armers left their holdings in the hands of their wives and children
too young to take with them, but almost all of them returned to grow
grain and produce to send to Victoria. It was astonishing what the
women had done during their absence. The fences were kept repaired and
the stock attended to, the grapes gathered, and the wine made. In these
days it was not so easy to get 80 acres or more in Victoria; so, with
what the farmers brought from their labours on the goldfields, they
extended their holdings and improved their homes. For many years the
prices in Melbourne regulated prices in Adelaide, but when the land was
unlocked and the Victorian soil and climate were found to be as good as
ours it was Mark lane that fixed prices over all Australia for primary
products. After the return of most of the diggers there was a great
deal of marrying and giving in marriage. The miners who had left the
Burra for goldseeking gradually came back, and the nine remarkable
copper mines of Moonta and Wallaroo attracted the Cornishmen, who
preferred steady wages and homes to the diminishing chances of Ballarat
and Bendigo where machinery and deep sinking demanded capital, and the
miners were paid by the week. These new copper mines were found in the
Crown leases held by Capt. (afterwards Sir Walter) Hughes. He had been
well dealt with by Elder, Smith, & Co., and gave them the opportunity
of supporting him. At that time my friends Edward Stirling and John
Taylor were partners in that firm, and they shared in the success. Mr.
Bakewell belonged to the legal firm which did their business, so that
my greatest friends seemed to be in it. I think my brother John
profited less by the great advance of South Australia than he deserved
for sticking to the Bank of South Australia. He got small rises in his
salary, but the cost of living was so enhanced that at the end of seven
years it did not buy much more than the 100 pounds he had begun with.
My eldest maiden aunt died, and left to her brother and sister in South
Australia all she had in her power. My mother bought a brick cottage in
Pulteney street and a Burra share with her legacy--both excellent
investments--and my brother left the bank and went into the aerated
water business with James Hamilton Parr.

We made the acquaintance of the family of Mrs. Francis Clark, of
Hazelwood, Burnside. She was the only sister of five clever
brothers--Matthew Davenport, Rowland, Edwin, Arthur, and Frederick