230 GOLD 



stamps, shaped like a pestle, and weighing from 600 to 900 Ib. 

 or more, deliver from 30 to 100 blows a minute on to the 

 masses of rock placed beneath them. Mining for gold from 

 veins in the solid rock is called vein-mining. 



In addition to free gold found in alluvial sands, and in the 

 solid rocks, there is the gold found in combination with other 

 metals. The methods for obtaining the gold from these 

 ores vary according to the minerals with which they are. 

 combined. The following is an account of the principal gold- 

 fields. 



Australia. 



1. Victoria. In the beginning of 1851 on the northern slopes 

 of the Great Dividing Range was situated the Ravenswood 

 sheep-run, many square miles in extent and supporting many 

 thousands of sheep. Part of it was called Bendigo's Creek, 

 from the name of a famous shepherd who worked there. 



On December 10, 1851, gold was discovered here, and by 

 the next year 40,000 miners were encamped on the spot. We 

 read that ' vast areas of ground were turned over and rifled 

 of their treasures. Whole forests of great iron-bark trees with 

 the dense undergrowth growing beneath them disappeared '- 1 



Gold had been found in several other places during the 

 preceding year, notably at Ballarat, and. a feverish ' rush ' to 

 the goldfields began. In Melbourne work was at a standstill ; 

 farmers, shop-assistants, lawyers, the crews from the ships 

 in the harbour, all rushed off to the goldfields, and later on 

 when gold-seekers from other parts of the world arrived, 

 tents had to be erected for their accommodation in the out- 

 skirts of Melbourne. The pioneers, as usual, suffered terrible 

 hardships, though as the gold country was situated among the 

 sheep-runs of the squatters, meat was available from their 

 flocks and herds, and we read to-day without a thrill that 

 butcher's meat rose from Id. to Qd. per pound. A cabbage, 

 however, cost 5s. 



1 Bernard Mannix, Mines and their Story. 



