GOLD 231 



These and several other goldfields were discovered as the 

 result of a reward offered for the discovery of gold within 

 200 miles of Melbourne. 



The Bendigo goldfield is fifteen miles long and three miles 

 wide. Many of the mines on it are very deep ; one called 

 the Victoria Shaft is 4,614 feet down. 



The town of Bendigo is the chief gold-mining town of 

 Victoria, and it is the third largest town in the state ; Ballarat 

 is the second. Other goldfields are situated in the centre and 

 east of Victoria, and of all the minerals found in the state, 

 gold is the most important. 



2. Western Australia. The most important goldfield of 

 Western Australia is East Coolgardie, 360 miles inland by rail 

 from Perth. It was discovered in 1892. The average yearly 

 rainfall is 10 inches, or less, so that the country is practically 

 a desert ; bare monotonous dreary sandy wastes with a few 

 bushes and gum trees here and there, ' a gaunt land stricken 

 with barrenness and thirst '. The long lines of Afghan camels 

 with their tinkling bells are the only objects which impart 

 a little life and interest to this depressing wilderness. 



The area of the goldfields is 632 square miles, one square 

 mile of which is so extraordinarily rich as to be known as the 

 ' Golden Mile '. It was discovered in 1893 and is near the 

 present town of Kalgoorlie. To the west of Kalgoorlie is 

 the town of Coolgardie, the Government Head-quarters of the 

 West Australian goldfields. Water is brought to these and 

 other mining towns in the neighbourhood by pipes from the 

 hills near Perth. 



Mount Margaret, to the north-east of Coolgardie, and 

 Murchison, 200 miles or so east of Geraldton, are also important 

 ' fields ', and there are others, for West Australia is the most 

 important gold-producing state of Australia, and is responsible 

 for half the total yield of the Commonwealth. 



3. New South Wales. Although gold was discovered in 

 New South Wales in 1851, and was for many years the most 

 valuable of the minerals produced, at present this state stands 



