The Gold Rush Down Under Trivia Quiz

Answer: First gold hoax

It didn't take long for the first hoaxer to start the rumours. First-Fleet convict James Daley, newly arrived in Sydney Harbor, led an officer to a remote spot (lots of those in the first year of European settlement!) on pretense of showing where he had found a small nugget. He promptly absconded but was soon recaptured. Penalty: 50 lashes.

The next day Daley showed his nugget to Governor Phillip, and was ordered to show the site of his 'find'. Under the threat of summary execution, he confessed to having manufactured a nugget from a gold coin. Penalty: 100 lashes.

Sadly, this inventive man was executed later in 1788 for burglary.

Answer: Reverend William Clarke

By 1841, much of the Central and Southern Tablelands was being settled, and Bathurst and Goulburn were visited by ministers of religion. The Reverend William Clarke was apparently as interested in the gold in the ground as he was in the gold in men's souls.

He made numerous small finds near the Cox's and Wollondilly Rivers, took his finds to government, hoping for backing for a mining venture. This was not supported as New South Wales was still a penal colony and there was fear of the effect of a gold rush on the still fledgling colony. He was, however, rewarded for his services.

Answer: Castambul 1846

Gold was found in the Adelaide Hills by Captain Thomas Terrell, only 20 km from the heart of Adelaide, at a site named Castambul.

Australia's first productive gold mine, the Victoria, was set up on the spot in the same year. Unfortunately, the gold soon ran out.

Answer: Murchison River and Northam

Between 1848 and 1884, small amounts of gold, including a few nuggets, were found in the Murchison and Bowes River regions.

Shepherds feature largely throughout Australia's gold history, possibly because they were always pushing out into the wilds seeking good grazing for their charges.

Answer: Daisy Hill, Victoria

In 1848 a shepherd, Thomas Chapman, showed a Melbourne jeweller a stone containing 38 oz of almost pure gold. As a result of the publicity, a hundred or so men rushed to Daisy Hill, near Amherst in the Pyrenees Ranges.

Victoria's first Lieutenant Governor, Charles La Trobe quickly ordered 10 mounted police and 8 aboriginal troopers to take possession of the site and prevent any 'unauthorised trespass', ending the "gold rush of Daisy Hill". Some sections of the press (possibly after pressure from La Trobe?) then dismissed the whole thing as a hoax.

Ann and Charles Brentani, the jewellers who bought the original nugget, later claimed that people continued to bring their Daisy Hill finds to them.

Answer: Bendigo, Victoria

The first gold finds at Bendigo were in 1851, at a site now called "Golden Square", commonly thought to be by by Mrs. Margaret Kennedy and Julia Farrell. Many others claimed to be the first gold-diggers and panners in this lucrative site.

Answer: The Welcome Stranger

The biggest alluvial nugget ever found, the Welcome Stranger was discovered in 1869 by prospectors, John Deason and Richard Oates in 1869. It weighed in at 210 lbs (78 kg). As there were no scales large enough to accurately weigh a nugget of this size, it was broken into three pieces by a local blacksmith.

The prospectors were given an estimated 9,381 pounds sterling for the nugget, which was melted down into more than 70.5 kg of pure gold. At February 2018 this amount of gold would have been worth $3.8 million.

Answer: Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Kalgoorlie - Boulder (commonly just called Kalgoorlie) is the largest city in Outback Australia.

It was the site of the first major gold find in Western Australia, when a prospector named Paddy Hannan discovered the precious metal there in 1893.

The Kalgoorlie goldfield has been mined ever since, and is reportedly the richest mile on Earth.

Answer: The Welcome Nugget

Apologies for the similarity with the Welcome Stranger Nugget. This beautiful nugget was found by a group of 22 Cornish miners not long after arriving in Australia. Not a bad introduction to the country!

The nugget was sold in Melbourne for 10,500 pounds sterling, and was displayed at London's Crystal Palace before the Royal Mint melted it down for gold sovereigns.

Answer: The Eureka Stockade

Riots were triggered by the imposition of a 30 shillings per month licence fee; exorbitant given the patchy nature of finds of gold. The miners also demanded the right to vote and to purchase land.

After a miner was murdered by a hotel keeper, who was acquitted, the riots became bigger and more vocal. More Government crackdowns and harsher treatment of miners ensued.

In November 1854 the blue and white Eureka Flag was raised and the battle of the Eureka Stockade took place on 3rd December. According to Peter Lalor, one of the rebellion's leaders (who lost his left arm after being shot) 22 miners were killed by the troopers, who fired indiscriminately into the crowd. Women and children apparently threw themselves on top of the wounded, to prevent further bloodshed.