Charles Sublet
| First name | Charles |
|---|---|
| Last name | Sublet |
| Country of Origin | Switzerland |
| Date of Birth | 6/5/1828 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1853 |
| Submitted by | robert sublet |
Story
CHARLES LOUIS SUBLET
Charles Louis Sublet was born on 5 June 1828 in Bougy-Villars, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. He grew up in Bougy with his widowed mother, 3 brothers and 4 sisters; the Sublet family had lived in this village since the 1400\’s.
In the 1850\’s unless you owned property it was very difficult to find work and for this reason Charles\’ brothers had already left the area. Fortunately for Charles, he managed a vineyard for an uncle; he was also in a relationship with the uncle\’s daughter Ð it being assumed that he would marry Henriette and then, in due course, inherit the property. But this was not to be; the uncle suddenly announced that Charles was no longer the accepted suitor.
Because of these developments Charles left Bougy in February 1853 for the gold fields of Australia hoping to make his fortune and then return to buy his own vineyard. He joined a party of over forty Swiss who travelled to Liverpool to board the ‘Earl of Charlemont\’ for the voyage to Australia. The ship set sail on 12 March 1853 and all but one of the over 400 on board safely got ashore on the beach at Barwon Heads, on 18 June. The ship had run aground and then sank on what is now known as the ‘Charlemont Reef\’ just outside the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. The ship\’s party walked to Geelong and then with 15 other Swiss, Charles walked the 20 leagues to Ballarat ‘over a sea of mud known as the Geelong Road\’. This took 6 or 7 days and when he arrived in Ballarat in early July it was almost 5 months since he had departed Bougy. The major part of this time was taken up by the 97 day sea voyage, during which they were becalmed for many days, blown off course to the west, to within 20 leagues of Rio de Janeiro, and then, having survived major storms, taken far north towards the southern tip of India.
In Ballarat Charles worked a number of claims around the Gravel Pits and the Eureka Lead and at the time of the Eureka uprising was in partnership with ‘Father\’ Duprat, the leader of the French-speaking miners. Charles fought in the Eureka Stockade battle and was amongst a group, sent out to occupy shallow mining shafts on the Camp side of the Stockade; they were to act as an outpost and sound the alarm when the troops advanced on the Stockade. In the ensuing slaughter, 27 members of the diggings community were killed or subsequently died and many more were seriously wounded.
After Eureka Charles continued to mine in Ballarat until 1863 and then as a miner and a mine owner in nearby Gordons until late 1872. He then moved with his family to Rochester where he worked first as a wheat farmer, then as a hotel keeper and finally as a florist until his death on 1 April 1905. Part of his Obituary carried in the Rochester Express stated Ð’On Saturday morning there passed away at Rochester one of the oldest residents in the person of Mr. C. Sublet – – Mr Sublet was a veteran of the Eureka Stockade when diggers made armed resistance against a tyrannous administration. He could tell many interesting stories of the early days of Ballarat and had a retentive memory. He was a great friend of Mr. Peter Lalor, the leading spirit in that memorable but short-lived insurrection.’ Charles was buried in the Rochester cemetery on 3 April 1905.
Charles married a Scot, Grace Swan, in Ballarat in January 1858 and they had 10 children, 5 sons and 5 daughters. Charles and Grace are survived by 13 great grandchildren, 26 great, great, grandchildren and at least 6 great, great, great, grandchildren.
Much of the information about Charles comes from his Diary and a significant collection of letters to Charles from friends and relatives in Switzerland. All this material lay forgotten and unread for over 100 years.
It is interesting to reflect now on the last paragraph of Charles\’ diary:
‘Now that we had arrived at our destination Ð after over four months of travelling, of storms, of shipwreck, and a week of fighting our way through that sea of mud known locally as the Geelong Road Ð we all hoped and trusted most fervently that our first hole at the Diggings at Ballarat would be one that was just full of golden nuggets and golden dust. Yes, all that any of us now wanted was one Ð just one Ð golden hole, so that we could ride back to Melbourne in style on the mail-coach, and catch the first available ship back to Europe with enough gold in our pockets to buy that vineyard Ð yes, just one vineyard, and not the several that I had once imagined Ð back in our native land.’