Key Dates

 

1879                           

Catherine (Kate) joins George Henry in Geelong

1879                           

Sarah Louisa and George Bracher run a boarding house in Nelson Place, Williamstown

1880                           

Sarah Louisa and George Bracher return to Kangaroo Flat to live

1880                                                      

Birth of George Reginald Alberto Bracher to George and Catherine (Kate)

1880                                                      

George Henry Bracher begins a decade of property speculation and investment

1881 July                                               

George Henry Bracher buys a half share in a Geelong photographic business

1882                                                     

Marriage of Sarah Fanny Bracher to Robert Disney Jones

1882                                                     

Birth of Louisa May to George Henry and Catherine (Kate)

1883 September                                             

George Henry leaves Geelong to work in Bourke Street (Melbourne), then at Footscray

1884                                                       

Birth of Amy Maud to George Henry and Catherine (Kate) Bracher

1886 August 25                                   

Birth of Henry Herbert Gladstone to George and Catherine Bracher

1887 April                                              

Death of Peter Smith (Pedro Herara), aged 64 in White Hills, Bendigo

1888                                                     

Birth of Laura Alexandrina to George and Catherine (Kate) Bracher

1880 Late                                             

George Henry Bracher joins with a Mr Watkins to operate ‘Watkins and Bracher’, Nicholson Street, Footscray

1891                                                       

Birth of Lionel Wilfred to George and Catherine (Kate) Bracher

1891                           

George Henry Bracher builds “Boomville” as the family home, cnr Leeds and Ryan Streets, Footscray

 

The new decade began a new chapter in the Bracher household. After months of tension, George and Kate moved permanently to Geelong. George Senior and Sarah Louisa moved into Nelson Parade in Williamstown, where it seems they helped to run a boarding house for a Mr and Mrs Wallace.

 

George Jnr had been doing piece-work for a man called Pride, whom he liked, though was not too taken with the attitude of his work colleagues. He had boarded in Geelong for periods of varying length, depending on the demand for his skills. By the end of 1879 he could see the likelihood of more permanent work. He was also becoming more active in the local community. His concern for his financial future starts to become obvious from this point. Even on his modest wages, George Henry was keen to generate extra income through various investments, even if it meant having to borrow money from his sister to meet everyday requirements, including a request for 10 pounds to buy a piano:

 

“ ..I have been down to Geelong for the last month and I think it is likely to be steady now at any rate through to the summer..I am determined to get Kate down as soon as possible. We could both live down there for what it costs me for my board alone. I can get a far better place than we are in now for 4/- a week, a good garden at the back and then there is no cab or railway fare to pay in Geelong so that the rent is not even half as much…and there are other things there equally cheap.  Now my dear Fanny I just want you to send me 1 pound as soon as possible to help me carry out my plans…I have every penny of my own money locked up as you know. Pride has given me a raise of 5 shillings per week to commence from the beginning of November. So with that and decreased expenses I shall soon be able to turn around again if all goes as it now promises. Ma has made application for a situation in exactly the same capacity as the Echuca’s affair. It is a new temperance boarding house that is to be opened in a few weeks at Frankstone…I am taking a leading part in a vocal entertainment held weekly in Geelong. My composing powers have lately come to such a state of perfection that I have actually made a start at composing a (????) comic for the Geelong Exhibition. There is to be a gold medal for the best production of that kind…my saddles took first prize at the Geelong Show and now I am making some for the exhibition of course. I cannot enter them in my own name but I shall share in the prizes if any though not in the honour….” (November 1879)

 

The final payments from his grandfather’s estate, for which he became eligible upon turning 21, were still to be paid out by his half-uncle John in England:

 

“ I have entered my song for the Exhibition, but I don’t know whether yet I shall have enough face to sing it. You say that you wonder at my being so anxious to settle up with my uncle, well I don’t know that I am so dreadfully anxious about it but I should certainly like to have the remaining portion in my own hands…how do we know but what he might be dead and perhaps appointed no executor in his place. We might have some bother to get it in that case…I don’t know what is to be said of the Old Folks. I think they had better remain where they are till Christmas and then you and I can talk it over. Perhaps they may get something like the Echuca affair before then, however meanwhile I shall be able to send them a pound a fortnight and pay off a little of my debt to (???) I shall be able to do more when I have Kate here than I can do at the present time. What I am paying for my board now will keep the three of us in Geelong…..come down here at Christmas, it will be a nice change for you and you will be able to see our Grand Exhibition….I shall have some saddles in but of course not in my name. Prides is a grand shop to work in. He doesn’t come in pulling any work about until it is finished. I have a good opportunity of making myself one of the best tradesmen in the Colony there, as he will have the best work that can be produced and there is abundance of good material to cut out and he never asks how long you have been over anything….” (November 1879)

