He was a shepherd who worked for William Trappit, (a local miller and landowner) in the 1850’s and later for Richard Glasson in the 1870’s. Just prior to 1851 he was minding Trappit’s sheep at the Junction of Lewis Ponds and Summer Hill Creek and it was here, at what was for a period called Yorkey’s Corner, that payable gold was first found between April 7th and April 12th 1851 by John Lister and James Tom. It was later called Ophir by James Tom possibly after the biblical city of that name famed for its wealth of gold. In the 1870’s he worked for Richard Glasson and lived in a small hut about 200 m north of the stables, some remnant stones of which can still be seen across the dam and 70 m west of the old hayshed. A drawing of that hut by Squire Morgan is shown in a book by W R Glasson called The Romance of Ophir (1935). It gives a detailed account of the gold discovery and the personalities involved in it. The outline of that drawing forms part of the title banner of this website and is the part of the logo on the entrance sign at the poplar driveway leading to Godolphin.

He was born in Yorkshire about 1800 and for that reason was called Yorkey. No other name is recorded for him but his memory lives on, on this property in the name of the paddock behind his hut, still called York’s today.

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