THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD RUSH OF 1851.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 86, 10 June 1902, Page 5

THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD RUSH OF 1851.

Australia was gradually developing as an agricultural country when, 1851, an event occurred which caused a wild and impetuous rush to Port Philip, or Victoria, as it is now called. This was the discovery of gold at no great distance from Melbourne. The discovery was reported in the local paper, with the result that thousands of men of all classes from New South Wales and Tasmania inundated this hitherto peaceful community, and completeturned the place upside-down as it were. Gold was first discovered in June, and in less than six months no less than ten tons of the precious metal had been unearthed by the busy d iggers. The gold digger! Why, the very name fills one’s mind with excitement. The effect upon the then small town of Melbourne was almost miraculous. In the next few years nearly five hundred thousand people arrived from Europe and America. Nearly all those people brought money into the country, of course, with the hope of making much more. They only remained in Melbourne sufficiently long to furnish themselves with the simple equipment of tools, which was quite enough to enable them to prosecute the one and only pursuit which was then being seriously followed. Off they went to the diggings to try their luck. Such n mixed community was perhaps never seen before in the world’s history. Lawyers, doctors, architects, young sons of noble houses, musicians and city clerks, who had never handled pick or spade in their lives ; there they were, living under canvas in the mining camps side by side with the mechanic, the navy, the farm labourer, and “Cousin Jack” (as the Cornish miner is called in Australia), combined with a mild sprinkling of the scum of the universe. The “wash dirt” and “nuggets” were found in those days lying close to the surface ; deep shafts were unknown and unnecessary. Men had only to digaholeafew feet in depth, when they were “on the stuff.” Nothing was talked about from one end of the country to the oth?r but gold ! gold ! gold ! When one “find” was worked out, it would suddenly be rumoured that a party of diggers had been quietly getting pounds of gold daily for weeks at some other hitherto unknown spot. Down came all the tents, and there was what is usually called a “rush” to the new goldfield. At some of these “canvas towns,” as they were styled, no less than 20,000 men were frequently living t >gether in tents. Tent life in Australia is by no means itneujoyable. To this day many young men prefer to spend their holidays in the uush under canvas. They usually choose a site near a creek or lake, where both good fishing and shooting may often be obtained. Some of the scenes on the diggings and in Melbourne about this period simply beggar description. A man would suddenly, in digging, come upon a “jeweller’s shop.” A “je .seller’s shop” was the term applied to a number of nuggets clustered together, some of them, perhaps, as large as a breakfast cup. A “find” like this was often too much for many of them, who had perhaps never owned a ten pound note i i their lives They had got a small fortune ; why should they work any more ? No ! they’d clear out and pay a visit to the Old Country and stagger their old “pals” at Home with their suddenly and easily acquired gains. They would manage to get down to Melbourne somehow, having t > pay an e aormous sum for their fare. As there was not nearly, suificieut house accom-

modation for them when they arrived at their destination, many were com pelled to live in tents on the south side of the E ver Yarn, on which Melbourne is situated. They would arrive with the full and solid intention of going “Home,” but very few of these men ever saw the shores of old England again.—-From “When Australia Went Gold Mad,” by Joseph Gillott.