 

George had always been sportingly active and, while in Geelong, he became involved with the Corio Bay Rowing Club. The family still holds a rowing trophy won by George for his prowess on the Barwon River.

 

Unfortunately, the separation of 50 miles between George Henry and his parents didn’t diminish the tone of the letters, which were sent regularly to Sarah Fanny in Dunolly, whom, it would appear, had become the family ‘sounding board’:

 

“ I received your note with one from Ma yesterday. You say it would be all the same to me to give them all the money in a lump. Now that is just where you are wrong. In the first place I have not got it to give them in a lump and in the second place suppose I had 10 pounds and gave it as you propose, what would I do if I got out of work, which is not unlikely. I don’t know exactly what I have sent them but I have given ma 3 pounds this last 3 weeks and I cannot under any circumstances advance it to them in lump, as you can. Remember you have a good government billet and I have not, you get paid whether you are at work or not in case of sickness and for all holidays. Now all holidays and sickness and lost time comes out of my pocket, then I don’t get my salary in a lump as you do…You said that I promised to give them a good lifts (??). That was when I had the money to do it with but how can I do it now that I have none.. When they came down from Echuca I had something like 30 pounds in the bank that I could draw on. I then told pa to look out for some little business for himself or one that we could both work together on as I was willing to advance him a few pounds. However, he did not see anything to suit so he wrote me to Geelong and asked for a few pounds and said that he thought he might buy a few pigs and dispose of them profitably. I sent him 7 pounds then and what did he do with it – quite the opposite of what I lent it him for. Instead of buying a few pigs and killing them and selling to the neighbours as pork, he must go and buy up some great big pigs (and fatten them till they could scarcely walk) which were too big and old for (???) bacon curers to dispose of and when he got them made into bacon of course nobody would buy solid fat to eat, although he called it bacon and then in addition to that he must buy about 30 starved half grown pigs and get fined over it which he might have avoided if he had taken my advice and read the bye-laws over, for his own instruction, but he laughed at me and as much as told me that I knew nothing about it. When I told him he was sure to get fined. Then he must make tomato sauce, or rather compel ma to make it out of half ripe tomatoes which of course were useless. When I asked him why he bought those useless things, he gave me the very childish excuse “that he was obliged to take them because he could get no others”. Now just fancy an excuse like that. He went and bought them at the same time knowing that they were no use. Now, any sane person who goes to market never buys a thing that is no use to them simply because the thing they went for was not in the market. Then instead of taking ma’s and my advice and selling the first lot of sauce and spending that money in buying more, he must keep on buying and making his rubbish up till he had no money to pay their freight into town. I could go on writing to you for the next two hours and then would not exhaust instances that I could give you of his foolish and childish ways. Experience seems to me instead of teaching him anything, adds to his insanity. I really look upon him as almost a lunatic and if you take my advice you will never advance him a pound as I am convinced that although he will be 64 tomorrow, yet he has not the slightest idea of the value of money.

​

“ Ma would get on in a little shop or anything else all right but when he interferes it is all up with her good luck. I could put ma into a shop tomorrow if she could have it all to herself, but I know that if he was there it would be a complete failure like everything else that he has to do with. He made a great mouth about me letting him go to sleep at an hotel when he came down. However he was not invited and we had no accommodation for him and it was like his mean greedy spirit to spend the money on gallivanting about himself when it was poor ma’s turn to have an outing. If I had the money I should have sent it to her to come down when you come. I told ma the last time I was down that I thought the best thing they could do would be to sell off every single thing they could do without and get into a smaller place and wait until pa or she can get something to employ their time, if they must be doing something. Ma must not expect that she can live in a four or five roomed house when I can barely afford a 2 roomed place for myself. I should like ma with me altogether, but I could never suffer pa again. I have asked ma to come down for a few weeks as soon as she can get settled in another place. Pa can cook for himself like I did when Kate was away. I suppose you will be getting married soon, but you take my advice and keep up courting as long as possible. It is far the cheapest mode of living after all….” (April 1880)

