quit Adelaide and go to the north of Queensland, which at this time was winning no small amount of fame as a mining field. Whilst there he surveyed Charters Towers and other more or less important places. He returned to Victoria after a short stay in Queensland, and entered the Railway Survey Department of the colony. He was eighteen months in that employ, and completed several large undertakings for the Government. Up till now he had acted as mining engineer, mining surveyor, land surveyor, and lastly, civil engineer. There may be a certain kinship existing among these offices, but while one of them is intricate and difficult enough to the ordinary mind, the mastering of four would be rightly judged as the result of uncommon ability.
In 1891 he left for Western Australia, and entered the Government Survey Department. He went to Coolgardie in October, 1893, to finish some surveying for the Government, and had not been there many months before new goldfields broke out around Coolgardie. The long-expected opportunity came at last. He made Coolgardie his headquarters, and started the business which he at present holds. Though no longer directly in the service of the Government survey, he never discontinued his connection with the department, and often he is called upon to perform surveying operations.
The firm, under the name of Messrs. Bellingham and Sharland, has an extensive connection in Coolgardie. They are architects, civil and mining engineers, land and mining surveyors, and they enjoy the reputation of being one of the oldest established businesses in Coolgardie. Mr. Bellingham is a licensed surveyor of all the Australian colonies except New South Wales, He was admitted as a member of the Institute of Federal Mining Engineers in 1894. In the administration of the municipal affairs of Coolgardie he is a prominent figure. He was elected a councillor in 1895, and still retains his seat. His earnest desire to promote the general good in every department has caused him to take his seat on various sub-committees of the council, such as the Health Board and the Board of Trade. In these two boards he has rendered able services to the community at large. Progress, improvement, and amelioration are his ideals for the advancement of the town. He was one of the first members of the Coolgardie Stock Exchange, and of the Chamber of Mines and Commerce, and he has continued his membership of these two bodies up to the present. Many claim the first local flotation of a mine in Coolgardie, but it is beyond doubt that the Moorfield was the first mine floated locally. This flotation was effected by Mr. Bellingham. He is a director of the Easter Gift, Richmond Gem, and Malcolm Mohr.
He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1895. He is a prominent Freemason in Coolgardie, and was one of the founders of the Freemasonry Lodge of that town, and is now (1896) Senior Warden. He has contributed no little share to the growth of Coolgardie. The bonds which unite him to Coolgardie are strong and lasting, and the sincere interest he takes in every felicitous action finds a response in the breast of those whom he endeavours to benefit. As a committee man, he has exerted himself strenuously in every venture and in every matter of concern, and has shed many a welcome light on what seemed obscure and unpracticable. His efficiencies, his deep and long experience of the fields and the town, and his keen abilities, constitute him a pillar of strength in Coolgardie.
GEORGE ROWLAND FEARBY, M.E.
FEW can deny but that Mr. Fearby's knowledge of mining is extensive. At the incredibly early age of eight years, young George busied himself on mining fields, under the careful vigilance of the paternal eye. From then till 1897, which embraces a period of forty years, he has performed great and numerous feats. A detailed enumeration of his diversified series of actions will bring to mind the story of seed-time and harvest.
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GEORGE ROWLAND FEARBY, M.E. |
Mr. Fearby was born in New England, New South Wales, in 1850. His father was a pioneer on the Hanging Rock Goldfields, near Tamworth—one of the earliest alluvial diggings in New South Wales, originally opened up by a fortunate prospector named Wyndham. He was also for a considerable time in partnership with Danger Brothers, who had attained celebrity in the early days of the New South Wales goldfields as highly successful mining experts. Young George's predilection for, and success in, the mining world seems to have been hereditary.
In 1858, at the phenomenal age of eight, he embarked with childish glee on the alluvial fields. He had a boyish curiosity for prying into the hidden secrets of alluvial earth. That early desire, so far from being crushed by his father as a purely boyish freak, which years and better sense would enable him to outgrow,
