There's Gold in them there hills
In the Victoria of 1851 gold was literally oozing from the ground in almost inexhaustible quantities. Wealth was everywhere, and fortunes were being made.
It was gold that created the growth and power of Melbourne over its rivals and it was Victoria's goldminers who introduced male franchise and secret ballots, based on Chartist principles, to the politics of Australia.
Welcome Stranger
The largest gold nugget in the world
Of all the forms taken by gold, nuggets generate the greatest excitement. The Welcome Stranger nugget was the largest in the world.
While nuggets have been found in gold fields in most Australian states, those from Victoria were particularly large and abundant.
The small town of Moliagul became famous when a 69-kilogram gold nugget was found in 1869 at Bulldog Gully. That's over 150 lbs!
This huge lump of gold had to be broken into pieces because there were no scales large enough in the whole district to weigh it. It measured 60 centimetres X 30, roughly 24 inches X 12. A big nugget indeed!
Today the Welcome Stranger would be worth over two million dollars.
Graphic Gold Rush Names
The Diggers gave names to almost every metre of ground on the gold fields."Shicer" is an anglicised spelling of "scheisser", a word miners used for a claim that produced no gold and derived from the German verb 'scheissen'.
Parties of diggers who were not having much luck would drink a toast "To our last bloody shicer!", in the hope that they would soon dig a successful hole.
There's a good time a comin', boys, a good time a comin',
Not a shicer shall be sunk, nor a digger ever seen drunk,
And there's a good time a comin'...
You can still see on the map names such as Murdering Flat, Chokem Flat, Drunkard's Gully, Cranky Ned's Reef and Dirty Dick's Gully, some after real people.
Others named their new home after old ones, choosing Adelaide Flat, Californian Gully, Manchester Flat, Launceston Gully, Switzerland Reef.
Many place names convey something of the misfortunes suffered there, such as Deadman's Gully, Bung-eye Gully, and Burying Ground Flat.
Unlucky diggers bestowed names like Poverty Hill and Three Speck Gully to signify the meagre amounts of gold found. More lucrative spots were labelled Hundredweight Hill and Nuggetty Flat.
Getting the right tools
Cities built with Gold
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Ballarat and Bendigo : Travel Victoria
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In 1851 a Melbourne newspaper published an article about the discovery of gold at Ballarat. It wasn't long before more gold was found nearer to Bendigo and set off a gold rush similar to the California gold rush of 1849. The population of Victoria e...
Sovereign Hill, Ballarat
Recreation of the Gold Rush Days
Sovereign Hill is an incredibly popular tourist attraction in Victoria, and certainly my favourite place to go. I went first with my children and fell in love with it all and these days I take the grandchildren.
Sovereign Hill is a fabulous re-creation of the hustle and bustle of life in Ballarat in the 1850s. Set on a former goldmining site, the compound has more than 60 buildings, while over 200 people volunteer to dress in period costume on a regular basis.
You can do all the traditional activities like pan for real gold, buy boiled sweets from the confectioner's, ride in horse-drawn carriages, travel underground on a tour of the Red Hill Mine, or simply observe the working and living conditions that existed last century.
Sovereign Hill Scene
Videos on Australia
Do yourself a favour and look at some of the outstanding videos he has created at Australian Video Travel Guide.
Plenty of Gold left
Hidden gold worth $32bn
The estimates may be conservative because the study was restricted to gold in quartz veins and excluded deposits in river sediments and gravels.
Since the gold rush of the 1850s, more than 2500 tonnes of gold have been produced in Victoria with a current annual production of about seven tonnes.
Full story from the Age newspaper
Adventures in Victorian Gold History
From Books to Blogs
- Gold Hunter's Adventures
- Here, in free ebook format. The Gold Hunters' Adventures Or, Life in Australia by William Thomes.
