Unfortunately, this particular reporter did not appear to have revisited Mr Goddard's foundry in its early years, but other scribes did, as we shall progressively observe.

The present Uralla foundry in East Street ― C A Young's Phoenix Foundry and Engineering Works ― incorporates much of the plant and machinery, tools and other appurtenances used in an earlier foundry ― The New England Iron and Brass Foundry (Mr Goddard's) ― which was once located on the corner of Salisbury and Queen Streets, Uralla ? It is therefore necessary to examine something of the history of both these establishments. The fortunes of the two foundries over almost a century were bound up closely with the technical and entrepreneurial skills of three men: Henry Goddard (the New England works) and Christopher Young and one of his sons, Leslie (the Phoenix works).

In compiling the following narrative concerning the history of the foundries, much use has been made of news items and advertisements which appeared in local newspapers. At the outset, acknowledgment must be given to local historian Arnold Goode, who, over a number of years, has painstakingly searched for and copied relevant extracts from these papers, and lodged copies with the present owners of the foundry, Mike Money and Diana Carrick.

Other sources used are given in the text, or in the references. The inferences drawn from all sources, and in particular from the actual wording of historical documents, are entirely the responsibility of the authors.

3.2 The Goddard era

The precise date of the establishment of the first foundry in Uralla is Thursday, October 7th, 1875. It was on this day that the first iron was cast, and a fulsome account of this important milestone in the town's history appeared in the The Armidale Express on Friday, October 15th, 1875. The paper's Uralla correspondent reported that on Thursday last a number of the leading inhabitants visited the engineering works of Messrs. Goddard and Mather, of this town, to witness their maiden operation in iron casting. This, to many who witnessed it, was indeed a novel process, and the interest manifested by the visitors kept pace with each succeeding stage of the work until the last casting was made, and the residue of the molten metal discharged from the glowing furnace.

In pinpointing the date of the foundry's establishment so precisely, we are assuming that, when The Express used the expression "on Thursday last" in its issue of Friday mh, it referred to the Thursday of the previous week (October 7th) rather than 'yesterday' (October 14th).

This contemporary account of the first casting in the foundry noted a feature of the works that is still remembered by older townsfolk today ― the noise of the furnace blower.

The report in The Express continued with the flowery superlatives typically used on such occasions, each fresh supply of molten metal from the furnace being said to rival its predecessors in "whiteness, coruscation, and scintillation"! The largest castings made on this historic day weighed between two and three hundredweight. At the conclusion of the casting, the visitors to the works were invited to drink "Success to the New England Foundry", and they appear to have done so with some enthusiasm. The newspaper account concluded with the comment that the establishment of the foundry was an "event to be hailed as another step forward in the New England district in the march of progress" .2

The establishment of an iron foundry in 1875 in a town as small and relatively isolated as Uralla must have indeed been a surprising event. One early newspaper report went so far as to proclaim that Uralla was "one of the smallest towns in the world which [could] boast of possessing a foundry".3

The village of Uralla had developed as a result of the gold rush to the Rocky River field, the first
business being established in 1853 when Samuel McCrossin opened an inn. The town was laid out
and gazetted in September, 1855, and the first sale of allotments was made in January, 1856.4
When the foundry commenced casting in 1875, the coming of the railway was still some seven
years off. A 'Special Correspondent1 from the Town and Country Journal visited Uralla in 1874,
and he had this to say of the village: __...-..

While the foundry was not formally established until the first metal was cast in 1875, it is clear from the wording of two of the newspaper reports quoted above that Goddard and Mather were already operating some sort of engineering works in Uralla at the time they poured their first castings.

Henry Sheldon Goddard was an Englishman, born on October 24th, 1841, in Stratton, Cornwall. His father Samuel was a policeman, and his mother Mary's maiden name was Sheldon. Young Henry was baptised in Stratton Parish Church on November 14th of the same year, and, in the same church, on February llth, 1863, he was joined in holy matrimony to a local girl, Mary Crutchett. By this time, Henry's father Samuel had left the constabulary, his occupation on the marriage registration papers being now given as "inn-keeper". Henry's own occupation was shown as "mill wright". Birth registration papers show that Henry was working in Stratton as a "machine maker" when the couple's daughter Mary was born in January, 1864. When baby Sarah was born in March, 1865, the papers show that the family had moved to Tamar, Devon, where Henry was working as a millright at the Keyham Steam-yard.6

Henry and Mary Goddard and their two daughters emigrated to Australia later in 1865, arriving in South Australia on December 6th. Henry is reported to have obtained work in Adelaide as a millwright.7 An Obituary written at the time of Goddard's death in 1900 claims that he moved from Adelaide to Sydney, where he worked at Mort and Go's Engineering Works.8 His name first appears in Sydney's Sands Directory for the year 1870, when he is listed as a millwright living in Barker's Lane. This directory entry can be interpreted as meaning that he was living there at some time during 1869. Barker's Lane was located on the eastern side of Darling Harbour, and, while Goddard could have taken a ferry from the Erskine Street wharf over to Mort's works at Balmain, it seems more likely that he may have by then been working at Russell & Go's Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works, which was located in Barker Street closer to where he lived.