 

Sarah Louisa’s move into rented premises in Nelson Place, Williamstown had not made her any happier and at age 61 she started pining for her former life in Kangaroo Flat:

 

“…I know you are full of anxiety about us and it should not be so. I hope we may soon see the way open for a more comfortable style of life….George is coming by boat on Saturday PM, but will not be here till last train. Wallace will let us stay here for 6/- or 7/-  per week till we suit ourselves. ..I do not see the use or comfort of staying in Williamstown  to do nothing and have no society. We are strangers in a strange land here and to have to pay so much away in rent out of what you and dear George can spare is bothering me very much…I cannot leave you father to take a situation (??) and I cannot do more than keep house by staying at home. I have been thinking that the C.O. (??) shares would if turned over to you or sold would value about 40 pounds, which would buy our old place from the bank or buy a cottage to remove onto the other ground and then we should have no more trouble about rent for the remainder of our lives and of course the whole of it would be yours and then what you and George do for us would make us more comfortable than it will here or in Melb.  Pa is lost now for employment. At Kangaroo Flat he would have plenty of garden and fowls to potter about with. I have had but little comfort down here since George’s marriage. All I came for was to be with him and that is done for…..Amy may be amongst the rich, but not considering how cruelly aunt has treated you and me she ought to make a point of writing as we know she must have lots of time and few relatives…I hope Robert will keep up his spirits as well as yourself. We all seem to be victimised in one way or the other…He (ie George) is looking very well, but no fun or frolic now. He is very altered tho he does not like us to think so or make any remarks. He cannot get a line from Taylor who owes him 12 pounds…Pa says will you write to Robert and ask him to call at Colonial Bank and ask what they would take for the old place at the Flat – not mention for us….” (May 1880)

 

The impermanent nature of their abodes during the past few years had Sarah Louisa continually thinking about ways to get back into a home of their own:

 

“…..I think the Div (dividend ??) for the C.O. (??) Company must be due, if not it soon will be. I shall want it to help clear us here for last week I took very little and so could not pay up as well as usual. It is a bad time to sell fowls or anything, but we must clear off all we can. The few who came to us on Friday last I told that we would close after 24, so now I must prepare for selling and removing soon. We can remain here at a lower rent till we can suit ourselves. Mr and Mrs Wallace are extremely sorry to part with us for better reasons than the rent. We have been shamefully used by some here and could not expect the two faced opposition we had to contend with…” (May 1880)

 

Some time during 1880 Sarah Louisa received her wish and she and her husband moved from Williamstown back to Kangaroo Flat. It had been two years since they lived there and from this moment onwards her life seems to settle, though times were never easy for them both. By 1883 Sarah Louisa sounded decidedly more content in her letters to her daughter. She was putting the disappointment of her own life behind her and had started to dwell upon the ‘life hereafter’. “….My desire and aim is to live in peace and love with all. Trifles do not trouble me much now for I am expecting “it is better further on” (July 1883). She would have had no idea that she was to remain on this earth for nearly another 30 years !

 

Later that year George wrote to his mother about the performance of an investment scheme they had entered into with a ‘Mrs R’, though the nature of the purchase is unknown:

 

“ Mother, I suppose you are wondering how things are going on in the Land. Well, the affair you are in with Mrs R is turning out very nicely. They have made 5 purchases and 2 (???), which leaves 3 pieces now on hand. The profits on the pieces already sold come to something like 50 pounds, and the profits which could be made now on the other 3 would be a little more than that. We have been trying to get hold of a good big thing (?) but they are scarce just now, so we must be contented to turn over the smaller ones at a profit. I will forward something for the ladies in a few days. Hoping you and Mrs R are well. Tell Mrs R I shall forward her the balance sheet as soon as we have an audit which will be about 3 months from starting”. (September 1880)

 

George Henry’s financial situation must have improved by 1880, as most of his correspondence for the next few years concerns speculative investments and land purchases. By this stage Sarah Fanny was teaching and living in Epsom and, having sold her Kangaroo Flat property the previous year, was obviously looking for somewhere else to purchase, which was a commercial opportunity that her brother could not resist:

 

“ If you can or do buy the place they are in for 60 or 70 pounds I do not mind going half….If you buy and I go in for half I must manage it so that I shall not have to encroach on my deposit because if I did I should lose the interest and that would not pay. I shall write a polite note to Taylor as I am full up of him and when I get my money I shall not bother any more about him because I know if he had wanted he could have paid me before this….I shall send you one of my likenesses next time I write. I have been taken in rowing costume. I think judging from present appearances and past experience that this billet I’m in is likely to last a long time yet, so if the wages keep up I shall soon be able to save a pound or two, that is if Kate behaves herself. She has been away so long now that I am beginning to feel quite unmarried but I suppose the biggest half of my singleness is over. ….Allow me to congratulate you on your promotion (Lucky girl) I wish I could exchange positions with you. Now that you have a rise don’t work yourself to death teaching a lot of brats music “ (October 1880)

 

George Henry’s relationship with Kate was still strained. He was determined not to involve her in any matters to do with his business ventures or even household finances, as he told his sister:

 

“…when Kate writes to you if she says anything about our home affairs to not answer her a word, as it is no affair of hers. I know she thinks I ought to be able to save something out of my wages. I gave Kate her letter from you, but tore your letter up without letting her see it…don’t satisfy her if she tries to pump you about our home affairs” (April 1880)

 

George and Catherine’s (Kate’s) first son was born in 1880, presumably in Geelong. They continued the family tradition by naming him George, but added Reginald Alberto as a point of differentiation ! It is not known whether the name Reginald had any family significance and it is most likely that the Alberto had some connection to his grandfather’s Spanish background.

 

Either George’s financial position had improved dramatically or, more likely, he was beginning to get caught-up in the land and investment speculation that characterised much of the 1880s. In July 1881 he entered into a business partnership with Frederick Eastwood and Arthur Benjamin Foster Wilson to buy the photographic business ‘Matthews and Co’ at 60 Moorabool Street in Geelong. George held a half share, with his two partners holding 25% each.

 

“ We the undersigned do hereby agree on this twelfth day of July in the Year of Our Lord One thousands eight hundred and eighty one do enter into partnership in the photographic business (???) sixty Moorabool Street in the town of Geelong, in the Colony of Victoria, known as “Matthews and Co” and to be carried on under the same name. The said business to be divided into four equal parts, valued at sixty six pounds, 15 shillings each allotted as follows: the said George Henry Bracher to hold two equal parts, the said Frederick Eastwood to hold one equal part, the said Arthur Benjamin Foster Wilson to hold one equal part – making up the four said equal parts.

 

In the event of the partnership being dissolved or the said business sold, the amount realised to be divided in the aforesaid equal parts.”

 

The long-awaited marriage of Sarah Fanny to Robert Disney Jones took place in 1882. They had been courting for five long years and for much of that time they had been separated by some distance. Sarah Fanny was 34 and Robert a year older when they married. Unfortunately no letters remain to illustrate the joy of the occasion, but the restrained excitement of the conservative couple and Sarah Fanny’s parents is not hard to imagine. Robert had become Head Teacher of the Diamond Hill School, in the gold mining village 5 km south of Bendigo and about 1 km west of the Spring Gully Reservoir.

 

A second daughter, Louisa May, was born to George and Kate in 1882. By1883 George Henry had left Geelong to run a wholesale harness factory in Post Office Place, Bourke Street, Melbourne, where he spent five months, before starting his own saddlery business in Barkly Street, Footscray. They probably lived in Charles Street at the time.

 

New Saddlery Establishment

Barkly Street

(near Greenham’s, Butcher)

G.H. Bracher

(late of D. Altson, Bourke Street)

Begs to intimate that he has commenced business in Footscray at the above address, and trusts, by first-class Workmanship, strict Attention to Business, and Moderate Charges to secure a fair share of patronage.

Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Saddles made to order on the premises. Work guaranteed.

Sore shoulders and backs treated scientifically

A trial respectfully solicited.

