1851 … and who could resist the lure of gold. As the frenzy of the new goldfields swept across the colony, a wave of fortune seekers descended first upon the first discovered field at Ophir and thereafter to new discoveries around the Turon, Mudgee, Goulburn and Braidwood.

As the drama unfolded throughout the year, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper was there recording the events. Selected extracts included here let you read the stories as they were reported at the time.

1852 was the year that NSW’s goldrush started to face up to a reality check. The intoxicating opening months of the gold saga when anything seemed possible and no one could guess at what would happen next had been and gone leaving behind a serious hangover.

Flooding on the western goldfields had inundated many creekbed workings on the Turon and disrupted mail and gold escort services. Meanwhile unrest over the gold regulations was stirring amongst the diggers while news in from England was demanding to know how the government had let a hundredweight of gold be grabbed with no recompense to the state coffers.

Still – there was much gold there to be had and amidst all this people went about the business of getting what they could.

If there was one issue that defined 1853 it was without a doubt that of gold licenses. Getting the balance right between the interests of the state and those of the diggers nearly led to uprisings in NSW and across the border the seeds of insurrection were brewing on the Ballarat fields.

All in all this made for a very restless year as miners moved between fields and indeed across state borders in search of the best gold and the best licensing deal. For these were still the salad days of the fields, when easy returns from working the surface ground were to be had if you were only in the right place at the right time.

To hold fast to your ground now – or to up stakes and follow the rumours to a new field? Decisions, decisions …

It’s one thing to see a speckled collection of gold flakes looking up at you after you’ve washed a panful of earth, quite another to stumble onto a nugget you can hold up in your hand.

There’s something about nuggets and the instant bonanza they represent that has always excited the imagination of gold seekers, especially in the heady early days of a field when the surface alluvial ground is still largely unworked.

This was a big issue for NSW gold as while it had plenty of gold flakes on offer, the Victorian fields are renowned around the world for their unusually large and abundant collection of nuggets. This in turn was a major incentive luring people south of the border in 1854.

One of the most memorable events for gold in NSW in 1855 came in May that year when the first ever colonial branch of the British Royal Mint was established in Sydney. Planning for the mint went back to late 1852 / 53 when it was realised that unprocessed gold was increasingly being used as “black market” currency.

Hence from May 1855 onwards regular supplies of gold from the banks, private individuals and the gold escorts were delivered each week to be turned into coin of the realm. By the following October it was reported that 14,000 oz of gold each week was being processed this way.

This was the year that the NSW gold rush got its mojo back. After a heady start in 1851, things in NSW had quickly gone into decline as the remarkable finds from Victoria attracted both the mass of public attention and miners to boot.

With numbers few and far between on the NSW diggings things were hence in the doldrums there for a few years. All this was to change though in 1856 with a new series of exciting discoveries on the western goldfields.

As NSW surged back as a re-emerging gold prospect, an influx of Chinese miners were amongst those who headed off to the diggings. This upsurge coincided with Victorian initiatives to discourage new Chinese immigration onto their fields via a £10 “Chinese” entry tax amongst other measures. This in turn made Sydney a desirable entry point to the colonies for Chinese miners.

Perhaps the most significant legacy for 1857 in NSW gold mining lore was the introduction of new goldfields legislation that adopted the Victorian system of issuing Miners Rights rather than licences.

This system which was introduced into Victoria in 1855 in the wake of Eureka rebellion did – as the very name articulates – identify certain rights on which the miners could rely. This included the right to select a quarter acre of Crown land on the goldfields for a residence.

The introduction of the NSW legislation – AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS RELATING TO THE GOLD FIELDS – was the result of much considered parliamentary debate and investigation that drew heavily on the Victorian model.

Prior to 1858 most of the real excitement on the diggings in NSW and Victoria had come from alluvial gold discoveries. Rich though these may have been, it usually doesn’t take too long for a determined mining community to pick an area clean.

