The Mine: Two Journeys to Happiness

By Mazi McBurnie

In 1954, Marion Willis and Evan Devlin were best friends in Goldtown. Only eleven years old, they both had dreams of escaping their small town and doing big things in some far away place. They often spoke of their dreams while hiding out in their favorite abandoned mine, despite warnings from their parents that the mine could collapse at any time.

One day, their parental warnings come true as the mine caves in. Marion escapes before Evan and runs home, only later learning that Evan never made it back to the Devlin house. Soon, Evan is declared deadbut hes anything but dead. Evan, too, fled the mine but runs away to start his new life as a shearer and changes his name to William.

Years later, Marion has become a successful lawyer. Shes called back to Goldtown when Evans mother, Frances, is accused of murder. Both Evan and Marion took different paths, but their lives coalesce in the town of their births as Marion defends Frances in court, and Evan comes to terms with a past he thought he escaped.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Oct 24, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504304658

Mazi McBurnie

This is the eighth novel by this author. Mazi is a 75 yr old woman who loves to write about strong female characters. She cares for her husband who has Parkinson,s disease and her family of one dog, Albert and three Birman cats. She lives in the country area outside of Melbourne.

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Copyright © 2016 Mazi Mcburnie.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-0464-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0465-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/17/2016

Contents

Chapter 1 Cave-in

Chapter 2 The Shearers

Chapter 3 William

Chapter 4 The Assault

Chapter 5 University

Chapter 6 The Bookstore

Chapter 7 Marriage

Chapter 8 The Trial

Chapter 9 Meredith

Chapter 10 Patty

Chapter 11 Freddie

Chapter 12 Missing

Chapter 13 Ghosts

Chapter 14 Wedding day

Chapter 15 The Mine

IN LOVING

MEMORY OF MY FATHER SELWYN (TOM) BYFIELD, A GUN SHEARER WHO STARTED SHEARING AT AGE 13 IN 1933 DURING THE DEPRESSION. HE WON MANY AWARDS AND TROPHIES IN HIS 60 YEARS OF SHEARING

Introduction

In 1954 I was trapped in a mine along with another boy. The mine collapsed while we were still inside. We were both eleven and knew that we should not have been there. Much of the story of the early years of Evan and Marion is based on true recollections. The story of the shearers is also based on true facts of my father and his brother. The characters of Aunt Edith and Uncle George are real. The remainder of the story is fiction.

Chapter 1

Cave-in

M arion Willis and her best mate Evan Devlin were walking home from school on a hot summer day in a little gold mining town in mid -west N.S.W. Do you want to go and play in the mines today? asked Evan, hoping that Marion would want to go. You bet, said Marion, laughing. They joined hands and ran to their favourite mine which they reached through tunnels left behind from the gold mining days, over one hundred years ago in the 1850’s. I have some extra food today, Evan, said Marion. You little beauty. I am really hungry, said Evan as they entered the tunnel leading to their favourite mine.

Marion and Evan were the best of friends. They were rivals at school and were both very bright eleven year olds. Once they reached their mine which they had set up as a kitchen and lounge room, Marion took out the sandwiches and biscuits and they sat up on the makeshift chairs and ate them along with some apples and a chocolate bar. They started to talk about school that day. What did you think of the geography test? asked Evan. Marion replied, I thought it was horrible, the worst ever. I think Mr Gordon must think we are in high school to set a test like that.

Marion had made the little mine look homely with pot and pans stolen from home and cups and plates as well. For Marion and Evan it was a place to escape reality and pretend they were a married couple.

About twenty miles from the large centre of Midgee was a small town set among the rolling hills of the Great Dividing Range. This little town had once housed over ten thousand people when gold was found there in the 1850’s, almost one hundred years ago. Today, in 1954 the town has shrunk to a population of around 1500 people, mostly shopkeepers, government workers and small- time farmers, who lived on the outskirts of the town. There were a few timber houses which were formerly miners’ cottages, still standing across the railway line, in the south of the town. There lived some of the town’s poorest folk. Not many of the men had jobs, all had big families and mothers found it very difficult to feed all of the children. Sometimes children were placed in adoption agencies to be taken in by other wealthier families. This was a common practice.

