Mount Pleasant Community Association Inc.

Charlotte Dewell 1832-1915

Charlotte Dewell is the daughter of Robert Dewell and Ann nee Phillis. She was born 1832 in Surrey England and came to South Australia with her parents and siblings, arriving at Mount Pleasant in January 1855. She died 1915 at her home of Dew Vale.

Charlotte worked as a shepherdess at George Melrose’s property, Rosebank. At that time it was necessary to utilise people power, with no fences marking the area. She did not marry, but did have two children, namely Franklin, born 1857 at North Rhine, South Australia and Adelaide born and died 1861 at North Adelaide.

Over time Charlotte established a considerable holdings of land, both in the Mount Pleasant region, but also elsewhere in the state.

Lot 78 in the township of Totness was purchased in 1862 for £15, this remaining with the family until 1949, when it was sold to Robert Simounds and his wife.

In 1863 she held the mortgage of £200 for land in the Hundred of Stanley, sections 98 and 99, to be repaid by 1866 with interest from William Cook, of Rice’s Creek near Auburn. This was duly repaid in February 1866. During 1866 she held mortgages over several other sections of land, all totally several hundreds of pounds. This was also the case in subsequent years.

Sections 7054, 7055, 7061 and 7070 Hundred of Talunga had been originally purchased by Henry Glover in 1853, with Section 7070 being 76 acres at a cost of £108. From 1856 Sections 7054, 7055 and 7061 were leased to George French, for a term of 14 years, with the four sections being sold to Francis Telfer and James Levitt in 1863, before Charlotte Dewell purchased in 1872. In 1872, by order of the Executors of the Will of Henry Glover, Sections 7054, 7055, 7061 and 7070 Hundred of Talunga, along with 17 Allotments of Land in the Township of Mount Pleasant And Six Blocks of Land, containing 90 Acres, adjoining the Township of Mount Pleasant, were sold by auction. It was at this time that Charlotte purchased, the Sections mentioned which totalled 311 acres, and this remained within the family until late 1960s. Section 7069, on which Dew Vale homestead is situated was sold to Charlotte Dewell in 1882, after the death of George Burton Snr in 1875, with sons George and John Burton holding the property as Executors of the Will. In September 1859 George Burton purchased Section 7074 from Henry Glover, and in October 1861 had purchased Section 7068 and 7069. Then in January 1882 was the following sale.

Sale of land in 1882. This became Dew Vale.

Dew Vale as recorded in the Mount Pleasant Heritage Survey 1987

Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 5 August 1893, page 20

GOLD AT MOUNT PLEASANT.

Tbe above plan, taken from the official map of the Hundred of Talunga, shows the position of the four sections belonging to Mrs. Charlotte Dewell which are to be thrown open as an alluvial goldfield on August 16 under Regulation 19 of the Mining on Private Property Act, Part II. The land has been favourably reported upon as an alluvial goldfield by the Inspector of Mines, and its ready accessibility as well as the proximity of the Torrens River for a good water supply has induced a number of men to make up their minds to give it a trial.

Application, was reoently made to the Government that a oonciderable area of land near Mount Pleasant belonging to Miss Dewell should be thrown open to prospectors under the Mining on Private Property Act. Following the usual course men were put on to test the ground. In various parts of the ground sixteen holes were bottomed with most satisfactory results. In no less than thirteen of them payable gold was found, the best result obtained being 11/2 dwt. to the tub. Miss Dewell has informed the Inspector of Mines that she will in all probability throw the land open at once without waiting for the Government to resume under the provisions of the Act. This is regarded by Mr. Parkes as the most promising of all the land which the Government have been asked to resume.

Inspector Parkes is in receipt of a nice sample of gold from the new find near Mount Pleasant. It is contained in a small bottle, and consists of several fairly sized pieces of nuggety, shotty, drift gold of excellent quality. It was obtained at a depth of from 3 to 10 ft. (the average sinking being about 4 ft.) by the prospectors sent there by the Government. The locality upon which the find was made is private property, and the owner intends throwing it open to the general public. The men who obtained the gold referred to are so satisfied with present results that they have applied for "reward" claims, but they cannot work the ground until the land is declared open by the proprietor.

South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1895), Saturday 19 August 1893, page 22

MOUNT PLEASANT GOLDFIELD. THE OPENING CEREMONY

250 MEN AT WORK

[By our Special Reporter.]