Reef gold though has no such limitations as you can keep tracing the gold bearing veins down deep into the earth, extracting and crushing the ore and hence getting the gold from its source.

1858 was the year when the gold changed its focus – when the real excitment came from the potential of exploiting these vast gold reserves.

A feature of the rise in importance of reef gold mining was to highlight the need for support industries on the goldfields.

Just as stores and blacksmiths were needed as a common resource, so too were quartz crushing plants.

While major company operations might look to establish their own plants, small scale miners working in syndicates needed to outsource this process. Likewise some relied on carriers to transport the ore from their mines to a crushing plant which was often some distance away.

Throughout 1859, the role of investing in support industries and also in roads and other social infrastructure increasingly featured as crucial to the next stage of goldfields development.

While the late 1850s was defined by the rise of reef gold mining prospects and the consequent development of settled communities, but this was only half of the story. Not everyone wanted a settled existence on the fields.

Many still sought out the boom times of a new alluvial goldfield where they could make their fortune with little capital, a moderate amount work and a bit of luck. Unfortunately amongst the diggers of good repute that favoured this lifestyle, there was also a very significant number of nere-do-wells ever willing to put their own self-interest above all other concerns.

Unfortunate also was the fact that the alluvial mining community included the increasing number of Chinese then flocking into NSW. With existing animosity and resentment already widespread against the Chinese this was a powderkeg ready to blow should any newly discovered field be rich enough to attract a real crowd.

This was the year that NSW finally resolved the issue of Chinese miners on the fields – much to the detriment of the ‘Celestials’. Ever since Victoria had imposed an entry tax on Chinese miners in 1855, Sydney had become a landing depot where Chinese could disembark for free and then walk across country to the Victorian fields. Once en route however, many discovered the local goldfields were quite sufficient to their needs and so stopped off along the way.

This had resulted in some significant clashes over the years including in March 1858 when the Chinese were driven off the Tamabaroora diggings. By the start of 1861 calls for NSW to step into line with Victoria and effectively ban Chinese immigration were sounding loud from goldfields across NSW. Additionally many wanted the Chinese expelled from the fields they were already on and at Lambing Flat riotous miners were not prepared to wait any longer for a political solution.

The issue of law and order on the goldfields was centre-stage in the public mindset in the wake of the riots at Lambing Flat in 1861. Part of the problem of getting a quick and efficient response to the affray was the fact that law and order operatives were scattered across a variety of disparate police units and not part of a single organisation.

Moves to remedy this saw a single agency – the NSW Police Force – commence operations on 1 March 1862 and the immediate challenges they faced in rural NSW were huge. Bushranging – always a latent problem – was totally out of control, in the wake of a massive influx of people onto the diggings around south western NSW.

Adding to this potent mix was the discovery of new fields of astonishing richness on the Lachlan at Forbes. With vast amounts of gold now being shipped across the mountains to Sydney, all the bases were loaded by the middle of the year.

And lo – it came to pass that for two score months and more a great scourge was laid upon the goldfields and rural villages of central and south west New South Wales.

First the drought already underway continued to result in dried up the waterholes bringing gold recovery to halt as paydirt stockpiles grew in the hope of a reprieve in the weather. Then, when this finally came, it brought with it floods that ravaged many diggings.

Such natural vicissitudes though people could deal with. What troubled them beyond measure was the bushranging pestilence that Johnny Gilbert and his cohorts visited upon the good order, hopes and working aspirations of the communities across the region.

Here in an arbitrary moment one’s small business could be destroyed, life threatened, precious possessions lost and travellers left penniless in an unforgiving landscape.

Thank goodness for the Christmas / New Year break is what everyone must have been thinking at the start of 1864. One of the features of life on the goldfields from the outset was the way in which religious observances were strictly adhered to – at least so far as the holidays went.

Sunday was indeed a day of rest, a day to down tools and catch up with community events. Christmas also was a time to pack off home for a break and a sojourn with family and distant friends.

