Alexander John Alchin: Hard Labourer

Alexander John Alchin: Hard Labourer

by Garry Norman Smith

“Mug Shots” of Alexander John Alchin, 21 August 1900, Goulburn Gaol

Alexander John Alchin was born at Dalton on 12 July 1878, the son of John Alchin (Junior (1853-1916) and Sarah Ann Atkins (1855-1883) and grandson of John Alchin (1821-1901) and Martha Matilda Johnson (1837-1922).

Nothing is known of Alexander John’s formative years. As a child he was living in the area around Jerrawa and Dalton. His mother died at Dalton in 1883 when he was only five years old. His father remarried in 1888 to Mary Collins; this marriage took place in the Cootamundra district.

On 1 October 1906 at the age of twenty-eight years Alexander John Alchin married sixteen-year-old Annie Low Ross (1890-1942) at Cootamundra. Annie was born in Narranderra. Prior to this time Alexander John had already been in trouble with the law. As a labourer, he struggled to find work and to make ends meet.

In contrast to his later conduct, Alexander John Alchin, intended to join other “bushmen” in early 1900 to enlist in the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen. This contingent to the Boer War was formed in Sydney and Alexander John, according to a lengthy article in the press, was just the sort that was needed.

The story of “… one of the finest specimens of the raw-boned cornstalk – the stuff we raise in the wilds of Australia – we ever pounced eyes upon” came to a disappointing end. The press article described Alexander John as follows:

He stands about six feet high, is of fine proportions and huge bullocky bone, with biceps as tough as wood and limbs like a modern Goliath.

He is about 23 years old and hails from the wild-cat country about Tomorroma. … He has not a trace of hair on his face. Otherwise he would be a model “Man from Snowy River.” (Gundagai Times and Tumut, Adelong and Murrumbidgee District Advertiser, Tuesday 27 March 1900, 2)

The upshot of the article about this beacon of manhood from the bush was that Alexander John Alchin had returned from Sydney without serving in the Imperial Bushmen because he could not tolerate how the military men treated the bushmen; the food and the fact that they were shut out of the camp after arriving on Friday and told to come back Monday. That was too much to bear and Alexander John paid his own train fare back to Gundagai.

He had passed all the tests to qualify, had been rushed off to Sydney with great expectations by Lieutenant Colonel Mackay (below) and yet was treated other than he expected. Perhaps it was this treatment that turned his mood towards crime.

Lieutenant Colonel James Alexander Kenneth Mackay

(Boer War Memorial)

Later in 1900 he was charged with and found guilty of stealing a horse, the property of Arthur E. Hall, at the Cootamundra Quarter Sessions. He failed to learn from the five months with hard labour spent in Goulburn Gaol because the following year – 1901 - saw him plead “not guilty” to horse stealing in Wagga Wagga; he was again found guilty and sentenced to four months with hard labour in Albury Gaol. His previous conviction for the same crime went against him. 

From at least one record of his criminal past, we learn that Alexander John Alchin was five feet eleven inches tall, of dark complexion with dark brown hair; and had grey eyes. Alexander John would have spent his gaol time in the gaol workshops or gardens, chopping wood, laying bricks, painting and doing carpentry.

Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, Friday 15 February 1901, 29

Albury Gaol  built 1861

In 1902 Alexander John was granted bail after being charged with “… killing a pig, the property of William Henry Jarvis, with intent to steal the carcase”. He was arrested by the Tumut Police and committed for trial at Gundagai Sessions. (New South Wales Police Gazette, 10 September 1902, page 359) Alexander John Alchin was found not guilty on that occasion. He was not so lucky next time; in 1903 he was sentenced to three months hard labour in Yass Gaol after being charged with stealing chaff bags and a tomahawk from James Dick Hill.

The misspent younger years of Alexander John Alchin were superseded by relatively quiet years. As his children with Annie were born there is, however, still evidence of wrong-doing. After some years at Cootamundra the family moved to Temora, including time at Combaning near Temora.

Cootamundra, Temora & Combaning

were places where the Alchin children were born

Alexander John had several more misdemeanours in the years after 1905. These included being fined for polluting the water at a public watering place at Stockinbingal (1906), a conviction for assault at Cootamundra (1912), a charge of indecent language at Cootamundra (1914) and later, in 1945, a heavy fine for stealing railway property.

The couple had at least eleven children between 1907 and 1928, all born in the Cootamundra and Temora districts, where Alexander John Alchin worked at labouring. We do know that Alexander John had a lease on a small plot of land in Temora district in 1936 which was to be used for grazing, agriculture and for a residence. Annie Low Alchin (nee Ross) died at Temora on 28 September 1942 aged sixty-four years. 

Alexander John Alchin died at Temora on 15 November 1966 aged eighty-eight years. No death notice, funeral announcement or obituary has been found for Alexander John Alchin. His life had been marked by poor education, hard labour, a large family and the destructive elements of crime.