I wonder if your records have any trace of my Grandfather Alfred Edward Woods?
Alfred was born in 1869 in Emerald Hill, Melbourne, Victoria. Aged 7 his father died and he was looked after by a neighbour for 2 years after his Mother had abandoned him. Alfred was then sent to the Sunbury Industrial School for boys in Jackson Hill, Sunbury.
Alfred next pops up in Canada when he signed up to the Canadian Army in 1914.
Alfred was a quartz miner - he dug quartz to be crushed to extract the gold.
I have no idea when Alfred sailed from Australia to Canada so I am assuming it was during the Klondike Gold Rush.
If your records have Alfred in them I would be very pleased to hear from you
Kind Regards
Ed Woods