The discovery of gold in Victoria was officially announced in July, 1851, and with great excitement the colony's rich goldfields were opened up one by one.

While all this madness was going on, an old hand named William McLachlan was employed as a shepherd's hut keeper all the way out on the Concongella pastoral run, about 80 miles beyond Ballarat and far beyond the scope of any known goldfield.

Prior to his employment at the Concongella run, McLachlan had spent some time at Buninyong, one of Victoria's first discovered goldfields, and he knew a bit about prospecting for gold.

So there he was in 1853, perched on the bank of Pleasant Creek, peering into his cooking dish which he was using as a gold pan. And a small but beautiful show of colour was shining back at him.

Although it wasn't much, McLachlan's discovery would soon lead to the opening up of one of Victoria's most prominant quartz mining fields, which is still yeilding gold to this day.

In this video, we're going to take a look at the brilliant gold mining history of Stawell!



SPECIAL THANKS TO

Greg Cameron, Kate van Dyck, Ron Coward, and The Stawell Historical Society for their tours, help and hospitality throughout the research and production of this video.

Stawell Rifle Club for allowing access to the Chilean mill ruins

Krause Bricks for allowing access to film the brickworks

Northern Grampians Shire Council for allowing access and photography of historical paintings of Stawell

Parks Victoria for allowing access to film mine ruins at Stawell

Stawell Gold Mines

Tony “Ashcat” Marsden for technical advice

Simon Cunningham for the frying pan full of gold

Clint Hickson for footage of the berdan pan

Noel Laidlaw for insights into historical mining law

The Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria https://www.pmav.org.au



REFERENCES

Video script with references (including for images, maps and plans) https://www.goldfieldsguide.com.au/bl...

The Gold Mines of Stawell, A Pictorial History. Greg Cameron

Shepherd’s Gold. C. E. Sayers

Stawell Past and Present. Maynard Ord

The Golden Years of Stawell. Robert Murray and Kate White

Chronology of Stawell, Gary Withers

The Pleasant Creek News

www.trove.nla.gov.au



Researched, written, filmed and produced by Michelle Ross
https:// www.goldfieldsguide.com.au
© 2024