START OF MINING INDUSTRY

The mining industry first started in Australia with the discovery of silver and lead in Adelaide, South Australia in 1841, then copper at Kapunda, South Australia, in 1842 and at Burra, South Australia in 1845.

GOLD DISCOVERED 1823

The first official discovery of gold was made by Assistant-Surveyor James McBean on 16 February 1823 in the hills east of Bathurst, New South Wales.

There were numerous finds from then on, but according to the law at the time, all gold and silver belonged to the crown and gold mining was actively discouraged by the colonial governments.
 

GOVERNMENT PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGED GOLD DISCOVERS IN 1851

The government first acknowledged publicly the discovery of gold following the find by Edward Hargreaves (pictured on the right) at Bathurst in May 1851.

Hargreaves then found gold at Ophir (near Orange) and then in June he found gold in the Turon River which flowed through Sofala.

Hargreaves named the area near Orange as "Ophir" after the city from which the Queen of Sheeba had sent gold to King Solomon.
 

GOLD

Gold is a highly prized substance both for its beautiful colour and its tough malleability.

It is a soft, yellowish metal, with a very high specific gravity in its pure state and is heavier than any other substance.
 

In Australia, gold is nearly always found in rock formations traversed with veins or reefs of quartz.

It is usually visible in grains or masses and has sharp, angular edges and it is completely interwoven with and attached to the matrix (usually quartz) so that the metal cannot be separated from the rocks without crushing it.

Once the rocks are broken down through physical and chemical weathering it is known as alluvial gold and is washed downhill along with clay, sand, soil and gravel and is found on hill slopes and in streams.
 

PANNING FOR GOLD

The systematic panning of stream gravels and residual soil for gold is used to locate alluvial gold deposits. The gold pan or dish is filled with gravel and sand which is then washed in the flowing water of the stream, until only the very fine grains remain.

GOLD MINING USING A CRADLE

A cradle is used when large amounts of sand and gravel are to be worked. The cradle consists of a long box, open at one end, fitted with rockers, hopper and 2 moveable sides. The riffles beneath the hopper and 2 or 3 riffles on the bottom catch any gold that escapes the trays.

The sand and gravel is placed in the hopper and the operator then rocks the cradle evenly while water is poured on it.

The water and all the fine material pass through the hopper over the slides and then along the bottom of the cradle, escaping at the end and the gold is retained on the slides and the riffles.

Copyright © 2005, Carol McNeill, , c/- PO, Morayfield, Qld, Australia, 4506. Original content in these pages is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be produced by any process, or other exclusive right exercised without written permission of the copyright holder.