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Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 16 Nov 2011 10:26PM GMT
Classification: Query
This is a thread for family historians researching AUSTRALIANS and NEW ZEALANDERS who took part in the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon, 1897-1899.

I am an historian researching this subject and I am interested in making contact with family historians who may be following the "Klondike Trail" of an ancestor or relative. I have over 700 individuals so identified and have varying amounts of information on them. These are people who either came from Oz or NZ, or had some connection with those places. I am also selectively "collecting" those who started on the journey, but didn't make it, as well as those who may have made it to the Klondike after 1899.

I am happy to help others with their research. I hope that in exchange new information about Klondike Diggers will be added to my files.

If you think I can assist you and/or if you have someone of likely interest to my research, please post a response to this query.

Dr Robin McLachlan
Charles Sturt University,
Bathurst, NSW 2795

Re: Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 15 Jun 2012 12:58PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: McGregor MacGregor
Hi - I am researching the McGregors and noticed your info on David McArthur McGregor, our GG Grandmother's brother.

The Yukon - didn't know anything about that. Do know that one of her brothers fought in the 29th Battalion of the CEF and I was wondering what the connection was with Canada. Do you have any further information re David - can i help you with anything?

regards
Michelle

Re: Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 15 Jun 2012 1:34PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hello Michelle

Would you like to contact me on my email address. rmclachlan@csu.edu.au.

We can discuss David MacGregor more there. It's very awkward trying to discuss anything via the bulletin board.

Can you tell me if you are in Australia?

I probably do have some information of interest on David. I gave a talk about him at Coonabarabran last year. He is the grumpiest Australian on the Klondike I have yet met.

Re: Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 9 Jan 2013 5:48AM GMT
Classification: Query
Hello Robin, my great grandfathers brother went to the klondike Rush, his name was William Thin and he originally
came from Whitecliffs in the South Island of New Zealand. I would appreciate any information you had on him. Many thanks

Re: Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 9 Jan 2013 11:30PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Thin
Hello

Thank you for contacting me. I am sorry but I don't have any information in my files on William Thin. I also looked on-line in the "Yukon Genealogy" website databased and could not find him there either. I also did a quick search on NZ on-line newspapers and could not make a Thin-Klondike connection in my search.

There could be several reasons for this thin result on Thin. Some people managed to go to the Klondike without being recorded on any surviving official or public record. Others went under assumed names for various reasons. More often, their names were wrongly recorded or misspelt, which happens a lot in the Mounted Police Register. (Thin though offers few opportunities for an incorrect record.) Some never made it to the Klondike (in the Yukon, Canada) but ended up on another goldfield, or destination, in northern Canada or Alaska, USA. "Klondike" was a generic name used for anywhere in the north. So people were said to have gone to the Klondike but had in fact gone to Alaska only,

But, even though the initial search is very thin, some more information on William might turn up something. (Must stop with the really dreadful pun,)

Could you give me some dates or other details, as in birth & death, when you think he was in the Klondike and/or returned to NZ. Did he go under any other names or nicknames? Any additional information you might have would be useful. Was he a miner? Any known mining partners or mates? Perhaps you have an ancestry.com entry for him? He may be "lost" in a file I have on another miner. I have dozens and dozens of first hand accounts, which often mention who is with them or who they have seen. Very strong mateship culture.

I will open a file on him as a possible Klondiker. Whatever you can provide about his life will go into that file.

I am sorry I can't offer you some information right away, but I may come across something in the future. It happens.

Re: Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 10 Jan 2013 9:18AM GMT
Classification: Query
thank you for your quick reply, I will check out some more info on him and get back to you.

Re: Australians and New Zealanders in the Klondike Rush, 1897-1899

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 4:00PM GMT
Classification: Query
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
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