What are the largest gold nuggets found in Australia. Welcome Nugget. The Welcome Nugget was the name given to a large gold nugget, weighing 2,217 troy ounces 16 pennyweight. (68.98 kg), that was discovered by a group of twenty-two Cornish miners at the Red Hill Mining Company site at Bakery Hill (near the present intersection of Mair and Humffray Street) in Ballarat, Victoria, on June 9, 1858.
It was located in the roof of a tunnel 55 metres (180 feet) underground.[1] Roughly shaped like a horse's head, it measured around 49 cm (18 in) long by 15 cm (6 in) wide and 15 cm (6 in) high,[2] and had a roughly indented surface.[1] It was assayed by William Birkmyre of the Port Philip Gold Company [3] and given its name by finder Richard Jeffery.[4] Eclipsed by the discovery of the larger Welcome Stranger eleven years later in 1869, it remains the second largest gold nugget ever found.[2] The finders had been among the first to introduce steam-driven machinery into the field at Ballarat and had looked first at nearby Creswick with no luck. See also References.
10097 Model of gold nugget 'Welcome Nugget' found at Bakery Hill, Victoria, 1858, plaster, maker unknown, Melbourne, Australia, 1858-1885 - Powerhouse Museum Collection. Public interest in the gold rushes of the 1850s had not flagged by the 1880s, when this Museum was in its infancy.
The Welcome Nugget and a few other very large lumps of gold had acquired almost legendary status and represented the ultimate 'get rich quick' story for their finders. But the nuggets themselves were too precious to preserve, and most had been melted down not long after being found. Hence museums displayed models like this one to let their visitors gain an idea of what the nuggets looked like and perhaps dream of finding one of similar value.
This nugget model is from a collection of 15 purchased from James White in Melbourne in 1885. Between 1885 and 1886 the Museum also commissioned a local model maker, Mrs AG Goodman, to make copies of New South Wales nuggets as well as commercial fruits and minerals. 'The 'Welcome Nugget' was found on 15th June, 1858 by a party of twenty-two Cornish miners at the Redhill Mining company's claim Bakery Hill, Ballarat. The Australian gold rush. JCF Johnson, A Game of Euchre, col. wood engraving, Australasian Sketcher Supplement [Melbourne], 25 December, 1876.
Image courtesy of the : nla.pic-an8927787. The gold rushes of the nineteenth century and the lives of those who worked the goldfields - known as '' - are etched into our national . There is no doubt that the gold rushes had a huge effect on the Australian economy and our development as a nation. It is also true to say that those heady times had a profound impact on the national psyche. The camaraderie and '' that developed between diggers on the goldfields is still integral to how we - and others - perceive ourselves as Australians. Indeed, mateship and defiance of authority have been central to the way our history has been told. Even today, nothing evokes more widespread national pride than groups of irreverent Aussie 'blokes' beating the English at cricket, or any other sport for that matter!
The discovery that changed a nation Gold frenzy A nation transformed.