Scotland’s Gold Rush

A recent land survey uncovered the story of a gold craze in Scotland that saw hundreds descend upon the Lomond Hills to find their fortune

Riches discovered in the 19th century New World saw gold fever grip the nation

TRANSPORTED on a miserable prison hulk and forced into unpaid labour in the baking heat, to a Scots convict, Australia would have seemed like a desolate, wretched place.

But 1851 was to be a momentous year in Australia’s history. In a world already gold-crazed after the 1849 Californian rush, frenzy followed when vein after vein of the precious yellow metal were uncovered in the relatively new-found continent.

The country’s wealth expanded massively and its population tripled in 20 years as hopeful prospectors flocked to its shores.

So, it was from a country on the brink of transformation, where fortunes were being made by the minute in the swirl of a pan, that the unnamed Scots convict wrote excitedly home to a friend in May 1852.

The gold-bearing rocks in Australia, he wrote, bore an uncanny resemblance to those on Bishop’s Hill above their home village of Kinnesswood, near Loch Leven. The reaction back in Fife was instant and sensational. Fife archaeologist Douglas Speirs says, “His pal went to have a look and cracked a few rocks open. Someone asked what he was doing. He told them, so they joined in the search.