John Beynon's Quartz Crushing Mill, Poverty Reef, c.1874

This remarkable photograph has been submitted by our well-known contributor Peter Matthews, a direct descendant of John Beynon, who can be seen standing right centre with daughter Catherine. Peter writes: "My ancestor John Beynon was one of the four Welshmen who owned the Prince of Wales Claim. David’s latest book (part 4) mentions (p90) ..’it is said that on one occasion he rode a horse shod with golden shoes up and down Tarnagulla’s main street.’ Sadly, whilst he had a good life, all his fortune went into horses, hotels and many more mining ventures, and when he died in 1904 he left an estate of 260 pounds all of which went to creditors. Apart from some great stories, precious few objects have remained with the family. My father remembers his grandmother Catherine (1866-1957) who wore solid gold earrings all her life that were fashioned from nuggetty gold from Poverty Reef – earrings so heavy that they had significantly stretched her ear lobes by the time she died. I have attached an old photo of Catherine standing next to her father at the Poverty Reef mine – Catherine would have been no more than 10 years old at the time, which would date the photo circa 1876."