​

George Henry was rapidly developing as a saddler and harness maker of some note. It is hard these days to appreciate the importance and standing of that trade during the era of horse drawn transport. His business in Footscray grew steadily and the income provided further funds for investment:

 

“ I think I have dropped down on my feet at last..I shall have a show to make some money here but at present I am only making enough to keep the pot boiling and slightly reduced old scores. I am making marked progress and I have made a few valuable friends and I think no enemies. I have any amount of work but the profits are small on labour in these days of such keen competition and machine and boy labour. I have 3 people offering to build me a shop in the very centre of the town. I intend to let one of them do it when I have thoroughly established my connection and (???) the confidence of my customers. I have a great many sore shoulders and backs brought for my treatment and am really asked questions (which I answer to the best of my book knowledge on such subjects) that would require one well trained in (????) science to answer but unfortunately people expect a saddler to be horse doctor and if he were to pretend to know nothing of the anatomy of a horse they would think he knew very little about saddles.

I have the same young fellow working for me still and the business is increasing. In a month or two I shall require another hand when I can work the trade up to such a point that I have 4 hands employed beside my own. I shall then be able to save a little money.  I have four wholesale houses where I can get plenty of credit and it comes in handy just now as I am actually handling 200 pounds and 40 or 50 pounds of it is my own, the balance I have without interest in the shape of stock. My bill for last month was 20 pounds for harness leather alone, the whole of which I have disposed of and I bought 20 pounds worth today. I have 4 sets of harness in view and hardly know which to make first “ (August 1884)

 

Their third child, Amy Maud, was born in 1884, by which stage George Henry was caught up in the land speculation that he thought would secure his future. He had also convinced his sister to invest more heavily in his ventures:

 

“…I am building 2 houses which will be worth 1 pound a week to me when clear. I have had to borrow 165 pounds from the bank at 9 pounds, which is cheap just now. I reckon to pay it back in 2 years and then I shall be right. The land cost 56 pounds and the houses 370 pounds, so they (???) me 426 pounds that is without laying on the water which I will expect will cost close to another 20 pounds. I am going to put them up for sale as soon as they are finished and if I sell I shall build 2 more on the other half of the ground which I have still vacant. Now I want you to lend me 30 pounds at 9 per cent for a couple of years or less. If I sell before then I shall not require to dispose of the cottage we were in at the flat. I shall not want it for about 6 or 7 weeks so I hope I am giving you notice enough…I have a good billet so that if it lasts I shall get through this job without much trouble. I’m paying 10/- per week (??) so of course that will go off my debt instead of right out of pocket. It will be a pleasure to feel that ever shilling I pay out is making my house my own.” (March 1884)

 

His mind was continually occupied with ways to obtain money, in order to fuel his investments and speculative ventures. The following letter to his mother in May 1884 must have finally confirmed Sarah Louisa’s view that her son’s self-centredness knew no bounds:

 

“ ….I want you to hunt up the burial certificate of Ellen, if you can possibly find it and let me know all you can about it…in short, every detail that will produce a clue for me to find the grave to claim it. The reason I am anxious to know all this is because I want to put in a claim in the Registrar’s Office for the grave, as in the course of years it will be used by the Crown, the claims called in and all who have not their names in the registrar will receive no compensation and it will not be long before they do away with the Flagstaff Gardens Old cemetery and Victoria Market and erect a central station, which cannot be possibly done without much longer. Now if we can establish our claim and have it registered you may get good compensation if I happened to mention one day that I had a sister there and was offered 5 pounds down with the production of the certificate. Now ma, just see what you can do and if I can’t get the compensation for you it will be something for you to leave behind as it is private property held by the Crown….p.s. if you see Fanny tell her I have my eye on two or three little fortunes for her, there is a block in Pilgrim Street 99 X 99”.

 

His letters to his family, particularly to Sarah Fanny, rambled for pages. They extol the virtues and process of financial investment, including the modest prediction that nothing could stop him from becoming a millionaire :

 

