Freddie Wells

Diana Moran writes of a March 2005 visit to the  house of Freddie Wells, sharing stories about the interesting life of this early homesteader

On arrival at the house we walked around it and found the construction to be in concrete. For the ceilings he seemed to use wire netting as the base, place layers of newspapers on top and then add the cement on top of that. A newspaper found in the ceiling is dated July 31, 1922.

The house consisted of several rooms. An attic was his bedroom in the summer. He slept downstairs in winter near the fire. He had a stove for cooking. His concrete bed base is still evident in the room directly below the attic.

There was evidence of a wood box and the fireplace in the room on the Eastern side. There is a bowl and soap dish holder made in concrete just inside the front door, also a coat hanger. There is a kitchen and pantry where there are shelves and tea chests for storing food on the northern side of the house. The house had a dirt floor. Fred was only short so the ceiling is quite low.

He had a bucket shower and the toilet, which was just a thunder box with no walls or door, was outside. The dog kennels were all made out of concrete. He had a lovely garden with both flowers and vegetables. He grew beautiful gladioli and also grew his own tobacco. The layout of the garden can still be seen. It was designed to collect all water run off.

He grew lemons, possibly down near the Shoalhaven River, and had a grapevine that grew over his green house. Kevin Cooper knows of a lemon tree at Horse Flat. He often took lemons home after fishing down at the river. He does not know if this tree was Fred’s or not.

The green house had concrete pillars with wire mesh impregnated with plastic. It faced the north to catch as much sun as possible. He had glass windows. He would catch all water off his roof with an elaborate setup of gutters, which put the water into a concrete trough. He painted his house with bright colours of red, blue and pink printer’s ink. There was a sundial, which no longer exists.

The meat (safe) house was on the southern side in a concrete enclosure. Meat hooks are still evident. This concrete structure also contained vats, which he probably used to cure meat in brine. There was a path from the back door to the meat house lined on both sides with aboriginal axes set in concrete.

There are still remains of the horse yard and a concrete sheep dip. There is also a concrete trough on the other side of the creek. He was intelligent but lived as a recluse.

Kevin recalls that he used to walk to Bungonia and Goulburn and refused to shut any gates along the way. He walked mainly barefoot and when going to Goulburn he carried his boots around his neck and only put them on when he got to town.

He was very anti-authority and would never pay his rates. He would have to spend a few days in jail every year because of that. While in jail old MacArthur, the local policeman would have to come out to his property to feed his dogs. One time he came out hoping to catch him, but Freddie seemed to have some sort of alarm system which told him when anyone was coming, so that when he reached the farm Freddie was never there.

There are also stories of him hiding his gold in white ant hills. In an active nest the termites would soon replace any damage and make an excellent hiding place.

Freddie would write lots of letters to the Council and the local paper. Kevin Cooper remembers a printing press in one room.

He used to mine gold on the eastern side of the Shoalhaven River on a tributary of the Rudy Creek – Still Creek. Kevin says that there is apparently an old barrow there still. Kevin Cooper thinks the gold lay in alluvium underneath the conglomerate cliffs. He would pay for his goods with gold dust. He would take his gold into Bungonia where he would get Mr Bill Manning to weigh it for him so that he knew if he was being diddled by the gold purchaser (Bank) in Goulburn.

The old road is not the one currently used. The old one goes due south from his shed instead of going right around the western side of the hill. Turn left and follow the gully down to the hut. The road had became very eroded, so it was changed by Joe Leatherbarrow.

His letterbox is at the gate of ‘Langinoa’ at 4850 Oallen Ford Rd. It too is made of concrete and was blown up by the Charley Woods’ boys (who lived at Jacqua Homestead) as a prank after he chased them off his property with a shotgun.

He advertised for a housekeeper several times but when they arrived at the house they never stayed for long.

When he died his house was ransacked by people searching for his gold. The aboriginal axes were all taken and the saying goes that if there was any gold, the Marulan police helped themselves. Nobody ever seemed to find out where he mined his gold.

He made his own head stone out of concrete. He wrote on it where he was born and when. He also wrote on it his date of death. This was scribbled out, so he must have lived longer than he anticipated.

Joe Leatherbarrow purchased the property and used the roofing iron for his own shed. Consequently the house has deteriorated quite significantly over the last 40 years.

Diana Moran