GOLD FEVER
Geelong played a crucial, but doomed, role in the mining rush of the 1850s
As the Olympic and Paralympic Games are dominating our television screens — the talk is all about gold.
But it’s not just sports people who are obsessed with the precious yellow metal.
Throughout history gold has been seen as a symbol of wealth.
Gold is valued for its shine, but is also used in medicine and technology like computers and electronics, because it’s a great electrical conductor and it doesn’t corrode.
A gold rush is a new discovery of gold that brings a rush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 1800s in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, South Africa and the US.
While Ballarat and its surrounding areas were at the heart of the Australian gold rush frenzy of the 1850s, Geelong also played a major part.
On July 7, 1851, Alfred Clarke, a reporter for the Geelong Advertiser, broke the story of the century when James Esmond, a former coach driver, discovered gold at Clunes. Esmond bought samples of his gold to Geelong to show Clark to prove his story. The Geelong Advertiser reported: “… that the long-sought treasure is at last found …”
In the first rush of gold fever, it was estimated that out of 9000 Geelong citizens 2500 left for Ballarat in the space of three weeks. The local workforce was strained.
In late 1851 Charles Sladen, a Geelong solicitor, said:
“Now I have to cut the household wood, milk the cow and groom the horse.” Then he added: “Anyway, Governor La Trobe has to do the same.”
But eventually the unsuccessful gold diggers returned to live in Geelong and set up businesses, and the town flourished during the gold rush period.
For one week in February 1853, the eyes of Australia were on Geelong as the Geelong Advertiser reported on the findings of the biggest nuggets yet discovered on the goldfields. Three large nuggets were found at Canadian Gully, Ballarat. On Wednesday, February 2, 1853, the Geelong Advertiser announced the discovery of the largest mass of gold in the world, which was called the Geelong Nugget.
While gold fever raged in the 1850s, a tale of two cities emerged. Discovery of gold put Ballarat on the map, not just in Australia, but worldwide as prospectors poured into the Victorian goldfields and to Geelong to buy provisions and equipment.
Geelong’s businesses were booming, but then it fell victim to conniving Melbourne merchants who distributed a false map throughout the British Isles that made Melbourne appear closer to Ballarat than Geelong.
According to the map, Ballarat was placed where Ballan is.
New prospectors were deceived into buying supplies from Melbourne, believing it to be the closest city to the goldfields. The ploy worked. When the skulduggery was discovered a new map was printed, but the damage was done and gold rush trade flowed into Melbourne.
In 1853 Andrew Love, son of Geelong’s first resident clergyman, discovered gold at a Steiglitz property.
But the gold rush came when a rich reef was discovered at nearby Sutherland Creek.
When the Geelong Advertiser broke the story of the gold discovery, 500 miners rushed to the Brisbane Ranges and staked claims.
At the height of the 1860s gold rush, Steiglitz township had more than 1500 residents, four hotels, a newspaper, a variety of shops and even an undertaker.
But the first flush of gold fever petered out and Steiglitz became a ghost town.
“… that the long-sought treasure is at last found . . . ” GEELONG ADVERTISER, 1 8 51