Australian gold rushes

Looking for gold in Queensland,1870

The Australian gold rush was a large number of gold discoveries in Australia. Thousands of people came to Australia in the hope of finding a lot of gold and becoming rich. The rush started in 1851 when gold was found near Bathurst, New South Wales and ended with the last rush in 1893 to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. At each place gold was easily found in rivers and creeks. This was known as alluvial gold and could be found by individual miners using very basic equipment such as a spade and a dish. In most places this alluvial gold was taken in the first few months. To get at the gold that was buried deeper in the ground meant that the miners needed to work together to dig tunnels. Eventually large companies were formed to raise money so that deep gold mines could be built.

The gold rushes happened when alluvial gold was found. Miners would quickly move there in the hope of being the first to find the surface gold. For example, miners rushing to Clunes, Victoria in August 1851, quickly changed their minds and went to Buninyong when they heard of a new gold discovery. Weeks later gold was found at Ballarat a few miles to the north and within six weeks there were more than 10,000 people digging. But by 1852 most miners had left Ballarat and rushed to the new goldfields at Bendigo. In 1854, miners in Ballarat were angry and upset at paying for gold licences. They burned their licences and raised the Eureka Stockade flag in protest. The miners fought soldiers and police officers to protect their rights. This was called the Eureka Stockade. Many people died, but afterwards the miners didn't have to pay for their licences anymore.

Before the gold rush

Gold had been found in Australia before the 1851 gold rush. At first people would not believe the stories. A convict who found gold near Bathurst in 1823 was given 150 lashes with a whip as it was believed he must have stolen it. The explorer Count Paul Strzelecki found gold in the Australian Alps in 1839. The government kept it a secret as they did not want to lose control of the convicts if they went rushing off to search for gold. Gold was also found at:

• Strathloddon, Victoria in 1840
• Hartley, New South Wales in 1844
• Montecute, South Australia in 1846
• Glenmona Station, Victoria (near Maryborough) in 1849

Gold rushes in New South Wales

The first gold rush was in New South Wales. There were many others during the next 30 years.

• Ophir, New South Wales, north east of Bathurst, 12 February 1851.
• Hill End, 1851
• Tilba Tilba, 1852.
• Kiandra, January 1860
• Young, June 1860.
• Forbes, June 1861
• Parkes, 1862
• Gulgong in 1870
• West Wyalong, 1893

Gold rushes in Victoria

Site of the first gold discovery, Poverty Point, Ballarat

• Clunes, 28 June 1851
• Warrandyte, at Anderson's Creek, July 1851
• Castlemaine, 20 July 1851
• Buninyong, 2 August 1851
• Ballarat, 8 August 1851
• Bendigo, October 1851
• Beechworth, February 1852
• Yackandandah, May 1852
• Eaglehawk, May 1852
• Omeo, 1852
• Heathcote 1852
• Walhalla, February 1853
• Maldon, June 1853
• Buckland River, July 1853
• Waranga, 3 August 1853
• Creswick, 1853
• Ararat, October 1854
• Daylesford
• Blackwood, February 1855
• St Arnaud, 1855
• Dunnolly
• Tarnagulla
• Moliagul
• Wedderburn, 1852
• Rheola
• Inglewood
• Kingower
• Stawell, 1857
• Chiltern 1858
• Barkly 1859
• Wood's Point, 1862
• Gaffney's Creek
• Jamieson
• Matlock

Gold rushes in South Australia

• Onkaparinga, October 1852
• Teetulpa, 1886

Gold rushes in Western Australia

• Hall's Creek, 1885
• The Pilbara, 1888
• Southern Cross, 1888
• Coolgardie, 17 September 1892
• Kalgoorlie 14 June 1893

Gold rushes in Queensland

• Rockhampton, 1858
• Gympie, 1867
• Ravenswood, 25 December 1871
• Charters Towers, 1872
• Palmer River, near Cooktown, 1873
• Hodgkinson River, near Cairns, 1875
• Mount Morgan
• Cracow, Queensland, 1931-1939
• Coen, 1878
• Croydon, 1885

Gold rushes in the Northern Territory

• Pine Creek, 1871

Australian Gold Rushes Media

• 

  Australian gold diggings, by Edwin Stocqueler, c. 1855

• 

  Edward Hargraves, returning the salute of the gold miners, 1851, Thomas Balcombe.

• 

  A large gold specimen from the Ballarat mines, weighing over 150 grams, size 7.4×4.4×2.3 cm.

• 

  A view of the first small village to develop on the Mount Alexander goldfields at Chewton (then known as Forest Creek) near Castlemaine in 1852, painted by Samuel Thomas Gill

• 

  Another view of the Mount Alexander goldfields in 1852, painted by Samuel Thomas Gill

• 

  A sketch-map by shepherd William Sandbach, depicting the birth of the Bendigo goldfield, detailing who was there and where their claims and camp sites were. Sandbach believed that fellow worker William Johnson had been the first to find gold at Bendigo in October 1851.

• 

  A chart showing the Great Nuggets of Victoria at Museums Victoria

• 

  Map of the Fingal gold field, Tasmania, c. 1863

• 

  Minehead, goldfields Gulgong, New South Wales, 1872–1873, attributed to Henry Beaufoy Merlin

• 

  Overpainted albumen print of gold diggers and Aborigines near Rockhampton c. 1860s