From Coghill's Creek to Charlton

Richard Fradd was one of 5 children born about 1835 in St Mawgan-In-Pydar, Cornwall, England to Francis and Mary Fradd [nee George].

Francis, an Agricultural Labourer, and Mary raised their children in Tregurrian which is a village 2 miles north of Newquay, on the north coast near Watergate Bay, formerly known as Tregurrian beach. In the 1851 census Richard was shown as a Farm Servant in Porth Gluvian, Cornwall aged 16.

Richard emigrated to Australia in about 1858 and settled in Coghill’s Creek, Victoria where he married Margaret Obrien in Ballarat on the 12^th of March 1861. They had 10 children in the towns of Coghill’s Creek and Learmonth up until 1875.

 

Richard Fradd Circa 1850 ¹ 

Clunes was the site of Victoria's first gold strike and is located in a steep valley surrounded by rounded hills about 39 kilometres north of Ballarat. It was mentioned in Richards obituary that "he was attracted to the diggings" of Ballarat.

Gold rush immigration swelled the population of Victoria from 77,000 people in 1851 to 237,000 in 1854. During 1852, the peak year of the rushes, 90,000 people arrived in Melbourne. By 1857, the colony had a population of 411,000.

In the period 1851-60, Victoria produced 20 million ounces of gold, one-third of

world output. This was at a time when gold was the primary international standard of exchange because it was stable in price, durable, and transportable. The hoarding of vast quantities of Californian and Victorian gold by banks in America, England and France provided a basis for currencies and financial systems aroundt he globe and supported a huge credit expansion that bankrolled world trade, shipping and manufacturing. By 1903, Australia was the largest single producer of gold in the world.

Richard was mentioned participating in a Ploughing Match in Clunes, Victoria on the 9^th of June 1865. 1865 The Creswick & Clunes Advertiser. Freehold pastoral country opened up in 1854.

“Before 1889 the land around Ballarat was divided up into a few big estates. There was Ercildoune, or, as it was first called, Learmonth, the original station of the Learmonth, and adjoining it came the Coghill's Creek, or the Dowling Forest Estate of the Clarke family. Joined to that again came the Hepburn Estate, and each of them contained not less than 30,000 acres.  They comprised the bulk of what may be called the Western Ballarat country, and for the most part was subdivided or leased under the hands of farmers and the plough.” The Argus Melbourne, Victoria, Saturday 8 June 1889

The farms ranged from 80 to 500 acres and upwards and it was so eagerly snapped up by discerning settlers, that the prices obtained at the Government auctions varied from £5 to £16 per acre. Most of the settlers were freeholders, but there were also a good proportion of tenant-farmers. In most, instances the leases were issued for a short term of seven years.

 Since those days the Coghill's Creek district has been a very successful agricultural and pastoral area, but the environment must have changed as an extract from the diary of a Welsh swagman talks of a large vineyard of grapes.

In 1886 the first load of potatoes was carted to Ballarat in December and sold for £2/10/0 or $5.00 in present money. These are happenings that would not occur now.

Coghill's Creek  was thriving in earlier times; trades people included three butcher shops, general store, school, flour mill, three hotels, two blacksmiths and a police station. At this stage the population of Coghill's Creek was greater than Learmonth.

The pioneers were not neglectful of their Church. They built three churches in the district. The Presbyterian Church, a wooden building, first held services in 1859. A brick church was later erected in 1910. The Methodist members held their first services in the home in the late 1850's. The  present brick church was erected in  1870 at a cost of £900. St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church was built in 1890.
A typical cottage of the era would have been constructed with a strong foundation well off the ground and made of pine with a wide verandah and an iron roof. Rooms would be partitioned and double lined with pine covered with canvas and papered or lined with pine and varnished.

After 1875, Richard and Margaret moved to the Kerang district near Charlton some 108 miles to the north where they farmed the land and raised another 2 children.

On November 23rd 1888, Richard was listed as a lessee of 320 acres in the Parish of Jeruk owing £16 on a lease that was established in 1881.

Country News ~ Charlton, Sunday

Some excitement was caused here this afternoon by a fire which broke out in the stables at the rear of O'Keefe's Albion Hotel. Considerable damage was done before the fir was extinguished. The flames spread with rapidity, and totally destroyed the stables of Father Costello, Mr E. H. Miles and Mr O'Keefe, together with a horse which was in the last mentioned stable belonging to a farmer named Fradd, of Glenloth. The fire brigade was promptly on the scene, and but for its exertions the result would have been serious. The building destroyed were partially covered by insurance in the Victoria, Phoenix and Standard companies. The cause of the fire is unknown. The Argus, Monday 16th January 1888

In 1890, Richards eldest son Francis was granted a lease also in the Parish of Jeruk consisting of 66 acres. The total amount of the first payment on this lease was £11 1 shilling.

Mr Richard Fradd of Glenloth, one of the pioneer settlers of the district and a colonist of over half a century, died on Wednesday evening at the Golden Fleece Hotel, Charlton. Mr Fradd who had been ill about three months, had been in Charlton for several weeks past, under the care of Dr S.H. Dunlop. His demise was due to heart failure and dropsy, the end being a peaceful one.
The late mister Fradd was a native of Cornwall, England, and arrived in Victoria 56 years ago, and was attracted by the diggings in Ballarat. Subsequently he followed agricultural pursuits at Coghill's Creek, leaving there 40 years ago to select land at Glenloth, being amongst the earliest pioneers of the district. Mr Fradd's wife predeceased him by 17 years, and he leaves a family of eight sons and four daughters, as follows:- Messers Francis, Daniel and Samuel Fradd Glenloth; Messers Michael, Richard, Josiah and John Fradd, Teddywaddy; Mr James Henry Fradd, Quambatook; Mr William Fradd Barraport, Mrs T Howard, Glenloth; Miss Fradd Teddywaddy; Miss Margaret Fradd, Glenloth and Miss Mary Fradd, Barraport. The coffin-bearer's were six of deceased sons.
Korong Vale Lance and North West Advertiser, Saturday 5 December 1914

¹ Photo kindly provided by Janet Uren; great great niece of Richard Fradd.