The Secret

The Secret

August 1878 Melbourne VIC Australia

“Lie back, Mum and try and relax. Remember the doctor told you that getting agitated would not do you any good’ Martha gave her daughter a confused look, not really knowing who she was.

“I took him lunch, every day, every single day”.

“I know you did, Mum. I remember”.

Maggie recalled as a child her softly spoken and hardworking mother delivered her father a packed lunch every day. At the time she did not think this was strange, it was just part of their routine. She and her brother would stay with their grandmother, while her mother would make the two-mile return trip on foot, rain, hail or shine.

On reflection, it was a strange thing for her to do. In the early 1850’s Ballarat was not very safe for a woman to be making the trip along the dusty road alone. Miners from all walks of life had descended on the town looking for a change in their fortunes. It would not be unusual for men to be drunk or brawling even mid- morning. Wild dogs and snakes were also a concern. Why did she insist on doing this?

March 1852 Ballarat VIC

The morning dawned bright and welcoming as Martha walked along the track by the river to meet her husband, Paolo. Even though the married a few years earlier and were the proud parents of two young children, they still jumped at the opportunity to snatch some time together, if it presented itself. Love’s initial attraction had not waned with time.

She saw him moving around up ahead, at the usual meeting place near the bend of the river.

“Oh good” she thought. “He managed to get away”. She quickened her pace and adjusted the picnic basket as she knew that they would not have long together.

She then stopped abruptly.

The man that stepped out from behind the tree was not her husband, Paolo but his boss, Graham McPhee.

Mr McPhee was not one of life's gentlemen. He was not overly familiar with bathing, and he treated his workers with contempt. The mine he managed was one of the more successful minds in the goldfields but he forced his workers to work long days, with poor, light no breaks and the threat of physical violence. He carried a stockwhip which would not have been out of place on one of the neighbouring squattocracy cattle properties. To the shame of his workers he carried out body searches, sometimes strip searches, on their departure every day. The aim of these searches was determine if they were trying to smuggle out any nuggets of gold they may have discovered during the day. Daily searches were standard practise on the goldfields, however, Mr McPhee appeared to relish in dehumanising his workforce. It was if this act gave the small, cruel man some modicum of credibility and power and he lapped it up.

“Good morning, Mrs Watson off to see your husband, I presume.” He sneered. “Unfortunately he's been held up today, and he sent me in his place. He wanted me to taste your wares.” His gaze looked her up and down but he did not appear to have any interest in the small picnic basket in the crook of her arm.

Martha felt her fear rising at the back of her neck and stopped in her tracks. She began to think quickly as she backed.

 The grimy Scotsman was quicker than her and grabbed her elbows and pinned her against the nearest gumtree.

Martha had no hope of fending off his animal needs and instinct told her that the less she struggled the quicker the ordeal would be over. She also figured that the physical impact would be reduced if she did not put up a lot of resistance.

Graham McPhee whispered in her ear” Why aren't you struggling, do you want this? I know your kind, all soft and innocent on the outside, but on the inside, secretly gagging for it.”

 Martha's skin crawled, but she held her resolve. I will not give this man the satisfaction of knowing I'm scared. He is a bully and that is what bullies thrive on.

McPhee ran his hand roughly over her dress, rubbing her breasts and then grabbed her between the legs. He applied pressure there for about 30 seconds or so and then dropped his hand and took a few steps away from her.

“I’m a happily married man, and I'm not going to fall for your tricks. Just wait till I tell the lads what you were up to” and with that he turned on his heel and walked back in the direction of the mine.

Shaking Martha slumped to the ground and put her head in her hands. What just happened? She knew that she could not let Paolo know, as he was so hot headed that he would kill McPhee and that would not help the situation.

Martha was a strong capable woman, loving and soft to her kin but a worthy adversary to anyone who crossed her. Graeme McPhee now had a target on his back and she would not rest until this act was avenged. Martha just needed to work out the best way to do this.

As she walked back towards town on the river track, her heart rate returning to normal. she thought. “ I have to be logical about this and take my revenge where it is going to make the most impact”.

 If she made a complaint it would only result in her not being believed and Paolo being humiliated, he may even lose his job and they needed the small amount McPhee paid his workers. The troopers of the day were very open to bribes and a complaint could backfire badly. Money is the only thing that motivates McPhee, and that is how I'm going to take my revenge.

When Paolo arrived home that evening, he remarked that Mister McPhee was acting in an even stranger manner than usual. He kept giving him strange glances and took great delight him patting him down. He did say one thing that sparked her interest.

“Martha, I wish I had your picnic basket today. I had a rather large nugget stuck in my shoe and they do not check us when we break for lunch. Of course, I declared it to the team leader at the time, but it was a beauty.”

That night Martha could not sleep. Her mind kept flicking back to her being pinned against the tree, and Mcphee’s odorous breath against her ear. Just before dawn, her brain recalled another sentence. “Martha, I wish I had your picnic basket today. "

The next morning, Martha broached Paulo with her plan. “ I'm so sick of the way he treats you. Is not acceptable I've been thinking about what you said, and I will deliver your lunch today. I think you should put any spare nuggets you find into the empty basket and I will collect tomorrow when I bring your lunch”.

Paolo looked at her in bewilderment. He could not believe that his sweet, do- gooder wife would suggest they steal from his employer.

"Martha,are you sure? What about the troopers, who will care for the children if we are caught?”

“He is a vile man and does not deserve your respect Paolo. I will see you at lunchtime” and with that she turned her back and continued her chores.

