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THE 'BOLAND' IMMIGRANTS
Jeremiah BOLAND (1839 to 1898)
Jeremiah Boland was just 17 years old when he made the trip to Sydney from Kells in County Clare, Ireland on board the ship "KATE" accompanied by his older brother John. We know from the ship's manifest that his Irish parents, Margaret and John, were both deceased.
The two young Boland brothers set foot in Sydney in the Australian colonies on 23 December 1856 looking for action. They opted to head for Melbourne where an unprecedented building boom was taking place in the wake of the 1850's gold discoveries in regional Victoria.
County Clare to the Australian colonies
Kells in County Clare in the 1850's
Municipality of Fitzroy
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Following the gold boom, Fitzroy became the fastest-growing ward in Melbourne with the first 'suburban' land allotments to be sold outside of the Melbourne. In 1858 it broke away from the City of Melbourne to become the Municipality of Fitzroy. It was here, that Jeremiah Boland was to claim his fame and fortune. Brunswick Street and Gertrude Street were the first two streets to be laid out by land owners in Fitzroy, and situated in a prime position, on the south-east corner of Gertrude Street and Brunswick Street, was the original CHAMPION HOTEL.
The "Arch-Medium" and the Champion Hotel
Over the next thirty seven years, Jeremiah's name would become synonymous with the Champion Hotel. In 1861, Jeremiah Boland became its Licensee. In 1863, Melbourne newspapers announced that Jeremiah Boland (24 years), of the CHAMPION HOTEL, would be marrying Miss Sarah Jane Armstrong on the 2nd February in St. Francis's Church, Melbourne. Newspapers would regularly feature notices for "Mr Boland's Champion Hotel" seeking employees or offering good clean lodging, but over time, Jeremiah Boland would become even better known in the Melbourne newspapers for his "indiscretions." The following report was not uncommon. "A charge against Jeremiah Boland, of the Champion Hotel, for keeping his house open at three o'clock in the morning, resulted in a fine of 20 Shillings and 2 Shillings 6 pence in costs." Fitzroy Court Report, March 1864.
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But there was one charge that would entertain newspaper readers for several years and result in Jeremiah's well-known nick-name as the "Arch-Medium". For over 20 years, a person styling himself at the "Arch-Medium" had been carrying on sweeps on horse races at the Champion Hotel. Finally, in December 1882, Jeremiah Boland stood trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with using the bar of his hotel as a gaming house. It was alleged that the defendant was the promotor of a sweep on the results of a horse race and that he had sold tickets for a "Melbourne Cup Seance of two thousand Mediums", under the pseudonym of the "Arch-Medium."
The defence contended that the Summons contained a "blunder" when it failed to state that "any prize would accrue" and the Police Offences Amendment Section 5 was explicit that "prizes of money or something tangible" must be held out. The defence continued, "The Medium Seance Lottery might be for prizes in the "next world". They cited a religious sect in the country which "actually did receive money for prizes in the next world". On 4th February 1884, the case was dismissed. The Judge ruled that "when a prosecution was brought under a certain section, that section must be complied with. The Summons was faulty in leaving out that part of the section which required it to be stated that prizes were given".
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Mr Smyth, the Prosecutor, was furious: "I don't see what the other side have gained by this course. We shall issue a fresh summons at once."
On the 22nd August, 1884, Jeremiah Boland was back in Court. This time the defence raised a 'question at law' in relation to the "2000 Mediums" who participated in this particular sweepstakes. Mr Purves for the Defence, told the jury that there was no ono who knew more about the subject of this prosecution than he did, and he said with confidence that the Act was passed against betting, and a sweepstake was NOT betting. "Every man in the jury box must know that. A sweepstake was as fair a proceeding as could be. They were carried out at bazaars and superintended by Bishops and Deans."​
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Mr Purves was scathing. "Why did the Crown Law department subject Mr Boland - against whose character they dare not say a word - to the degradation of being pilloried in the dock and searched down below by a common gaoler, who during the past week had been searching burglars and scoundrels? Because by their own gross bungling, a charge made against him at the Police Court some time since, fell through. Where was the proof that the defendant was actually the "Arch-Medium? "The Crown exercised its right malignantly when it took these proceedings against the Defendant and put him in the Felon's Dock."
