WHILE digging through old records, staff at Bendigo Regional Archives Centre stumbled across a triggering find.<\/p>\n
It turns out Bendigo was home to not one, but two, female gunsmiths in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n
The revelation stood out to archives officer Desiree Petit-Keating, who said she\u2019s always watching for interesting facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do a lot of work with the Bendigo rates and the rate books,\u201d she said. \u201cOccasionally you get a bit sidetracked looking at the occupations that have been recorded next to people who were living across the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen you scroll across and see it’s actually a lady gunsmith and that\u2019s even more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna Buchols sounds like a bit of a firecracker,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was Danish and came across to Australia, I think to Adelaide first of all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s where she met Johan and they got married and came across to Bendigo\u2019s booming population.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Johan passes away, Anna just picks up the running of the business and keeps going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike Ms Buchols, Annie McCallum was a born and bred local but left town, unlike Ms Buchols who passed away in Bendigo.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnnie was a little bit different,\u201d she said. \u201cAgain, her husband was a gunsmith.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe lived quite nearby to her family and Daniel her husband lived at a different location. She’s still recorded specifically as a gunsmith.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s always watching for interesting facts. \u201cWe do a lot of […]<\/p>\n