“ I certainly have a great bargain here, both in the land and the buildings. Only that borrowing money from the bank rather crabs me when I think of the money I have locked up at the Flat if it had not been for that I should not have required assistance at all. I am in a bit of a corner just now in this way. I reckoned of course when letting the contract of getting into the house when the time was up instead of that I had to pay rent 3 months longer than I expected and lost 4 months rent on the other which if it had been finished according to contract time I could have let half a dozen times over. That little item of bad luck amounts to 14 pounds or more that I should have had…I hear several house to be built in Charles St so that they are sure to have it (ie water). Then there’s a county court case hanging over my head which that old scoundrel of a contractor threatens…winning a law suit always entails a little expense even if one defends his own case which I intend doing. …then I have a doctors bill I don’t know how much over Louis’ long illness, but I am happy to tell you that she is the fattest in the family just now with the exception of her mother who will inevitably entail another 10 pounds expenses next month so you will see by my chapters of misfortune this last few months how heavily I am weighted and instead of decreasing my debt at the bank and yours I shall only be able to pay the interest this half year of course. I have a chance of salvation before my bill comes due by selling, but unless I clear 100 pounds I shall struggle on. If I have the good luck to sell that old vermin shed next to Sandy Moores it would just about make up for my misfortunes. Now, looking at Pa’s career you can see that he has had the same sort of luck attending all his undertakings. Then look at my comparatively short career I consider my luck taking all the ups and downs into consideration has been just the reverse….I have come to the conclusion that nothing short of sudden death will prevent me from becoming a millionaire or at least something in that direction….” (August 1884)

 

“I am sorry to say I shall want the 10 pounds again as early as convenient, through some of my customers disappointing me. I thought I should have been able to pull through but I find I can’t as I shall have to make up 55 pounds during the next few days to help keep my credit sound. I am doing as much business now as is possible and to increase it I shall have to put on another hand or two. I am going to see Poole about a shop near him tomorrow and if we come to terms we shall move up there in about 6 weeks. A tenant left our house on Easter Tuesday and it was let again the same day & several more after it. Building is going on round there faster than ever and your land will be worth a lot of money soon.” (May 1886)

 

“…..A friend of mine who is intimate with Thomas Bent (MLA) told me last week that he should use his influence in parliament to have the Upper Footscray station put as near to the Rising Sun Hotel as possible…if he gets the station where he wants it your place is within 3 minutes walk of it, that means an enormous increase in value for yours and my land. Trade is improving considerably this last month, but I can’t get another shop to suit, they want more rent than a saddler can pay. My new rival in the trade is a rank failure…he only took 8/- last week so I’m told and got a black eye into the bargain. I received 2 letters from W.A. last week, one from Val and one from Shake. I think my letter to him seems to have had the desired effect & all is as was in the beginning. Val’s letter, which is a good long one, is very interesting, as it gives full particulars as he knows about the diggings… I am going to send Val a saddle and see if he can start a trade in them….he says the price is 7 pounds 10 shillings for what I only get 3 pounds, 10 shillings, so if he could get orders for only 6 it would be a lift for me. I wish I could sell all I could make at 3 pounds 10 shillings. I should soon be in a good way.” (August 1886)

 

Kate doesn’t seem to have shared her husband’s drive and determination. The work involved in raising their three small children doesn’t seem to have been appreciated by George:

 

“ …Kate’s chronic laziness is still a great drawback to me. Nothing suits her as well as lying in bed till 8 o’clock instead of rising at 6 and …get our breakfast and to work at 8 instead of after 9. I’ve told her 100 times with no effect…..address all letters to me with money and not to her as I may not see it at all. I want every farthing to drive things along….I have not to grind quite so hard in my business here as I had in the other one as I do a good selling trade and of course the profit on that is better than the profit on labour and much more pleasant though. It is not that I dislike my share of labour but I like recreation sometimes.” (August 1885)

 

Kate continued to produce the children of the next Bracher generation. Henry Herbert Gladstone (Harry) was born on August 25th,1886 and it is pleasing to read that her husband gave her some credit for it, although he seems to think more highly of the midwife:

 

“ After 18 hrs of trying Kate got another boy on Wednesday at 6.15pm. He is a perfect monster for size. I think him as big as G was a month old. Kate is getting on well indeed. We have a capital nurse, very different to last time with that old ????. These old worn out women are a great mistake as nurses outside their own families…”.

 

“ You can inform the kids that they have a little brother born on the 25th at quarter past 6pm and all has since gone smoothly. He is the largest child we have had in every respect. In fact some call him an immense child. He has apparently good lungs which he expands pretty freely though he is by no means a cross child. Kate gave the alarm about 18 hours before the final performance of nature was executed so I lost a night’s sleep for nothing and the nurse lost sleep as I called her out about 1 am but the doctor was not summoned before the right time. I think if there are cheap trips next month I shall send you the money to come down and bring the kids as I don’t think I can spare the time to go up in November as we intend holding a big handicap for the F.R.C. on the ninth and of course I cannot well be spared on the occasion. I have had a pretty good month’s business though money is tight. I have over 100 pounds owing to me so I expect next month to make a good draw….” (August 1886)

 

Two years later, Laura Alexandrina was born in Footscray, though her life was to be cut very short, as she died only eight years later in 1896.

