Sir C. A. Fitzroy Evinced Little Sympathy With The
Discovery, And In A Despatch To Lord Grey Upon The Subject,
Expressed
his opinion that "any investigation that the Government might institute
with the view of ascertaining whether gold did in
Reality exist to any
extent or value in that part of the colony where it was supposed
from its geological formation that metal would be found, would only
tend to agitate the public mind, &c."
Suddenly, in 1851, at the time that the approaching opening of the
Crystal Palace was the principal subject of attention in England, the
colonies of Australia were in a state of far greater excitement, as the
news spread like wild-fire, far and wide, that gold was really there.
To Edward Hammond Hargreaves be given the honour of this discovery.
This gentleman was an old Australian settler, just returned from a trip
to California, where he had been struck by the similarity of the
geological formation of the mountain ranges in his adopted country to
that of the Sacramento district. On his return, he immediately searched
for the precious metal; Ophir, the Turon, and Bathurst well repaid his
labour. Thus commenced the gold diggings of New South Wales.
The good people of Victoria were rather jealous of the importance given
by these events to the other colony. Committees were formed, and
rewards were offered for the discovery of a gold-field in Victoria. The
announcement of the Clunes Diggings in July, 1851, was the
result; they were situated on a tributary of the Loddon.
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