AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L Archives

From: "Allan J. Tompkins" <>
Subject: BEAUFORT town - Tompkins ancestors.
Date: Fri, 02 Jan 2004 23:12:39 +1100

My great-grandfather was Joel Smith Tompkins who came here for the goldrush
in 1852 on the Brig AUSTRALIA - see
<http://www.ozemail.com.au/~tompkins/brigaust.htm>;. He apparently operated
stores on the goldfields in the 1850s and was already in the Beaufort area
by 1854. He was a member of the committee which approached the Governor to
have the town created from the local Roads Board - and Beaufort was
born! Joel lived out the rest of his life there and died in 1904. Through
the years he was variously a railroad contractor, publican (the Camp
Hotel), building contractor, town councillor, circus proprietor,
coach-driver, commission agent and finally, the librarian at the Mechanics
Institute. Much of the town's history is detailed in Hugh
Anderson's "Flowers of the Field: A Histroy of Ripon Shire", which should
be available through most libraries. Unfortunately, a lot of the town's
history is NOT included. I spoke to Hugh Anderson in the 1970s about some
errors in his book and he told me that he had no idea where he got his
"facts" - he didn't retain any notes after the book was completed. And he
only researched as far as his budget allowed, then wrote the book based on
what he had gathered to that time. Perhaps one day a more comprehensive
history of the area will be written? For the present though, anyone needing
lookups from the book can send me a personal email off-list.

My grandfather, James Benjamin Tompkins, and father, Eric Allan Tompkins,
were both born in Beaufort but all family members had left the town (I
believe) before the First World War. Unlike many other pioneers of this
country who have left many hundreds of descendants, from Joel's two
marriages and eleven offspring, there have been less than 200 descendants
in all generations to date.

Regards, Allan J. Tompkins in very humid Koondrook on the Murray, Victoria.
Homepage: <www.ozemail.com.au/~tompkins>.

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• BEAUFORT town - Tompkins ancestors. by "Allan J. Tompkins" <>