Who was Joseph Walford?
Joseph Walford’s name pops up in the early history of Wattle Flat & Sofala. He seems to be more a businessman than a gold digger. He owns some of the earliest pubs & stores in both Wattle Flat & Sofala, so he may have been quite wealthy prior to the 1851 goldrush. He later became a Sofala magistrate. He sounds interesting. Let’s see what we can learn about his background.
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Sifting through a variety of historic records available online, a fascinating story emerges. Joseph Walford’s life (1812-1874) links a string of significant &/or quirky historic events in Australia’s colonial history.
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- Both of Joseph’s parents (Barnard Walford & Jane Mulloy) were convicts with 7 year sentences on Norfolk Island in the 1790’s.
- After release, Barnard & Jane with children excel in the liquor trade, initially in Hobart & later in Sydney.
- Barnard, a Jew born in Austria establish Australia’s first Jewish cemetery & synagogue in Hobart in the late 1820’s.
- When Joseph Walford was a teenager in Hobart, his older brother Barnard Walford jnr together with William Young are pioneers of the Hobart based whaling industry, and become very wealthy.
- Joseph leaves the family stronghold in Hobart & establishes a liquor store of his own in George Street Sydney, and does well through the later 1830’s & becomes a respected person in Sydney. Unfortunately he is expanding his business in the early 1840’s as a widespread economic downturn takes hold. Along with many others, he becomes insolvent and his possessions are auctioned off, but he retains social respect in Sydney.
- Shortly after the installation of Sir Charles Fitzroy as governor of the colony in the mid 1840’s, Joseph just happens to be riding his horse in George Street Sydney, when Governor Fitzroy & his wife are setting out in a carriage. The Governors horse’s bolt and upset their carriage. Joseph is one of the first on the scene and attends to the dying wife of the governor.
- In the later 1840’s, Joseph now in his 30’s is keen to re-engage in business. With the onset of the California goldrush in 1848 he is exporting liquor from Sydney to San Francisco & then travels to San Francisco in 1850.
- He doesn’t directly engage with the California goldrush & returns to Sydney in early 1851 aboard the barque “Emma” along with fellow passenger Mr E H Hargraves. Hargraves originally from central NSW, has become immersed in the California goldrush, but now dreams of finding gold in the NSW colony.
- A few months later, Joseph hears that Hargraves & associates have discovered payable gold in central NSW & triggers the start of the Australian goldrush.
- Joseph recognises that the new goldrush settlement of Sofala in the heart of the Turon goldfield has great business potential, and within a few weeks he has established the largest store in Sofala.
- The colonial authorities headed by Governor Charles Fitzroy also recognise the great revenue opportunity of this Turon goldfield and establish & enforce a system of licencing fees on the thousands of gold diggers and the storekeepers. This licencing system is considered by many on the goldfield to be unfair.
- Between 1851 & 1853 an intense struggle takes place in the Turon goldfield between the diggers & colonial authorities that nearly results in armed conflict – the Turon Rebellion.
- There are several significant key players in this struggle, who attempt to negotiate a fairer system. Joseph Walford is one of these.
- By 1854 a fairer system of licencing is established and the goldfield develops more peacefully. Perhaps in lieu of his demonstrated civic leadership skills, Joseph Walford is appointed magistrate of the Sofala Bench, an office that he retains for many years, along with his lucrative liquor trading business.
- Amongst the many magistrate duties performed by Joseph in the 1860s, was an attempt to settle a violent dispute between rival Chinese mining parties on the Turon.
- Joseph Walford was a key participant in the Sofala community from 1851 until his death in 1874 (aged 62), and in that time he owned a portfolio of many properties in Sofala & surrounding settlements including Wattle Flat.
- Little is known about Joseph’s immediate family apart from brief mention of the death of his wife Ellen in Sofala in 1867. There are no records showing that he had any children. However the daughters of his younger sister Isabella marry James Martin & William Dalley who become chief Justice of the colony & Attorney General of the colony respectively.
So, Joseph Walford & siblings, children of convicts, proficient sellers of liquor in the colony, rise to become early pillars of Sofala’s & our nations legal system.
Chris Green, Wattle Flat.