Goddard is reported to have moved to Tamworth in about 1870 where he has said to have worked

on the installation of machinery in Lewis's flour mill and Britten's brewery.9 In the early 1870s Mort's Dock and Engineering Co were advertising prominently in local newspapers, flour mill machinery being one of many lines being offered to prospective clients.10 If the machinery for these jobs was made by Mort and Co, Goddard was quite possibly sent to Tamworth by Mort's as their man on the spot. Unfortunately, no Tamworth papers from this period survive in the State Library of New South Wales to enable us to check this possibility.

From Tamworth, Goddard next moved to Uralla, where he worked on the erection of another flour mill, this time the owner being John McCrossin, a son of Uralla's early settler Samuel McCrossin. If Mort & Co did make the machinery for the Tamworth mill and brewery, one could reasonably expect that they would have provided the plant and equipment for McCrossin, and that this could have been the reason why Goddard arrived in Uralla. But this hypothesis cannot be sustained.

We do not know precisely when Goddard came to Uralla. L Godwin's 1983 paper on McCrossin's Mill in Australian Historical Archaeology makes no mention of either Henry Goddard or the supplier of machinery to the mill.11 But the Town and Country Journal's 1879 'Travelling Reporter' clearly records that the machinery for McCrossin's Uralla mill came from "Mr. Russell's foundry".12 This refers to the well-known Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works, established by Peter Nicol Russell and his brothers in 1838. Although P N Russell & Co closed down in 1874, soon after McCrossin's Mill opened, Peter Russell himself was by then a rich man, and around the turn of the century he endowed an engineering school at Sydney University.13

The fact that Henry Goddard erected machinery for McCrossin manufactured by Russell & Co suggests that, at that time, he may have been working for the Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works rather than Mort & Co. This supposition is supported by the following note in the 1874 Town & Country Journal report referred to previously:

No source yet sighted puts forward a precise date for the opening of McCrossin's Mill. Godwin's paper merely puts the time of erection as late 1860s to early 1870s. Local historian Arnold Goode has said that the mill was about half completed by October 1871, with the boilers and machinery already delivered to the site.15 Although we do not know precisely when Goddard arrived in Uralla or completed his task at the new mill, it is clear that he must have liked what he saw of the township in the early 1870s, as he was to spend the rest of his life there. His decision to set up a business in Uralla may well have been influenced by John McCrossin, as the three parcels of land on the corner of Queen and Salisbury Streets on which the engineering works were established were originally owned by McCrossin. Goddard and Ormandy/Mather must have initially leased the land from McCrossin, and after his death in 1881, from his widow Helen.

Early electoral rolls for the seat of New England show Goddard listed as a 'resident', his first listing as a 'freeholder' being in 1881-82. It was in 1881 that Goddard commenced the first of a number of land dealings in and around Uralla, three separate blocks being purchased in that year. In 1886 and 1887 the transfer of Lots 7, 8 and 9, Section 12 - the site of the foundry - from Helen McCrossin to Goddard were finally registered. Goddard paid a total of #300 for the three allotments, each of which was two roods in area.16 Presumably most if not all the buildings associated with the foundry were erected on this land at the expense of Goddard and his early partners, which suggests that the lease from the McCrossins must have contained some option to purchase.

The first documentary reference that has been sighted relating to Goddard's business dealings in the town is the fact that he opened, in partnership with a James Ormandy, a bank account at the Uralla branch of the Bank of New South Wales on September 24th, 1873. The partners styled themselves as "engineers".17 Just days later, Goddard and Ormandy advertised in The Armidale Express for one good carpenter and one good blacksmith.18 Early business must have been promising, as early in November the partners advertised again for additional men ― two engine fitters and two wheelwrights.19

The 1870 Sydney Sands Directory listed a J Ormandy, engineer, in Campbell Street, Camperdown, and a John Ormandy, pattern-maker, at the same address in 1871. It is quite possible that the James Ormandy who had worked for Russell & Co before going to Uralla was a member of this family. Ormandy's partnership with Henry Goddard was to be short-lived, and we do not know the reason it broke up. By the time the first iron was cast in the town's engineering works in October, 1875, Goddard had established an association with John Mather. Ormandy remained in the New England district after terminating his partnership with Goddard. In 1874 he married Elizabeth Watkins in Armidale, and a number of children born to the couple over the ensuing years were registered in Wellingrove and Glenn Innes.20 Sands Country Directory lists Ormandy in Glen Innes in the years 1878-79, 1881-82, 1884-85 and 1889-90, giving his occupation variously as "miller", "farmer", and "miller, Mount Clair". James Ormandy was killed in an accident at Grover's Glen Innes sawmill in 1901. In recording his death, The Uralla and Walcha Times remarked that Ormandy's respectful demeanour and many other good qualities had won for him a host of friends. 21

