page_title: Australian gold rushes
section_title: February 1851: Orange, New South Wales
hierarchical_section_title: Australian gold rushes / Notable gold finds that started rushes / February 1851: Orange, New South Wales
caption_attribution_description: English: Mr E.H. Hargraves, the gold discoverer of Australia, 12 February 1851, returning the salute of the gold miners, painted by T.T. Balcombe, ML 532 English: Mr E.H. Hargraves, the gold discoverer of Australia, Feb 12th 1851, returning the salute of the gold miners, painted by T.T. Balcombe
context_page_description: During the Australian gold rushes, significant numbers of workers relocated to areas in which gold had been discovered. Gold was found several times in Australia before 1851, but there were only gold rushes from 1851 onwards, mainly because the colonial government of New South Wales had previously suppressed news of gold finds which it believed would reduce the workforce and destabilise the economy.
  After the California Gold Rush began in 1848, motivating many people to leave Australia for California to look for gold there, the New South Wales government rethought its position, and sought approval from the British Colonial Office to allow the exploitation of mineral resources, and offered rewards for finding gold.
context_section_description: Edward Hargraves, accompanied by John Lister, found five specks of alluvial gold at Ophir near Orange in February 1851. Then, in April 1851, John Lister and William Tom, trained by Edward Hargraves, found 120 grams of gold. This discovery, instigated by Hargraves, led directly to the beginning of the gold rush in New South Wales. This was the first gold rush in Australia and was in full operation by May 1851, even before it was officially proclaimed on 14 May 1851, with already an estimated 300 diggers in place by 15 May 1851. Before 14 May 1851 gold was already flowing from Bathurst to Sydney, an example being when Edward Austin brought to Sydney a nugget of gold worth £35, which had been found in the Bathurst District.
  In 1872 a large gold and quartz "Holtermann Nugget" discovered by the night shift in a mine part owned by Bernhardt Holtermann at Hill End, near Bathurst, New South Wales: the largest specimen of reef gold ever found, 1.5 meters (59 inches) long, weighing 286 kg (630 pounds), in Hill End, near Bathurst, and with an estimated gold content of 5000 ounces (57 kg).
caption: Edward Hargraves, returning the salute of the gold miners, 1851, Thomas Balcombe.
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