John Rowe
History
John Rowe was born in St Just, Cornwall. St Just was a mining village on the rugged Penwith moors in the south-west corner of Cornwall. Mining had been the main occupation of the inhabitants of this area for centuries and young John's father and grandfathers were no exceptions, all being tin miners. By 1851 John and his brothers (James, William & Thomas) then only 13 years old, were working as miners according to census records. It was possibly the extra money that the boys bought home that enabled the family to move from Chapel Street to Pleasant Row (a bluestone semi-detached house still standing today) [1]
Work conditions in St Just were tough the great change in temperature from three hundred fathoms underground where men cooled themselves in steaming water, to surface conditions fifty degrees lower. Then there was the strain of climbing two thousand feet of ladders after an eight hour shift. It took the men three quarters of an hour to go down and twice as long to return, followed by the walk home.[2]
On 11 February 1853, at age of 23, John Rowe bade farewell to his family and made his way to Liverpool, obtaining a birth on "Jennny Wren" on 01 March bound for San Fransisco. Spending time at the Hang Town mines in California and realising he was too late for riches he paid $100 for passage to Australia on the barque 'St Mary' on 01 March 1855. The ship was condemned in Samoa and John Rowe paid another $100 on a smack bound for Sydney arriving 08 September 1855.[3]
In 1862 Alexander Rankin was a shareholder with the Koh-i-Noor Gold Mining Co.
Mining History
Getting straight to work at Ballarat's Gravel Pits and Eureka Leads John Rowe next moved to the Sebastapol area. He tried a short stint in Queensland returning to the cooler Ballarat as a miner on Inkerman Lead. John moved to Ballarat's Specimen Lead then to Black Hill, in 1862 he start work at the Britannia Gold Mining Co. By 1867 John Rowe was general manager or 'captain'. A silver watch was presented to John Rowe by the mine in 1869, and he held the position as 'captain' for 14 years.[4]
In 1875 John Rowe enrolled at the Ballarat School of Mines where he studied Metallurgy and Assaying. In 1880 the Britannia Gold Mining Co. closed and John Rowe moved to Launceston working as Manager of the Royal Tasman Gold Mining Company. He returned to Ballarat two years later to manage the Long Gully United Gold Mining Company.
In 1885 John Rowe managed the Stelling Nickel, Chrome, Cobalt and General Mining Company in Noumea, New Caledonia.[5] He was offered work via Telegram from London for the Kriel Oriental Gold Mining Company, Transvaal, South Africa in 1888. [6] Signs of John Rowe's deteriorating health from an illness picked up in South Africa resulted in him not being able to properly inspect a mine. [7]
- ALLENDALE.-A magisterial inquiry as to the death of William Barratt in the West Berry Consols mine was opened on Monday by Mr. D. M'Grath. The company was represented by counsel and the officers of the Creswick Miners' Association were also in attendance. Mr. John Rowe, the mining inspector being unable to complete his inspection of the mine and be present, an adjournment was made till Wednesday. [8]
Around this time John Rowe received an offer from the Ballarat School of Mines to lecture in Practical Mining, an instructional innovation which involved weekly visits to some of the principle mines in the district. John Rowe took up this position in 1894, but it appears to have been a short lived innovation ending in 1896, possibly due to John Rowe's failing health.[9]
In 1885 John Rowe was a foundation member of the Amalgamated Mining Managers' Association, and he was elected President in 1901.[10]
He was manager of the South Imperial Gold Mining Co. in 1887.[11]
John Rowe died in 1904 at Ballarat.
Legacy
When the Amalgamated Mining Managers' Association was founded in 1885 John Rowe was a foundation member. The Association elected him President in 1901.
Rowe Street, Ballarat, (near Eastern Oval) was most likely name after John Rowe. He had been some what involved in Ballarat East local events. [12]
See also
Notes
John Rowe married Jane Richards (1842-1911) at the Anglican Church in Ballarat. Upon the death of Jane in 1911 The Ballarat Courier stated "for a greater part of her life lived on Soldiers Hill where she was widely and universally respected."[13]
John Rowe's second son, William, was a mechanical engineer at the Phoenix Foundry.[14]
References
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
- ↑ Argus, 15 May 1888.
- ↑ Argus, 17 May 1903.
- ↑ The Argus, 17 March 1903.
- ↑ http://guerin.ballarat.edu.au/curator/honour-roll/honourroll_Rowe,John.shtml
- ↑ http://guerin.ballarat.edu.au/curator/honour-roll/honourroll_Rowe,John.shtml
- ↑ Rogers, J. W. F. (ed.). (c. 1887). The Australasian Federal Directory of Commerce, Trades & Professions. Melbourne: J. W. F. Rogers.
- ↑ Argus, 10 June 1870.
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
- ↑ Research by Louis Rowe emailed to Clare Gervasoni, 19 June 2013.
Further Reading
Smith, James (Ed) The Cyclopedia of Victoria, Vol.II : An Historical and Commercial Review. Victoria: F.W. Niven & Co., 1904.
External links
--H. Scarpe 10:27, 25 August 2011 (EST); --C.K.Gervasoni 15:35, 19 June 2013 (EST)