Gold was discovered in New South Wales (NSW) in 1851. On the 12th Feb. 1851 at Summerhill Creek at Sofala a guy named Hargraves was the first to find gold in Australia. The Summerhill Creek area along with Sofala and Hill End is recognised as the initial centre of gold discovery in Australia. Alexander Wardlell and Harry Hicken found gold at Braidwood in 1852. In 1860 further strikes were made at Lambing Flat*, Gulgong, and at Kiandra in the Eucumbene River. The 1879 strike sometime later was at Temora was notable for one fact. At the height of the gold rush 20,000 people were living and working in the town, which was remarkable for the day.

After gold was found in the Burrangong area especially at Lambing Flat* (now Young in NSW), in 1860-61, diggers in their thousands flocked to the area and as luck would have it, eventually so did one or two Chinese. Very soon they had spread the word to relatives around the world and before long the diggings were alive with them. Very soon the white diggers who strongly disliked the Chinese for their cultural and living standards became more and more angry. They objected to their use of opium, their sly-grog shops, their music, their open homosexuality and the corruption of the white women. It was only a matter of time before the pot boiled over and hostilities erupted. The term used for a mob gathering was a 'Roll-Up' and on Tuesday 13th November the white diggers drove 500 Chinese from the diggings. The inexperienced police of the time were hard pushed to keep control as the diggers marched on other diggings to drive out the aliens. The miners held a meeting on 27th January 1861 and voted that all Chinese were banned. But they started to drift back again and after much aggravation, Charles Stewart the then leader of the Anti-Chinese Movement initiated the 'Miners Protective League' for the protection of all miners (excepting Chinese). The NSW Government passed the bill and it became law on 27th November 1861. The conclusion of the majority was, that the Government had failed to listen the the white population which was strongly against the Asianisation of Australia. As a result of this the Government of NSW passed the Chinese Immigration Act which became law on the 27th Nov. 1861. The 'Lambing Flat rebellion' became the shrine of white Australia.   

The first strike in Victoria (VIC) was at Mt. Alexander on 20th July 1851 which was considerably large and by November 1851 more than 67,000ozs of gold was taken. The main problem in those days, was getting the gold from the diggings to a safe place before the bushrangers got their hands on it. In June 1861 at Andersons Creek Louis John Mitchell and his party made their discovery, while at Buninyong the local blacksmith Tom Hislock made his find on 8th Aug 1851. Mr's. Reagan and Dunlop discovered the richest vein found in the world at Ballarat on the 21st Aug 1851, so in the short span of two months or so, a great deal of gold was found in the area. Also, two friends Margaret Kennedy and Mrs. Farrell were seen in a creek bed with their bloomers hitched up high, filling up panikins as quickly as they could with sizeable gold nuggets. The word soon got out and another 'rush' started. Other notable finds were at Beechworth in Aug 1852, also at Maldon, Eaglehawk, Clunes and Buckland River. In Oct 1854 at Ararat there were already 700 Chinese on diggings there, 6 months before the European diggers arrived, this led to more ethnic trouble.

On the 3rd Dec. 1854 an event occurred which had a very profound significance on Australian history. No sooner was gold discovered, it was very highly taxed by the Government, so high in fact, that only the miners who had struck it 'rich' could hold their heads above water. Very soon, the miners went into revolt and refused to pay the tax. This decision led to the only bloodshed on Australian soil, the "Eureka Stockade" sited in Ballarat Victoria.

The uprising was quickly put down by the soldiers of the Government, 36 miners being killed and many injured. One man who played a big part in the uprising was Peter Lalor.

These 'Redcoats' seen here at Sovereign Hill, controlled the gold mine at Sovereign Hill and in out-lying area's. The main mine here is still in a limited production today, providing a historic look at the way life was in those heady days. The town has been restored to its original state and is a now a working and tourist attraction.

The original "Eureka" flag which flew proudly at the stockade is pictured (right). The flag is also housed in the Victorian State Library in Melbourne. Although rather the worst for wear these days, it still represents an ideal for which the miners fought for. It was later adopted as a symbol of solidarity, by the Australian unions. After the uprising, the courts held an enquiry and later the gold-tax was abolished and a fairer system was brought in, in the form of a 'Miner's Right', paid for with an annual fee. So the miner's had a win.!!

The only gold strike of any importance in South Australia (SA) was at Onkaparinga in Oct 1852, one interesting point was that the port of Robe to the south was the landing place of thousands of Chinese gold seekers during this period. It is claimed by some that the first gold found in Australia was discovered at Beaconsfield in Tasmania (TAS) in 1847, this is debatable and the facts point to the first alluvial gold being panned there in 1869.

