the gold fields of Victoria :: essays research papers

Victoria was a part of the colony of New South Wales up to the early 1850s, when it became an independent colony in its own right. All burgeoning situates arouse growing pains and Victoria was no exception. Rich in artless lands early settlers took out sheep runs granted by the government over large(p)hearted tracts of land, where both sheep and some cattle were grazed. Van Diemens Land to the south, now the State of Tasmania had large penal settlements and the government bureaucracy was both well established and manned. Victoria drew on these reserves in the early eld of settlement. The wealth of gold hidden in Central Victoria amaze undiscovered for some time and true recognition of the potential was non realized until the finds were widely publicized. B all toldarat is an aboriginal name meaning "a satisfactory place to rest". An aboriginal tribe known as the Kulin dwell the area. These inhabitants had dark brown skin rather than black. Although they were the t raditional owners of the land, they were simply pushed aside by European settlement, and decimated by disease, poisoning, shootings and in fact genocide. Within 60 years they were no more. The first recorded gold finds in the dominion was at Clunes, July 1851, some 20 miles north of Ballarat, and this started a small rush. A few weeks later gold was found at Buninyong about 10 miles south of Ballarat. This was poor yielding ground and although diggers came to the area, they quickly dispersed pursuance more profitable ground. Two such characters were John Dunlop, a seventy-year-old ex-serviceman of the Battle of Waterloo, and a much younger James Regan, whose ancestry was Irish. They had been disappointed with the gold at Buninyong, so decided to prospect the area themselves in anticipation that both Clunes and Buninyong would not be the only gold pram ground in the district. They were right and after finding gold in creek beds along the White Horse Range on Ballarat Station, t hey came to a small hill on the northern end of the range and process the first gold from what was to become one of the great gold bonanzas of all time. The date was 21st August 1851. This hill became known as scantiness Point. (Only because the top of the hill contained no gold) The discovery only remained a enigma for about a week, and with news of the gold find the first great gold rush of Victoria had begun.