Australian gold rushes

Edwin Stockqueler, An Australian Gold Diggings, oil on canvas, ca. 1855, National Gallery of Australia

The first gold rush in Australia started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir. Eight months later, gold was found in Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria causing large influxes of prospectors.

In the late 1880s through to the mid 1890s, there were discoveries of rich goldfields in Western Australia which caused more gold rushes.

Australia's population grew from 400,000 to over 1,000,000 during 1845 to 1896 as a consequence of gold discoveries.^{[citation needed]}

Notable gold finds

Large gold specimen from the Ballarat mines, weight over 150 gms, size 7.4 x 4.4 x 2.3 cm.

A gold nugget from Hill End, unearthed in 1872

Some important early gold finds in the colonies were:

• 1814 - Some convicts who were employed cutting a road to Bathurst were rumoured to have found a quantity of gold.
• 1848 - Gold specimens found on the spurs of the Pyrenees Mountains, Victoria.^{[citation needed]}
• 1848 - Gold found at Mitchells Creek near Wellington, New South Wales, on the Nanima squatting run.^{[citation needed]}
• 1849, January - Gold discovered at the Pyrenees, Port Phillip, by a shepherd.
• 1849, January - Thomas Chapman discovered gold including a 16-ounce nugget, at [[Daisy Hill, Victoria].
• 1849 - William Clarke, Jr., with William Vicary, found auriferous quartz at Smythesdale, Victoria.^{[citation needed]}
• 1851, January - Edward Austin brought to Sydney a nugget of gold worth £35, which he found in the Bathurst District.
• 1851 - Gold discovered in Anderson's Creek, Warrandyte, Victoria by Louis Michel, named as Victoria's first official gold discovery.
• 1851 - Gold discovered in Bendigo, Victoria.
• 1858- "Welcome Nugget" found at Bakery Hill at Ballarat.
• 1865 - Richard Daintree discovered the Cape River goldfield in North Queensland.
• 1872 - A significant Queensland field discovered at Charters Towers soon moved attention to this area, while in the same year mining began on the Palmer River near Cooktown.^{[citation needed]}
• 1872 - Darwin felt the effects of a gold rush at Pine Creek after employees of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line found gold while digging holes for telegraph poles.^{[citation needed]}
• 1872 - large gold and quartz "Holtermann Nugget" discovered by Bernhardt Holtermann.
• 1893 - Paddy Hannan and two companions discovered gold, leading to establishment of Western Australia's eastern goldfields in what is now the twin towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder.

Further reading

• Australian Government, Culture and Recreation Portal: [1]

See also

• Victorian gold rush
• Western Australian gold rushes
• Eureka Stockade

External links

• Audiovisual titles relating to the Australian gold rushes on australianscreen