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The first (W.A.) Finnertys - father and son

Pamela Statham

Statham, Pamela 1984, 'The first (W.A.) Finnertys - father and son', Early Days, vol. 9, part 2: 17-24.

MAJOR CHARLES FINNERTY 1838-1881

The first Western Australia Finnerty was born in Ireland in 1815, probably in Northern Ireland, for although we know virtually nothing of Charles’ parents, we do know they were Protestant. 1 It has been suggested that he was educated at Rugby, the famous English school to which he sent his own sons in the late 1860s, but that again has not been confirmed.

We know that he was in Malta in 1838, for that was where he married Elizabeth Mathews, daughter of a British army officer stationed there at the time. 2 Whether or not Finnerty was a regular soldier at that time we again do not know. It would seem likely by the marriage connection, but he was certainly not a commissioned officer, for he received his Ensignship — the lowest rung in the commissioned officer class — in October 1850 at the age of 35. 3 If Charles had attended Rugby, and then decided to enter the army, it would have been normal practice for him to have entered at Ensign rank — not to have achieved it after some twelve years’service. It is of course possible that Charles did not attend Rugby, and instead joined the army as a non-commissioned officer... but here we strike two other problems; first, would a lowly non-commissioned officer have been permitted to marry the daughter of a staff officer at Malta? And, if he were, is it likely that his father-in-law would do nothing to ensure his advancement in the subsequent twelve years? And secondly, we know that generally speaking at that time, promotions to the commissioned officer’s ranks did not stem from the non-commissioned officers — unless of course by purchase. So it would seem that Charles was not just a simple soldier for the whole twelve years. We could go on guessing (did he leave the army for some time, for instance? or was he in an army support-type occupation with status but no rank?) but fundamentally we just don’t know what he was doing. Charles Finnerty’s career prior to 1850 — virtually the first half of his life — thus remains a mystery.

Once commissioned as an Ensign in the 47th Regiment of Foot, however, we can trace his steps, albeit with a few jumps. In January 1853 he and his wife and two small daughters, Ann Eliza and Susan Margaret, were stationed at the military barracks at Limerick, Ireland. This was where his first son, John Michael, was born later that year. 4 In October 1854, Charles was promoted to Lieutenant, and during the next three years saw service in various parts of the world; his wife Elizabeth in the meantime presenting him with another son, Arthur James. In April 1857 he was promoted to Captain; and it should be noted that in an age where officer posts were eagerly sought and generally acquired by purchase, Finnerty’s rise through the ranks without purchase does indicate a certain forcefulness and efficiency. 5

One can imagine his frustration and disappointment then, when hewas pensioned off the active list sometime during 1858. At this stage hewas in the prime of life at 43, and had five young children to support — another daughter, Evangeline, being born in that year. 6 It is possible that an injury or illness led to Charles’ early retirement, but periodic retrenchments to

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reduce military expenditure were common in those days, and it is more likely that he, along with other young men (some under 30), was simply transferred to the non-active pension list.

It had been the large-scale retrenchments after the Napoleonic Wars that had seen the emergence of ‘pensioned army and navy personnel' real force. Indeed, 'veteran battalions’ had been used from 1804 to take over garrison duties and release regulars for more active service. But at the end of the war there was no further call for pensioners to serve any military defence function and the‘veteran battalions’ were disbanded.The large number of pensioners still on the lists remained a drain on the public purse however, and it was felt that they should be put to some public use Such feelings, moreover, were shared by most of the pensioners, who chafed at inactivity but were inadequately trained to move easily intoother employment. In the late 1820s authority was given to magistrates acting in the maintenance of public order, to enrol pensioners as special constables, and during the 1830s the Enrolled Pensioner Force was used extensively to control the Chartist and Anti-Corn Law riots. In 1843 legislation was passed to formalise the use and organisation of the Enrolled Pensioners, who adopted the uniform of the Royal Hospital for Pensioners in Chelsea which had been founded by Henry VIII in the 16th century. During the 1840s, however, the original intention of using the pensioners for home duties had been considerably stretched and by 1850 small detachments of the Pensioner Force were to be found overseas, in some cases replacing regular troops. F. Broom hall, who has written a history of the Enrolled Pensioner Force, notes their presence in the 1850$ in New South Wales, Western Australia, Gambia, Malta, Canada, the Falkland Islands, New Zealand and Tasmania.7

