THREADS OF TIME ENTWINE-A STORY OF ONE MAN'S HONESTY

Yesterday Dave and I stopped at Menzies for 2 ½ hours, on our way to Leonora for a few days. Thirty five years ago when I used to live in the Eastern Goldfields, Menzies was a busier town; now it is a main street that has been heritage listed and a lot of money has been spent on signs, iron sculptures and other history features, courtesy of the Royalties for Regions dollars going back into the local mining communities.

Our first stop was at the Information Centre, where I asked a lady if there was any information about people who lived in Menzies in the early 1900s, as Dave's great grandfather, John Albert Musgrove, used to work at the Menzies Post Office back then. We were shown where the History Research room was at the back of the old building, and we spent a happy time leafing through folders of old photos and articles about Menzies past days. To our delight, there was a good old photo of the Menzies Post Office staff gathered for a Christmas photo, and there was John Albert Musgrove gazing out at us. I can see that Dave resembles him in appearance.

After that, we had a nice lunch outside a little café in the main street. Then I went across the road to check out the original old Post Office, as I now knew from the Information Centre photos that this was where Dave's great grandfather once worked. Dave had already seen this, so he sat back in his chair in the glorious winter sunshine and enjoyed the small town vibe. I walked up to the veranda of the old building and found an elderly gentleman coming out of the main door. Realising that this old post office was possibly being lived in, I apologised for intruding and went to leave. But the man was friendly and happy to chat. He asked about our motorbikes which were parked across the road and next thing he was explaining how he lived in this old Post Office, renting there for the past 12 years.

He then said that the building was heritage listed and it was going to be brought back to its original condition, and surveyors and building people had just finished going over every part of the building to plan a proper National Trust tourist reconstruction. I told the man about my husband's great grandfather working there in the past and then the man told me a fascinating story, which entwines families, by strange coincidence.

I never did get to ask the lovely old man his name! So I shall call him "Mr Friendly" for this story. He told me he had been living in Menzies for the past 17 ½ years, prospecting with a metal detector, and life had been very good for him. Some people had told him if he went to Menzies there were plenty of gold nuggets still to be found, and this was true for him. I noted he was dressed very neatly and he was a trendy looking older person with both his clothing style and attitude. Some prospectors look like they have never seen money, let alone found much of worth, but this gentleman looked happy.

Mr Friendly told me he was using his metal detector a few years ago along the railway line in Menzies, as he sometimes found interesting stuff dropped and lost there. This particular day, he came across a small gold nugget, which was a real surprise, as nuggets here would have been picked up years ago. This one appeared out of the blue. Suddenly his metal detector beeped madly, so he dug down a little and found buried an old tobacco tin that was falling apart. Inside the tin Mr Friendly found 2 gold pocket watches, one interesting gold footy badge with an engraved label on it, and a gold locket on a gold chain. The locket was engraved on the back "E. Hulls", and one of the gold pocket watches was engraved with "A. Hulls". The footy badge had engraved "1898 Presented to A. Hulls for outstanding forward player."

Now Mr Friendly was intrigued, and he said his hair started to stand up on the back of his neck. He realised the surname Hulls was unusual, so he might have a bit of luck tracking down the original owners of this old gold jewellery. He said he suddenly felt as though someone's ghost had thrown him the little natural gold nugget, and wanted him to help the ghostly presence.

So honest Mr Friendly took the time and effort to check out some army records in Kalgoorlie, as the reference on the man's badge seemed a clue. Sure enough, he found an A. Hulls was listed on old records, having been born in Bendigo Victoria, and moved to Menzies as an adult. At the age of 46 he enlisted in the army to fight in World War 1, and he told them his age was really 40, so he could serve his country. He served in Gallipoli and survived, and then in the Somme region in France, he was sadly killed in action in 1916, hence the army records of a Goldfields resident being on the Honour Roll in Kalgoorlie.

So Mr Friendly's next action was to try and get the gold jewellery back to A. Hulls descendants if they existed. Being a determined, intelligent gentleman, he got onto Telstra and he found out that there were 17 Hulls listed in the Victorian telephone directory. He decided to go through these numbers alphabetically, starting at "A. Hulls" and surprise surprise, the first phone number scored success for him. He found himself speaking to an 83 year old man who was amazed, saying right at that very moment he was finalising the Index of The Hulls Family History, and yes, he was related to Alfred Hulls who used to live in Menzies before he died in the battle of the Somme in World War 1.

To cut a long story short, the elderly Mr Hulls who was finalising the family history book put off the publishing date while he organised an addendum of 2 pages just before the Index, to include the finding of Alfred Hulls's gold jewellery. A photograph of these family heirlooms was included, with its kind "Mr Friendly" finder being gratefully acknowledged. The locket had been a gift from Alfred to his wife Emily, hence the engraving of "E. Hulls". One of the gold fob watches was engraved for A for Alfred. The other watch was a mystery. The badge, locket and watches were back with Alfred's family, and Mr Friendly told me he felt he had done a ghost an important help, with the reward of a little gold nugget.

Not long after this, Mr Friendly received a letter and newspaper cutting from an old police newspaper report from some lawyer relatives of Alfred Hulls. Apparently Alfred had been burgled while living in Menzies, having lost a gold watch, badge and locket. The other watch was probably burgled off some other unfortunate soul. The wretched thief had buried the stolen gold in the tobacco tin by the railroad, expecting to pick them up later. And it wasn't found till 100 years later, when a ghost called Alfred threw a kind old gentleman prospector a gold nugget, as a guide.

Mr Friendly then went inside and brought out the Hulls Family History Book to show me; it is a big brown leather bound book, like a family bible. And I saw the added last 2 pages, as well as a beautiful colour photograph of the found and returned gold jewellery. In this book is a photo of Alfred Hulls in 1906; he looks a fine figure of a man. As I stood on the veranda of the old Menzies Post Office, I suddenly realised that Dave's great grandfather, postmaster John Albert Musgrove would most likely have known Alfred Hulls, as they were both in the same age group, and in the same small town, around 1906.

And another coincidence: My grandfather Thomas O'Loughlin was born and raised in Bendigo, as was Alfred Hulls, both being the same age when they enlisted to fight in World War 1. (My grandfather was one of the older enlists in his 40s) and he was also fighting in the Somme region. Thomas survived the War and returned home, unlike Alfred.

So, yesterday the threads of time entwined around us in Menzies, all because I met an honest gentleman on an old heritage listed Post Office veranda. And I feel strongly that surely John Albert Musgrove, Alfred Hulls, and Thomas O'Loughlin would have known each other, because of time and places in their lives.

Trish Bensley

Post script: I have since found out that "Mr Friendly", the returner of family heirlooms, is Chris Deavins. ( Photo below along with photo of A. Hulls and the recovered heirlooms )