Douglas: the town that wasn’t

Crown land sale!

25 April 1877
TOWN OF DOUGLAS, NINE MILE SPRINGS.
Section A. Lot 1. 1 rood. Upset price £5.
Fronting on Sholto and Bruce-streets, bounded by Lots 2 and 11.

Lot 2. 1 rood. Upset price £5..
Fronting on Bruce-street, adjoining Lot 1.

Lot 3. 1 rood. Upset price £5.
Fronting on Bruce-street, adjoining Lot 2.
More

2 May 1877
Those who have looked over the advertisement of the sale, will notice that by far the greater portion of the land to be offered is in the tin and gold mining districts, such as the town of St. Helen’s, town of Douglas, Nine Mile Springs, town of Moorina, Kruska’s Budge, so that it is probable a fair proportion of it will be sold.
Mercury

4 May 1877
Nearly every lot in the town of Douglas (Nine-Mile Springs) was passed in. This is very extraordinary, as it was thought in town that there would be pretty brisk bidding for these lots.
Mercury

5 May 1877
Only seventeen lots were sold at the township of Douglas, Nine Mile Springs, there being a smart competition in a few instances.
Examiner

21 August 1877
The new township of Douglas in the county of Dorset, vicinity of Nine-Mile Springs, has been proclaimed.
Examiner

8 October 1877
The narrow space into which the little Excelsior village is squeezed between the claims of a few of the mining companies, does not allow room for more than a score of houses, while the site selected for the township of Douglas is so completely out of the way that the allotments which deluded purchasers bought there, remain, and are likely to remain in their primeval forest state.
Cornwall Chronicle

23 February 1881
THE TOWNSHIP OF ITCHEL.
-We notice that while at Nine-Mile Springs yesterday, His Excellency Sir J. H. Lefroy was asked to re-name the township, which recently, without any warning or explanation, was gazetted as “Itchel,” a name that the residents do not see the appropriateness of. A few years ago the Government of the day surveyed and gazetted the township of Douglas at Nine Mile Springs, selecting, against the advice of those best acquainted with the gold field, a locality removed from the line of traffic and business and where settlement was never likely to be made. The folly of that selection has long been apparent, and when the New Chum line of reef, about a mile north of the real business township of the Springs, gave rise to a new development of industry and enterprise, it was found desirable to proclaim a township in the vicinity of the numerous mines on the Chum line. We believe we are correct in stating that when the matter was brought before the Governor in Council three names were suggested, that of Itchel being suggested by His Excellency, who has pleasant remembrances of the original Itchel, a village in Yorkshire, so ancient that it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of William the Conqueror. The other members of the Cabinet agreed to His Excellency’s choice, and the township was gazetted as Itchel. The Premier now suggests that it be re-named Lefroy, a very good name, but why are not the claims of the name the goldfield has borne since 1870-the Excelsior which is very emblematic of its progress, put forward ?
Examiner

If the map below doesn’t work or does stupid zooming out things, click here.

This is Lefroy. Up in the top right corner, on map view, there’s a 2×2 grid. That’s Douglas. (Look at it on satellite view.)

That’s on Douglas Road, just before it crosses the creek. A bit north-east of the road that leads off to the township site.