History Assignment Summary

State or Territory: NSW

Town: Bathurst
Subject: The Gold Rush

The Australian Gold Rush: Edward Hargraves

Hargraves was the key figure in the Australian Gold Rush. He returned to Australia after
working on the California Goldfields, determined to find Gold NSW. He went to Bathurst
where local men John Lister and William, James and Henry Tom, showed him sites where
they had found Gold specks. Hargraves taught the Toms how to build a Gold washing
cradle and returned to Sydney. He soon received news that the had washed a payable
amount of Gold from the Summer Hill Creek. Hargraves announced the find and claimed a
10,000 pound reward and named the field Ophir.

Early Discoveries
New South Wales experienced the first gold rush in Australia which was from 1851-1880
The first reported discovery of in Australia took place in 1823 New South Wales when
James Mcbrien (a Surveyor from the NSW Lands Department) found flakes of Gold in the
Fish River between Bathurst and Rydal while surveying for a road along the river.
This report and numerous others that followed were initially hushed up by the Government
of the day, due to their concerns as to what the consequences of a Gold Rush might be,
and the effect it may have upon the established pastoralists and other business interests
within the colony.
28 years after the Fish River discovery, Edward Hargraves discovered a grain of gold in a
billabong near Bathurst, which was his greatest discovery in 1851

Mining: Machines and Clothing

Clothing

Lucky miners wore a striped flannel or a cotton overshirt, they

also wore leather boots( which came up to their knees) with a
cabbage tree hat. Miners wore moleskin trousers, a leather belt
and heavy leather boots. Miners also wore wide awake hats.
Machines
Panning
A miner would put a small amount of soil, gravel or sand into a
pan, with a certain amount of water. The miner would then swirl
out the muddy water, leaving gold specks at the bottom of the
pan that had sunk to the bottom when the water was being
swirled.
Miners Pick
Was used to break apart solid pieces of rock. The pick was also used to help dig shafts,
when the ground became too hard to dig with a shovel.
Biggest Discovery
The Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget, discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates in
Moliagul, Victoria. Its the World's largest nugget of Gold found to date.
Major Companies
Metalco
Designs machinery, manufactures and installations
Inline Surveys
Professional surveying services
Maceo Engineering
Sandblasting
Painting
Franna crane hire

By Ansel