Like Ormandy, very little is known of John Mather. The Official Post Office Directory and Gazetteer of New South Wales for the years 1875-77 lists Mather in Uralla as an 'engineer', while Goddard himself is styled as a more humble 'wheelwright1, although to draw too much inference about the relative skills of the two men from this single reference would seem a little unwise.22 But once again it would appear likely that our Uralla Mather would have been related to one or more of a number of other Sydney Mathers who were styled 'engineers' in Sands Directory in the late 1860s-early 1870s ― Henry G, Joseph, John, and Byron M Mather. Interestingly, while Goddard's name does not appear in the 1871 Sydney directory, it pops up again in 1873, where he is shown as an 'engineer' living at 7 Barker's Lane.

In the middle of 1875, Goddard and Mather placed a notice in The Armidale Express stating that they had, by a Deed dated July 1st, 1875, entered into a CO-PARTNERSHIP as ENGINEERS and MILLWRIGHTS.23 Soon after the first iron had been cast in the New England Iron and Brass Foundry a few months later, Goddard and Mather advertised their growing business in the The Armidale Express. The foundry was said to be equipped to make castings up to one ton in weight, and the advertisement ambitiously proclaimed that the firm could make, on the Shortest Notice, Steam Engines, Flour Mill Machinery, Horse Power Machines, Threshing Machines, and all sorts of Agricultural Machinery. Ploughshares and Mouldboards, &c., were always on hand. In the same issue of the paper, Goddard and Mather advertised for an apprentice.24 A very similar advertisement was placed in the very first issue of The Uralla and Walcha Times, which appeared on Saturday, April 15th, 1876. For the next forty years or so, The Times did its best to promote the products of the local foundry.

Henry Goddard appears as though he may have had his fair share of problems dealing with other people. We have noted above his brief partnership with James Ormandy. In the very issue of The Armidale Express that reported on the casting of the first iron at the new Uralla foundry, another story on another page told of a court action brought against Goddard by a man named Faint. Faint alleged that Goddard and one of his employees had carried out unsatisfactory work on a threshing machine. While the court ruled in favour of Goddard, the publicity could not have been good for his business fortunes.25

Then in mid-1876, the Uralla paper carried a notice advising that Goddard and Mather had dissolved their partnership "by mutual consent" on July 22nd, 1876.26 No sooner had Goddard tidied this matter up, than he was back in trouble again, this time taking an apprentice named Furnifull to the local magistrate's court, alleging that the lad had left his apprenticeship before the expiration of his indentured term. Furnifull's advocate submitted that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that the indenture had been imperfectly executed, and, in any case, Furnifull had signed on with Goddard and Ormandy, and had not consented to a change of "mastership" following the dissolution of that partnership. This time, the Bench found against Goddard.27

Despite this setback, Henry Goddard and his foundry gained considerable publicity at this tune by casting a bell for a Glen Innes church. The Uralla and Walcha Times reported that

After the casting, the assembled party toasted success to the bell with champagne which had been "liberally supplied" by Mrs Ryan of the Commercial Hotel. The toast appears to have proved successful, as, when the "tintinnabulator", weighing about 7 cwt, was taken from its "earthy bed" the next day, a rough test gave most gratifying results.28 The bell, made from tin, copper and other metals obtained in the New England district, cost the Glen Innes faithful 93 pounds, and this sum was handed over to Henry Goddard at a public dinner held in Glen Innes in his honour. It was Goddard himself, and not his bell, that was toasted in champagne this time! Henry Goddard had predicted that the bell, on a calm, clear morning, would be able to be heard up to seven or eight miles from the town ― we are not aware of whether this prediction has ever been tested.29

The next decade or so must have seen the heyday of the New England Iron and Brass Foundry, and numerous references appear in the local press to plant and machinery manufactured there. Though beyond the scope of the present study, a very worthwhile project for local historians would be to compile a schedule of known surviving work by both Goddard and his successors, C A Young & Co, indicating whether the provenance of each item was documentary evidence or a maker's nameplate. Some commissions undertaken by the foundry that were reported in local papers were:

                   Cider mill for Mr George Feint (Uralls Times, 16/6/1877}

                   5 head stamper battery for Great Britain Gold Mine, Tilbuster (Uralla Times, 4/6/1890}

