Victorian gold rush in the Melbourne "Argus" on 8 September 1851, leading to a rush to the Mount Alexander or Forest Creek diggings, centred on present-day Castlemaine, claimed as the richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world. These discoveries were soon surpassed by Ballarat and Bendigo. Further discoveries including Beechworth in 1852, Bright, Omeo, Chiltern (1858–59) and Walhalla followed. The population of Melbourne grew swiftly as the gold fever took hold. The total number of people in Victoria also rose. By 1851 it was 75,000 people. Ten years later this rose to over 500,000. Surface alluvial gold was the first to be exploited.
1851 $50 Humbert 1851 Humbert $50 Ingot 1851 $50 Humbert The 1851 Humbert $50 gold ingot was an ingot produced by Moffat and Company, under the direction of Augustus Humbert (U.S. Assayer of the treasury) This "coin" while technically an ingot, was still used and unofficially considered currency. It was also the largest ingot produced during the California Gold Rush, weighing almost 2.5 oz. During the gold rush of 1849, the US Treasury department hired private companies to mint coins before they could properly set up a mint. The U.S. Treasury was much more practical and would often mint coins near the location