By Tyler Wright
A local historian has captured the journey of two women who went in search of coal in the 19th century.
Agnes Simmons and Geraldine Minet, both from England, found themselves in Melbourne in the late 1890s to drill for coal at Point Almond in Elwood; both guided by the astral realm.
Heather Arnold, secretary of the South Eastern Historical Association, and Isaac Hermann’s new book Enchanted Beneath the Bluff, explores the lives of the two women who found themselves digging 4,000 feet underground in search of a resource seen as a saviour from the depression.
Arnold said both Agnes and Geraldine were middle class and came from money; but also had one other unusual, and important, trait in common – spiritualism.
“They were apparently advised by a spirit who talked to a medium that they should drill for coal [at Red Bluff], and they will find coal,” Arnold said.
“In the 1890s there was a lot of people drilling for coal..they were hoping to get the payload.”
The pair then purchased a diamond drill at a cost of around 2000 pounds, getting to work from 1893 to 1897, drilling into the earth to find the hidden treasure.
Unsuccessful in their aspiration to mine coal; Geraldine returned to England while Agnes – a swimming instructor and gymnastics teacher, would in 1912 settle on a 10-acre block in Kallista.
“I really started [the book] because of Agnes Simmons,” Arnold said.
“She roamed around in bloomers… most women wore a skirt, but she was one of these people who wore rational dress,” Arnold said.
“She was quite an animal lover because she left all her money in the end to the Society for the Protection of Animals, which became the RSPCA.”
Arnold said there are stories that Agnes was a hermit during her time living in Kallista; but research refutes those claims.
“I think that she was a single lady, never got married, but I don’t think she was a hermit.”
“There’s lots of newspaper reports that she used to talk to her neighbours and she did things in the community.”
During their research, Arnold said she and Hermann trawled through Trove documents and sought information from local historical societies, including Monbulk Historical Society.
One particularly special discovery was a spreadsheet owned by the Royal Historical Society, which listed every expense by monthly tally of the women’s drilling expedition; including a photograph of the diamond drill and steam powered boiler that powered it.
“We were extraordinarily lucky to find this this spreadsheet and this photograph,” Arnold said.
It was also discovered that Agnes was the first secretary of the Victorian Women’s Suffrage Society.
“She was a feminist and she was also a suffragette who wanted women to get the vote.
“It was rumoured she only ever had female animals, that she would never have male animals on her farm, so she had a lot of horses, she only had mares, and I presume she had dogs.”
Agnes died in Kallista on 26 June 1929, and is buried at Ferntree Gully Cemetery.
It’s believed Agnes first arrived in Australia in 1877.
Geraldine returned to England in 1895 and died at the age of 89.
“I want people just to admire these two women for living their life as they wanted to live their life, for having strong characters and for really taking the risk of drilling for coal and embarking on this business,” Arnold said of the book which was released on 4 June.
You can find a copy of Enchanted Beneath the Bluff at Belgrave Book Barn and online.