The Devlin family was one such family. There were fourteen children in the Devlin household, eight girls and six boys, with ages ranging from eighteen down to two years including a two sets of twins as well. Evan Devlin was eleven years old, a tall good looking boy with flaming red hair. Four of the fourteen children had the same red hair, said to have come from their Irish forebearers.

Evan helped around the house a lot, chopping wood and feeding chooks, whilst his mother worked at the church. He was a good lad. His mother hoped that he might be able to get an apprenticeship in a trade of sorts. He was a quick learner and very bright, getting good grades in all subjects at school. Evan disappeared a lot when he was not doing chores. His mother, Frances Devlin had no idea where her son went. He used to just come and go, mostly at weekends. Had she known that he was meeting a girl from the north side of town, she would not have been very happy.

Nor would she have been happy to know that Evan was playing in the old gold mines, many of which still remained on the outskirts of town. They were all closed over now, said to be too dangerous due to their instability.

Living on the north side of town were a number of more affluent townspeople of Goldtown. The houses were mostly of the Californian bungalow style and usually had lovely gardens and lawns, many of which were cared for by gardeners. In one such house lived the Willises. Marion Willis was the eldest of three children. Her father was the Bank Manager of the Commonwealth Bank and afforded a decent income for his family. Marion had very little in common with either her parents or her brother and sister. She was an outdoors kind of girl who was very bright at school. She had a happy sunny nature, which was totally lost on her parents who could not care less, where she was, or with whom.

Marion felt the same way about them. They took no interest in her education, never read her school reports or encouraged her in any way. Sadly Marion thought that she could probably look after herself on her own, for all the good her parents were to her. The only good thing that Marion could see was that food was always plentiful in their household.

Marion did not think that her parents had ever visited the school she attended for any reason. They were simply not interested. Marion was given pocket money each week by her father, who said, Marion, I feel that you should start investing your pocket money in my bank. Marion was eleven years old and was certainly not going to put her money in her father’s bank. She bought books with the money, and read them over and over. Books were her biggest love, apart from her friend Evan with whom she spent every moment of her spare time.

They did not care about danger. Danger happened to other people, not to two bright eleven year olds. Evan and Marion never ran out of things to talk about, or things to do. In their makeshift house they pretended to be a married couple. That day they both talked about their dreams for the future and what they would do if they had a lot of money. Marion said,Evan, what would you do if you ever got out of Goldtown? I would get as far away as possible and make as much money as I could, replied Evan, seriously. And would you then marry me? asked Marion with a smile. Of course I would dear girl, said Evan with a wide grin. What will you do when you leave this dump of a town? asked Evan. I would like to go to University and to have money to buy me nice clothes and plenty of books, replied Marion, seriously.

Frances had instilled in each of her children’s minds the danger which presented itself should they accidently fall down one of the mine shafts and could not get out.

Marion rode her bike up Red Hill to the local public school, whilst Evan walked to school with his brothers and sisters. The Devlin family was too poor to buy even one bicycle for the family. On the way to school, Evan and his siblings played marbles and hop scotch, leaving home early after a miserable breakfast of stale porridge if they got any at all. Marion rode to school, always in a hurry, tearing from one activity to another with breakneck speed, fitting in a big breakfast and music practice before school. Tucked into Marion’s little brown school case was toast for Evan’s breakfast and extra sandwiches made with jam for his lunch Each day Marion would say to Evan, I have got your lunch for today. The Devlin family did not get lunch as the family could not afford lunches for so many children.

Evan’s mother Frances Devlin was of great Catholic faith, and when she was not going to mass, she was polishing the church silver or housekeeping and cooking for old father O’Riley, in between producing a baby just about every year. Frances was fortunate that Father O’Riley allowed her to take home the scraps from his and the Nuns’ tables. Frances said, The scraps are good for the chooks, Father. We do appreciate you saving them for us. In actual fact, that was the only food that the family got on a regular basis. There was not much welfare in nineteen fifty four. People were expected to find work and not get government money.

The Devlin family was as poor as a church mouse. The father, Joseph Devlin sometimes got odd jobs around town, but since he was usually drunk, the townsfolk did not find him to be very reliable. The Devlins could be distinguished by their red hair and freckles