Hence as Johnny Gilbert and Ben Hall headed home to their summer campcaves in the Weddin Mountains and occasional fireside refuge at a supportive settlers cottage, everyone had time to draw breath at last.

And the question on everyone’s lips – would they up pistols and head off to quieter parts as Frank Gardiner seemed to have done – or would they be back?

1865 was the year that chemists breathed new life into NSW’s ailing gold mining industry.

It didn’t happen all at once – in fact the breakthrough announcement came late in the year. But for its significance and importance in what was to unfold on the NSW fields over the decade ahead, this single discovery in the laboratory was to unlock vastly more riches than any new goldfield announcement could ever conceivably rival.

The problem you see had all to do with Mercury – not the planet, but rather that most ancient and ambiguous of metals that had an amazing ability to grab hold of any gold passing by – at least most of the time.

Mercury was at that time the be all and end all of the gold recovery process for any pulverised material emerging from a stamper mill. Accordingly if you wanted to look at the key problems holding back reef gold mining, look at how much gold got washed by the mercury and lost in the tailings.

“I would advise persons desirous of quartz reef gold mining to commence with sufficient capital. Companies require around say £5000, so as to enable them to operate at once, with four engines on different reefs, whereby the results would be reduced to greater uniformity. I believe that success may be commanded in this as in most other fields of industry, if necessary caution be observed.”

“Before gold can be got nowadays, extensive works have to be undertaken. A large amount of capital must be expended before any return can be expected. Thus work on the gold fields is assuming a totally different aspect, and it will in future have to be undertaken by a totally different class of miner to those who first flocked to the diggings.”

The ’60s were indeed the decade of radical change for the goldfields. By 1866 the heady excitement of just years ago – the Kiandra, Lambing Flat and the Lachlan fields – was way gone. In its place, a simple formula was emerging. There was plenty of gold there – only you had to first spend a quid to make a quid.

When the NSW Government wiped away its old gold mining legislation in spring 1866 and replaced it with a new regime, the change was tipped to usher in a new beginning for the State’s goldfields.

Out with the boom and bust settlements populated by transient mining communities. In with settled communities based around long term mining ventures needing both capital and labour to develop their resources. Then, as the ink was still drying on the legislative print, just such a community lined up as the litmus test for the new regime.

News of the discovery of a new boom field next to the Weddin Mountains broke in September and by Christmas around 3,000 people were present on the Emu Creek field in the process of building a new town called Grenfell. What happened next was undoubtedly THE mining story of 1867.

When Edward Hargaves announced news of his discovery of a vast goldfield across central west NSW in 1851, few would have guessed that he had massively underestimated the true extent of the gold bearing region.

By 1868, it was becoming apparent that the whole of south west NSW along the Lachlan Fold Belt was in effect a massive goldfield. It was during this year that the impetus provided by the major investments in the Grenfell field spread outwards as new reef gold mining operations sprang up across the region.

That there was gold in abundance was clear beyond measure. The only problem was that sometimes there was a bit too much rock mixed in with it.

This was a very busy year for the expansion of quartz reef mining in NSW. All the existing fields were ticking along nicely and Victorian company interests were starting to cross the border to seek out new opportunities.

These company interests were more focussed on developing new fields as most of the existing reefing areas were held by small syndicates and a company could not easily buy into enough ground to make the investments needed in machinery and ore processing worthwhile.

Starting afresh in a new field and taking out a lease over a large area of ground was a much preferred option and this saw some significant new ground opened up at Trunkey Creek thanks to “speculators in NSW being loath to see all the ground taken up by their Melbourne prototypes.”

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. This highlighted the need for investment regulation and helped hasten the formation of the Sydney Stock Exchange.

1871 was the year when alluvial mining staged a comeback on the NSW fields. The place was Gulgong, adjacent to Mudgee, and the field was a very significant one indeed.

Finally miners who hadn’t the resources to start their own small scale reef venture and didn’t fancy working for a company, could look to the ‘good ol days’ of a thriving alluvial goldrush.

