The Grenfell goldfield burst onto the NSW gold scene at the start of 1867.

It breathed new life into an industry that had been struggling to regain the impetus that characterised the early years of the 1860s.

The field was unusual in that reef gold mining dominated proceedings from the outset. The town of Grenfell sprang up alongside the new mines.

Prior to the discovery of gold here, the region had been best known for the Weddin Mountains – a well known bushranger hide out for Ben Hall and colleagues. Today you can easily visit the Weddin Mountains National Park as part of a short break in Grenfell.

In the the town itself you can visit the birthplace of renowned Australian poet Henry Lawson. He was born on the Grenfell goldfield just six months after it rose to prominence at the outset of 1867. And don’t miss a stroll down narrow, historic George Street, since replaced by Main Street as the commercial centre.

Grenfell’s gold mining ruins are concentrated on O’Brien’s Hill – site of the original gold discovery and today home to an array of mining relics, including a stamper battery, horse whim and mine shafts, all with interpretive signs.

Henry Lawson. Born on the Grenfell Goldfield in the shadow of O'Brien's Hill
Oh who would paint a goldfield, and limn the picture right, as we have often seen it in the early morning light … The azure line of ridges, the bush of darkest green, the little homes of calico that dotted all the scene.
Above: Extract from “The Roaring Days” by Henry Lawson.
Sketch: Ophir at the Junction. George Angas 1851. Reproduced courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW. Call No:PX*D 243. Digital:a1837006.

Henry Lawson was born on 17 June 1867 in the newly established goldfield town of Grenfell.

Previously living on the Pipeclay goldfields near Mudgee, the Lawson family was drawn to Grenfell that year to chase the opportunities open on the colony’s most significant new gold discovery since the Lachlan field at Forbes was developed in 1862.

This same wanderlust for the “next big thing” later drew the family back to the Gulgong goldfields, when these deep lead alluvial fields were opened up in the early 1870s.

Alluvial diggings held more opportunity for the small scale miner than the Grenfell field, with its focus on reef mining and need for significant investment capital to fund a mining operation.

His formative impressions of growing up on the goldfields later underpinned many of Lawson’s poems. These included one of his best loved works – “The Roaring Days” – published in 1896 at a time when the heyday of NSW’s gold mining was well past its prime. You can read the entire poem here via this link >>

To find out more about Grenfell’s Lawson festival, visit the festival website >>