222 



kept the subject quiet, as much as the general ignorance of 

 the value of such an indication. "'' 



In 1844 and 1846, without knowing anything of the pre- 

 vious discoveries, Sir E. Murchison published upon scientific 

 grounds a prediction of the existence of gold in Australia. 

 The following account, given by himself, is of much interest 

 to Australians : — " Having recently returned from the 

 auriferous Ural Mountains, I had the advantage of ex- 

 amining the numerous specimens collected by my friend 

 Count Strzelecki along the eastern chain of Australia. 

 Seeing the similarity of the reeks of those two dis- 

 tant countries, I could have little difficulty in drawing a 

 parallel between them, in doing which I was naturally struck 

 by the circumstance that none had yet been found in the 

 Australian ridge, which I termed in anticipation the ' Cor- 

 dillera.' Impressed with the conviction that gold would, 

 sooner or later, be found in the great British colony, I learnt, 

 in 1846, with satisfaction that a specimen of the ore had 

 been discovered. I thereupon encouraged the unemployed 

 miners of Cornwall to emigrate and dig for gold as they dug 

 for tin in the gravel of their own district. These notices were, 

 as far as I know, the first printed documents relating to Aus~ 

 tralian gold." 1 have italicised the part which indicates that 

 Sir R. Murchison was not led to make his sagacious pre- 

 dictions because of knowledge of what have since been re- 

 vealed of earlier discoveries of gold by persons residing in the 

 colony. The following testimony of Count Strzelecki indis- 

 putably confirms this view : — " Nothing can give me greater 

 pleasure and comfort at any time than to bear my humble 

 testimony to the inductive power which you displayed on the 

 occasion of your predictions in regard to the existence of 

 gold in Australia ; and consequently I can affirm now, as I 

 did and do whenever necessity occurs, that I never mentioned 

 my discovery or supposed discovery of Australian gold to you 

 prior to your papers on the subject, nor after their publica- 

 tion." 



The effect of the discovery of gold in payable quantities 

 in 1851 gave a wonderful impulse to the search for gold in 

 all the colonies, and within a month of the establishment of 

 Victoria as an independent colony it became generally known 

 that rich deposits of gold existed within its borders. 



The results of the Select Committee appointed by the 

 Legislative Council of Victoria to consider the order of priority 

 of claims for gold discoveries in Victoria, is thus summarised 

 in Mr. Hayter's Year Book, 1885, p. 24 :— 



h See Rev. W. B. Clarke's evidence before a Select Committee of Leg. Council, 

 N.S.W., Sept. 1852. Pari Papers. 



c Presidential Discourse Trans. Koyal Geol. Soc, 1884 ; also Murchison's Siluria, 

 1852, pp. 450—451 