In arranging for the Pensioner Force to provide regular guards for the convict establishment formed in Western Australia in 1850, the British government was acting to minimise expense. Instead of paying wagestoa specially-trained recruited force, the pensioners’ wages only had to be ‘topped up’ as they were already in receipt of government funds, 60%of the W.A. force receiving British government pensions of one shilling or more per day.' The authorities discriminated against applicants who were thought too old or too feeble for colonial service, and against those with very large families.

They appear also to have given preference to pensioners over the rank of sergeant in the Corps assigned to duty in Western Australia, so Finnerty would presumably not have found it difficult to be accepted. The incentive for the pensioners, who were enlisted by their local pay officer, was a free passage to W.A. for themselves and their families and a guaranteed six months’ employment on regular duty at pay ranging from 1/3d to 1/10-per day (without rations) on top of their pensions. Their duties included guarding the convicts on the voyage out to the colony, and subsequently to form a rostered guard to accompany convicts transported anywhere within the colony; to undertake night watches over convicts to release the day-warders; and to act as a reserve force within the colony to supplemen the colonial regiments. Outside their rostered duties (which amounted of average to two days per week in the early period), the Pensioners were fre® to seek employment for wages and many were subsequently employed a5 public servants or policemen. They were not to be granted land until the1 retirement, but encouraged to purchase and work small allocations nea the main towns. In all, compared with conditions in England at that time-the prospects for pensioners who decided to emigrate to Western

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Australia looked very promising.

On 24 August 1859 Charles Finnerty with his wife and five children, arrived at Fremantle on the convict ship Sultana. One wonders what his thoughts might have been as at 44 years of age he leant against the ship's railings and contemplated a totally new job in a still very new country. His son, at a similar age, was described as having a 'commanding but genial j presence, being a big man physically with a full beard and walrus moustache'9. Genetically then, it is on the cards that Charles too was a big I man, and one can imagine him wearing the navy-blue serge uniform, of I double-breasted frockcoat with red cuffs and collar, and trousers and cap with their distinctive red stripes, with some flair.

He must have settled into the new routine quickly and easily for it was [ not long before Captain Charles Finnerty was listed as a Staff Officer of [ thecorps at Fremantle where he remained for the first two years. In 1862 it appears that he was transferred to Toodyay, for we find him taking | possession of a town lot in Newcastle (as Toodyay was then called) in that i year.’0 Another daughter, Henrietta, was born there in 1863. The isolation of that inland station may well have fostered the Finnerty’s concern for the education of their children, for despite the existence of several schools in I Perth and Fremantle we find Mrs Finnerty leaving the colony on the | Daylight in January 1865 with five of her six children.”

John, and presumably Arthur as well, were enrolled at Rugby from 1867 to 1872, and the three younger girls who accompanied their mother were | no doubt sent to school in England as well. The eldest daughter, Ann Eliza, | was apparently left at home to keep house for her father, for in 1868, before j her mother’s return, she married Lockier Burgess.12 The previous year her ; father had been moved to York, where he had taken a small five-acre block.

i We know little of Charles Finnerty’s activities as officer of the convict guard at York and Toodyay in this period, except that he was considered | zealous and very efficient. So much so, in fact, that for a brief period in I 1872, in the interval between Captain Crampton’s death and the appointment of the new Commandant, Major Harvest, Captain Finnerty i was made Commandant of all troops.13 This change may well have I brought home to Finnerty the benefits of higher rank for it is recorded that in 1874, having passed the appropriate examinations, Captain Finnerty | was promoted to Major. At this stage he appears to have been back in j Fremantle and rejoined by his wife and now near-adult children who had arrived back from England in September 1873 on the Zephyr.”

