• The Enduring Appeal of Gold
    Awake!—2005 | September 22

    • About the same time, gold was discovered on the other side of the world in the fledgling colony of Australia. Edward Hargraves, who had gained valuable experience in the California gold fields, came to Australia and found gold in a stream near the small town of Bathurst, New South Wales. During 1851, major deposits were also discovered at Ballarat and Bendigo, in the state of Victoria. When news of the discoveries spread, the rush began. Some who came were professional miners. Many, though, were farmhands or office workers who had never before swung a miner’s pick. Describing the scene in one gold-rush town, a local paper of the day declared: “Bathurst is mad again. The delirium of gold fever has returned with increased intensity. Men meet together, stare stupidly at each other, talk incoherent nonsense and wonder what will happen next.”

      What happened next? A population boom. In the decade following 1851, the number of people living in Australia doubled as optimistic prospectors converged on the country from all corners of the globe. Gold was discovered in varying quantities across the continent. When one rush slowed, another began. In just the year 1856, Australian prospectors unearthed 95 tons of gold. Then, in 1893, miners started coaxing gold from the ground near Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia. Since that time, over 1,300 tons has been extracted from what is described as “the richest square mile [2.5 square kilometers] of gold-bearing dirt in the world.” That area is still producing gold and now boasts the world’s deepest opencut gold mine​—a man-made canyon over one mile [1.5 km] wide, nearly two miles [3 km] long, and more than 1,200 feet [360 m] deep!

      Today, Australia is the third-largest gold producer in the world. The industry employs 60,000 people and extracts about 300 tons, or five billion dollars’ (Australian) worth, of gold annually.