NEW GOLDFIELD IN QUEENSLAND.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 576, 24 April 1876, Page 3

NEW GOLDFIELD IN QUEENSLAND.

A telegram is published elsewhere stating t'-mt Muliigau’s rush in North Queensland is a total failure, and that great distress prevails. The Brisbane Courier of the 25th ult publishes the following telegraphic summary of the diary kept by Mulligan, one of the discoverers of the new goldfield on the Hodgkinson River, Northern Queensland;— In company with Warner and Abelson, left Byerstown on December 31st, to prospect the Hodgkinson River and South Mitchell. January 2nd, arrived at Emu Creek rush, On the sth shifted camp up the creek, passed ihe Gap, ran down the M‘Leod south-easterly, then boro easterly to the head of the St George. Found nothing payable. On the 1 ith crossed the Mitchell, and found fair Chinamen’s diggings between the Mitchell and Hodgkinson. Gob half-pennyweight piece on January 19th. Met a strange party, who proved to be M'Leod, Kennedy, and Crosby. This was on January 27th. They had been getting good gold up to the 19th of that month, and we got a sample from them. The reefs are all gold bearing, and 'there is plenty of reef gold to be had. M'Leod and party were getting payable gold in different gullies in patches over a distance of twenty miles, shifting camp daily, getting gold wherever the ground was tried. Mulligan says he had been over the same ground four times previously without finding payable ground. He arranged with M'Leod and party to report the field, which he considers will prove one of the richest reefing districts in the colonies. Regarding the alluvial it is not a field where more disappointments are likely to be met with than is usual on goldfields. The country is porous, and will not retain water for any length of time, except in the main channels of the creeks, which are numerous. The gold is patchy and obtained in “ dabs, or rather “ lumps,” in small ravines, as well as in main creeks.

The country hag not suffered abrasion, and, consequently, the greater portion of the gold is found in the matrix. There is no continued lead. The locality is thus characteristic of all northern goldfields. The reefs, Mulligan says unhesitatingly, present a bettor appearance than any he ever saw before on any untried field. The field is of great extent, Outcrops are traceable for miles and miles, with stone showing gold, and nearly every piece of quartz picked up was found to be auriferous. The belt of gold-bearing country is narrow, but very long, extending for a distance of over thirty miles. The blacks are numerous, more so on the Hodgkinson than at any other place Mulligan ever saw. A splendid road is to be had all along from Cooktown, if the Government will lay a few saplings down where needed. A week’s work on the road would suffice to enable a buggy to be driven at a hand 1 gallop all the way from Cooktown to the ■ " w diggings. If the Government will give n V £2OO he will at once mark a road hira , , yto the field, straighv b