These two big name, golden icons were really just the one goldfield that developed in two discrete stages.
Tambaroora was a high profile alluvial field established at the outset of the gold rush frenzy in the early 1850s. It was also the site of one of the first company funded reef gold mining ventures in Australia.
Hill End was the younger cousin that grew up quietly just down the road over the 1860s.
This quietude ended in the early 1870s though when the name of Hill End became synomymous with fabulous wealth and scandalous swindles.
Just imagine a vast underground treasure chest 400 metres long and 50 metres deep filled with gold. There was such a treasure chest once. It was buried 20 metres below the mine entries dotted along the slopes of Hawkins Hill, Hill End.
In an era noted for its dramatic gold discoveries, the sheer richness of this area’s quartz veins was unparalleled. It was from this treasure chest that Hill End’s golden legends were drawn in the opening years of the 1870s. Speculators also dipped deep into Hill End’s renown. With investors in Sydney clamouring to pour their money into Hawkins Hill’s mines, the town provided unlimited opportunity for fraud and swindle. Almost overnight the tiny rural village grew into one of the largest towns in inland NSW.