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I like that story too. I have a photo copy of that
publication here. My Dad picked it up from Norseman when he was there a few
years back.
Annie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 6:53
PM
Subject: Re: Mr Sinclair entertains Bush
Rangers
There is another interesting story about a Sinclair gold
prospecting in Australia (as elsewhere). It concerns the town of
"Norseman".
During the year of 1894, a Laurence Sinclair returned to
Dundas from Coolgardie and
was soon to learn that his brother, George,
together with John Allsop were prospecting
in an area 14 miles to the
North. With this in mind, Laurie (as he was called) left Dundas
to
visit his brother George and John Allsop.
Upon reaching George's camp,
Laurie tethered his horse to a tree for a well deserved rest.
During the
night the horse became restless and pawed the ground. The next
morning,
when Laurie was attending to his horse's needs, he noticed that
the animal appeared to
be lame and he immediately began to inspect the
horse's hooves to find the cause.
It was soon apparent that a rich
specimen of gold bearing quartz was stuck in the animal's
hoof. Full
of excitement, Laurie told his brother of the find and they both agreed that a
rich
gold bearing reef of quarrtz existed in close proximity to the area
the horse had pawed.
After much labour of picking and shovelling the
ground around the pawed area, a rich quartz
reef was located by the
brothers Sinclair and John Allsop.
Laurie Sinclair originally came from
Shetland and he was proud to call himself a "Norse-man" - having named his
horse after the origins of the Clan Sinclair. Laurie named the
new
goldfield "Norseman" which is still the name of the town which sprang
up around the find.
Laurie filed the First Reward Claim of the new
filed at 3 p.m. on the 13th day of August,
1894
There is a
photograph of Laurie Sinclair and his horse, "Norseman" in a small
publication
which was produced to commemorate the centenary of the town of
Norseman in 1994.
Needless to say, the emblem of the town is a horse in an
acknowledgement of the part
"Norseman" played in the founding of the town
but also in appreciation of all the other
magnificent 'beasts of burden'
which allowed those early pioneers to tame the wilderness
and to bring
prosperity to Australia.
Man (in his arrogance) should never
forget his debt to the horse.
Niven
Sinclair.
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