Photograph by C. R. Martin 

 AN AUSTRALIAN GOLD NUGGET COMPARED TO A $20 GOL,D PIECE 



The nugget weighed 2,159 ounces when found at Ballarat, Victoria, on June 15, 1858, and 



was sold for $50,000 



parks were laid out ; the University, Pub- 

 lic Library, and Museum established ; the 

 first Australian railway built, and plans 

 for the future knew no bounds. 



Reports of panning $100 to $200 per 

 day and of finding nuggets worth thou- 

 sands of dollars each upset even the most 

 sober-minded. "Farms, shops, ships were 

 alike deserted, not only by men on them, 

 but by their owners and masters. It was 

 shearing time, but there were no shear- 

 ers ; it seemed like that at harvest time 

 there Avould be no reapers." Even gov- 

 ernment officers and policemen deserted, 

 and order was kept and offices manned 

 by soldiers brought from Tasmania and 

 from England. 



The workings at Ballarat and Bendigo 

 justified the excitement. For the first ten 

 years, 1852-1861, the output was valued 

 at $486,000,000. From the Victoria field 

 have come 412 gold nuggets, each weigh- 

 ing over 100 ounces, 52 over 500 ounces, 

 and 12 over 1,000 ounces The weight of 

 the "Welcome" was 2,217 ounces and of 

 the "Welcome Stranger," found an inch 



below the surface, 2,520 ounces, worth 

 $50,000. 



Queensland's turn came next. One 

 small field after another was developed, 

 until in 1886 the famous Mt. Morgan 

 mine was opened. This wonderful mine, 

 literally a mountain impregnated with 

 gold, began by paying dividends of $2,- 

 000,000 a year. In 1889 the stockholders 

 received $5,000,000, and the dividends 

 for the first twenty years amounted to 

 $35,000,000. Although Mt. Morgan con- 

 tinues to produce $2,000,000 in gold a 

 year and is a leading factor in Queens- 

 land's annual gold production of $5,000,- 

 000 to $10,000,000, it is in reality a cop- 

 per mine ! The gold constitutes the fringe 

 of a mammoth deposit of copper, with 

 reserves estimated at 7,000,000 tons. In 

 several respects it is the most remarkable 

 mine in the world and ranks next to 

 Broken Hill as a dividend-payer. 



Tasmania had her mining excitement 

 with the discovery of tin at Mount Bisch- 

 off (1871), followed by the finding of 

 deposits of gold, copper, and silver. 



557 



