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Edward Hammond Hargraves
Man Who Unlocked Door of
Australia's Hidden Treasury
Pioneers and
Explorers No. 20
Bernard Cronin
IT is permitted us to wonder to what extent the character
of Australian civilisation might have differed from to-day
but for the discovery of gold. It is difficult to realise that
the Australian colonies were originally intended solely to
harbour convicts and their keepers.
IT is significant, too, that the
early Australian authorities
went to a great deal of
trouble to smother the first
rumours of gold discovery in the
great Southern Continent. They
feared the effect of such a hap-
pening upon the convict popu-
lation.
The lure of gold, they supposed,
might easily subvert authority, and
lead to all kinds of Governmental
disorders. This view was supported by
the free men engaged in pastoral oc-
cupations. These had no desire that
their holdings should be invaded by the
type of ruthless adventurer who dis-
turbed the peaceful atmosphere of
California.
It was inevitable that if gold, indeed,
there was, it could not long remain
hidden from the questing eyes of the
incoming old-world civilisation. The dis
covery of gold in California had at-
tracted many Australians, and these
had made themselves acquainted with
the methods of gold finding and dig-
ging- Sooner or later someone was
destined to unlatch the door of Aus-
tralia's hidden treasury. This man
proved to be Edward Hammond Har-
graves.
Hargraves was not the discoverer of
gold in Australia; he was the pioneer
of the Australian gold mining indus-
try. For many years before Hargraves
came on the scene there had been
rumours of hidden mineral riches.
Gold had been found in the possession
of aborigines.
It is said that the actual discoverer
of gold in Australia was an assigned
servant employed as a shepherd at
Bathurst in 1837. He declared that he
had discovered gold, although he was
unable to produce it. Ironically enough,
he was rewarded by his masters with
25 lashes, apparently for having the
temerity to claim something which
was the prerogative of the free man.
Other records reveal that elsewhere
gold was found in 1842. It is very dif-
ficult to fix these early dates accur-
ately. But we do know that licences
to dig for gold were first issued in
Australia on September 1. 1851. This
was the year when Hargraves made
know to the Government of New
South Wales his discovery of payable
gold at the junction of the Summer
Hill and Lewis Ponds Creeks beyond
Bathurst. Hargraves was then in his
35th year.
First Pan Of
Gold-bearing Gravel
He was born at Gosport England,
on October 7. 1816. After being edu-
cated at Brighton and Lewes, he en-
tered the merchant service at the age
of 14. He arrived at Port Jackson,
Sydney, in 1832. Here, for a little while,
he was engaged as a member of the
crew of a French fishing schooner
trading for tortoiseshell and beche-
de-mer in Torres Straits. While the
vessel was at Batavia. typhus fever
broke out, and all but seven of the
ship's company died. Hargraves there-
upon returned to England.
He sailed for Australia again in
1834. For the next 14 years he en-
gaged in farming pursuits. In this he
appears not to have been very suc-
cessful. At any rate, on July 6. 1849,
he joined the Victorian quota of some
300 men en route to the Californian
gold diggings. Here he met with a fair
measure of success.
He was a man of keen observation,
and it was not long before he was
impressed by the resemblance in con-
tour and geological characteristics of
the hills of California to the hills
around his old home at Bathurst in
Australia. While in California be com-
mented upon the similarity freely and
often.
When he returned to New South
Wales in January, 1851, Hargraves
resolved to put his theories to the test.
Accompanied by a young bushman
named John Lister, a native of Grey-
yong, Hargraves set out on a prospect-
ing tour of the rugged country at
the back of Bathurst. After some hard
prospecting in the hills his faith was
rewarded. On February 12, 1851. the
two men washed the first pan of gold
bearing gravel. For some weeks there-
after they, made further washings of
creek gravel over wide areas of the
Macquarie Valley.
Hargraves then returned to Syd-
ney, where he made known his dis-
covery to the authorities. Before
naming the locality, he demanded a
reward of £500. The Government was
indisposed to grant this without
definite proof of the discovery. Har-
graves was finally induced by a man
named Thompson to forego any
stipulation of any kind, and to trust
to the generosity of the authorities.
Accordingly, he named the locali-
ties. Within three months, 400 dig-
gers were camped in the Macquarie
Valley, and hundreds of others were
prospecting in the immediate neigh
bourhood. Hargraves was duly paid
his reward money. The news of this
discovery spread like wildfire, and
gold seekers came from all parts of
Australia. Curiously enough, Har-
graves' find came at the apex of a
severe economic depression. The year
1851 had opened with a very severe
drought, the heat was intense, and
the country was subjected to a suc-
cession of parching winds.
On February 6 occurred perhaps the
worst forest fire in the history of
Australia—the historic " Black Thurs
day." The fortunes of the new land
seemed to sink lower and lower, and
the unfortunate colonists were at
their wits' end. " Black Thursday"
provided an ugly crisis. Six days
later Hargraves made his great dis-
covery, and the tide of adversity
turned.
Once tapped, the stores of wealth
yielded themselves with an amazing
prodigality. No man so poor but
might not find himself at any hour
the possessor of a great fortune.
Discoveries of gold were made at
Clunes, Victoria, in March, 1850;
at Mount Alexander, near Castle-
maine, on July 20, 1851: at Ballarat
on September 8, 1851; and in num-
berless other localities. The year
1851. indeed, proved the most
notable epoch in the history of
Victoria. Towns came into being over
night, as it were, and from all over
the world men came adventuring.
At that time the population of
Victoria consisted of some 77,000
?argravea, pioneer of the geM mining Inawirtry Help
■argravea, pioneer of the geM
mining Inawirtry

