The Gold Trail

Re-live Australia's goldrush period through the historic villages, museums and natural wonders along The Gold Trail which traverses through:

• Goulburn (Bungonia, Marulan, Tirrana, Towrang, Carrington)
• Upper Lachlan (Collector, Binda, Tuena, Bigga, Laggan, Peelwood, Gunning)
• Yass
• Adelong (Kiandra)
• Harden (Murrumburrah)
• Boorowa
• Young (Lambing Flat)
• Grenfell
• Forbes
• Bathurst (Trunkey Creek, Abercrombie Caves, Hill End, Wattle Flat, Sofala, Rockley)

Click here for more information about fossicking sites in Goulburn & surrounds.

Here is the story of the varied gold history of the Goulburn district...

Gold was discovered in the Goulburn district in 1851 and at first the town shared in the boom. People from Braidwood and other centres flocked in and the stores did a wonderful trade. Although the Goulburn district was originally extensive including the Argyle, Camden and King Goldfields, there was not significant discovery of gold within the area and Goulburn soon experienced a depression when the discovery of gold elsewhere meant that everyone left to go to the diggings. There have been many significant finds and workings of copper mines around Goulburn but none having ever attained any great degree of expansion.

The Goulburn 'Herald' of 7 October 1854, reported the discovery of gold by two prospectors from Braidwood at Rose [Rowes] Lagoon on the Federal Highway near Stillwater (the home of Miles Franklin where she wrote 'My Brilliant Career', published in 1901). When the news finally leaked out, stimulated no doubt by rumours of other small strikes, Samuel Davis, a partner in the Australian Stores, called a public meeting to stimulate interest in exploring the newly found field or any major discovery of precious metal. A £1000 reward was offered for the discovery of a payable goldfield in the Counties of Argyle or Georgiana. There is no evidence that this reward was ever paid to any claimant.

Nathan Mandelson and his wife came to NSW in 1833 and opened an inn at Bungonia. In 1840 he purchased the Goulburn Hotel as well as two adjoining lots, pulled down the old structure and erected the two storey building known today as Mandelson's of Goulburn and set about making the hotel Goulburn's premier social point. It was here that William Bradley (owner of the Goulburn Brewery & Steam Mills) and others met in 1846 to form the Goulburn to Sydney Rail Company and instigated the development of the first steam railway in Australia which opened in 1869. Mandelson was an astute businessman who bought gold from Braidwood, Turon and other diggings in the 1850s. After one trip he and Samuel Davis reportedly arrived in Goulburn from Braidwood with 1000 ounces of gold in their possession.

The discovery of a "rich and extensive gold field" in the Shoalhaven River near the township of Bungonia was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald in July 1851. A sample of the gold sent to Goulburn to be tested was pronounced to be "first-rate pure gold". The Shoalhaven River with its mountains and gullies, was described as likely to be "as rich in mineral as any part of the colony" with "plenty of the best firewood and in the season plenty of the finest fish… Mining in the summer must pay at all events, for then the water will be low, and the miners can get at the bed of the river in several places, and still have plenty of water to wash at all times, which will give it a superiority over all the other gold fields."

The Carrington Gold and Silver Mine was located on the road to Marulan north of Goulburn in the vicinity of the Towrang Stockade where today you can see the convict built bridge and convict graves.

The village of Tiranna on the Braidwood Road was pegged out in gold mining claims following a small find in 1878. There were reportedly 40 claims on the creek flat worked by about 60 miners and "the rate at which gold is got affords wages". Unfortunately, Tirranaville did not prove to be a viable field and many soon left disappointed leaving it to return once again to a sleepy hamlet.

Goulburn became quite notorious for the activities of promoters of what proved to be 'wild cat' mining schemes (flotations and syndicates) in the 1880s until the end of the century. Copper, gold and silver were promoted as possibilities in various local mines.

Possibly the closest the gold mining industry ever came within the Goulburn City precinct was in 1906 when a gold mining application was made to mine the Goulburn Racecourse (now the Showgrounds, Recreation Area and Paceway, adjacent Australia's oldest industrial complex - the Bradley Grange & Brewery). The application appears to have been refused. It was also proposed to sink a hole or two at nearby Garroorigang (the historic Hume family home) but this was not done. In later years, a few grains of gold were found when sinking a well there.

Although there was never any abundance of gold around Goulburn, it was around the early 1890s that several local inventions of "gold saving machines" were advertised claiming to successfully reduce the loss of gold in the washing process. So prominent was the invention of these machines that several years afterwards the Goulburn Evening Post (9/9/1905) reported at length the history of some of the more successful machines. There is no doubt that some of the machines gave very profitable results on the alluvial goldfields where there was an abundance of water, especially in the nearby fields of Araluen and the Shoalhaven.

Bushrangers

The district around Goulburn experienced several waves of bushranging including a wave that gained significant impetus with the discovery of gold which heralded in a new type of 'knight of the road' after the pattern of the English Highwaymen who, instead of shouting 'stand and deliver', called loudly 'bail up'. While there were many robberies within a close radius of the city, Goulburn itself enjoyed a charmed lack of molestation. There are numerous local bushranger stories including a particularly sad incident that took place between Frank Gardiner and Ben Hall's men at Tarago's Loaded Dog Hotel. Notably, although Goulburn has been described as the 'nursery of bushranging', it was in Goulburn that the law was eventually passed that made it illegal to harbour bushrangers and led to their eventual decline.

Contact the Goulburn Visitor Information Centre (or any of the other Visitor Information Centres along The Gold Trail) to receive a copy of the printed Gold Trail Visitor Guide featuring gold and bushranging information about the entire region with must see sites, attractions and activities.

You can view a copy online at: http://www.getaflashbook.com.au/flash-books/the-gold-trail/