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On 23 Aug 1884, Jeremiah's acquittal was widely reported "The trial of Jeremiah Boland, licensee of the Champion Hotel, Fitzroy, for his connection with the Arch-Medium Sweep on the the Waterloo Cup, resulted in the acquittal of the accused."
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Jeremiah's good reputation remained in tact. He would go on to be elected President of the United Licensed Victualler's Association of Victoria in 1878 after serving as Vice president in 1877 and he would remain a Committee Member until 1891 (he joined the ULVA in 1870).
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However, the police animosity was not over. On 1st March 1897, Jeremiah's son, John Boland (30 years), was arrested and charged with assisting in running a common gaming house as the "Arch-Medium"...... but that is another story for another day .......
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Jeremiah's death in 1898
When Jeremiah passed away on 31 March 1898, the newspaper headlines remembered the Arch-Medium. "Some years ago Jeremiah conducted a series of "consultations" on the chief race meetings, under the pseudonym of "Arch-Medium." which were largely supported, chiefly in consequence of the well-known sterling honesty of the promoter". He was also remembered as a "keen sportsman, who was universally esteemed for his probity and love of fair play".
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The young Irish lad, well known as a promoter of racing sweeps, the host and landlord of the Champion Hotel, and the developer of valuable Fitzroy property in Brunswick and Gertrude's Streets, left behind a tidy little fortune of £10,865. .
Today's Champion Hotel
Today the rebuilt Champion Hotel, still on its original site, is a famous Fitzroy landmark. This new building was constructed in 1911 for the Victorian Insurance Company. It replaced Jeremiah's hotel which, according to the historical society, "probably did not confirm to the strict standards of the Licensing Reduction Board".
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But the original Champion Hotel will always be a testament to Jeremiah Boland who presided over the boisterous 1850's, 1860's and 1870's, known for the rise of the ‘LARRIKIN’ - a derogatory term for the boisterous youths who lived in the Fitzroy playground for "layabouts, prostitutes and criminals" - and the "Boom Years" of rising Fitzroy property prices in the 1880's.
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Jeremiah Boland was the grandfather of the author's grandmother, "Mary Maud Boland" (1908-1978)
THE FIRST GENERATION BOLANDS
John Armstrong Francis BOLAND (1864 -1941)
Adam Maud RICHARDS (1876-1934)
The mystery of John's birth
On Saturday 13 August 1864 the Melbourne Argus newspaper announced: "BOLAND - On the 11th instance, at the Champion Hotel Fitzroy - Mrs. Jeremiah Boland of a son". Over the years, John Boland would feature in numerous newspaper articles clearly identified and respected in the Fitzroy community as Jeremiah's son, born to his wife Sarah Jane, who Jeremiah married in February 1863.
Yet, there appears to be no public record at all of John's birth. This is very curious given "The New Registration Act" of 31 March 1853, stipulated that from 1 July 1953, all Victorians had to register births and deaths with their local District Registrar. The mystery deepens when you read John's death certificate, which specifically identifies his mother as "Elizabeth" Armstrong - not "Sarah Jane" Armstrong (Jeremiah's wife).
Is it possible that John's mother was Sarah Jane's younger sister, Elizabeth? It is conceivable. In 1864, (the year John was supposedly born) Elizabeth was 15. Could it be that Sarah Jane took it upon herself to raise her unmarried sister's son? If so, did Jeremiah have anything to do with the birth at all or was he the "step father'?
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These questions are largely academic. Even if Jeremiah was not John's biological parent, he raised John, largely on his own, after Sarah Jane died when John was just 3 years old. To all intents and purposes, Jeremiah was John's father. As to his biological mother, we can say with confidence she was from the "Armstrong" family.
