Meanwhile, he had observed that there was wealth to be gained in mills, and, selling his carrier's business, in 1873 he went to Deniliquin, in New South Wales, and at Gulpha, hard by, erected a saw-mill plant. The woods thereabouts contained magnificent specimens of the giant eucalypti of the red-gum species, and these were felled and treated by Mr. Lacey. They were sent to various markets along the Murray, throughout the Riverina, and to Melbourne and Sydney, and, taking year by year, Mr. Lacey's enterprise thrived. He was soon able to purchase another business in the town of Deniliquin. Engaged largely in the timber trade and in a substantial butchering business, he led a busy life.
Looking away from his immediate surroundings, he decided that there were greater opportunities of making a fortune out of jarrah than out of red-gum. He had heard much of Western Australian forests and the splendid qualities of her woods, and at the latter end of 1879 he made up his mind, sold his timber and butchering business, packed his milling plant, and came to this colony. He reached here in 1880, and, with the aid of two men he brought with him and others employed locally, erected his plant at Mahogany Creek, on the York Road. He operated on the jarrah, and his trade relations expanded beyond his best anticipations. Each year saw his wealth augmented, his plant more powerful, and his assistants more numerous. At the inception of his local enterprise, he engaged but one small engine, but this was soon found insufficient, and at the time of his finally selling the business, thirteen years later, in 1893, he employed seven. Ten men were able to cope with his orders at the beginning, but in the course of a few years he engaged at one time as many as 120. Orders for jarrah came to the colony from all over the world, and naturally those engaged in a large way in the denuding of the woodlands gradually became wealthy. It was truly an auspicious day when Mr. Lacey determined to come to Western Australia. He was the first to open saw-milling plant and yards of any dimensions in Perth, and by means of his Mahogany Creek location and his success in Perth, in 1893 he retired from work with a competency.
Mr. Lacey was one of the earliest supporters of mining in this colony and he invested capital in Southern Cross and Murchison ventures He has acted on the directing boards of several companies, and is sill largely interested in mines. He also invested in Perth real estate, and at present (1896) holds city property from £30,000 to £40,000 in value. A keen business man, he carefully observes all that goes on around him, and he estimates with fair correctness whither certain events will lead.
JOHN GEORGE DUNN, F.R.G.S.
DISCOVERER OF THE "WEALTH OF NATIONS."
THE pages of Western Australian biography should contain the stories of the brave, hardy men who enshrouded themselves amid the weird solemn deserts and discovered that which nature had so long securely hidden. They are not tales which should be lightly told, for prospectors endured many hardships, and passed for months and years the lives of exiles. In times further back than we can conceive nature silently deposited gold in the interior of Western Australia. The process by which she did this man knows not—he merely guesses. By nature's chemistry, by irresistible force, by the toppling down of mountains and the drift of atoms, by laws which acted together in happy relationship, glistening quartz appeared in which were resplendent lines of yellow gold. This may have taken days or years or æons—the prospector cares not. Then dim centuries of time passed, and man came upon earth. The Biblical Adam and Eve wooed in their earthly paradise and sinned. Out of that sin, probably, the desire for acquiring wealth arose. In course of time commerce assumed importance among the children of Adam. A symbol of wealth and exchange was required. Gold for many reasons was chosen.
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Photo by J.G. DUNN, F.R.G.S. Barnard & Co. |
But not yet was Australia decreed to be the habitation of those who esteemed this coloured metal a thing of value. The continent loomed darkly out of the oceans of the south. It waited. Then pioneers came and moved eagerly to and fro over this new country in search of its riches. Generations passed, and still the golden secrets of the Great Western interior were mutely kept by nature.
Rumours for years circulated among men that Mother Earth had dowered the Great West with mines of gold. It was then that these splendid prospectors began their work. They went over the ranges and into the valleys and peered anxiously here