Martha was as good as her word. At noon she arrived with a covered basket with fresh bread, cold meats and a slab of cheese, all covered in Muslin cloth. Her friend Jenny owned a successful providore in town and was always giving supplies to Martha at discounted rates.

 She whispered to Paolo “Wrap it in the cloth” as she handed the basket to him.

“Good day, everybody” she trilled to the assortment of minors, stopping for a break under the shade of a eucalypt tree, as she left the mining camp.

The next day Martha arrived with a similar basket and handed it to her husband. She then recovered the previous day's basket with the discarded cloth wrapped tightly in it.

“Have a nice day, everybody” she called out and went on her way.

Paolo receive some gentle ribbing from his fellow miners who were not used to seeing such devotion in the goldfields. He laughed it off by saying " She wants to prove to my mother that she is a good wife. You know how women can get, trying to outdo each other. She thinks Mama does not approve of her as she is not Italian.”

Martha could not wait to see what would reveal itself once she unfurled the cloth. Paolo had explained to her that he would not find or be able to hide nuggets every day. Sometimes it would only be the fine gold dust called alluvial gold. She was pleasantly surprised to find one teaspoon of the fine dust in the folds of the cloth. She carefully decanted this into an old sardine tin and added some buttons. On the outside she stuck on one of the buttons to indicate the contents were sewing supplies. As she was the only member of the household that knew how to use needle and thread, it was unlikely to be discovered. If somebody picked up the tin by mistake the sound of the buttons rattling would disguise the other contents, especially once they added nuggets to the haul, she reasoned.

Over the next few weeks, Martha fell into a routine of going to the mine arriving just before noon and returning to her children by the heat of the day at 1:00 PM.

The secret stash of gold was steadily increasing. Most days it would be a small amount of alluvial gold, and some days to her delight there was some small nuggets. Martha and Paolo never discussed their gold smuggling operation. It was as if they did not discuss it, it was not happening.

The next problem Martha needed to solve was how to dispose of the gold. The only person she knew that was both trustworthy and well connected was her friend Jenny. Her successful shop attracted buyers and sellers of gold from all backgrounds, and she was sure a useful contact could be found.

“Jenny, do you know if how I can dispose of some gold that has come my way? I did some mending work for one of the miners and he paid me in gold.” Martha invented the story on the spot, she was becoming quite proficient at deceiving people.

Jenny gave her the name of a local gold dealer and assured her he would give her a fair price. “I often get paid in raw material and James has always been very obliging” she added.

Martha contacted James, who exchanged the gold without any questions. He conducted many transactions daily and had learned the hard way not to question the provenance of the mineral.

In the early 1850's the goldfields were undergoing a boom and gold was in abundance. Paolo and Martha quietly gathered a nest egg from their underhanded activities. Paolo was becoming an expert miner and also very adept at hiding some of his finds. He was never greedy but managed to secure a future for himself and his family. This financial security enabled them to not worry about putting healthy food on the table or gave them the ability to fetch the doctor if a family member was sick. Doctors were in high demand during this time and would only attend families that could guarantee payment.

The hardest decision they had to make was how to upgrade their small hut without drawing attention to themselves. Everyone knew that Paolo worked for McPhee and he should not be able to afford the timber cottage that Marsha was coveting. Ballarat was the home of the burgeoning stock market, so they decided to invest in some shares instead of a house. It would not attract as much attention.

Jenny's brother had established himself as a stockbroker and was happy to represent and advise them on potential purchases. Paolo often heard about gold finds or collapsed mines before other punters, and they use this knowledge to pre-empt market movements.

Over the next two years Paolo and Martha's investments had grown significantly. Unfortunately, Paolo’s health had not had the same luck. Long hours hunched down a dark mine was starting to take a toll on his back, lungs and eyesight. He was also starting to think about what was in store for his family's future. Would the goldfields offer an education and career opportunity to his sons? Immigrants in the goldfields tended to stay in their own communities but his children were mixed race.

Paolo and Martha eventually made the difficult decision to move from Ballarat and established themselves in Melbourne. Martha was nervous but excited about the move, as she had her heart set on a house in one of the newly established Bayside communities to raise her family.

On Paolo’s last day at the mine, Martha delivered his lunch as usual. As she departed with her basket snuggled into her elbow, she looked Mr McPhee in the eye and said “You are a vile, despicable human and deserve everything that happens to you”, and then she spat on the ground in front of him. The sight of this elegant miner’s wife cursing him with such vehemence would stay with him for a long time.

August 1878 Melbourne VIC Australia

Martha continued “I took him lunch every single day and that is how we smuggled the gold out.”

Maggie gulped and looked at her mother “You did what?” She asked hesitantly.

“Oh yes, I smuggled the gold out. Every day your father would wrap up either gold dust or nuggets of gold in muslin cloth and I would collect it and sell it in town. After that, he would tell me which shares to buy and I would purchase them at The Corner. At one time, I was the best known woman stock trader in Ballarat.”

 Maggie could not believe what she was hearing. Had her entire upbringing been built on the proceeds of crime. Could she morally accept this? Should she keep everything after her mother passed away?

Martha continued lucidly. “Your father's boss assaulted me and treated him like a servant, he paid him a pittance, hit him like a dog and stole his health. We only took what was rightfully ours”.

Then she returned to her rambling “I took him his lunch every day" she repeated.

Maggie decided all of this must have been the rampant imagination of an old lady, but then again how did they afford their beautiful house? She decided that she did not want to know.