The next we hear of Major Finnerty is in April 1876, when he took an [ active role in what is widely known as the 'Catalpa Affair’ when six of the Irish Fenian prisoners who had arrived in the ‘Hougomant' in 1868, escaped and were taken on board the Catalpa, (an American whaler, specially commissioned for the escape) and transported to the U.S. where they received a tumultuous welcome. When the alarm was raised in Fremantle at the escape, a coal-burner, the Georgette, went out to intercept the Catalpa with police and eighteen pensioners under the command of Major Finnerty on board. Hailing the Catalpa and requesting return of the fugitives, met with no success, so the Georgette gave chase until scarcity of coal, and concern at the international incident that might f ensure if shots were fired at a ship under the U.S. flag, gave Finnerty pause ) to think, resulting in the Georgette's return to Fremantle. Family legend I it that during ensuing weeks a popular ditty around Fremantle was:

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"Finnerty Hi, Finnerty Ho. Finnerty let the Fenians go. ”

As the family point out, this was hardly fair to Finnerty as he wasa staunch Anglican and unlikely to harbour sympathies for the Catholic Fenians.’5

The late 1870s were difficult years for the W. A. Pensioners, for following the cessation of transportation in 1868 the British government was determined to disband the Force, the first dismissals occurring in 1877. At this time there were 192 of the non-commissioned Pensioner Force inthe colony. ‘Not enough,’ said their leader (now Lt. Col. Harvest), 'to adequately maintain the Barracks, Commissariat and Powder Magazine guards, and guard the convicts still completing their sentences.'16 The British government was not convnced, and in 1878 disbanded the Pensioner Force in Perth leaving only about 130 men at Fremantle. As there were only 150 convicts left at Fremantle, the Government's case seems valid but, as Governor Ord pointed out, from 1871 onwards the Pensioners represented the Colony’s only armed force and as such, should be retained for its defence. While negotiations occurred at toplevei between the Governor and the Colonial Office, Home Office and War Office in Britain, Finnerty’s career reached its highest point with his appointment as Lieut. Colonel in April 1879. Colonel Harvest commented in his despatch to the War Office that ‘Brevet Lt. Col. Finnerty is an active, zealous and deserving officer but could hardly have ever been fitted for higher duties than those entrusted to him and I recommend that he now be retired.' 17 It is possible that Harvest’s comment arose from the rumoured fact that Finnerty's weakness was an irascible temper, which would not have fitted him for the diplomatic needs of high rank. But it is probable that Finnerty never knew of the advice to have him retired, for in March and April 1880 came the despatches that ordered the total disbanding of the W.A. Pensioner Force. 18 Everyone, including Finnerty, was retired in that year.

Without the army, which had been part of his life for so long, life would not have been easy for Finnerty who still, however, continued his duties as Justice of the Peace. He died soon afterwards, in January 1881, and was buried in the East Perth cemetary. His wife, Elizabeth, lived until 1908 when she died at Fremantle. 19

WARDEN JOHN MICHAEL FINNERTY 1853—1913

In the year of his father’s death John Michael Finnerty, the eldest son, was running a pastoral lease on the Gascoyne river with J.H. Monger. On his return from school in England late in 1873 John had been found a position as clerk to the Chief Justice, Sir Archibald Burt, but had chafedat the inactivity of the job and soon resigned.20 At 21 years of age his imagination was probably caught by tales of the pearling up North and for the next couple of years he combined pearling with several highly remunerative trading voyages to Malaya. With a ‘handsome return’ in his pocket, John then turned to pastoraiism and in 1878 became the active, managing member of the partnership with J.H. Monger on the Gasgoyne* Murchison property; and during the first two years, built what is said to have been the first brick house in the North.21