Henry Goddard must have been optimistic about the expansion of his business in the 1880s, as, on January 16th, 1884, The Uralla and Walcha Times carried a large advertisement inviting investors to take up 6,000 #1 shares in a proposed New England Foundry and Engine Works Company. The notice proclaimed that

Goddard proposed to take up 1,000 shares, but, in the process, would sell his business to the new company for £ 2,500. The foundry's assets were listed as:

No company appears to have ever been registered. Goddard must have failed to convince his fellow townsmen that this "present and fast increasing business alone will pay a handsome percentage, and will be a desirable investment of a permanently profitable character".30

An excellent contemporary description of the works appeared in The Uralla and Walcha Times on June 4th, 1890. At that time, William Hunter was in charge of the moulding department and E Purkiss the blacksmith's shop, while other artisans then employed named in the article were Frank Crutchett, W Hardman, G Fuller and J Hare. A full transcript of the account of the works appearing in The Times may be found in Appendix I.

An interesting advertisement for the foundry appeared in The Times on April 3rd, 1889. This not only noted that his business had been established in 1873, but it announced that "Best Ironbark Cogs" were always on hand. Presumably Goddard put his pattern-maker to work Grafting cogs in between preparing for new casting jobs. We should emphasise that a 'cog' was not a gear wheel, but the tooth of such a wheel. Timber was commonly used for making cogs, enabling machinery in remote places to be quickly repaired by the replacement of a wooden cog rather than requiring the services of an engineering shop to repair or recast a metal wheel.

Henry and Mary Goddard had no further children by their marriage after arriving in Australia in 1865, and their daughters Mary and Sarah were both married in Uralla in 1885. A daughter born to Sarah had been registered in Uralla in 1881 as Philipa Goddard, and no father was listed. Philipa married in Uralla in 1931 Henry Goddard was active in the local Anglican Church and the agricultural and pastoral association, and was said to be the founding father of the Ancient Order of Foresters in the New England region. In 1884 he was appointed to the local Council without an election, when the nomination of three other aspiring candidates was ruled invalid after Goddard himself had lodged a protest.32

As events were to turn out, the people of Uralla were wise not to invest in Goddard's proposed company in the 1880s, as his engineering works was caught up in the economic downtown experienced by many in the 1890s depression. Goddard's financial position appears to have been deteriorating over some time. No sooner had he purchased land in 1881 and again in 1886-87 than he took out mortgages on both with the Bank of New South Wales. He borrowed against a life insurance policy.33 In 1888, he was in trouble in the courts for allegedly wilfully obstructing a council officer serving a notice in relation to unpaid rates.34 In 1893, Goddard raised 800 pounds by selling a number of parcels of land he had earlier purchased in partnership with a hotel-keeper named Patrick Griffin: 40 acres in the Parish of Uralla, and four other 40 acre blocks in the Parish of Harnam.35 It is not known whether any of this land had anything to do with Goddard's prospecting speculations: back in 1877, Goddard and several colleagues were trying to raise #1,000 capital to float the Perserverance Gold Mining Company, Limited. The newspaper announcement regarding the proposed the company stated that it was being formed to work the main deep lead of the Rocky River Field, which was supposed to run by the head of Tipperary Gully.36

If Goddard did loose money on prospecting ventures, it must have only hastened his overall financial demise, and, finally, in March, 1895, he was forced to call a meeeting of his principal creditors. At this meeting, unsecured creditors agreed to take 4/- in the pound "in full satisfaction" of their debt.37 Relating the history of the foundry to a newspaper reporter in 1964, the then-owner, Les Young, claimed that when the business ran into financial difficulties, the bank took over for some years and put in a man named Cleghorn, who managed the foundry for a time until it was closed altogether.38 It is difficult to reconcile this story with what little documentary evidence we have from that period.

Moore's Almanac lists the foundry right through the 1890s under Goddard's name. Goddard advertised in the local paper in 1895 and 1896 in his own name. Although Goddard was clearly indebted to the bank, they never sold him up during the 1890s, and when he died in 1900, his total assests exceeded his liabilities by ??? pounds. The papers prepared at the time of his death for the purpose of assessing stamp duties show that Goddard then owed W G Cleghorn sixteen shillings in wages, and H C Crapp five pounds.39 It appears, therefore, that both Cleghorn and Crapp were employees of Goddard, rather than any sort of manager put in by the bank. So, in the absence of any other evidence, we must assume that Goddard continued to operate the foundry and engineering works after going bankrupt, and he appears to have done so up until his death on Saturday, February 10th, 1900. Henry had been ill for some months with "a most painful internal malady". After a funeral service in St John's Church of England, Uralla, Henry Sheldon Goddard was buried in the local cemetery.40