The Gold Rush Of Australia

By Jack Wagon

A Gold Rush can make an ordinary person a millionaire in just one moment. It can be defined as a time of passionate colonisation of labour into a region where there has been a detection of enormous amounts of gold. Gold rushes happened in'th century in Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and the United States.

Gold rushes are generally marked with the upbeat, and optimistic feeling of something that is free-for-all. This makes it possible for anyone to become absolutely prosperous instantaneously. The definition given previously is what a gold rush was. A lot of people link gold rushes to the Californian gold rush, although it is a fact that the Australian gold rush remains to date as the richest gold rush of the world.

The Australian gold rushes began in'51 when Edward Hammond Hargraves went with his guide John Lister to Lewis Pond Creek. Here they filled and washed a few pans, and found that they contained gold. The news spread like wild fire, and over the next few days a number of other people from all occupations were seen to be digging as their life depended on it.

Hargraves did not get an immense luck from gold. However, Hargraves named the Bathurst goldfield Ophir. Afterwards, James Tom, who was a planter, stated that it was not Hargraves, but actually he, himself who discovered the gold. Even then, the decision of the government went in opposition to him. Hargraves was known as the Crown Land Commissioner of New South Wales. William Tom, and John Lister detained one more enquiry, just earlier than he died in'99, and then it came in support of the maintenance alleges that were made. (According to brother of James Tom)

The foremost discovery occurred in New South Wales, then in Clunes, Buninyong, Ballarat, and lastly Bendigo Creek. Soon after that gold was found in nearly all states of Australia. The earliest license of gold was given during'51 in Victoria. It was the time when a number of licenses were issued within the whole country.

The Victorian gold rush, after the Californian gold rush was the most immense amongst gold rushes of Australia. The gold rush had a massive significance, since it proved to be a turning point in monetary and political growth of Melbourne, and Victoria. During'51, more or less 250,000 ounces of gold was found.

The Australian gold rushes gave way for the development of major parts of the city. Railways and telephone lines were constructed. The sudden gathering of people gave way to multi-culture, and racism. It also marked the beginning of the Eureka Stockade, and the end of penal transportation.

In'52, 370,000 migrants entered the country, and the economy received a welcome boost. Victoria alone contributed to almost one third of the total gold output of the world in the'50s. In two years, the population had increased from 77,000 to 540,000. A fun fact to note here is that the total number of immigrants was more than the total number of criminals of the past 70 years that had landed there. The total population increased three fold from'51 to'71, from 430,000 to 1.7million people. - 33380

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