Australian History: Before the goldrush

It may seem strange that some people could discover gold without others going to the area and trying to find it as well. But before 1851 this is exactly what happened in Australia. Gold was first discovered by James McBrien, a government surveyor, in 1823 in the Fish River near Bathurst. Then in 1839 Paul Strzelecki found gold near Hartley. In 1844 a geologist Reverend W.B.Clarke later found gold in a creek near Lithgow but upon agreement with Governor Gipps kept quiet about it, fearing that the discovery may spark violence a chaos amidst the community where the majority of residents were criminals. Additionally farmers and squatters were against a gold rush, as they were worried about their labourers quitting their lowly paid jobs to try their luck at digging gold.

Governor Gipps has been quoted in many texts in response to the gold findings:
"'Put it away, Mr Clarke or we shall all have our throats cut!"

In 1823 James McBrien found traces of gold near Bathurst, NSW. However, early discoveries of gold in Australia were hushed up by the authorities for fear that all the convicts, soldiers and public servants would stop work to hunt for their fortune.

In 1841, the Rev. WB Clarke found a gold nugget near Cox's River in the Blue Mountains, NSW. When he showed the gold to Governor Gipps, the Governor said, 'Put it away, Mr Clarke or we shall all have our throats cut!'

It wasn't until ten years later, in 1851, that Edward Hargraves, (who had just returned from the gold fields in California) and his colleagues found gold near Bathurst. This time the find was publicised and within a month a thousand men were looking for gold. The area was called Ophir, after the biblical story about King Solomon's gold city.

The penal system ended in 1840 and by the 1850’s the fear of a violent breakout as a result of the gold rush subsided. At the same time there had been discoveries of gold in California, USA, which saw a mass exodus of the population to search for it. This prompted Governor Fitzroy to promote the search for gold in 1849. In 1851, Edward Hargraves, who had spent 18 months working on the Californian gold fields returned to Australia, believing there was gold around Bathurst and Orange.

Some reasons for why there was no gold rush before 1851

  • All gold found in Australia belonged to the government. There was not much point trying to find gold if it had to be handed over to the government.
  • The discoveries before 1851 were not very big. Gold was mainly found in isolated places where the news did not spread very far.
  • Only a few people in the colony knew where to look for gold andhow to find it.
  • Perhaps the government deliberately tried to stop news about gold from spreading. If they had a chance of finding gold, convicts might riot and would leave their work. How could the government control things then?