In 1858 gold was reportedly found at Canoona, but this was later found to be an elaborate hoax by hoteliers and business men. The first real strike was at Gympie in 1867 by James Nash, this led to yet another huge influx of diggers, more than 600 of them Chinese. In the ensuing race riots in 1868 600 Chinese became victims. Prior to 1890 the miners had removed all the timber in the area for mine props, for building and for their fires and in 1890 the Mary River flooded to 90' above usual and the whole of the diggings were washed away, never to be worked again. In 1880 in Rockhampton, William McKinley and Fred Morgan the owner of the Criterion Hotel and his brothers were the first to peg a claim on the site of Mt. Morgan a huge mountain consisting of Ironstone. In time the mountain disappeared and a huge hole in the ground measuring 800 metres by 274 metres deep appeared in its place. At Charters Towers in 1871 an aboriginal stockman named 'Jupiter Mosman' found gold on Christmas Day, his boss and the bosses mates grabbed the claim and the reward for finding the gold. Poor old Jupiter missed out!! At Palmer River in just 12 months James Mulligan mined 2.89kgs of gold. Around this period there were a reported 17,000 Chinese in the area, which lead to the War of the Tongs between the Chinese from Macao and the mainland Chinese. The Northern Territory did not have a great amount of the mineral but there was gold found at Palmeston (now Darwin) in 1865 but the main gold rush began in 1871.

One event stands out in the history of gold exploration in Australia, from the point of view of gold produced, the flow of money into the country's coffers, also for the founding of the gold industry.

In 1840 Patrick Hannan better known as 'Paddy Hannan' was born at Gorleen farm in Dangan, Quin, Ireland. Paddy emigrated to Australia in 1863 and joined his uncle who was already gold prospecting in Ballarat VIC. He no doubt learned his trade there and then later tried his luck in the Tuapeka District in New Zealand, without any great success. He late returned to NSW at the town of Terama then later again he went to the diggings at Teepulca in South Australia. Next he bobbed up at the gold fields of Southern Cross in Western Australia (WA) where he stayed a while, never making it rich. In 1893 he and a mate Tom Flanagan set out from Coolgardie together, met up with Dan O'Shea and headed north towards what is now known as Kalgoorlie. While looking for a stray horse Paddy found gold in good quantities, he then found gold showing in several gullies, so he returned to Kalgoorlie to stake his claim, still known today as "Hannan's Award". In just 2 days they recovered 100ozs of gold, and of course the word got out and they were joined by 400 diggers in 2 days, this swelling to almost 1000 in a week.  They also found another very precious resource near the foot of Mt. Charlotte, very good amounts of good water. In 1895 large company's began to mine gold in commercial quantities which drew more people looking for work and the city's of Kalgoorlie and Boulder grew rapidly. At its peak in 1903,  Kalgoorlie boasted 93 pubs, 8 breweries and had a population of 30,000. In 1896 the railway reached Kalgoorlie and the water pipeline from Mundaring Weir near Perth was completed. This pipeline was magnificent achievement, built by Engineer C. Y. O'Connor born in Ireland in 1843 and it brought the water 563 kilometres from Perth. O'Connor had to endure terrible abuse and a hate campaign from the public and the pressure became too much, as the water failed to arrive in Kalgoorlie. He committed suicide in March 1902 just a short time before the water finally arrived. This not only allowed Kalgoorlie to flourish but opened up the country along the length of the pipeline. Below is the original Mine head 'Poppet' of the first mine in Kalgoorlie.WA.

Paddy Hannan never became a very rich man as many would assume, in all his wandering and searching he failed to realise a huge fortune. As time went by he was getting older, the big mining company's were now taking over from the battlers who were finding it harder to make ends meet. The Government in recognition of his contribution to the gold industry gave him a pension for life of 100 pounds per year, this was later increased to 140 pounds. He retired to Brunswick a suburb of Melbourne VIC, lived a quiet life and kept to himself mostly. Paddy was not one to go around blowing his own trumpet. 

His life came to an end on the 4th November 1925, not many people in the world ever knew what an enormous contribution he made to Australia and to the world. His statue (right) which is a working water fountain, stills sits on a street corner in Kalgoorlie. 

The lengths these intrepid souls went to, to chase their elusive dream was quite amazing. As soon as the cry "GOLD" went up, they would get any transport that was available, if they had a horse, a camel, even a bicycle, they were off. Some pushed old heavy wooden wheel-barrows with all their worldly goods inside them, others just walked. No mean feat when the distances covered were around 400 to 500 miles, and there were no actual made roads in those days.       

How these characters did it is just amazing, how did they carry all their tools, food and belongings with them? How many punctures did they have?  In those early days many of them set off for the gold fields with only the clothes that they wore, how many died from thirst, by drinking foul rancid water, or from snake bites we will never know. But these people were a special breed who just went and got on with it, no matter what problems faced them. Characters of every kind found their way to the gold fields, people who achieved fame and riches and others who just faded into obscurity. One such character was the manager of the 'Sons of Gwalia Mine' in 1893 who went on to be the 31st President of the USA. His name was Herbert Hoover!!

The distance between the cities of Kalgoorlie and Boulder is one mile, this is aptly named 'The Golden Mile', today there is open mine pit of gigantic proportions situated there. Not often now do the 'BIG' nuggets get found, but the open cut mine is still extracting gold in reduced amounts and is still a viable industry and will be for some time yet.