20 of . . . Australian Goldfields Pics

The night too quickly passes
And we are growing old,
So let us fill our glasses
And toast the Days of Gold;
When finds of wondrous treasure
Set all the South ablaze,
And you and I were faithful mates
All through the roaring days!

- Henry Lawson
  The Roaring Days 

Pics from the Australian goldfields . . .

Miners and their wives posing with the finders of the Welcome Stranger nugget, Richard Oates, John Deason and his wife.

The world’s biggest gold nugget ever found is the Welcome Stranger nugget. It was found by John Deason and Richard Oates at Black Lead, Bulldog Gully, near the town of Dunolly in Victoria, Australia. It was found on February 5, 1869. The two men took the nugget to Dunolly, where it was broken apart into 3 pieces so it could be more easily transported and smelted. The most common size claims that the total weight was 2,284 troy ounces, while a publication from the Department of Mines in Victoria titled “Gold Nuggets of Victoria” states that the actual weight was 2,280 troy ounces. Regardless, it is without a doubt the largest solid gold nugget ever known to be discovered in history. No casts were made of the actual nugget. 

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Welcome Stranger Gold Mine, Baileston, Victoria, 1902 

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View of Gulgong Gold Fields from Church Hill, 1872. 

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Gold miner Richard Penna at home in Woods Point, c. 1915. 

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Australian prospector 1888 

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Diggers from the Australian goldfields 

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Gold panning, Australia, 1900 

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Gold Prospector's Hut, Upper Dargo, Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in 1870 

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Women and girl in front of their bark cottage on the Gulgong goldfields, c 1870 

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Simon’s (miner’s office, mining agent, law agent and public accountant) and family outside his bark hut, Gulgong area 1871-1875 

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Goldminer, 1849 

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Throughout the 1800s Chinese migrated to colonial Australia to try their luck on the goldfields. 

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Trekking to the goldfields 

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Australian goldminers using a cradle 

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Peter Lalor was the main leader of the goldminers at the Eureka Stockade miners' revolt.  The Eureka oath: "We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties." 

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The Golden Point gold diggings in 1862.Golden Point is a suburb of Ballarat,Victoria.

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Sluicing for gold on Mulgrave River, Queensland, ca. 1888. 

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Goldminers playing ping pong, Queensland, 1890 

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John Souter, chemist, (next to Congregational Church), Gulgong, NSW 1872 

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Couple with seven children outside their cottage with bark roof in the goldmining town of Hill End 1871 

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Oh, who would paint a goldfield,
And limn the picture right,
As we have often seen it
In early morning's light;
The yellow mounds of mullock
With spots of red and white,
The scattered quartz that glistened
Like diamonds in light;
The azure line of ridges,
The bush of darkest green,
The little homes of calico
That dotted all the scene.

- Henry Lawson
  The Roaring Days