The next two years, 1881-2, must have been a harrowing period forthe young man for soon after his father’s death the North-West was struck by a drought of unparalleled severity which ’spread havoc and death among his valuable herds and flocks'.22 This apparently so dispirited John that ha

Warden John Michael Finnerty 21

uproperty, but whether he did so immediately or after some years is ] ! doubt, for it has been suggested that between 1882 and 1886 he visited 1 Lgiand twice.23 If so, the drought cannot have been the 'irrecoverable] financial loss' that W.B. Kimberly claimed it was in his ‘History of West J Australia'. Most accounts follow the Kimberly line and imply that John was I rescued from financial impecunity early in 1886 by his appointment to the 1 Government service as Inspector of Police for the Kimberley district.24 I

Based at Derby, Finnerty was more or less on the spot when the! Kimberley Gold Fields were proclaimed in May 1886 following the] discoveries of Charles Hall and Jack Slattery. So, within six months of 1 appointment, Finnerty was promoted to Warden and Resident Magistrate I of the Colony’s first gold field, which by the end of that year had attracted] over 2000 men.25 For two-and-a-half years Finnerty was stationed at Halls Creek keeping order and dispensing justice from a tent. It was not an easy 1 job as he had to enforce payment of the unpopular duty on all gold won,] prevent smuggling and adjudicate on rival claims to particular leases—alt] of which he reputedly did with humour and common sense. But the rush] and excitement of the Kimberley finds did not last, and by 1889 Finnerty,] newly made a Justice of the Peace, was practically out of work. By then, I however, new fi nds had been made at Yilgarn near Southern Cross and his previous experience made Finnerty the ideal person to appoint as Warden ; of that field, a position which he took up by the end of 1889.26

During the next two years Finnerty made many friends among the diggers and miners who made their way to Southern Cross from| Fremantle and Albany; not least among them a Cornishman, William Oates, who was manager of the Frazer mine (one of the largest early mines) and Southern Cross’ first mayor. Being closer to the main townsj than the Kimberley field, the Southern Cross diggings saw more family’ life, as wives and daughters were able to join their menfolk. It was not long therefore before the now 38-year-old Finnerty ended his bachelor days, marrying William Oates’ daughter, Bertha, in December 1891.27

A few months earlier the Warden had been reappointed Resident Magistrate, this time for the Southern Cross area. It was in this capacity that Finnerty first had to rule on the labour clauses of the 1886 Goldfields Act, which stipulated that leases had to be manned while waiting development, and by a number of miners determined by the size of the property leased.20 Applications for exemption from the labour clauses were permitted by the regulations, but in 1892 Warden Finnerty refused to grant such exemptions to Southern Cross leaseholders and initiated the first mining strike in the colony — a strike that resulted in amendments to the regulations giving the Minister for Mines the power to make exemptions.29 The resulting lack of enforcement of the labour clauses became a major grievance of the goldfields' working class for the rest of the decade, but Finnerty's stand earned him their respect and contributed in nosmall way to his success in keeping order among an inevitably unruly crowd.

In September 1892 an event occurred that must have been the highlight of Finnerty’s life. On the 17th of that month he was approached by Arthur Bayley (a young man who had run a small mine at Southern Cross since 1888) who wished to register a claim and announce a major new find. Bayley was able to show Finnerty 554 ozs of gold that he had collected without effort. He and his partner, William Ford, had found a fabulously rich reef some 120 miles east of Southern Cross, and reported that ‘instead of small nuggets there were literally hundreds of outstanding bars of gold

22 The Royal Western Australian Historical Society

that could be knocked out of boulders with a tomahawk.'30 Finnerty to0L down the details and registered the claim, named Bayley's Reward, an]| announced the new field open on 20 September. However, he insisted on seeing the area for himself before telegramming any official announcement to Perth. Accordingly, he returned with Bayley to the waiting Ford and witnessed for himself:

