THE QUEENSLAND GOLD FIELD.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 336, 10 March 1868, Page 2

THE QUEENSLAND GOLD FIELD.

We are in a position to furnish our mining readers with some information respecting the Maryborough diggings, from a source which they may consider a reliable one. A miner named Harry Rider, who is and has been for some time a shareholder in a claim on the Darkies Terrace, North Beach, returned from the Queensland gold fields by the Gothenburg on Saturday evening, and from his lips we have derived an unvarnished straightforward statement of what he saw and did .there, and his opinion of the diggings at Maryborough. Rider was one of a party of thirteen who left the West Coast some five months ago with the intention of proceeding to some new diggings that had been discovered at Cleveland Bay. On their arrival at Sydney, and whilst waiting for a vessel to take them to their intended destination, the news was received of the discovery of gold at the Mary River, and the party at once went off to Brisbane^ and within five days of

leaving Sydney they were on the diggings, Their arrival caused considerable sensa-r tion, as up to that time very few diggers proper were on the ground, it being occu-* pied chiefly by townspeople from Mary-i borough, shepherds and the like. The iprospector (Nash) had been granted 21 men's ground, and his claim- was turning out tolerably rich. The New Zealand patty, as the new" 'arrivals wereterined, got some ground not far from the pros-: rpe'eting claim, but finding that it would only yield them wages they left it, and aftgr trying in several other places in the gully they determined to set off and prospect for themselves. Accordingly they \ set off, and for a period of five weeks they thoroughly tested c.very likely looking locality within 30 miles of the diggings at Gympig Creek, and as they had innq place to go deepgr than frpm tWP to three, feet before coming to the bed ropk, it may be easily understood that a party of tMr= teen m§n would try a large, extend p| . ground in the space of five weeks,, The,' results of their prospecting expedition werq decidedly unsatisfactory. They nowherq , found more, than/ the, cqlor, and in many places, not even that. . Gre,at . interest was, felt in their tour, and the Commissioner rendered the party all the assistance in Jiis. pow§r, and s.p sanguine were the people that the. " New Zealand crowd" had found something good, that it was with great difficulty they cou^d be brought to believe, the trntii-rr-whigh was proved by the return of the prospectors and the account they gave of the country they had examined. On their return to Gympie Creek th.ey • found the population very largely increased, although no fresh ground had been opened. Besides the prospector's claim there were six or seven others that were. turning put mo.derate.ly. well, but; .most were barely yielding •' tucker. 1 ' Eyen a,t tha r t time there was not ground. " for a tithe of the people on the spot, and loud and deep were the. grumbling and expressions of disappointment on all sides, I Oup visitor^ met several parties whp had arrived from the West Coast, and all o| them were vainly wisltung they had neverleft. ]Qay after day miners kept flocking in from the various gold fields, only to, ■ find on tjieir arrival that they h.ad b^en, following a will-o'-the-wisp A which had. lured them only to want and privations, o$ the most trying character, A/ ani<vU Pfttch of gold was fo\ni4 in ft gully spme 3Q miles from Gympie Creek, but it only ran a.bout two feet wide arid, wa^ like th.c dig-, gings at the latter place, evidently only a patch derived from a quartz reef at the head of the gully. Ou»informant's party, seeing that it was no use whatever in remaining, and having a little. money left, determined %o return to New Zealand, feeling thoroughly convinced that it /was. still the best field for the myi^r. Before* they left, many others arrived from the, West Coast, and, after ascertaining how matters stood, bewailed their folly in having left. The misfortune is that most, of those who would come back if they could have not the, means, of doing so, Our informant says that the condition of . the miners that have by this, time congregated at Gympie Creek must be pitiable, for he is confident that there is no gold field in the district, beyond a few patches. . As for employment, there is EOuie to be had ; there are no public works going on and farm and plantation labor is done, chiefly by South Sea Islanders. The con-/ ;dition of the colony generally is deplorable, /' and great distress has prevailed amongst, i the inhabitants for some time, Mr Rider* tells us that he has no hesitation in say-> ing that the rush to Queensland will prorej . the greatest "swindle" (to use his own term) the miners have experienced since,' the Port Curtis rush, and he cautions the, miners on the. West Coast against the folly of leaving. The preceding is noti from the lips of a discontented man who, did not try the place, but from one of a. i party, all of whom had ample means, and who could afford to give the^tound a fairtrial. They were some of the first on the diggings and tried the ground thoroughly, not only where tht diggings were situated^ but over a circuit of thirty miles around, them, and satisfied themselves that the. 1 country was not worth stopping in, and" ' that the gold at Gympie Creek was an accidental patch. . ...--.