Wallingford Berks Line

Gobur had a gold rush in 1868 with tales of a rich reef bringing 200 miners in two weeks to Godfrey's Creek where the population rose to 10,000 and the town boasted 30 hotels. By 1879, when Charles Lovelock married Emma Abigail Wilson of "Pagewood", Springcreek Farm, the rush was over, leaving behind an area of broken leads, some 90 foot deep. The last gold mine was worked in 1909. The same country is now a rich pastoral valley fed by the Goulburn River. At Gobur the old hall of 1888 still stands together with the original coaching stopover (which is now an historical museum) and the post office of 1892.

Charles Wright Lovelock had a block of land at Yarck. However, once the goldfields became less profitable his land also lost value and became uneconomic. So he sold his land, acquired a covered wagon and took up life as a shearer. His family travelled with him. He periodically visited the best merino studs in NSW, particularly Leeton/Darlington Point areas (where he worked for Samuel McCaughey. One of the McCaughley properties is now part of the Yanco Agricultural College. He also owned 'Bundure Station' which is situated approximately 20 miles from Widgiewa.)

His son Reginald was born in 1885 at Tungamah, Victoria where his father was employed at the time. Another son, Charles, was born in 1879 on a river bank at Holbrook, NSW, with the help of an Aboriginal midwife. His daughter Maud was born in 1883 at Darlington Point, daughter Clara at Yarck in 1886 and Tommina at Ruffy in 1890. The children attended school at Gobur and Ruffy, where the children appear on the enrolment register. Grandma likely cooked for the shearers when Charles did 'contract' shearing.

The family finally settled in Junee by 1892.

In 1866 Junee was described as "just a postal township situated on Houlahan's Creek in the midst of fine undulating country. The entire district is a pastoral one, there being very little land under cultivation. The nearest places are Wagga Wagga, 22 miles south, and Bethungra, 14 miles north north-east, the communication is by horse and dray only, the mails are carried on horseback twice a week". (NSW Gazette and Country Guide, 1866).

Forty acres of land had been set aside for the township on the eastern side of the new railway line that now extended from Goulburn to Wagga Wagga.

Here Charles bought a settler's home at 30 Peel Street. The house had an interesting history. At some time before 1890 the house was bought by an American Negro, Tommy Ceon, who operated a livery stable and also carted water to the town. The creek near the house is still called "Pigs Gully". The house is now the town historical museum.

The children attended Junee Public School, except Maud who went to a Convent.

Charles worked as a butcher (at Alexandra; with John Hewitt he supplied meat to the miners), farmer and shearer. In Junee he was a contract carrier for the McWilliams vineyards, a contractor for water hauling from Wagga or Bethungra, a timber getter and a general carrier. He also had a people carrier (six-seater horse-drawn bus) on a lorry frame to transport people in numbers to and from sports events and picnics. He also had the job of 'street lighter'; these were acetylene lights which were lit early in the evening and turned off about 8m.

Before lighting, the globes of street lamps had to be cleaned. Children were allowed to play under the street lights until curfew time and often helped snuff them out. Band concerts were given in the streets at night near the Cottage Hospital. The rail area opposite the Loftus Hotel was lit with gas lamps as indeed were the trains themselves, the carriages being warmed by gas foot warmers.

At their home about three miles from Gobur Grandma Lovelock clearly remembers the underground well, tank and pump, the 'swags' on the woodheap where the 'swaggies' or 'roadmen' earned their meals by cutting the wood. She remembers the whiplash marks on the backs of some 'swaggies' which showed when the men removed their shirts to wield the axe; the marks of convict days.

The land around Junee was heavily timbered when the Lovelocks decided to settle there in the early 1890s. At this time the railway was progressing from Cootamundra to Junee. The track to Junee was completed in 1895. It was not unusual to share the road with bushrangers.

Charles liked to be busy and had a genial nature. He had some dealings with the bushranger 'Thunderbolt' near Bethrungra in a lightly forested area.

He became President of the Labour League of Junee. Also a member of the Junee Rifle Club.

"Parents died in 1870 (mother) and 1872 (father). Charles married Emma Wilson in 1879, sold his block of land at Yarck and with a covered wagon and horse team moved between New South Wales and Victoria working as a blade shearer (contractor): Darlington Point, Albury, Tahhumyah, Holbrook, Yarck. He was a gentle man, hard worker finally deciding there was more work in New South Wales where he became known as an ace 'blade' shearer especially with Samuel McCaughley's stud sheep at Bundure Station. He finally settled in Junee on advice of Charlie Fitzgarald buying a house in Peel Street from Tom, an American Negro, Tom Ceon circa 1890 who then lived in a shed behind the house and became a great helper for Charles. There was a dam nearby and a place where a woman raised pigs. Charles established himself as a contractor for carrying water and goods often meeting "Thunderbolt" in his journeys through a lightly forested environment towards Bethungra. As the family grew they also worked. Sons Charles and Reg became part of the team that built the Union Bank in Broadway, Junee. Charles became president of the Junee Labor League and was respected for his fair mindedness. He died in 1909 and is buried in the old Presbyterian section of Junee cemetery. His children's names are on the school rolls for Gobur before the family moved to NSW in a covered wagon. Finally persuaded by Mr Fitzgarald to settle in the new town of Junee." (Tommina Campbell Wilson)