The biggest gold nugget ever found lay just 3 cm below the surface.

1869

The Welcome Stranger, with 72 kg of pure gold, was dug up by two Cornish miners in Victoria on 5 February 1869.

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The event

• The Australian gold rushes1851 · Ophir (New South Wales) and Victoria. In February 1851 Edward Hargraves, back from the California diggings, panned gold near Bathurst. Later that year even richer fields were found at Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria. Diggers poured in from around the world: the colonies' population grew from about 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871. Gold made Melbourne one of the richest cities of the empire.

19th century

More amazing facts

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