOR MARRETT, of the Native Police, 

 marked a TRACK from BAIRDSVILLE to the mouth of HAYS CREEK.* 



In 1901, WILLIAM McKEAN and PETER SHIVERS, assisted by 

 Government to a small extent, made an attempt to rediscover the 

 run of gold at Bairdsville, but did not find " enough to pay for 

 tucker." They also prospected several reefs, but without payable 

 results. 8 DICKIE, DICK and SHEFFIELD spent some time on the 

 same quest in 1910, meeting only with some prospects which they 

 thought might pay in a wet season. In Dick's sketch-map, the 

 creek which was the scene of Baird's discovery is named BLACK 

 GIN CREEK, although it is called RETREAT CREEK in the earliest 

 official notices. The creek falls into the left, or southern, bank 

 of the BATAVIA RIVER, about 8 miles north of Bairdsville. Important 

 developments were to take place further down the Batavia River 

 to the west some years after the abandonment of Bairdsville. 



Although others had left the field, WILLIAM BAIRD stuck to 

 it till 1896, when he was KILLED BY THE BLACKS, who surprised 

 him while he and two other men were engaged in digging a trench. 



Mr. J. T. Embley, who knew him well, sums him up as a good 

 prospector but a poor business man. Mount Romeo turned 

 out thousands of pounds worth of tin for him, and yet he left 

 the field a poor man. Mr. Embley had supplied him and his party 

 with rations for the trip which led to the gold discovery at Bairds- 

 ville. Baird had with him his black boy Romeo, and two men 

 (not diggers) who went by the names of Yellow Billy and Frenchy. 

 After he had located "<nuggety alluvial gold," he put on wages 

 men to work it, without supervision. The inevitable consequence 

 was, says Mr. Embley, that "although he had the best claim on 

 a very rich little field, my share (which was to be one-fifth) worked 

 out at 4 ounces=.i6." 



1 Warden O. E. Power, in Annual Report, Department of Mints, for 1911, p. 59- 



2 Annual Report, Department of Mines, for 1892. 

 8 Annual Report, Department of Mines, for 1901. 



