page_title: Australian gold rush
hierarchical_section_title: Australian gold rush
caption_attribution_description: English: Goldminers prospecting, ca. 1870 The Richard Daintree collection held in the John Oxley Library has many unidentified images. If you are able to assist with identification, please click on the Feedback tab. Richard Daintree, geologist and photographer, was born in 1832 in Huntingdonshire, England. He matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge in 1851 and in 1852 joined the gold rush to Victoria. Unsuccessful as a prospector he became assistant geologist in the Victorian Geological Survey until 1856. On a visit to England he became interested in photography and when he rejoined the Geological Survey in 1859 he pioneered the use of photography in field-work. In 1864 he became a resident partner with William Hann in pastoral properties in the Burdekin country of North Queensland. There he was able to indulge his passions for both photography and prospecting. When the pastoral boom collapsed he used his knowledge to open up goldfields at Cape River (1867), Gilbert (1869) and Etheridge in 1869-70. Daintree advocated a geological survey of Queensland and when it began in 1868 he was geologist in charge of the northern division until 1870. In that year he made some of his finest photographic studies. In 1871 his collection of photographs and geological specimens formed the mainstray of Queensland's contribution to the Exhibition of Art and Industry in London. He was sent to England as commissioner in charge of this display, although much of it was lost when the ship carrying Daintree and his family was wrecked. In London he was appointed Queensland's agent-general in 1872. Due to ill health Daintree resigned in 1876 and died in Kent on the 20th June, 1878. His photographs , taken under difficult conditions by the cumbersome wet-plate process, are superb specimens of the art and present a vivid picture of early settlement in Queensland. This image depicts three goldminers prospecting for gold. They stand on a bank among the rocks and rubble. They are surrounded by dense foliage and trees.
context_page_description: The Australian gold rush was a large number of gold discoveries in Australia. Thousands of people came to Australia in the hope of finding a lot of gold and becoming rich. The rush started in 1851 when gold was found near Bathurst, New South Wales and ended with the last rush in 1893 to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. At each place gold was easily found in rivers and creeks. This was known as alluvial gold and could be found by individual miners using very basic equipment such as a spade and a dish. In most places this alluvial gold was taken in the first few months. To get at the gold that was buried deeper in the ground meant that miners needed to work together and dig tunnels. Eventually large companies were started to raise money so that deep gold mines could be built.
  The gold rushes happened when alluvial gold was found. Miners would quickly move there in the hope of being the first to find the surface gold. For example, miners rushing to Clunes, Victoria in August 1851, quickly changed their minds and went to Buninyong when they heard of a new gold discovery.
context_section_description: The Australian gold rush was a large number of gold discoveries in Australia. Thousands of people came to Australia in the hope of finding a lot of gold and becoming rich. The rush started in 1851 when gold was found near Bathurst, New South Wales and ended with the last rush in 1893 to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. At each place gold was easily found in rivers and creeks. This was known as alluvial gold and could be found by individual miners using very basic equipment such as a spade and a dish. In most places this alluvial gold was taken in the first few months. To get at the gold that was buried deeper in the ground meant that miners needed to work together and dig tunnels. Eventually large companies were started to raise money so that deep gold mines could be built.
  The gold rushes happened when alluvial gold was found. Miners would quickly move there in the hope of being the first to find the surface gold. For example, miners rushing to Clunes, Victoria in August 1851, quickly changed their minds and went to Buninyong when they heard of a new gold discovery. Weeks later gold was found at Ballarat a few miles to the north and within six weeks there were more than 10,000 people digging. But by 1852 most miners had left Ballarat and rushed to the new goldfields at Bendigo.  In 1854, miners in Ballarat were angry and upset at paying for gold licences. They burned their licences and raised the Eureka Stockade flag in protest. The miners fought soldiers and police officers to protect their rights. This was called the Eureka Stockade. Many people died, but afterwards the miners didn't have to pay for their licences anymore.
  The gold rush finished at the end of the 1850s, but gold was still found throughout Australia up until the 1890s.
caption: Looking for gold in Queensland,1870
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