Australian gold rushes a £1,000 reward as "the first actual producer of alluvial gold for the market". The following goldfields were discovered in New South Wales during July 1851: On 20 July 1851 gold was found near present-day Castlemaine, Victoria (Mt Alexander Goldfields) at Specimen Gully in today's Castlemaine suburb of Barkers Creek. The gold was first found by Christopher Thomas Peters, a shepherd and hut-keeper on the Barker's Creek, in the service of William Barker. When the gold was shown in the men's quarters Peters was ridiculed for finding fool's gold, and the gold was thrown away. Barker did not want his
Women in the California Gold Rush in San Francisco after a career in Europe. Lotta Crabtree, the daughter of Gold Rush immigrants, began her career dancing for miners at the age of six. Most single women came as part of a family group or as an entertainer. Many men did not find their fortune in the gold fields, and having a woman around to earn money with boarding, washing, cooking, sewing, etc. could mean the difference between the family living well and not. A few women had their own gold mining claims and came out west with the specific intention of panning for gold. As the