. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 1/. THE •"WELCOME STRANGER" NUGGET. From the Model in the Museum. Photo C Glutton ing the nugget, and on Saturday morning it was loaded on a dray and taken into DunoUy. The finders had intended to cart the nugget to Melbourne and exhibit it there, but Deason did not like the look of the crowd that gathered round the dray in Dunolly. He decided to turn it into cash at once, so it was sold to the bank and melted after it had been solemnly christ- ened in the presence of a large gathering of people, some
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 1/. THE •"WELCOME STRANGER" NUGGET. From the Model in the Museum. Photo C Glutton ing the nugget, and on Saturday morning it was loaded on a dray and taken into DunoUy. The finders had intended to cart the nugget to Melbourne and exhibit it there, but Deason did not like the look of the crowd that gathered round the dray in Dunolly. He decided to turn it into cash at once, so it was sold to the bank and melted after it had been solemnly christ- ened in the presence of a large gathering of people, some of whom had travelled miles to assist at the ceremony. A few days later the two men were back at their claim, but no more nuggets rewarded them. They soon gave it up, and separated. Some years later the two mates again met at Dunolly. Meanwhile, Oates had made some fortunate investments and was richer than ever, but Deason's luck liad forsaken him again and he was once more poor. The "Welcome" nugget, but little smaller than its fellow, was found on June 15, 1858, in the Redhill Mining Company's claim. Bakery Hill, Ballarat, at a deptli of 180 feet. The claim was being worked by a party of twenty-two Cornish miners, who, it is interesting to know, were the first to introduce steam-driven machinery at the Ballarat diggings. The nugget was first sold at Ballarat for £10,500, was ex- hibited at Melbourne for some weeks, and was sold there on March 18, 1859, for ^ It was melted in London, Novem- ber, 1859. These are the two most celebrated gold nuggets, but many others of considerable value have been found in Victoria, New South Wales and, more recently, in West- ern Australia. In the early days of shal- low sinking, both in Victoria and New South Wales, the digger was ever cheered and spurred on by the hope that to-morrow his pick might encounter a lump of gold which would make him rich for life; to the sanguine every new rush was the promised land. Some miners
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
