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The Unknown Discovery of Gold...
The first discovery of gold was made in 1823 but Governer Bligh who hid it in secrecy because the convicts would slit their heads at night for the gold! -
Reverend William Branwhite Clarke
In 1841, Reverend William Branwhite Clarke, one of the earliest geologists in the colony, came across particles of gold near Hartley in the Blue Mountains . This was only a 1 time event so it did not contribute much to the boom in Gold Searching. -
Rumors of GOLD!!
Governor Charles FitzRoy had heard rumours about gold being found in New South Wales, and believed that a mineral discovery in the colony could reverse the economic downturn. He convinced the British Government in 1849 to appoint a government geologist, Samuel Stutchbury, and offered a reward to anyone who found a commercially viable amount of GOLD!!!!!!! -
About the Gold Rush...
At a time when Australia was not yet a nation but a variety of separate British colonies, gold was discovered in a number of places, and the gold rush that followed changed our history... -
The First Gold Found...
Gold in Australia was first officially found in 1851 by one Edward Hargraves. Hargraves had just returned empty-handed from the already under-way California Gold Rush and had a theory that the Australian and Californian areas had many similarities. -
The License
So many people went to the goldfield that there was a shortage of people doing other work such as farming, building, baking and so on. Governor Fitz Roy was worried that there would be violence and lawlessness at the goldfields, and he ordered that gold seekers must pay for a licence in order to dig for gold... -
The Changing Colonies...
In August 1851, part of New South Wales was made into a separate colony, which was named Victoria after the Queen. Many Victorians had gone to the Ophir goldfields, and businessmen, to keep people from leaving the new colony, offered a prize of 200 guineas for the first person who found gold in Victoria. At around the same time, gold was found at Clunes, at Buninyong , and at Anderson's Creek near Warrandyte . -
Naming Ballarat...
Towards the end of August 1851, James Reagan and John Dunlop discovered the richest goldfield the world has ever seen in a place the Aborigines called Balla arat, which means 'camping place', now the city of Ballarat. -
we have to find gold...
Thousands of people left their homes and jobs and set off to the diggings to find their fortune. At the start of the gold rush, there were no roads to the goldfields, and no shops or houses there. People had to carry everything they needed. They travelled by horse or bullock, or by walking with a wheelbarrow loaded with possessions. -
Hard To Face Reality...
1852 was the year NSW's started to face reality.
Flooding on the western gold fields had troubled many creek beds working on the Turon and disrupted mail and gold escorting. -
Back Home
Back home in England, citizen demanded to know why the government let a hundredweight of gold be grabbed with no recompense to the state coffers. -
getting to the goldfields...
People came from all over the world, intending to strike it rich and return home to their own countries. For many, the journey to Australia took seven or eight months, and on the cheapest fares, conditions were tough. There were many epidemics of illness on the ships, and those who survived the journey arrived at the goldfields weak and unfit for the hard life on the diggings. -
24K Gold!
There was a big issue for NSW gold as there were plenty of flakes to go around,the Victorian fields are renowned around the world for their unusually large gold nuggets.
This in turned was a major incentive luring people south of the border in 1854. -
Memories
one of the most memorable event for gold in NSW in 1855 came in may that year when the first ever colonial branch of the British Royal Mint was established in Sydney.Hence from may onward there were regular supplies of gold from the banks,private individuals and the gold escorts were delivered each week to be turned into coin of the realm. -
The Downturn of Gold Mining...
By this time black was the new gold. It was the energy side of "energy and minerals" duopoly* that dominated the proceedings in the annual report for 1980.
*duopoly- A situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or service