The greatest flow of gold the world has ever seen. Fragile skeletons of quartz held together and filled out with gold. Not in specks or even flakes but in course grains, nuggets, ribbons and planches."3'

Before returning, Finnerty gave a name to the new field — calling it Coolgardie. There have been various interpretations of how he decided upon this name, but it is generally accepted that ‘Coolgardie’ was his version of an aboriginal word for either a waterhole, a tree or the area of land itself.32 Returning to Southern Cross Finnerty sent his official message to Perth which read

‘Very rich quartz reef... Gold has been picked up on the surface four miles square in granite, ironstone and greenstone ..."

This electric telegram No. 3098 officially started Western Australia's greatest gold rush.33 Strangely the initial discoverers, Bayley and Ford, sold out their claim and returned from the diggings. Bayley unfortunately died of TB a couple of years later at the age of just 30. An obituary by J. Marshall is interesting as it suggests the importance given at the time to Warden Finnerty's role. It read in part “Whilst his sun was at its meridian he passed in his miner's right to the Great Warden of the universe.’34

The rush of people to the Coolgardie field brought new worries for Finnerty for the few shallow pools of available water soon dried out as a result both of diggers' demands and the onset of summer. Finnerty did all he could to avert tragedy by ordering diggers back to Southern Cross and only allowing them to resume their Coolgardie claims after the winter rains, and also by persuading the government to provide water tanks along the road.35 Still stationed at Southern Cross, Finnerty had his work cutout during 1893administering to an ever-increasing population, while on the home front his repsonsibilities widened with the birth of his first child, a daughter named Elizabeth. It was in June 1893 that he received Paddy Hannan and his first 100 oz of gold from new finds near Mt Charlotte and Mt Gleddon.^OneApril 1894 the family moved to thesiteof the new town of Coolgardie, following Finnerty's appointment as Warden and Resident Magistrate for the whole Eastern Goldfields.37 As part of his new duties Finnerty apparently helped to plan the township which by the late 1890s was the third largest town in the Colony, with a population of over 15,000. Living and working initially in a tent at the rear of the first public buildings to be constructed, Finnerty was prominent in all the excitements of the Golden Hole and the Wealth of Nations discovered during 1894, a year which has been described by many as the peak year for gold discoveries in the region. Such excitement would no doubt have buffered Finnerty from the discomforts of tent-living, but his wife and baby desperately needed better accommodation, especially as Bertha was pregnant again by the end of the year.

In 1895 the government finally authorised the construction of a h ome for Finnerty and his family, a home which was to ‘reflect the im portance of the Warden's position.' (Designed by Government Architect George Temple* Poole.—Ed.) The contract was let to Robert Bunning (founder of Bunning Brothers) for £2,800, and it was finished in August of that year. It is said

i

Warden John Michael Finnerty 228

j t because of the shortage of water in the area the render used on the I front facade of the house was blended with stale beer!38

Besides the completion of the new house ‘on a hill overlooking thetowrn onthe South Side',39 two other important events occurred in Finnerty’s lifefl during 1895. One was the birth of his first son, John, in Coolgardie; and the! other was the passing of a new Goldfields Act which incorporated advice! from Finnerty to make ‘dual title’ to specific claims legal.

| Alluvial gold, which could be won by simple hand-tools, was universalis*

[ regarded as ‘poor man’s gold’ in Australia during the 19th century. Under] j the terms of the W.A. Goldfields Act of 1888 leases were granted as so or] asa goldfield was proclaimed, the leaseholder receiving the right to all the]

! gold, both reef and alluvial, within his pegs.40 At Southern Cross in the]

1 early days, however, no objection was raised against diggers who entered] t leases in search of surface gold. But in the first rush to Coolgardie this] privilege was abused, for men broke specimens from the reef on Bayiey’s] reward mine. Finnerty, called to adjudicate, ruled that leases could be] entered and worked for alluvial but NOT within 15 metres of the lode oil reef. Commenting later, Finnerty pointed out that most leases had been]

( pegged on ground that contained some alluvial and that under theexistingi l regulations the many men who entered them to search for surface gold] would be guilty of trespass. He therefore agitated for a change in the law tot allow alluvialists to enter leases to search for gold as long as they did not] operate within a certain distance from the defined reef or lode.

The‘Dual Title’ as it eventually became known when incorporated in the!

[ 1895 Act, was an important element in the ensuing mining boom. The; immediate granting of lease-titles aided the investment of British capital and the expansion of company mining, while the granting of alluvial titles; to the same land increased employment and widened opportunities for all!] The Act was doubly welcome as it also reduced the price of a Miner’s Right, a concession that was felt long overdue.

The year 1895 was not only a milestone for Finnerty personally, it was! also a critical year for the Goldfields as a whole. A succession of major! reverses beset the industry beginning with the failure of the Wealth ofl Nations mine to justify its promise in January. Disaster threatened in April] when the Golden Hole was proved to be ‘little more than worthless shell’42] The flow of capital was endangered and the whole industry appeared to be] in jeopardy, when a new announcement turned the tide. A group of South] Australians who had taken out leases following Hannan's discoveries in] 1893 had raised enough capital to start mining on site.

In mid-1895 their first crushing results came through to an excited and] relieved population. The now world-renowned Golden Mile had at last been broached and the permanence of the mi nes appeared assured. In the] previous period of uncertainty, however, the importance of alluvial rights] had been brought home firmly, for many unemployed miners had eked outj a living from surface fossicking. In this atmosphere the legislation of alluvial title by the 1895 Act was doubly welcome. With the resurgence of] reef mining in late 1895 both branches of the industry were satisfied. 1

Relations between the mining community as a whole and the; flovernment remained harmonious through to 1897, easing Finnerty’s^ load, as also did the appointment of other Wardens to newly designated fields within his previous 11,800 square mile territory.43 This at last gave him time to attend to the enlargement of his house, to become Worshipful Waster of the Coolgardie Lodge of Freemasons, and to pursue his]

24 The Royal Western Australian Historical Society

interests through membership of the Royal Geographic Society Nonetheless, he still chaired Quarter Sessions and acted as sub-collector of revenues, police magistrate, Justice of the Peace and Resident Magistrate as well as carrying out his now more defined Warden’s duties In sum he was confronted (as Kimberly has recorded) with 'a multitudeoi I requests on his presence and his pen'.

Thanks to the division of Wardenship duties Finnerty was spared the I limelight in a case that came to a head on the Kalgoorlie goldfields in 1898 By late 1897 investment in mining was on the wane as easily-obtained gold petered out. In attempts to encourage businesses, the government allowed more and more exemptions from the labour covenant — which led I to escalating unemployment. Consequently alluvial mining attracted increasing attention. In September of that year several 'deep leads'were discovered on the North-East Coolgardie goldfields and this stimulateda 'deep-alluvial' rush that held the seeds of recovery.44

Quickly spreading beyond the initial Crown land finds, however, the ‘deep-alluvial’ searchers soon came up against company leaseholders who resented their activities. A particular case was brought before Warden Hare in Kalgoorlie in January 1898. The Manager of the Ivanhoe mine, when approached by an alluvial miner for permission to sinkashaft in the allowed area, had declared that all his lease was reef. The digger had objected and demanded justice from Warden Hare who then ruled thatthe alluvial miner did not have right of entry onto leases in search of deep alluvial. As a result of this decision the Goldfields Act was amended to include what became known as the Ten Foot Rule’. The ‘Dual Title* was henceforth only to allow alluvial miners access to surface workings in the prescribed area away from the reef or lode to a depth ‘not to exceed 101 feet'.45 This was fiercely resented by the vast majority of the Goldfields' residents who felt that it violated traditions associated with alluvial mining as well as undermining the incipient recovery.