Elizabeth Armstrong
Elizabeth Armstrong (born in 1849) was 17 years old when she married Lewis (Ludwig) Meyring. a chemist in Melbourne. When she was 18, her sister Sarah Jane died. When she was 19, her husband, who was now a "hotel keeper" in Bourke Street, was declared insolvent due to the "depression in business and an inability to repay a loan secured on stock-in trade and furniture".
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Aged 20, she gave birth to a son, and at 21 a daughter. When she was 24, hew new born daughter, Eliza, died aged 11 days. The inquest determined Eliza had suffocated during the night having been in the same bed as her mother and her two siblings and ruled the death accidental.
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The Armstrong sisters both died at a young age. Elizabeth died in 1880 aged 31 years. Her sister, Sarah Jane, passed away in 1867, aged 23.
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John grew up in the Champion Hotel in Fitzroy, with his dad Jeremiah, who never remarried after Sarah Jane's premature death. John witnessed the series of court proceedings against his father, the alleged "ARCH MEDIUM" between 1882 and 1884 and he would have been 20 years old when his father was acquitted.
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The Champion Hotel was renowned locally for its "Racing Sweeps" and it was business as usual after Jeremiah's acquittal. When John was 32 years, the police brought new charges to stop this activity, but this time they charged John as the alleged promoter. Unlike his father, John admitted guilt and was fined for "assisting in a Racing Sweep". As John was not the hotel's licensee, the liquor license was not at stake. One year later, in 1898, Jeremiah died and it appears the hotel was sold in accordance with probate. The newspapers reported Jeremiah left behind a "tidy sum of £10,865 which was bequeathed principally to his son John and to the nieces of the deceased".​
Diamonds and romance in New England, NSW
Two years after his father's death, John left Victoria and turned his interest to the New England area of NSW and its mining leases. In 1900 he registered a new lease of 40 acres in the TINGHA Division: Mining Lease no. 8902, Portion no. ML 441, in the County of Hardinge, Parish of Mayo. In his lease application he proposed that 3 men would be employed in the first three years and four men thereafter.
These leases were in the Inverell District, north of Armidale, close to the Qld border. Specifically near Copes Creek and Copeton in the Guyra Local Government Authority.
Diamonds were discovered at Copes Creek in 1875 and were mined in the Copeton - Bingara area from 1883 to 1922. The New England diamonds have some unusual characteristics and to date their primary source has not been definitively determined. The Copeton area is known as the largest producer of diamonds in eastern Australia.
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Clearly, the promise of mineral wealth attracted John Boland to northern NSW. The town of Inverell was undoubtedly influenced by the ups and downs of mining, although, because of the rich agricultural district, it was never dependant on mining but the additional mining population stimulated the agriculture. The atmosphere in Inverell was certainly affected. "And now it was that Inverell awoke, and was metamorphosed from a dormant, pastoral hamlet into a busy and cosmopolitan mining camp, with the usual associations of such, in the shape of gambling, dancing saloons, and general riotous living. Money was spent as though a perennial supply were at the disposal of the spender ... a general air of excitement and exhilaration prevailed."
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Not far from Inverell, in the Copeton area where John had his mining lease, the Bundarra and Tingha Advocate regularly reported on happenings at Bora Creek (situated between Copeton and Bingarra). In February 1904, they reported:
"A concert and dance was held at Skippen's Hall on Monday night, in aid of William Burr (who is suffering from a pulmonary complaint). It drew a big crowd, including a large number of "Copetonites", who are ever-ready to lend a helping hand when aid is required for a charitable purpose. I have not yet heard the amount realised."
Undoubtedly, the "Copetonites" who resided in Copeton, Bora Creek and Bingarra were members of a small community. In 1904, John Boland is in Copeton working his mining leases and Ada Maud Burr (who is known as Maud) is there with four young children aged under seven, nursing her very sick husband William Burr who would die two years later in 1906.
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Shortly after William Burr died romance must have blossomed for events moved quickly. John married the widow Maud in Armidale in 1908. That same year, Maud gave birth in Hillgrove, to their first child togeather, Mary Maud Boland.
