Temora was just what gold mining in NSW needed at the start of the 1880s – an exciting new gold field to breathe life back into an ailing industry.

The fraud and swindle built around several outrageously rich mines at Hill End in the early 1870s had eradicated investor confidence in goldmining leading to a serious lack of capital.

This was then compounded by a severe drought in the late 1870s leaving miners without the water they needed to process their gold ores.

While Temora didn’t solve the drought, it did make investors look again at the riches to be had from gold. It also became a magnet for the thousands of disillusioned miners eking out a living on the older goldfields.

For Temora was mainly an alluvial field – a classic golden ground where miners with limited capital could make a go of things. Not since the beginning of the Gulgong alluvial rush a decade previously had there been anything like this to mobilise the mining masses – and mobilise they did.

While the field sadly never fulfilled its early promise, its influence on the state’s gold mining industry was profound.

Below: Murrumbidgee Region, Geological map and mineral deposits. Reproduced courtesy of NSW Trade & Resources, Minerals & Energy.

As this minerals map from the early 1900s shows, there is a band of recently laid down alluvial gravels runnning up from Junee to Temora, then on to Barmedman and beyond.

These, coupled with the granite intrusions shown in red on this map combined to lay down a template for mining across the region – alluvial mining on the gold, reef mining on the red.

For a long time in the NSW gold story, no one realised there was gold this far west.

It was only with the discoveries at Junee c.1870 that goldmining gained a toehold here.

From there it was a case of prospectors drifting slowly northwards and new fields opening up first at Temora, then at Barmedman and then finally at West Wyalong around 1890.

THE MOTHER SHIPTON NUGGET

The most spectacular goldfind was the Mother Shipton Nugget. It was won from the Mother Shipton Mine which is still one of the historic reminders of Temora’s golden era.

The nugget, which broke into three parts, as it was dug out, weighed in at 308.35 ounces.

In 1885 the nugget was valued at 4,300 pounds ($8300). There is a replica of the nugget at the Temora Rural Museum.

The smallest piece of the nugget was presented to Queen Victoria and the largest section was displayed in the window of the Orient Steamship Co. in London While there the premises were broken into and the nugget was stolen and never recovered.

Today at Temora you can visit the site from which the nugget was won. There’s a vehicle bay and signage there on western side of Moroney’s Lane.

Your starting point from which to explore the goldfield and bushranger history of the district, however should be the Temora Rural Museum (visit >>), located on the main street at 29 Goldfields Way.

Senior staff located there have detailed local knowledge of these subjects.

Below: Main image: View of main street of Temora c. 1890. Reproduced courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW. Call No:At Work and Play 03217. Digital:bcp 03217. Inset: Street scene of miners outside store, Temora. Reproduced courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW. Call No:At Work and Play 02863. Digital:bcp 02863.