 

Apart from his obvious trade skill and business acumen, George Henry also quickly developed an ability for self promotion. A major publishing venture at the time was a multi volume book titled “ Victoria & its Metropolis”, Metropolitan Manufacturers & Artizans”. It was a Publication that featured profiles of people of note in the economic, political and social world of Victoria. However, there was also a section in which a business person could pay for his own entry and, what’s more, submit his own text. George Henry grasped the opportunity and the following item appeared with this photograph on pages 593-594:

 

Bracher, George Henry was born in Sandhurst, Vic, 7th October 1857. He was at school under the old denominational system until the age of 12, and was then at the Sandhurst High School under Mr Mair, B.A. for two years, after which he went into a foundry, but not liking that, learned the trade of saddler with Mr Snow, Sandhurst, with whom he worked nearly four years. He was then 12 months at Hay, NSW working as a journeyman harness maker, but finding that saddle makers could command a higher rate of wages, came to Melbourne and perfected his knowledge of that branch of the trade at Mr Eyton’s, Queen Street, where he stayed 2 years. After a few months in various parts of the country, he took the management of the saddlery department at Mr Pride’s Factory, Geelong for 4 years, and was next 10 months at the Hon. J. Colton’s factory in Adelaide, S.A. Returning to Melbourne, he worked at D. Altson and Co, Guthridge and Powers and T.J. Walkers a few months each. He then started a wholesale factory in Post Office Place and carried it on successfully for five months, when he removed to his present premises in Barkly Street, Footscray, where he now conducts his business.

 

Later in 1888 George Henry joined forces with a Mr Watkins in Nicholson Street, Footscray and the business operated under the name of “ Watkins & Bracher” House, Land, Insurance and Financial Agents.

 

George Henry’s ego and enthusiasm seems to have known no bounds. By July 1889 he had also involved his sister and Robert Disney Jones in his speculations. In a letter to his sister he includes a financial account of the profit on the sale of an acre, sale of bank shares, then 1/3 payments on a property in Nicholson St. It concludes “ Robert’s balance is 197 pounds, 11 shillings, 7pence.”

 

Kate and George’s youngest son, Lionel Wilfred, was born in 1891. Despite the now large number of children in the house, George’s children are rarely mentioned in his letters, although occasionally there are affectionate and funny mentions of family life:

 

“…..the boy (ie George) is crawling first rate now. I think he will walk soon. He seems to have such a good idea of how to get on his feet, he is a good little fellow, Fanny was very good but his good behaviour quite puts hers in the shade. She knows everything that is said to her, but cannot say much herself..” (June 1881)

 

“…the baby has just found out how to call George’s name and is exercising her lungs upon it by bawling it out till she makes the house ring with her tiny voice. She is very small but very strong and healthy. Amy is a nuggetty little thing and a giantess in strength. She can lift Fanny off the ground and carries Harry about like a baby”.

 

The most tangible proof of the entrepreneurial skills that George Henry could show to the world was to purchase a grand house. Fittingly, he called it “Boomville”. His son, Herbert Henry Gladstone (Harry) Bracher, recalled the home in his 1969 memoirs:

 

“ About the year 1891 my father had built for the family a fine new home at the corner of Leed and Ryan Streets, Footscray. It was for that time a very up to date villa, with the latest fittings, which included gas lighting and also a hot water system from a large range….We also had stabling for two horses and a buggy shed. WE kept a horse named Peter and a pony Nell, and had a large spring cart and a pony trap. WE always seemed to have a cow or two, which had to be milked twice a day. One of my jobs was to bring the cows from a large paddock which was only 300 hundred yards from the house and overlooked the Flemington Race Course……

 

“ Within a year of moving into our new home a great calamity overtook the State of Victoria; most of the banks failed and the people who had over-draughts with them were unable to withdraw any money, as the banks closed their doors…We were indeed all reduced to poverty and life became very difficult indeed. “

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