Victoria Gold Rush Australia?

Question

When and where was gold first discovered in Victoria, Australia?

does any body know....thank you!

Answer 1

There is no official record for who found it first but there are speculations.

James Esmond, a young Irish prospector, found gold at Clunes in June 1851. At around the same time gold was found at Andersons Creek, Warrandyte, and at Buninyong, by a man named Thomas Hiscock. The news of Hiscock's discovery was reported in 'The Geelong Advertiser', which sparked the Victorian Gold Rush.

In August, 1851, James Reagan and John Dunlop camped just north of Buninyong at a place the aborigines called "Ballaarat". Here they discovered what was to become the richest goldfield the world has ever known.

Hope this helps. xx

Answer 2

The Victorian Goldfields

Victorias First Gold Find:

The first person to find gold in Victoria has been a matter of dispute ever since that distinction was attributed to James Esmond, who was officially recognised by a Gold Discovery Committee set up in 1851 by Governor Charles J La Trobe, as being the first person to find payable gold.

History records it was actually William Campbell who first claimed to have found gold in 1850 on Donald Cameron’s station in Clunes, one year before Hargraves’ discovery, but fearing that his station would be overrun by unruly diggers, like many others before him he decided to keep quiet about his find.

Victoria was Desparate for Payable Gold:

Meanwhile, during this same period of time things were not going well for Victoria as the newly established goldfields in New South Wales were increasingly threatening the States economy, and in a state of desperation Governor Charles J La Trobe assembled a Gold Discovery Committee on June 9, 1851. This committee then decided that a reward of £200 would be offered to anyone who found payable amounts of gold within 200 miles of Melbourne, (unaware that gold had already been found) and it was then on July 8, 1851 Donald Cameron finally announced his discovery.