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Married Life in 1913
Yerranderie Post Office built in 1907
After the birth of their first son John Francis ("Jack"), in Tamworth in 1910, Maud and John appear on the Yerranderie census in 1913 and Maud's mother, Jane Netta Richards, who had been a widow for some time, is now living with them.
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On the 1913 Census, John describes himself as a "Miner". It would appear John is now working as a miner at one of Yerranderie's established silver mines.
Yerranderie was a prosperous silver mining town but the mining industry collapsed during World War 1 and the town was later cut off from direct access from Sydney by the Warragamba Dam.
In 1914 Yerranderie had over 2,000 residents and services including a post office, a school, three churches, two butchers, one hotel, a police station, Court House and a silent movie theatre. Life appears to have been most convivial. In November, 1913, the annual ball, was held in Quigg's hall. "The weather was all that could be desired, resulting in a record attendance of some 90 couples. The spacious hall, was tastefully decorated by the committee and the music was supplied by the Tonalli String Band." The Lithgow Mercury newspaper reported "A number of pretty dresses were worn by the ladies, amongst whom the following were noticed: Mrs. Boland, pale blue crystalline, with silver tinsel net"
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John and Ada Maud give birth to their third child Frederick Raymond, in November 1915. The birth is registered in the "Picton District" - Yerranderie was in the County of Camden which was in the District of Picton.
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Jane Netta Richards (nee Long)
Jane Netta Long (born in 1845) was 20 years old when she married David Richards in the Tamworh district in 1865. David was a Stockman who would work in Boggabri (in the District of Narrabri) at Booral Creek, at the Willelee Station and the Collymongle Station.
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Working dogs, stock whips and horses – the tools of trade for the traditional stockman in Australia. During this time Jane gave birth to seven children, including John Boland's future wife AmyMaud. Unfortunately, Jane's final child was stillborn.
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In 1878, David would be charged with stealing a watch and was fined £3, but in default of payment he was sentenced to three months goal at Tamworth. In 1885, David applied to be declared bankrupt via Voluntary Sequestration. A meeting of creditors was held at the Court-house, Gunnedah, in September 1897 and David would die just two months later.
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Jane was 52 years old when she became a widow. She would live to be 90 years, and prior to her death in Sydney in 1936, she would happily reside with several of her daughters - Maud included.
Final years in Sydney
In 1915, when the First World War broke out, many mines closed due to a shortage of young male workers. John was 51 years of age in 1915. He was the sole bread winner for his wife Maud, her four children born to her first husband, their three children togeather plus Maud's widowed mother, Jane.
It is not known when the family moved from Yerranderie, but they found their way to Sydney. In 1930, they appear on the Census living in Cammeray. Ada Maud is registered as a "Shop Assistant" and John is a "Commercial Traveller".
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The occupation of "Commercial Traveller" emerged during the eighteenth century in the form of bagmen, who rode on horseback to distribute goods to trade customers who were retailers or manufacturers. As such they were distinct from peddlers who sold goods directly to the public at fairs. In the 1900's, the occupation would mean a Travelling Salesman.
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Later Census records show John and Maud residing in the Sydney suburbs of Lidcome in1932 & 1933 with their youngest daughter Mary. After his wife's death in 1934, John moved to Ashfield, where he was retired and living alone.
In later years, records would show John living with his younger son, Frederick, a Machinist, in Summer Hill in 1935 and Granville in 1936. Presumably he lived with Fred until his death in 1941 in a private hospital in Enfield, aged 79 years.
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Raised as an only child by a publican in the larrikin Fitzroy boom years, John Boland was a punter at heart. After his father's death he took his inheritance from Melbourne to the booming diamond and silver districts of northern NSW and worked his own leases where "a general air of excitement and exhilaration prevailed."
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It would appear he left Northern NSW, minus the riches he was seeking, but with an established family and hard earned mining skills. Confident and outgoing, when the years of hard labour were behind him, he turned his desire for new experiences to a life of sales and travel - no doubt, never short of a tale to tell.