This allure would ensure that Gulgong stood alongside Hill End / Tambaroora as the other big name field of 1871. Alongside these potent two icons, many of the established fields – especially Emu Creek at Grenfell – continued to prosper and generate a large degree of optimism for the future of gold mining in general in NSW.

My goodness – what a year this was.

1872 stands as the defining year of the NSW goldfields – the year that cemented their place forever in the annals of the world’s richest gold discoveries and the year that also contained the imminent seeds of demise for the NSW gold mining industry.

The defining image that captures the mayhem and madness of that 12 months will always be that of the massive specimen of gold and quartz removed from the Beyers and Holtermann claim on Hawkins Hill in late October.

Bernard Holtermann had been the former part owner of the mine prior to it being floated as a public company earlier in the year and he retained a key role in its management. It was however, no more his big rock than any other of the company’s many shareholders. He was just flamboyant enough to claim all the PR rights.

Picking up where 1872 left off, the fortunes of the state’s goldmining seemed revolve ever more closely around news emerging from the Hawkins Hill mines at Hill End.

Star performing claims like Beyers / Holtermanns and Krohmanns carried the hopes of many at this time as some of the very few companies to actually pay dividends to their shareholders.

For most investors though there was only bad news to be had as making money from their investments became a distant dream and calls went out for people to reimburse the unpaid portions of their share purchases in a bid to get additional working capital into failing mine ventures.

Come 1874 and the results were pretty much in – NSW had blown it.

Over the past few years over £1 million had been invested in reef gold mining in the state with the nett effect of taking it back a decade to a time when the bulk of the productivity of the goldfields was in the hands of small scale miners working with primitive equipment.

In the case of reef mining ventures, this meant small mining syndicates taking up former company leases and working these on a tribute basis. For alluvial miners it was pretty much steady as you go, with the renowned Gulgong / Home Rule fields continuing to prosper alongside new fields such as the Currajong / Billabong field at Parkes. Certainly some mining companies were still standing – especially at the major grounds of Hill End and Adelong – but it was slow going all round for the reefers.

The arrival of the NSW Department of Mines in 1875, was a major response on the part of the Government to the many repeated calls for it to take a far more scientific and strategic approach to the development of the state’s mineral wealth.

“This was not the end of cavalier, ad hoc mining operations in NSW, it was not even the beginning of the end. It was however the end of the beginning.” [quote modified with apologies to W. Churchill].

Looking back on it from our perspective today, 1875 definitely marked the point at which things get much less dramatic in relation to the overall gold story in NSW. With almost every step forward now needing considered application of capital and regulatory supervision, the days of the wild ride where Government struggled to play catchup with events unfolding on the fields was definitely over.

The tenor of the debate changed in 1876. Enough already of of the company collapses and the problems with raising capital. The time had come for some heavy lifting from the Government and so the focus was on the future with rewards for the discovery of new goldfields and also for proving payable quartz veins existed below 800 feet in depth in NSW.

Then there was the positive afterglow resulting from a successful investment in a major NSW gold exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in the US.

“Though the result of only a few months labour in collecting and arranging, we have made known to the world that the mineral resources of this Colony are exceptionally great, and have attracted to the Colony visitors from the continent of Europe, some of whom say they had scarcely even heard of such a place as New South Wales until they visited the Philadelphia, Exhibition.”

The sad news for mining during the year was that the drought continued unabated and this effectively forced many miners off the fields. Some had the good fortune to actually mine in farming areas where they could switch between farming and mining pursuits easily.

However, in the middle of a drought that had already been running for three years, farming wasn’t good for that much either. Tough times indeed.

Considering the extent of the auriferous deposits in this Colony (estimated at 35,000 square miles), it is quite evident that the number of miners (7,074) engaged in gold-mining, and the amount of capital (£306,532) invested in gold-mining plant, is altogether inadequate. In the absence of proper appliances, the few miners we have may be said to have performed wonders; but there is a limit beyond which they, unaided by suitable machinery, cannot go.

