Australian gold rushes of a unique national identity. Although not all diggers found riches on the goldfields, many decided to stay and integrate into these communities. In July 1851, Victoria's first gold rush began on the Clunes goldfield. In August, the gold rush had spread to include the goldfield at Buninyong (today a suburb of Ballarat) 45 km (28 m) away and, by early September 1851, to the nearby goldfield at Ballarat (then also known as Yuille's Diggings), followed in early September to the goldfield at Castlemaine (then known as Forest Creek and the Mount Alexander Goldfield) and the goldfield at Bendigo (then
Australian gold rushes Bayley and William Ford's discovery of gold at Fly Flat, Coolgardie was declared a town site, with an estimated population of 4,000 (with many more mining out in the field). The Coolgardie goldrush was the beginning of what has been described as "the greatest gold rush in West Australian history". It has also been described as "the greatest movement of people in Australia's history", but this is an exaggeration. The greatest movement of people in Australia's history was in the period 1851 to 1861 during the gold-rushes to the Eastern states when the recorded population of Australia rose by 730,484