Ophir gold diggings in 1851 - asset 4

Educational value

• This asset illustrates the first gold rush in Australia, near Bathurst, New South Wales, at the junction of Summer Hill and Lewis Pond Creeks - the Lister brothers, John and James, and Edmund Hargraves found payable gold there in February 1851, for which Hargraves was awarded £10,500 (worth $1,125,434 in 2004 values) by the NSW Government.
• It refers to the name 'Ophir', which was given to the gold field in honour of the Old Testament mining region from which King Solomon received gold - by the end of 1851, the rush at Ophir was over, with diggers moving to Turon, or further south to the Braidwood district.
• It indicates the relative isolation of these gold fields at that time.
• It shows how the first Australian gold rush diggers lived in makeshift accommodation, constantly ready to move on.
• It indicates probable use of the cradle introduced from California by Hargraves for alluvial gold washing.
• It provides an example of the work of George French Angas - a member of the pioneer South Australian family, Angas was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in Britain, and studied drawing and lithography; he drew this sketch in his second period in Australia from 1850 to 1861.

Year level

5

Topics Goldfields