Female gunsmiths in the sights of history

WHILE digging through old records, staff at Bendigo Regional Archives Centre stumbled across a triggering find.

It turns out Bendigo was home to not one, but two, female gunsmiths in the late 1800s.

The revelation stood out to archives officer Desiree Petit-Keating, who said she’s always watching for interesting facts.

“We do a lot of work with the Bendigo rates and the rate books,” she said. “Occasionally you get a bit sidetracked looking at the occupations that have been recorded next to people who were living across the district.

“There are lots of labourers and farmers and what have you, but every now and then you’ll see something that catches your eye and gunsmith is one of them.

“Then you scroll across and see it’s actually a lady gunsmith and that’s even more interesting.”

This stood out to Ms Petit-Keating as female gunsmiths are still a rare thing, with Australian Government statistics showing only four per cent of people in the trade are women.

The two women plying their trade in the late 1800s were Anna Buchols and Annie McCallum, and both have unique stories Ms Petit-Keating said.

“Anna Buchols sounds like a bit of a firecracker,” she said. “She was Danish and came across to Australia, I think to Adelaide first of all.

“That’s where she met Johan and they got married and came across to Bendigo’s booming population.

“People needed weapons at that point for hunting and animal husbandry, but also protection, as they were carrying around lumps of gold and what have you.

“When Johan passes away, Anna just picks up the running of the business and keeps going.”

Unlike Ms Buchols, Annie McCallum was a born and bred local but left town, unlike Ms Buchols who passed away in Bendigo.

“Annie was a little bit different,” she said. “Again, her husband was a gunsmith.

“She lived quite nearby to her family and Daniel her husband lived at a different location. She’s still recorded specifically as a gunsmith.

“But her mom passes away and her dad actually marries their young housekeeper, and we don’t know if that predicates it, but that’s the point where they up and moved.”