One route to wealth during the 1850s and '60s gold rushes, was uncovering a nugget or glittering seam. A much more certain alternative was owning inns on roads to the goldfields.
'Irish Gold' tells the story of two enterprising Irish settlers, Jeremiah Lehane and Miles Murphy, who adopted the second course and, with their families, led action-packed lives in the Yass-Young region of southern New South Wales.
The book is also a celebration of those optimistic times, and of a pioneer newspaper, the 'Yass Courier' that recorded them with insight and humour. There was plenty of news around; Ben Hall's gang roamed the countryside, free selection was threatening the sway of the squatters, and attempted assassination of the the Due of Edinburgh stirred sectarian passions, a great flood devastated Yass ... and more.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. Leaving Ireland
2. A Job at Yarralumba
3. Striking Out
4. Gold!
5. Family Matters
6. The Bushranging Years
7. Meanwhile ...
8. Looking Back, Looking Forward
9. More Drama on Coppabella
10. Back to St Mary's
11. Sectarian Passions Rise
12. Black and White
13. Out Together
14. Life Goes On
15. The Skies Open
16. The Biggest of All
17. Transitions
18. Farewells
19. Fun and Games
20. Troubled Times
21. A New World
22. Into the Twentieth Century
Postscript: James John Brown and the 'Yass Courier'
Appendix: Who's Who: Lehanes, Murphys and Some Close Relations
Sources
Picture Credits
Index
