{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Hugo Louis Beyers | birth_name = Ludwig Hugo Beyers | birth_date = {{birth date|1845|1|1|df=y}}<ref name="NSW">{{Cite NSW Parliament |name=Mr Hugo Louis Beyers (1845-1910) |former=Yes |access-date=1 May 2019 |id=848}}</ref> | birth_place = Posen, Westpreussen, Prussia | death_date = {{Death date and age|1910|05|28|1845|01|01|df=y}}<ref name="NSW"/> | death_place = Mount Morgans, Western Australia, Australia | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | occupation = gold miner and politician | spouse = Mary Emmett (1850–1883)<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28373652 |title=Family Notices. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=2 April 1883 |accessdate=14 April 2013 |page=1 |via=Trove}}</ref> | children = {{unbulleted list|Sylvia Helena Beatrice Beyers (1868–1919)|Gertrude Harriet Adeline Beyers (1870–1966)|Oswald Arthur Bernard Beyers (1873–1943)|Letita Mary Aurora Beyers (1874–1883)|Clara Victoria Matilda Beyers (1877–1949)|Theodore Greville Mcculloch Beyers (1878–1940)|Bellvinah Clorinda Lou Beyers (1881–1914)}} | relatives = Bernhardt Holtermann (husband of sister-in-law) and business partner }}
'''Ludwig Hugo (Louis) Beyers''' was a German-Australian gold miner and politician.<ref name="obituary">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45115940 |title=PERSONAL. |newspaper=The Barrier Miner |location=Broken Hill, NSW |date=24 June 1910 |accessdate=14 April 2013 |page=4 |via=Trove}}</ref>
==Biography== After his parents died in West Prussia from plague, he immigrated at age 13 to America, arriving in New York City. Not permitted to proceed to the California goldfields because of his youth, he then journeyed to Australia, arriving in 1856.<ref name="obituary"/><ref name="KalMiner">{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91054085 |title=Mining vicissitudes |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |location=WA |date=10 June 1910 |accessdate=15 April 2013 |page=8 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He married Mary Emmett (daughter of Edward Emmett) on 22 February 1868 at White Rock, near Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia in a double wedding. Mary's sister Harriet married his friend and mining partner Bernhardt Holtermann.
==Career== On arrival in Sydney, he worked as a draper's assistant, and in 1856 moved to Hill End to mine gold. He also prospected at Rockhampton, the Snowy River, Lucknow and in New Zealand. He set up a partnership with Bernard Holtermann at Hill End and in 1870 – 1871, they struck a rich vein of gold and in 1872, they floated the Star of Hope Gold Mining Company which found the largest specimen of reef gold (Holtermann's nugget).<ref name="NSW"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91061522 |title=Mining vicissitudes |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |location=WA |date=17 June 1910 |accessdate=15 April 2013 |page=3 |via=Trove}}</ref>
He was an alderman at Hill End from 1875, and its mayor from 1876 until 1877 and again from 1885. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly on 12 November 1877, retiring on 23 November 1882. He was the member for Goldfields from 12 November 1877 to 9 November 1880 and Mudgee from 1 December 1880 to 23 November 1882.<ref name="NSW"/> He was a patron of the local hospital at Hill End and a member of many friendly societies.<ref name="NSW"/>
A friend, to whom he had entrusted the management of his estate, enriched himself and left Beyers bankrupted in 1894.<ref name="KalMiner"/> He moved to Mount Higgins, Western Australia, where he successfully resumed mining.<ref name="NSW"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{Citation | author1=Purcell, Lorraine | author2=Hill End & Tambaroora Gathering Group | title=The miners' friend : a brief account of the life of Ludwig Hugo (Louis) Beyers in Hill End, New South Wales & the Eastern goldfields of Western Australia | publication-date=2010 | publisher=Hill End & Tambaroora Gathering Group | isbn=978-0-9806132-2-3 }} {{s-start}} {{s-par|au-nsw-la}} {{s-bef| before=David Buchanan}} {{s-ttl| title=Member for Goldfields West | years=1877{{ndash}}1880}} {{s-non| reason=District abolished}} {{s-new|district}} {{s-ttl| title=Member for Mudgee | years=1880{{ndash}}1882| with=Buchanan, Terry/Robertson}} {{s-aft| after=Adolphus Taylor}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beyers, Ludwig}} Category:1845 births Category:1910 deaths Category:Australian gold prospectors Category:German emigrants to Australia Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly