THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



19 



MR. HOLTERMANN 

 AND THE HOLTERMANN NUGGET. 



That quartz lodes are sometimes remark- 

 ably rich in patches is proved by Kerr's 

 "Hundredweight" and Holtermann's "'Nug- 

 get." The former was found at Har- 

 graves, New South Wales, in July. 1851, 

 by a Wellington black, a shepherd in the 

 employ of Dr. W. J. Kerr, of Wallawa. 

 He observed some glittering substance on 

 the surface of a block of quartz, broke off 

 a portion with his tomahawk, and found a 

 mass of gold. He hastened home and 

 communicated the glad tidings to his mas- 

 ter, to whom he presented whatever gold 

 might be contained in the block. Dr. Kerr 

 lost no time in reaching the spot (is not 

 Kerr a Scotch name?) and tlie gold, which 

 was in three pieces and weighed 1,272 ozs.. 



was soon lodged in a Bathurst bank. The 

 grateful doctor presented the blackfellow 

 and his lirctlier with two flocks of sheep 

 (about 1,500), two saddle horses, a team 

 of 'bullocks and a (|uantity of rations. Re- 

 garding thi.s valuable hnd, Sir C. A. Fitz 

 Roy, in a dispatch to Earl Grey, dated 

 .\ugust 13, 1851, naively states: "I am 

 happy to say that although this excitement 

 still continues, and has renewed the mi- 

 gration of adventurers to the goldheld, it 

 has not unsettled the minds of those en- 

 gaged in industrial pursuits so much as 

 might have been expected ; agricultural 

 labours especially have not been suspended, 

 and I lielieve from information that has 

 reached me from various parts of the 

 colony, and from my own observation, 

 that a larger breadth of wheat has been 

 sown this year than has ever been sown 

 liefore." 



Another huge lump of reef gold, prob- 

 ably the largest mass of the precious 

 metal ever discovered in any part of the 

 world, was found in November, 1872, in 

 Beyers and Holtermann's claim at Hill 

 End, New South Wales. This slab of 

 gold and quartz, which has been called 

 Holtermann's "Nugget," was four feet 

 nine inches high, and over two feet wide. 

 It was valued at £12,000. which, however, 

 is probably an approximation only, as it 

 was crushed along with a quantity of other 

 stone. The late Mr. J. B. Holtermann, 

 who was one of the principal shareholders 

 in the mine, had himself photographed 

 along with the mass of gold shortly after 

 its discovery, and, later, had a woodcut 

 prepared from the photograph, which he 

 used in advertising some patent medicines 

 in which he was interested. Holtermann 

 built a large home at North Sydney, which 

 was later owned by Sir Thomas Dibbs, and 

 is now the North Sydney Grammar School. 

 Roth Holtermann and Beyers lost the 

 money that they made from the nugget. 

 Holtermann financed a number of unsuc- 

 cessful schemes, and Beyers put his money 

 into the Golden Grove Estate, Darlington. 

 but lost most of it, his solicitor absconding 

 with £60.000. 



The iiseftilness of the ^Iitseum as 

 a State institution for recreative in- 

 struction and research is greatly re- 

 stricted by the lack of space for exhi- 

 bition, for storage of specimens, and 

 for extension of the library ; more 

 workrooms, too. are needed if the 

 Museum is to pursue a forward policy 

 such as will bring it into line with 



modern museums. As the President 

 has said in his address of June 10. 

 T919, "the whole area of ground still 

 available should be covered with suit- 

 able buildings"; in fact, the time is 

 not far distant when more land should 

 be acquired to provide for future 

 needs. 



