What happened
Geoscience Australia says the largest gold nugget ever found was the Welcome Stranger, found in 1869 just under the soil at the base of a tree. It weighed about 70 kg.1,2
Why it matters
Story cards
Around the same time
- Paddy Hannan born
Paddy Hannan born (date from Wikidata).3
- Victoria produces most of the worlds gold
Gold escorts carried about a tonne a week from Mount Alexander to Melbourne at the peak.4,5
- Fraser River gold rush
The rush led Britain to create the Colony of British Columbia in 1858, partly from fear of American annexation. The legislature dates this to 2 August and Parks Canada to 19 November (proclamation by Governor James Douglas).6,7,8
- San Francisco ships US$724 million of treasure in 16 years
Eastern ports took US$462 million, England US$168 million and China US$68 million.9,10
- Black Hills gold rush
The expedition went ahead although the 1868 treaty had made the Black Hills part of a Sioux reservation. Homestake became a long-lived mine that closed in 2001.11,12
- Barberton gold rush
Barberton was the first major gold boom of the eastern Transvaal, two years before the Witwatersrand.13,14
- Cripple Creek gold rush
Cripple Creek was the last great Colorado gold camp and its mine is still the state's only large gold mine.15,16
- Klondike Gold Rush begins
Klondike Gold Rush begins.17
Where next
Sources
- Australian Mineral Facts: Gold Geoscience Australia
- Moliagul (item Q6896150), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
- Wikidata item Q2057649 (Paddy Hannan)
- Richest discoveries (Golden Victoria) State Library Victoria (Ergo)
- Wikidata item Q3141 (Melbourne)
- Fort Langley National Historic Site: History Parks Canada
- 1858: The Mainland of British Columbia Becomes a Crown Colony Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
- Fort Langley National Historic Site (item Q1282806), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
- Peabody A., Early voyages to California (treasure shipped from San Francisco 1854-1869) Library of Congress (Essex Institute Historical Collections)
- Wikidata item Q62 (San Francisco)
- Mining in South Dakota: Education Kit (PDF) South Dakota State Historical Society
- Black Hills gold rush (item Q3453700), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
- Barberton, Mpumalanga South African History Online
- Barberton (item Q807828), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
- Cripple Creek Colorado Encyclopedia
- Cripple Creek (item Q117605), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
- Wikidata item Q631489 (Klondike Gold Rush begins)
- The Holtermann Collection State Library of New South Wales
From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.
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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.