In the 1935 newspaper stoush over the number of half-caste Aborigines in central Australia, Hans Erikson stated that he had travelled widely in Australia as a dogger and a prospector. Whilst his dogging activities are covered in The Rhythm of the Shoe, his prospecting activities are not. Why? For a raconteur like Erikson who had an entertaining yarn on every topic imaginable, it is inconceivable to think that he could have lived in the peculiar world of the prospector for a time and not come across something amusing. Why didn’t he write about it?
Well, as a matter of fact, he did. On page 9 of the Sydney Morning Herald of 6 January 1945,
there is an article by Hans Erikson recounting some of his experiences as a
prospector in such places as Misery Creek near Enfield just south of Ballarat.
As usual, the author does not bother clogging up his prose with dates and
names. Why these yarns didn’t make it into The
Rhythm of the Shoe is beyond me. Perhaps they were edited out by Jacaranda
Press for space reasons? Perhaps they didn’t think them funny enough?
You can read the article in full at the link below. Needless to say, his opening
prediction – the end of gold mining – has not
come to pass!
On Misery Range: From a Prospector’s
Notebookby Hans Erikson
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/27926075
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