William Dollin in Australia

The Victorian death certificate of this William Dollin reveals that he was a miner who died at Peter's Diggings, 60 k NW of Ballarat, Victoria on 5 Dec 1864.

Although this William's parents' names were not known by the friend who reported his death, it was stated that he was born in Somersetshire, England. Furthermore his age in 1864 was recorded to be 44 years. This indicates that he would have been born in 1820, as was our William, son of John and Mary Ann Dollin.

William's friend said that William had been in Victoria for 10 years, suggesting that he had arrived in Australia in 1854. No record of his arrival has been found in that year. However, Kerry also discovered that a W Dollan arrived in Victoria on the 'Mary Bangs' in August 1858. Investigations are continuing.

William died of an illness lasting three weeks and was buried in the St Arnaud cemetery. Unfortunately his grave is unmarked. He was recorded as being unmarried.

Peter's Diggings is near the town of St Arnaud where there was a massive gold rush in 1855. However, by the 1860s only a couple of hundred miners remained on the fields and crushers and stampers had to be used to extract the remaining gold.

The evidence now suggests that three Dollin brothers may have come to Australia in the 1850s:
-- Henry Dollin - July 1855
-- Thomas Dollin - May 1857 and
-- William Dollin - Aug 1858