Alluvialists and prospectors were joined in protest with mine workers, shopkeepers, and businessmen, and meetings organised by the Alluvial Defence Leagues and the trade unions were held in all leading centres. In deliberate defiance of the Kalgoorlie Warden’s ruling the diggers set up shafts on Ivanhoe’s lease to prove it was not all lode, and were sent to Fremantle prison by Warden Hare for their trouble. The imprisonments merely fuelled the fires of anger and resentment among the diggers, anda mass demonstration was called to coincide with Premier Forrest's planned visit to Kalgoorlie. The size and agitation of the crowd that met the Premier's train on 24 March 1898 was undoubtedly partly responsible for the rescinding of the ‘Ten Foot Rule’ early in April and the release of the imprisoned men.46

But unknown to the rejoicing miners, new legislation was being drafted at that very time to finally abolish the ‘Dual Title’. Forrest and other members had been under pressure from British capitalists during 1897to revoke the 1895 ruling as it was thought to reduce potential profit from a claim. In consequence, another amendment to the Goldfields Act was passed which repealed the right of entry to leases in search of alluvial, and substituted a new clause which empowered Wardens to obtain reports on new ground, delay the issue of leases up to six months if necessary while the alluvial was removed, and then to grant leases that carried the right to all the gold within its pegs.47

Warden John Michael Finnerty 25

When news of the Amendment Act reached the goldfields the miners | were incensed and throughout the remainder of 1898 and 1899 held j protests and demonstrations that represented ‘the closest approximation to insurrection (experienced) in the history of the Eastern Goldfields'.41 Although out of the line of immediate fire, which was concentrated in 1 Kalgoorlie, Warden Finnerty would have been closely embroiled in these events. To see his brai n-child, the 'Dual Title', abolished in such a way. and to have to administer a law that so clearly limited employment, must have galled him intensely. The records tell us that in the middle of 1900 Finnerty ] was transferred from Coolgardie, being made Warden of the Kalgoorlie field.49 Given the tension between the previous Warden Hare and the j Kalgoorlie miners, it looks very much as though Finnerty, whose j reputation among the miners for fair dealing was legendary, was appointed as trouble-shooter, a conclusion supported to a degree by the j fact that his wife and family did not move from their Coolgardie home.

On taking up his new Kalgoorlie office Finnerty’s first duty as Warden appears to have been the starting of the town clock, which was done with ; due pomp and ceremony on 11 August i900.50 In October he had to open the new Boulder Court House, among other official duties. It was in that year too that Finnerty, aged 47, succumbed to the legacy of an army upbringing by forming the first commissioned Voluntary Goldfields Force (the 1st Battalion of the West Australian Infantry Brigade), which he led as Provost-Captain. It was in this capacity that he attended the opening of Federal Parliament in Melbourne the following year, 1901.5’

Always somewhat of a visionary, Finnerty had strongly supported the Federal concept and had found his sentiments echoed by the goldfields population. Their support for the proposed Commonwealth, however, was more a matter of limiting the power of the government that had denied their alluvial rights, than one of vision. Nonetheless, the common ground would no doubt have helped make Finnerty’s tenure of the Kalgoorlie Wardenship less burdensome than it might otherwise have been. Time and again Finnerty managed to prove that with humour, commonsense and a feeling for the working man, lawlessness and riotous behaviour on the goldfields could be kept to a minimum. Slowly the discontent of the late 90s on the Kalgoorlie field was calmed under his influence, though it clearly took a toll.

