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Events/Discovery · 1892

Bayley and Ford find gold at Coolgardie

Discovery, September 1892, Australia.

What happened

Bayley and Ford found gold at Fly Flat. Bayley took 554 ounces to the warden at Southern Cross. Bayley's Reward later produced over 500,000 ounces over about 70 years.1,2,3,4

Why it matters

It began the Western Australian goldfields rush.1,2,3,4

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. 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.5,6

  2. Holtermann reef gold specimen unearthed

    The photographs form part of the Holtermann Collection of goldfield life.7,8

  3. Homestake Mine: inception

    Homestake Mine: inception.9

  4. Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)

    It was the first Western Australian gold excitement, before the 1890s rushes.1,10

  5. Gold find at Southern Cross

    A find at Southern Cross caused excitement in 1888, before the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie rushes.11

  6. Jameson Raid

    Jameson Raid.12

  7. Steamship Portland docks at Seattle with a ton of Klondike gold

    The ship carried 68 miners from St. Michael, and news of the gold set off the stampede.13,14,15

  8. Goldfields Water Supply Scheme opens

    It let the dry goldfields grow after the 1890s rush.16,17,18

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

Discovered byArthur BayleyArthur Bayley is part of this story: Bayley and Ford find gold at Coolgardie.1

Mines

Located inCoolgardie goldfieldSee the mine at the heart of this story: Coolgardie goldfield.1

Events

InspiredGold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) CreekBayley and Ford struck Coolgardie in 1892. Four years later the Klondike find followed.19Came out ofGold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)Kimberley gold in 1885 was short-lived. The 1890s rushes followed in the Goldfields.1

Places

Came out ofSouthern CrossBayley took 554 ounces to the warden at Southern Cross.1Located inCoolgardieSee the place where this happened: Coolgardie.1

Sources

  1. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  2. Gold is discovered and Coolgardie is born Shire of Coolgardie
  3. Year Book Australia 1911, gold chapter Australian Bureau of Statistics
  4. Coolgardie (item Q1129708), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Peabody A., Early voyages to California (treasure shipped from San Francisco 1854-1869) Library of Congress (Essex Institute Historical Collections)
  6. Wikidata item Q62 (San Francisco)
  7. The Holtermann Collection State Library of New South Wales
  8. Hill End (item Q14202724), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q2351504 (Homestake Mine: inception)
  10. Halls Creek (item Q992686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  11. The Rush for Gold Western Australian Museum
  12. Wikidata item Q916340 (Jameson Raid)
  13. Klondike Gold Rush begins on July 17, 1897 (Essay 699) HistoryLink.org
  14. History and Culture, Klondike Gold Rush - Seattle Unit National Historical Park US National Park Service
  15. Wikidata item Q5083 (Seattle)
  16. Building a Pipeline (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  17. CY O'Connor's Golden Pipeline celebrates 120 years of service (media statement, 24 Jan 2023) Government of Western Australia
  18. Mundaring Weir (item Q1800878), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  19. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada

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.