The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954)(about) |
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Saturday 3 March 1860
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2 corrections, most recently by condie - Show corrections
THE RECENT GOLD DISCOVERIES.
To the Editor of the Herald. .
Sir,-In your issue of this morning, I find the following paragraph :
GOLD AT SHOALHAVEN.-Mr. Garrett arrived last night by the Hunter, and politely furnished us with the following information : -Previous to his leaving Wollongong yesterday, he received a letter from his Shoalhaven correspondent, mentioning that Messrs. Alley, M'Claren, and Hoogly had discovered a gold-field about forty miles from Nowra. Thc gold is of a coarse character, and was found in a slaty formation. A sample was brought up in a one ounce phial, by a Mr. Steele, a passenger, for the English and Scottish Bank, having been purchased by Mr. Kemp, of Shoal- haven, for £10. The discoverers intended to take parties out with them to the place, and if found in paying quantities, to make application for the gold reward.
Also, in the leader of the GOLBURN CHRONICLE, dated 25th instant, the following relative to the Snowy River diggings :-
" The discovery is proved thus to be a most valuable one, and we cannot but agree with a correspondent that the discoverers, Messrs. Pollock, are entitled to some sub- stantial reward, in recognition of the service they have rendered the colony."
"With regard to the latter gold-field, you have already rendered honour to whom honour is due ; but, in connection with your paragraph, the following passages from the Rev. W. B. Clarke's report on the Shoalhaven district will, I think, be sufficient to give the reverend gentleman the
credit in this also :
Report, dated Bungonia, September, 1851.
" There is a striking similarity between the Shoalhaven Ravine and the gullies in the basin of the Macquarie, and it is not therefore extraordinary that they should be considered both alike in auriferous character. Never- theless, I think there will be found much gold in and along the banks of the Shoalhaven. The gold already fournd is not local ; itils flattened and worn by long friction amidst the hard boulders which fill the river bed, and I think lt has been drifted from a considerable distance. When the water is lower, and the bars are dry, and a more numerous assemblage of gold-washers is gathered thither, more gold will of necessity be found. Lower down, near Tanner's, some gold has also been found, but the party who went up the rlver have, I am told, abandoned their occupation. A man of the name of Gale, who has been at the Turon, recommends them to stay. I saw him on the river, and he said the proportion of gold was about equal to that met with at the mouth of Summerhill
Creek."
In fact, according to that report, as far as I can see, ho found gold in nearly every part of the Shoalhaven gailles. Whether the process of digging for the gold would be re- munerative or not, it was not for him, single-handed, to determine ; but, nevertheless, his reports published in the Government Papers, and also in your columns, must have been perused by thousands ; and it may not be too much to say, that the inhabitants of that district, impressed with the belief of the wonderful accuracy of Slr. Clarke's statements respecting other parts of the colony, combined with the incentive lately given by the Legislature to gold-hunting, have resolved upon making the Shoalhaven another famous place in the annals of gold discovery.
It would not be at all inconsistent with the ways of Pro- vidence if the late disastrous floods should be the means of disclosing the mineral resources of that singular country ;
and thus He
Who " moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform,"
Who " plants His footsteps on the sea, And rides upon the storm,"
may bring out of much present evil unbounded good.
I think it merely an act of justice to Mr. Clarke, who I understand is out of the colony, thus to place before your readers this plain statement, however the "diggings" turn
out.
I find, by looking over the same report, that the district
of Shoalhaven abounds with other minerals ; and if the people of this colony would only prosecute other mining than that of gold, they would not leave much opportunity of boasting to the inhabitants of a neighbouring colony.
Upon the recent "revivals" of gold-mining (I can give it no better name), and with rumours that stores have been sent up to the Snowy River for the last eighteen months, I need not enlarge. The reports in the papers speak for themselves.
lam, Ac,