The Beasley family of Wiveliscombe SOM
Robert John Cunningham Jaunay, the only surviving son of
Frank and Mary Jaunay married Dorothy Evelyn May Beasley
on 10 June 1915. Dorothy was one of four daughters of James
and Clara Jane [nee Fisher] Beasley of Gawler SA.
Charles Fisher's daughter, Clara Jane married James Beasley,
the son of Lewis and Anne [nee Sharpe] on Christmas Day
1888. James Beasley had been born on the Victorian Goldfields
at Lucky Woman's Diggings near Linton.
Lucky Woman's Diggings to the east of Fletcher's Hotel at
Happy Valley, not far from Linton in the Victorian Goldfields
was named after Mary Kerr who sought the Victorian Government
reward in 1864 for discovering the field. She may have been
lucky in her discovery of gold, but the government of the
day did not see fit to supplement her income with the standard
reward!
 Pictured: James Beasley (1859-1933) at Gawler ca1910
Lewis Beasley, a miner from Somerset came to Australia with
a flood of more than 2000 assisted immigrants from Somerset
and Bristol in the period 1839-1854. A people with a strong
sense of their own worth, these emigrants saw Australia
as an opportunity to achieve success in a way that was denied
to them in England. The Australian colonies welcomed them
for entirely different motives - a means of relieving a
general shortage of farm labourers and domestic servants!
Strangely, documentary evidence of Lewis' arrival in Australia
cannot be located. Little is known of Anne Beasley [nee
Sharp/e] except that she came from Wetwang in Yorkshire
in about 1832. An extensive search for records of her arrival
in Australia have been unsuccessful to date.
Modern maps do not show Lucky Womans Diggings, however,
references are available at the PRO, Ballarat, VIC and the
collection includes a very large linen map of the goldfields
dated 1863. At the Gold Museum which is part of the Sovereign
Hill Museum at Ballarat there is a relief map showing the
location of gold fields and in this case the particular
site is called Lucky Womans Creek.
James Flett, The History of Gold Diggings in Victoria,
Poppett Head Press, Melbourne, 1979.
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