In 1902 his second daughter and third child, Aileen Sally, was born in the Coolgardie home which is now in the care of the National Trust. In following years Finnerty combined work with an active role in the volunteer force, being promoted to Captain in 1903, Major in 1904 and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1905.52 In 1908 his mother died in Fremantle, and three years later, suddenly, his wife, too, died. Less than two weeks later on 31 August 1911, John Michael Finnerty, known to all as‘Warden of the golden acres’, handed in his resignation.53 Family legend has it that grief following the loss of his wife precipitated the decision to leave the Wardenship, but his own deteriorating health may also have contributed, 3S he suffered then from diabetes. With his youngest children Finnerty retired to a property near Geraldton, later known as ‘Oakabella’ station, where he lived quietly for the next two years. He died in 1913 of blood Poisoning following the removal of a carbuncle on his neck.84

With his passing Western Australia lost one of its greats for to him in no little measure can be attributed credit for the extent of the 1890s gold mining boom and the general lawfulness of the Western Australian goldfields.

NOTES

Dictionary of Western Australians (Erickson), Vol. 3 (Universityof Western/ta. Press, 1980), p.273.

Family papers held at Battye Library.

Ibid.

J.S. Battye, Cyclopedia of Western Australia (Perth 1912-13) p.349.

Family papers state that Finnerty was promoted ‘by examination’.

Family papers.

F.A. Broomhall, The Veterans: A History of the Enrolled Pensioner Force 1850-1880 (East Perth, 1975), Ch.1.

Ibid, p.1.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 8 (Melbourne University Press). Dictionary of Western Australians, op. cit., p.273.

Ibid.

Family papers.

Broomhall, op. cit., p.vii.

Family papers.

Ibid and Broomhall, op. cit Broomhall, op. cit., p.113.

Ibid., p.113.

Ibid., p.114.

Dictionary of Western Australians, op. cit Battye Cyclopedia, op. cit., p.349.

W.H. Kimberly, West Australia 1897, p.139 and A.D.B Kimberly, op. cit., p.139.

A.D.B., op. cit., p.501.

Battye, Cyclopedia, op. cit., p.349.

Casey & May man, The Mile that Midas Touched (Adelaide 1904), p.27. Battye, op. cit., p.349.

Kalgoorlie Miner, 2.5.61 and Family papers.

D. Mossenson, 'Mining Regulations and Alluvial disputes 1894-1904’ in Unned^ Studies in History and Economics, 1955, p.10.

Ibid.; p.11, Coghlan Labour and Industry in Australia (Oxford 1918), p.1578 and Du Coolgardie Miner, April 14, 1894.

Wilson, H.H., Westward Gold (Rugby 1973), p.61.

Ibid., p.62.

Ibid., p.62; Kalgoorlie Miner 2.5.61; Kimberly, op. cit., p.140, A.D.B., op.cit.,p.50i and Casey & Mayman, op. cit., p.51.

Wilson, op. cit., p.62.

Ibid., p.63.

A.D.B., op. cit., p.501.

Kalgoorlie Miner, 2.5.61.

Kimberly, op. cit., p.140.

National Trust Brochure on Warden Finnerty’s House. Coolgardie. Kalgoorlie Miner, 2.5.61.

Mossenson, op. cit., p.13.

Ibid.; Malcolm Uren ‘Glint of Gold’ (Melbourne 1948), p.42.

Mossenson, op. cit., p.7; Marshall, Battling for Gold (Melbourne 1903). p.69-Kimberley, op. cit., p.140.

Mossenson, op. cit., pp.17-18.

Western Australian Government Gazette, January 30, 1898. .

Kalgoorlie Miner, 6.5.1898 and Western Australian Government Gazette. Apt*1 1898.

Mossenson, op. cit., p.22.

Mossenson, p.26; Kalgoorlie Miner, November 20 1899 and November 2118$ A.D.B., op. cit., p.501.

Kalgoorlie Miner, 2.5.61.

National Trust Brochure — notes from Mrs Nordovan.

1910 Army list (WAA 355.09941).

A.D.B., p. 501.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 9 February, 2022 and hosted at freotopia.org/earlydays/9/statham.html (it was last updated on 9 February, 2022). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.