“Hence it is that in most cases our larger quartz veins and deeper alluvial deposits have been neglected, because, to be worked profitably, they must be worked systematically on a large scale, aided by all the labour-saving arrangements and appliances available. It is true that extensive works are in operation on some few of our gold-fields, but they are barely sufficient to show what can be done by good management and well-directed enterprise.”

The days when gold was the only show playing at the NSW mining theatre were well and truly gone by 1879. Yes it still stood as the feature act on the new Mining Department’s annual report, but other mineral and energy ventures were also very much focus of operational interests.

As the introduction to the report noted …”The efforts made during the past year to collate and disseminate full and correct information respecting new discoveries, as well as to furnish reliable information concerning mineral lands available for occupation for mining purposes, have been persistent, both in the head office and in the offices throughout the country.

“The reports from all mining sectors are on the whole gratifying … and on most of the gold-fields, as well as on the tin-fields, there was a marked improvement towards the end of the year.”

Breaking news! there’s life in the NSW goldfields yet.

Come the new decade and a surge of new goldfields appeared to breathe fresh energy into an industry struggling to regain the economic ground lost through the early 1870s speculative boom.

Foremost on the list of new developments were the breakthrough discoveries at Temora and Barmedman. Additional fields were also opening up way out west at Tibooburra [Mount Browne] and on the east of the Great Divide at Copeland north of Newcastle and on the south coast around Moruya.

Also heralding a bright future for mining in the state was the long awaited publishing of the geological map of NSW. Finally some strategic government investment in mining resources was beginning to bear fruit.

By 1882, gold mining was becoming a highly decentralised operation across NSW with each operation having its own distinctive character and challenges to face in turning a profit.

For many miners at this time the ongoing drought that had plagued the western and southern goldfields since the mid 1870s maintained its vice like grip on operations.

Sadly the potential of the Temora fields was in question after the main alluvial lead was lost though the adjacent Barmedman operations were doing well.

Meanwhile the Albert Goldfield in the far west of the state at Tibooburra was redefining the word ‘challenging’ in relation to gold mining operations, while major investment in sluicing operations at Kiandra were promising a rival of this field’s fortunes.

Come 1884 and gold mining was once again in the doldrums. The optimism and promise that the new Temora fields had brought to the new decade was long gone – together with much of the new field’s gold.

Yet again – the ever present drought conditions “seriously retarded mining operations during the first half of the year, and almost entirely prevented any attempt at prospecting. Added to this, the discovery of silver lodes in various parts of the Colony drew away numbers of miners from many of the gold-fields.”

As the report noted however “in some of the older gold-fields no doubt many of the alluvial deposits have been so far exhausted that they no longer yield remunerative employment to the individual miner, though there are strong grounds for believing they would if worked on a large scale with suitable appliances prove profitable.”

“The output of gold in 1886 is, I regret to say, less than that of 1885, but the decrease in quantity amounts to only 2,319 oz., and in value to £12,371.

“Each year I have been hoping that the lowest point had been reached and that the development of our auriferous deposits would have again attracted the attention of capitalists, but, perhaps partly on account of the drought, and partly on account of the general depression, the hope has not yet been realized.

“During the year, a few discoveries more or less important were made, but with the exception of the deposits at Fairfield, they have not attracted much attention.

“The late abundant rainfall may, it is hoped, lead the further testing of many of our older gold-fields, which have for some years past been neglected in consequence of the scarcity of water.”

Alas the rains that flooded the mine workings back in 1886 were no drought breakers. For a small while there was water, and then yet again – there wasn’t.

“When preparing my Report for 1887 I had the pleasure of inviting attention to an increase in the output of gold, and I then hoped we had reached the lowest point, and were on the eve of more prosperous time in gold-mining, but the severe drought, and possibly to some extent other causes, have proved my hope fallacious.