- Adventures in Sovereign Hill
- You never find me at home in the first week of December. I'm up in Ballarat. My grandparents used to take me, way back in the 1950
Central Deborah
The Central Deborah Gold Mine was the last commercial mine to operate in Bendigo. In the period from 1939 to 1954 almost one tonne of gold (929kg) was unearthed from the mine, worth around $17,000,000 AUS in today's prices.The mine closed for a number of years until 1986 when it was re-opened for underground tours and miners once again ventured below with visitors to explore the fascinating tunnels below.
Today, the original Central Deborah Gold Mine shares its rich history with visitors and offers the best underground mine tour in Australia. It is still an operational mine with all its equipment working.
I went down the Central Deborah last year, down, down, under the city streets and along the passagways of an underground working mine. Fabulous!
Working in Central Deborah
Legend of Lasseter's Lost Reef
Harold Lasseter was a man whose history and antecedents are shrouded in mystery. Even today debate rages as to the authenticity of his claim that he had found a fabulously rich gold reef, west of Alice Springs, Central Australia, somewhere near the Western Australian border.
To this day, the location of this fabulous wealth remains lost in the forbidding desert of Central Australia.
There are those who dismiss this whole saga, as being one of the great confidence tricks of this century. Others prefer to believe the truth of the legend. In recent years, several expeditions have been mounted to this vast area without success. Innumerable questions remain unanswered.
Perhaps in time, the secret of Lasseter's Reef will be discovered. In the meantime, the Legend of Lasseter continues.
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Leave a little nugget of feedback
nosebird wrote
i live in australia aswell i like gold
Posted April 26, 2009
Carlton wrote
in reply to charlino I live in Australia great place lots of thing to do and just lately i went to sovriegn hill.Theres only 1 word for it AWESOME i also brang my kids they loved it.You really get the fealing that your back in the ol days its not just the mines it the hole town from old time bowling to lolly shops to a mine underground.If you ever go to victoria i highly recommend you got there :)
Posted December 31, 2008
poddys wrote...
CONGRATULATIONS. Your lens has been added as a featured lens on my "I've Been There" lens. Only lenses that are worthy get listed, I'm so pleased you made it.
Posted November 07, 2008
charlino wrote...
Of all the places in the world, Australia is one I would like to see.
Posted September 23, 2008
Great to see a lense about gold in Victoria. I'd love to get to Australia one day....
Posted August 18, 2008
Stazjia wrote...
Now I've read your lens, I really want to visit Sovereign Hill. 5* lens.
Posted August 01, 2008
poddys wrote...
This is a very nice lens, pleased to have come across it. 5***** I loved Sovereign Hill. Anyone who is lucky enough to get to the Melbourne area ought to visit. The old buildings, costumes, and tour of the mine were fantastic. Thanks for helping to bring back some great memories.
Posted July 10, 2008
10% of my income goes to continue the work of Fred Hollows in treating avoidable blindness and improving indigenous health.Photo : Khim Rath, who can now see after a successful cataract operation, Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia.
Blindness is a significant public health issue in Cambodia. Over 160,000 people are blind and an additional 20,000 become blind each year. The main cause of blindness is cataract, which can be treated by a simple 15 minute operation at an average cost of $25 (AUD$35).
Thanks for dropping by ...
Thanks very much for dropping by to read about the gold district in Victoria. You're more than welcome to leave a note in the guest book above and, if you're a member of Squidoo, you can also rate this lens. Much appreciated :)For more pages like this, the rest of my lens collection is in Susanna's Lensography
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About Susanna Duffy
Lensmaster susannaduffy, aka Susanna Duffy, has been a member since September 25 2006, has rated 2,332 lenses, favorited 109, and has created 159 lenses from scratch. This member's top-ranked page is "Ancient Roman Recipes". See all my lenses
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G'day from Melbourne, Australia where I write about King Arthur, Mythology, Legendary Beasts, Ancient Rome, Books, Fairy Creatures, Australiana and Adventures in my Kitchen. And now I'm an Angel (Please bear with me as I test the new wings). I'm also the GroupLeader of these vibrant communities -
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