368 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 
industrious people and prosperous township of 12,000 inhabitants, 
having its own municipal council, sending two members to Parliament, 
and supporting not only its own industrial population, but forming a 
market for and a means of interchange with a large suburban accession 
of farmers and others whom the necessities or the inducements of a 
goldfield tended to draw to the neighbourhood. The town has for 
many years past been connected with the port of Maryborough by 
rail, and is now also so connected with Brisbane. 
The commercial prostration of 1866 was such as is rarely ex- 
perienced by any community, but among the handful of people then 
comprised within the limits of the Queensland territory it was felt 
with unparalleled severity. The resources of the Government and 
Legislature were taxed to the utmost to find relief from their own 
difficulties, to beep the unemployed in order, and to find outlets for 
their energy. Commercial and mercantile men were at their wits’ end 
to make ends meet when the news reached Brisbane of that timely 
discovery, which, from its easily accessible position from the ports of 
Brisbane, Maryborough, Noosa, and Maroochy, was soon the home of 
thousands of people; and from that time forward, with the assistance 
of other discoveries of the same nature, the prospects of the colony 
brightened, its character and credit were retrieved, and it went on its 
way rejoicing. It may have been that the pressure of hard times had 
a stimulating effect on the energy and industry of the people, for in 
the following year gold was discovered in the Gilbert Ranges, quickly 
followed by discoveries on the Etheridge and in the Central districts. 
During the five years, 1865-69 inclusive, the total yield of gold 
amounted to nearly a million and a-haif sterling, being <£1,465,146 ; 
that of copper, £383,762; coal, £67,666 ; andother minerals, £1.0,643 — * 
making, as I have said, a total of £1,927,217 ; the production of the 
precious metal having been nearly twelve times that of the previous 
five years, whilst the gross mineral production had been multiplied by 
six during the same period. Gold had been discovered at Ravenswood 
in 1868, but its production was not felt until 1870, when a small mill 
of five stampers was erected. Discoveries were also made in the 
Central districts about this time, and attention was directed to the 
inferior metals, as small shipments of manganese, galena, plumbago, 
black sand, antimony, and one ton of silver ore were reported during 
the next five years, as were also the production of quicksilver and the 
shipment of quartz specimens, implying further discoveries of the 
precious metal, of winch there were several of importance. The 
Ravenswood field already mentioned became a centre, and not only 
attracted a large population, but was the means of enabling prospectors 
to examine the surrounding country ; and so the Banning, Rochford, 
Kirk, Dreghorn, Mount Wyatt, Hillsborough, and other places were 
pospected aud gold discovered ; but by far the most important was the 
discovery of gold at the Towers, subsequently called Charters Towers 
— now, and for many years past, the premier goldfield of the colony, 
although it was for a time overshadowed by the mountain of gold in 
the Central districts ; it has, however, produced more gold than that 
famous mountain, and more than any goldfield in the colony. 
Prom 1870 the yield increased regularly ; and with Charters 
Towers dating from 1872 and the Palmer from 1873, the prospects of 
the colony were not only brighter than they had ever been, but gave 