“During last year, in spite of the drought, considerable prospecting was carried on, though no doubt under considerable disadvantage, and some finds were made which give promise of considerable future yields.

The number of miners engaged in gold-mining, more or less constantly during 1890, was 12,589, being an increase over 1889 of 2,397.

The number engaged in alluvial mining was 5,597 Europeans and 107 Chinese = 6,304. The number engaged in quartz mining was 6,285 – all Europeans.

Dividing the quantity of gold won by the number of miners, the result obtained is that each miner appears to have earned 10 oz. 3 dwts. of gold, valued at £36 11s. 3d. during the year.

A reference to the reports of the Wardens and Mining Registrars will however show that a large proportion of the miners have been engaged in prospecting.

The worst financial depression NSW has faced was not in the 1930s, but rather four decades earlier in the 1890s.

The 1890s depression was characterised by a severe financial crisis that saw more than half the various trading banks suspend payments and many non-bank insitutions fail. By comparion only a few small insitutions failed in the 1930s. Likewise unemployment is assumed to have been even worse in the 1890s financial meltdown.

In this climate, any hope of serious private investment in mining disappeared and the government looked to encourage the unemployed to get out of the towns and cities and into gold prospecting.

Was there anywhere in NSW that didn’t have a gold mine in 1900?

One of the most astonishing features of this industry at the start of the 20th century was just how widespread it was across various centres of the state ranging from the coast, over the ranges, the western slopes and out to the very inland desert country on the South Australian border.

As a result of this widespread activity gold recovery volumes were back at levels not seen since the heady days of the 1870s. This time around however it was very much a case of quiet widespread industry winning the gold, not speculative bonanzas flourishing in a couple of marquee fields.

“As an illustration of the general prosperity which has of late prevailed, there has been a satisfactory advance in the output of practically all metals and minerals with the exception of gold, and this is the more remarkable when it is considered that the prices of the industrial metals have not been generally favourable.

“Gold-mining is practically the only branch of the mining industry which has lagged behind. It is difficult to explain why gold-mining – the industry which first attracted population to the State – should be in a comparatively unsatisfactory condition, more especially in view of the fact that the occurrence of the precious metal in New South Wales is so widespread.

There is no doubt that the steady demand for labour in many settled industries is more or less responsible for the decline in gold-mining; meanwhile it is satisfactory to know that the possibilities of a revival are always good.

The total production of gold in the State to the end of 1920 is estimated at 14,797,514 oz fine, valued at £62,855,933.

The gold won in this State during 1920 amounted to 48,907 ozs. fine, valued at £207,746, being a decrease of 16,932 ozs. fine, and £71,920 in value as compared with the previous year. The return is the lowest recorded since the fir’st discovery of payable gold in Australia in 1851.

The value of the output from the principal gold producing mining divisions is as follows :–Canbelego, £44,835; Adelong, £:l7,696; Gundagai, £:21,193; Hill End, £12,704; and Araluen, £9,465. The yield from dredging was valued at £63,056, and shows a decrease on the amount won by this method in 1919 of 3,202 ozs. fine, and £13,602 in value. The return for 1920 was furnished by 14 bucket dredges and 1 pump dredge, valued at £92,373, and 126 men were employed in this branch of the industry.

The total production of gold in the State to the end of l930 is estimated at 15,001,166 oz. fine, valued at £63,720,865. The gold won during 1930 amounted to 12,493 oz. fine, valued at £53,066, which represents an increase of 4,997 oz. fine, and £21,224 in value, as compared with the previous year.

Of the production recorded, 3,620 oz. were obtained from the treatmcnt of silver-lead ore from the Broken Hill field. The value of the gold production represents about one-half per cent. of the total mineral production of the State for 1930.

In the closing months of the year a noticeable activity was manifested in this branch of the industry, and a large number of prospectors, some thousands of whom were assisted from the Prospecting Vote and Unemployed Relief Fund, were trying their luck on the old gold fields of the State. No finds of partioular note have been reoorded, but encouraging results were achieved in many localities.