60 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



The Welcome Stranger Nugget. 



BY THE EDITOK. 



The article entitled "'The Lure of tlie 

 Big Nugget," which appeared in tlie 

 last issue of this magazine, attracted 

 the attention of Mr. Alfred Argies, who 

 was present when the nugget was un- 

 earthed, and in a most interesting let- 

 ter he has favoured us with a detailed 

 account of its finding. At that time he 

 was a boy of ten, and for some time 

 prior to the great event he had been 

 employed "to drive the horse and turn 

 the lior?;e every time the bucket came 

 up, until the horse wouUl learn to turn 

 himself." When luncii time came 

 young Alfred was accustomed to take 

 his "little porringer" and seat himself 

 right on the spot where the great nug- 

 get was sluml)ering only four inches 

 from the surface; for the top of the 

 nugget was all quartz and showed no 

 sign of the wealth underneath. He 

 pathetically says in his letter : "Was it 

 not a bit of bad luck to sit on 200 

 pounds of gold for a year and not 

 know it was there"? 



Before they found the nugget Deason 

 and Oates ("big, able men") had had a 

 "duffer" week, and there was no money 

 in the camp to i^ay for the previous 

 week's provisions. On Saturday night 

 the storekeeper refused to supply 

 them with any more rations, and the 

 men were naturally depressed. But on 

 Monday morning they went to work as 

 usual, and presently encountered a big 

 l)0ulder, which raised their hopes as 

 they made sure of finding a little gold 

 round it. In endeavouring to turn the 

 boulder over the miners "broke the 

 handle of their fancy pick and swore 

 some, for no man likes to break the 

 handle of his fancy pick." Then they 

 got a stringv-bark slab rail and that 

 too broke under the strain ; a long one- 

 inch iron bar was next tried and that 

 doubled u]>. But the miners' blood 

 was up, and Deason procured a good 



tough pole of box, and with a mighty 

 heave the boulder was turned over on 

 its back and the astonished men saw 

 that its under surface was a mass of 

 gold. For some time Deason and Oates 

 were so stunned that they were incap- 

 able of speech. 



But their troubles were not yet over, 

 for they had not pegged out the ground, 

 and their miner's rights had lapsed 

 and they had no money for renewal. 

 In their dilemma they sought advice 

 from Mrs. Argies, mother of Alfred, 

 who kept a small chemist's shop in the 

 nearby townshiji of Mt. Moliagul, and 

 was the local "medical man"; she hap- 

 pened to l)e on the spot on the event- 

 ful occasion, as Mrs. Deason had been 

 taken ill on the previous Sunday. Mrs. 

 Argies seems to have been a plucky 

 and resourceful woman and a good 

 general, for she quickly took command. 

 First of all Alfred was sent to bring 

 "tlie foreign photo-taker with his para- 

 phernalia." He duly came and saw and 

 photographed the nugget and the party. 

 Next, Deason and Alfred Argies were 

 instructed to go to old Ah Loo, the 

 Chinese storekeeper, and ask him for the 

 loan of ten shillings; Ah Loo was 

 known to be a Chinaman of substance 

 for lie had made £2000 at the diggings. 

 When Deason asked for the loan Ah 

 Loo jumped up and said "Whaffor you 

 ask me lendum money? You no deal 

 o' me. Whaffor"? At that moment 

 Alfred caught the Chinaman's eye, bec- 

 koned him into a little side room, and 

 said, "Plenty big nugget, you lendum." 

 That ))ut a different complexion on the 

 affair, and the now affable Ah Loo came 

 out and said, "All li, me lendum; no 

 care you no pay." With the ten shil- 

 lings the fortunate diggers were able 

 to provide themselves with the neces- 

 sary miners' rights and so make good 

 their title to the gold nugget. 



