Australian gold rushes Australian gold rushes During the Australian gold rushes, significant numbers of workers (both from other areas within Australia and from overseas) relocated to areas in which gold had been discovered. A number of gold finds occurred in Australia prior to 1851, but only the gold found from 1851 onwards created gold rushes. This is mainly because, prior to 1851, the colonial government of New South Wales (Victoria did not become a separate colony until 1 July 1851) had suppressed news of gold finds which it believed would reduce the workforce and destabilise the economy. After the California Gold Rush began
New South Wales gold rush the Fish River discovery, a man named Edward Hargraves discovered a 'grain of gold' in a billabong near Bathurst in 1851. Edward returned to New South Wales from the Californian goldfields where he was unfortunately unsuccessful. Hargraves decided to begin searching for gold in the state of New South Wales. The geological features of the country around Bathurst, with its quartz outcrops and gullies, seemed similar to those of the Californian fields. In February 1851, Hargraves and his guide, John Lister, set out on horseback with a pan and rocking-cradle, to Lewis Ponds Creek, a tributary of the Macquarie River