Pure gold is seldom found in its natural state. Gold has been found in every state in Australia. It was first found in Ballarat in 1851 . Fortune-hunters from across Australia and overseas raced to the Ballarat goldfields which were, at that time, the richest known alluvial goldfields in the world. Within ten years, Ballarat grew from a sleepy pastoral settlement into a mining boomtown.
Gold is found as nuggets or tiny pieces called gold dust.
It is also found in gold-bearing quartz rock. Alluvial gold is found as nuggets and tiny pieces, called gold dust, in the sands and gravels of river beds. As the surface gold was exhausted, men had to search deeper. Shallow alluvial mines appeared around the diggings, worked at first by small parties of men. Ballarat's mines, in fact, became famous for pioneering deep lead mining technology.