Four sections of land situated about at mile from Mount Pleasant and belonging to Miss Charlotte Dewell were thrown open for the purpose of alluvial gold mining on Wednesday. The land is opened under the Mining on Private Property Act, and as the owners are conducting everything themselves the Government do not interfere in the matter. The site of the field is just on the opposite side of a hill which separates it from Crown lands which some years back were fully prospected and worked for gold. A large amount of the precious metal was then obtained, but up till lately Miss Dewell's property had not been carefully searched. A few weeks ago two local men, Messrs. E. T. Morgan and C. Staples, who had previously had a deal of experience in gold mining, set out to prospect the country round the present field, and during their work put down 16 holes on Miss Dewell's land. Thirteen of these showed payable gold. A report was consequently made to the Mines Department and Mr. Inspector Parkes shortly afterwards visited the locality. On arrival he saw the prospectors wash two or three tubs and from the results obtained said he would at once see that the field was proclaimed. The prospectors, who were working under the Government, quite agreed with his opinion, and on handing over the gold they had obtained found that there was about an ounce. This went to the Government, but on account of finding the field the men were entitled to the first choice of the land and to a double-sized claim. Inspector Parkes communicated with Miss Dewell with the result that an advertisement was published setting forth the facts of the case and stating that anyone could work on the field without a miner's right, but that it would be necessary to pay £1 down with a rental of 2s. a week. Owing, doubtless, to the fact that so many men are out of work a large number of applications were received and as the day of opening approached the applicants began to arrive on the field to make preliminary arrangements and find out the lay of the land. At the beginning of this week the rush really commenced and men from every class of life began to arrive in every species of vehicle, while many walked to the ground. By the opening day (Wednesday) applications had been received from 240 men, and as the majority of them had brought tents with them the field assumed a most animated appearance.

On arrival at Mount Pleasant by the early coach on Wednesday morning the first thing to do was to ascertain the whereabouts of the field, and on finding a guide I immediately proceeded to the spot. The land to be thrown open consisted of 311 acres divided by a district road. It was on the western side of this that the prospectors had discovered the yellow metal and the miners were all encamped about there. The 160 acres of which it is comprised covers two valleys, which presented a decidedly pretty landscape, as the ground was carpeted with fresh green grass and the trees were all covered with their verdant leaves. One side of the main valley was taken up as a camping ground and here there were nearly 100 structures of various kinds, in which their owners obtained sleeping accommodation. Some had tents, others used bags, while numbers covered their spring-carts, trollies, and drays with canvas and thus secured protection from wind and rain. The habitations of the experienced miners could easily be picked out, as due attention had been paid to sheltered spots, the tents were well guyed, and neat and serviceable fireplaces had been erected close at hand. The opposite side of the valley was left free for the claims, as it was there that the prospectors had found their best gold. On account of the recent rains the flat between the two sides of the valley is very swampy, the creek having overflowed, and the diggers expect that it will be much too wet to get to work there for some time yet. Scattered among the tents are butchers, bakers, grocers, and other tradesmen's vehicles. The presence of so many men had been a perfect godsend to the local purveyors of provisions, a brisk business having been done during the past few days. One thing of great importance to diggers is in abundance at Mount Pleasant, and that is water. Plenty will be obtainable from the holes for some time to come for washing and cradling purposes, while for domestic uses there is a large dam handy and a worked-out road metal quarry, which is full of water; the latter in some places goes to a depth of 12 ft 6.

In my wanderings round the camp I met the two original prospectors and when they learnt my mission they said they would be only too pleased to give all information in their power. In answer to questions they told me that they considered there was sufficient gold on the field to provide a number of men with good wages. Their washings had, on an average, returned about 3 dwt. to the tub, and results equally good ought to be obtained in many places round about. Their most favorable washes were got from a depth of about 5 ft. 6 in., and they had struck bottom at from 4 to 10 ft. There was no water at the bottom of the holes, but the difficulty was that as they sunk it came in from the surface and caused a deal of annoyance and trouble. The ground which they had tried was red sandy loam mixed with clay and easy to work. They intended taking out every bucket of stuff from their claims, so as to give the ground a fair trial. When enquiring about the probability of any reef gold being found they informed me that they had not been prospecting in that direction, but that there were several reefs about which showed splendid indications of gold. The metal they had found and which had been handed over to the Inspector of Mines was rough crystallised gold of good quality and was in pieces ranging up to 14 dwt. The Bank of Adelaide were prepared to buy the gold and to pay £3 15s. an ounce for it. There were plenty of men on the field already and they would not advise any more to go there as yet.

