July 2nd, 2026Our region’s history with Natalie Poole

Many times, driving past the Daylesford Cemetery, I would sight a large marble tombstone on a grave.

It was hard to miss due to its size and presence on the landscape, and I always wondered – who does it belong to and what did they do for the town of Daylesford?
Those questions were answered when I was working on my family history last year, and a photo of the headstone was a hint on my Ancestry account. The mystery was finally solved and now I needed to find out who was Charles Smith and how did one afford the marble pillar back in 1909.
Charles Smith was born in 1839 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England to George Smith and Maria Dolling. The family sailed from London on the ship Victory, arriving in the Geelong area in September 1856.

Then on February 16, 1860, Charles married my second great-grand aunt Mary Ann Colston in Daylesford and they lived in East Street. They raised nine children: Roland (1861), Charles (1862), John (1864), Louisa (1867), Alfred (1869), Ernest (1874), Herbert (1878), Francis (1881) and Sydney (1883).
So how did Charles support a large family? A Victorian Gazette dated June 20, 1862 unlocks the mystery. Charles had shares in the Specimen Hill Quartz Mining Company located on Specimen Hill Reef near Daylesford.
The Hepburn Mining Division 1999 paper on Historic Gold Mining sites gives an insight into the success of the venture: “The Specimen Hill Quartz Mining Company was a successful gold mining operation near Daylesford, active from the mid-1860s until 1880, when it ceased operations and abandoned the ground. During the years 1867 to 1880 inclusive, the company crushed 88,339 tons of quartz for 24,985 ounces of gold. The company’s shaft reached a depth of nearly 600ft.”
Another Victorian Gazette dated December 31, 1863 shows Charles also had shares in the Concordia Gold Mining Company located in Stanbridge Paddock, Daylesford. The Hepburn Mining Division paper 1999 gives an insight into mining in the 1860s. In the early mining history of the state, small areas only were permitted occupancy, and one of the first companies to operate in the district was the Concordia Gold Mining Company.
Attention was directed by this small co-operative party to the Concordia, a tributary lead three-quarters of a mile north of the existing Daylesford Railway Station. It was leased and a royalty had to be paid. The total yield to September 2, 1865, was 5280 oz. 9 dwt. (pennyweight) of gold to a value of £20,315 and the royalty of £4081. It ceased operations in 1867 and although the company had a comparatively short existence, it was nevertheless profitable.
The profits made from mining were used to buy property in Daylesford where the family continued although Charles and Mary Ann moved to Rosedale Villa, Clunes near the end of Charles’s life. He died on July 13, 1909 at 70 with his will showing the accumulation of property in the Daylesford Borough.
In Vincent Street, Charles owned two weatherboard and brick shops which were rented out. On the corner of East and Raglan streets, he owned 11 acres of land and had the following properties – an orchard with two weatherboard cottages containing four rooms each, three weatherboard cottages containing six rooms each and the crowning glory, the Farmers Arms Hotel which contained 12 rooms. His total estate was worth £5962.
The tombstone was erected at a cost of £156 and has left a lasting impression of how a young man made good in the Daylesford area through mining and the purchase of property. I am proud to be related to this family.