Australia 1851 was notable for the extension of representative Government to all the Australian colonies and for the first gold-field at Bathurst.
Early Rumours of Gold: Specimens had been found by convicts; Count Strzelecki, Mr Clarke and Sir R. Murchinson expressed their belief that gold existed in Australia.
Edward Hargraves 1851 : Hargraves, a Bathurst settler, returned from California, with a hunch about goldfields in Australia. He eventually discovered a gold-field on Summerhill Creek, near the Macquarie river.
Rush to the Gold Fields of Bathurst was at first checked by the reports of disappointed gold diggers, but afterwards increased by the finding of a nugget worth £4,000.
Government Gold Regulations: Commissioners were appointed to superintend the goldfields at Ophir, Braidwood and Maroo;and thirty shillings per month were charged for miner’s license.
Gold In Victoria – In 1851 Gold was found in Victoria by Esmond, at Clunes; also (through the reward offered by the Gold Discovery Committee), on the Plenty Ranges and Anderson’s Creek.
Gold in Ballarat – In 1851 Ballarat was opened up by the prospectors from Clunes and Buninyong; a miner having dug below the claybeds found pockets of gold and Ballarat became the richest field in the world.
Gold at Mount Alexander – 1852 Sandhurst on the Bendigo Creek, attracted great number of men ; Melbourne and Geelong were almost deserted.
Immigration During Australia’s Goldrush – Immigration raised the population from 70,000 (in 1850) to 400,000 (in 1856). Up to 1862 about £120,000,000 worth of gold was exported.