As it was now approaching 2 o'clock a general move was made towards the official tent, situated on the edge of the road, where the formal opening was to be proclaimed and the distribution of licenses to take place. By this time there were fully 500 people on the ground, half of whom had arrived to work, while the others were merely spectators who had travelled from all the country around to see the collection of diggers. Nearly all of them were ranged around the official tent, and among the crowd of eager and expectant diggers, recognised lawyers, sharebrokers, agents, clerks, artisans, lumpers, and genuine miners. Among the latter were a large contingent from Broken Hill, who bad been put out of work by the reduction of hands and had travelled to the goldfields to try their luck. Many of the old diggers had been to the Angipena, Teetulpa, Forest Range, Echunga, and Glen Taggart gold rushes and expressed their intention of giving the new rush the fullest trial. The Australian aborigine had a representative and the Salvation Army had two members on the ground. Curious to relate I did not see a single Chinaman. The ubiquitous photographer was present with his camera and obtained several good views.

Punctually at 2 o'clock a blue flag was hoisted, Mr. Frank Dewell, who will act as warden of the field, mounted on a trolly and addressed the assemblage. In the course of a few remarks he said that the land had been prospected by the Government and not by the owners of the land. He sincerely trusted that as the prospectors had got gold which would bring good wages all the diggers would do the same. The blue flag was that of the band of hope, and he trusted that while the diggers were working with hope implanted in their breasts they would be successful. He then explained the regulations under which the men should work and said that licenses would be granted in accordance with the order in which the applications were received. Each man should get one minute's start and could peg out a claim to a size of 30 x 30 ft. The prospectors would have the first pick of the land and their claims would be 60 x 30 ft. The claims would have to be pegged out under the gold mining regulations. No person could take possession of a claim unless provided with a special license and no work should be done until the first week's rent had been paid. The first rent would be received on Thursday morning. Any miner who had paid his week's rent would be entitled to his claim whether he worked on it or not provided he had taken up no other claim. (Hear, hear.) In a case where they had done so the previous claim should be forfeited. Any dispute that might arise would be referred to and settled by him. No person would be allowed to take water either from the quarry or dam, except for domestic purposes or with his consent, and no man should mine for gold within 200 yards of the latter. In the absence of Inspector Parkes, who was at Angipena, Mr Gill, secretary to the goldfields and the Mines Department, was present and would give any information that was needed as to the law. At the conclusion of Mr. Dewell's speech expressions were heard on all sides to the effect that the regulations were very fair.

The next business was the granting of the licensee, and as each of the first 60 men received his ticket he made a mad rush to get his pegs in. He splashed through water and boggy country in his eagerness to get the best claims and the rapid flight was greeted with derisive cheers and "barracking" from the assembled spectators. The chief point of interest was near the prospectors' claims, and as soon as these were taken up the rush subsided and claims were pegged out all over the land in the most likely places. All the licences to the number of 250 were distributed before 5 o'clock. but under the regulations no buckets were washed out until the following morning.

Very probably during the next few days a fairly large number of men will leave the field, as many of them have gone to work without any money to keep them going, if they don't strike good color within a short time. However, the field will get a thorough trial on account of the number of experienced practical men who are on the ground.

One accident has already happened to a digger, as while one of them was walking along the side of the hill on Tuesday night his foot slipped and he broke his leg. He was put into the coach and taken to Adelaide.

As to provisions, bread was sold on the ground at 21/2d. per loaf, mutton at 2d. per lb. forequartser and 3d. per lb. hindquarter.

AN UNSATISFACTORY DAY'S WORK.

Mount Pleasant, August 17.

The result of to-day'a work at the new diggings has been very unsatisfactory. Over 100 holes were bottomed, but only the color of gold was found in a few. Great dissatisfaction is expressed by the miners. No gold was found by the prospectors in their claims. The holes from where it was reported that payable gold was obtained by the prospectors have been cleaned out by experienced diggers, who only got the color. If nothing is found by tomorrow it is probable that there will be trouble with the men on the field, who now number about 300.

Mounted -Constable Mack, the officer in charge at the newly-opened goldfield at Mount Pleasant, reported as follows to Sub-Inspector Shaw, under date Augtst 17 : — ' I have the honor to report that there is a great murmuring amongst the diggers to-night, and some 150 holes were bottomed. I am informed without obtaining anything more than a few colors. This has caused great disappointment, and many of them are blaming the owner of the land and the prospectors, and are under the impression that it is a fraud worked up so as to obtain their money, and it is expected if no gold is obtained from the prospector's claim tomorrow that there will be a disturbance. Personally I am of opinion that good gold will be obtained and that the field will prove fairly remunerative for a few if they have patience. I believe to-morrow payable finds will be made, and I have just been informed from a reliable source that two men about dusk this evening obtained between 3 and 4 dwt.

In view of the large number of diggers on the Mount Pleasant goldfield, amounting to some 300, and on account of the dissatisfaction which is stated to exist amongst the men, due to the poor results obtained, the Government have decided to increase the number of police on the field and several mounted constables have been dispatched.