On all new gold diggings it was usual to establish a self-constituted form of government among the diggers themselves, which in the absence of any regular police force or law of the land was responsible for the protection and good conduct of the entire community.  Some capable man was elected as president and chief, before whom all cases of misdemeanour were heard, and whose decisions and powers to inflict punishment were final.  Under such rule, crude as it was, the utmost good conduct usually prevailed, and any glaring instances of robbery or crime were not only rare, but severely dealt with.

To this man we reported our arrival, and a camping ground was pointed out to us.  It was too late to do anything towards preparing a permanent camp that night, but at daybreak the following morning we were hard at work, and by evening had made ourselves a comfortable hut.

We marked out a rectangle of 12 ft. by 10 ft., the size of our largest tent, around which we raised a sod wall two feet high, which we plastered inside with mud.  Over the walls we rigged up our tent, securing it by stays and poles set in triangles at each extremity.  At one end we built a capacious fireplace and chimney eight feet wide, leaving two feet for a doorway.  The chimney was built of green sods, also plastered within, and our door was a piece of old sacking weighted and let fall over the opening.  Around the hut we cut a good drain to convey away rain water.  At the upper end of the hut we raised a rough framework of green timber cut from the neighbouring scrub, one foot high and six wide, thus taking up exactly half of our house.  Upon this we spread a plentiful supply of dry grass to form our common bed.  Our working tools and other gear found place underneath, and with a few roughly made stools and the empty “Old Tom” case for a table, our mansion was complete.

It was not yet night when our work was done, and some of us strolled about to obtain any information available.  This was not as satisfactory as we could have desired.  Very many had been disappointed, gold was not found in sufficient quantities to pay, and prospectors were out in every direction.  It was early yet, however, to condemn the diggings, and the grumblers and the disappointed are always present in every undertaking, so we comforted ourselves, and sought dinner and the night’s sleep we were so much in need of.

The usual requisites for a digger are, a spade, pick, shovel, long Tom or cradle, and a wide lipped flat iron dish (not unlike an ordinary wash-hand basin) for final washing.

The long Tom consists of a wooden trough or race, twelve to fifteen feet long and two feet wide; its lower end is fitted into an iron screen or grating, fixed immediately above a box or tray of the same size.  To work the machine it is set so that a stream of water obtained by damming up a little of the river is allowed to pass quickly and constantly down the race, and through the grating into the box at the other end.