George Bailey

George Henry Bailey was born on 23 April 1857 at Maryborough, Victoria, the son of George and Mary Bailey. He married Margaret Cahill at Newcastle in 1885. They had three children.

Bailey came to Lightning Ridge in the early years and is often listed among the earliest miners. He and his son are referred to as lucky miners. Both were also known as story tellers, George is described as a quiet, self-contained man.

Bailey had good claims on a number of the early fields. At Pony Fence in 1909, he and Walter Arnold had good claims. At Hawk’s Nest he worked with Alf Cameron and found a very large stone, which he cut into six pieces and sold for a combined £1,500. At Telephone Line he again had a good claim, listed alongside Bishop & Son, “Tingha Bill,” and the Dominick brothers, Albert and Jack. He is also recorded on Richards Hill at the Grawin in 1920, where he was part of a £180,000 find, alongside Harry Zack, Frank McKenna and others.

In later years, he took up a prickly pear lease in Queensland.

George Bailey died at Sydney on 25 January 1933, aged 75, and was buried in New South Wales.

• George Bailey @ Find a Grave.

Article: Research by Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 60, 69, 72, 81; Lightning Ridge - The Home of the Black Opal: Unique to the World, Gan Bruce, 1983, pp. 23-24, 30, 42, 72, 89.