souls. Within a decade and a half the
population had increased to nearly
700.000, an increase due almost en-
tirely to the romance of gold dis-
covery.
In The Grip Of
The Gold Fever
In short, Australia was afflicted with
a gold fever, which turned men's heads
deliriously. Ordinary occupations
practically ceased. Seamen deserted
their vessels, workmen left their work
uncompleted, patients ran from the
consulting rooms of their doctors, even
the police foreswore their oaths and
turned their faces towards Eldorado.
At one period in Geelong scarcely 100
males were left in the town, the major-
ity of these being prisoners or cripples.
Ballarat—then spelt Ballaarat—in
1851 supplied £120,000 worth of gold
within one month. So tightly packed
were the gullies that there was hardly
room in which to swing a pick. A cos-
mopolitan population of 10,000 men
and women swarmed over the country-
side, amid indescribable scenes of ex-
citement.
In the early days a claim measured
12 feet by 12 feet. Much of the wealth
obtained was alluvial and quickly
gathfered. At Forest Creek, within the
space of two days, a party obtained
£3000 worth of gold. Claims along the
Buninyong Road, Ballarat. contained
such vast riches that they were known
as " jewellers' shops." One of these.
known as the " Blacksmith's Claim,"
is typical of the times.
The owner, a blacksmith, with eight
companions, none of whom had any
previous experience, sank a hole in the
ground. They washed all the dirt
within reach, and realised £12,800 in a
few weeks. They then sold the claim
and their tools for £77. In a single
afternoon the new owners obtained
£2000 worth of gold. At the end
of two more days, their takings had
risen to £10,000.
They then hired out their claim and
went "on the spree." The tenants in
one week obtained £14,000. The owners
of the claim then returned, and at the
end of a week realised a further £9000.
Thinking that by this time the claim

must be exhausted, they sold out to
a storekeeper for £100.
Within a fortnight the storekeeper's
party was rewarded with £5000. At this
juncture a convict from Van Diemen's
Land schemed to join in the general
good fortune. One night he under-
mined the props of the mine, and
the whole of the workings fell in. The
party in possession became disgusted,
and incontinently abandoned the
claim.
The convict immediately marked out
a claim for himself, 24 feet square, on
the original site. Altogether, from
this one claim of a few square feet
well over £100,000 worth of gold was
taken within the space of a few
months.
Many of the most famous discover-
ies of gold were made by accident, as
in the case of the "Welcome Stranger"
nugget, the largest nugget found in
Australia—possibly in the world. The
story of its discovery has an element
almost of comedy. It happened that on
February 5, 1869, two partners named
Deason and Oates, working at Black
Lead, Moliagul, declared a holiday for
domestic reasons,
One of the partners set out for the
township to renew their supply of
stores, while the other did the week's
washing. The second man, having com-
pleted his task, threw out the soap
suds beyond the door of the tent. Not
very long afterwards, a bullock dray
passed by, and the wheels sank deeply
into the ground which was softened
by this lucky baptism. When the
vehicle had passed on there was re-
vealed at the bottom of the rut a
corner of a great nugget. On this
being raised it was found to weigh
2284 ounces. Its value was £10,000
The "Welcome" nugget was found at
Bakery Hill. Ballarat, at a depth of 180
feet, in 1858. It weighed 2217 ounces,
and was sold in Ballarat for £10,500.
Another famous nugget was the
"Blanche Barkly," found in August,
1857, at Kingower, at a depth of 13
feet. It weighed 145 lb. 3 oz., and was
sold for £6905.
Other notable discoveries included
the "Viscount Canterbury," valued at
£4420. discovered at Dunolly in 1870,
an the "Poseiden." found at Tarna-
gulla. in 1906, value £3802. Incident-
ally, the highest price paid far gold in

Melbourne in the year following the
discovery— 1852—was £3 an ounce. So
much gold was being obtained, that
the fear was actually expressed that
the price would decline. Men became
contemptuous of money and it is said
that wealthy diggers lit their pipes
with £5 notes, and used banknotes as
a filling for sandwiches.
However, to return to Hargraves—
a Government committee, in 1854, allot-
ted £10,000 to the pioneers in gold. Of
this amount Hargraves received £4000.
Others to share were Michel, who was
credited with the discovery of Vic-
toria's first available gold-field: Hiscock,
a substantial discoverer of the Balla-
rat deposits, and Campbell, who dis-
covered the Clunes goldfield.
The fame of Hargraves spread over-
seas. When, at the end of 1854, he
visited England he was presented to
Queen Victoria. The Government com-
mittee, after paying a tribute to the
fine work of the geologist, the Rev. W.
B. Clarke, honoured Hargraves in these
wards: " Hargraves continued his quest
with little assistance beyond his own
limited means, and he has since re-
fused many valuable opportunities of
remunerative avocations, trusting for
his reward in the honour of the Gov
ernment and the gratitude of his fel
low citizens."
Hargraves, in addition to receiving a
reward of money, was appointed a
Commissioner of Crown Lands. In
1853 he published a book-entitled
Australia and Its Goldfields. In
1877 the Government granted him an
annuity of £250 for life. He died at
Forest Lodge, Sydney, on October 29, 1891.

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