Gunning & District Historical Society

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 con...

John Alchin Junior: Jerrawa to Illabo  Article by Garry Smith The Reverend Benjamin Hurst who baptised John Alchin into the Methodist Church in 1853 John Alchin Junior (1853-1916) was born at Jerrawa near Dalton on 15 October 1853. He was baptised by Methodist Minister Benjamin Hurst of the Goulburn District on 30 October 1853. John Alchin was the first-born child of John and Martha (nee Johnson) Alchin. John’s parents lived their married lives in the Dalton area. John Senior was a farmer, recorded on the electoral rolls for Yass Plains and Yass at Oolong Creek, Jerrawa and Dalton from 1859 until his death at Dalton in 1901. John Alchin Junior did not receive a formal education. He grew up in the Dalton area and became a labourer. On 7 February 1876, at the age of twenty-three years, John married Sarah Ann Atkins at Dalton. Sarah Ann Atkins was the daughter of John and Emma (nee Plumb) Atkins and was born at Moreton Bay on 18 August 1855. Emma Plum Atkins marr...

John Alchin (1821-1901) This article, about a publican who was also an adherent of a religion which abhorred the demon drink, is by guest blogger and Alchin family chronicler, Garry Smith. In the early years of the Australian colonies alcohol consumption was heavy but is shown to be lower than in some other countries at that time. The decade of the 1830s saw the highest per capita consumption although the gold rush period of the 1850s was probably comparable. From 1860 to 1900 consumption fell strongly. John Alchin (originally John Waters Gaynes) arrived in the colony of New South Wales in 1838 with his “adoptive” family – Ambrose and Ann Alchin and their six children. Although Ann Alchin, John’s natural mother, and Ambrose Alchin were recorded as “Baptist” on the passenger list of the arrivals aboard the Palmyra, the family lived their lives as staunch Wesleyans. There are many uses of the word Wesleyan over time. When the Alchins arrived in the colony, Wesleyans were...

Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and John Alchin (1821-1901). Land on Oolong Creek was first made available for sale by auction in 1851, although several farmers had already taken up selections there prior to that year – men such as Simeon Lord (land grant) and Thomas Brown (land purchase). Announcement of Land Auctions, Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser, 25 October 1851, p. 4. The location of land in these years was always described according to creeks, for example, near “Blackeney [Blakney] Creek”, “commencing at Pudman Creek”, “at Jerrawa Creek, near the head of Oolong Creek” or “at Oolong Creek or Chain of Ponds”. It was valuable to know where these and other water courses started and finished. Ambrose Alchin (1800-1877) and his sons John Alchin (1821-1901), William James Alchin (1827-1918) and Charles Alchin (1837-1908) were active in land transactions from the 1850s and into the 1860s at Oolong Creek. Dalton and Oolong Creek were the “seats” of the...