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| − | [[Image:Nerrena Fossickers in the Creek Nerrena.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Nerrena Fossickers in Nerrena Creek outside Ballarat]]
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| − | The '''Victorian [[gold rush]]''' was a period in the history of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] in [[Australia]] between approximately [[1851]] and the late [[1860s]].
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| − | During this era, Victoria dominated the world's [[gold]] output. [[Ballarat]] for a while was the richest place on earth in terms of gold production.<ref> Weston Bate, ''Lucky City: The first generation of Ballarat, 1851-1901''( 1978) </ref>
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| − | Gold discoveries in [[Beechworth]], Ballarat and [[Bendigo]] staggered the world and sparked gold rushes similar to those of California in 1849. <ref>David Goodman, ''Gold Seeking: Victoria and Calfornia in the 1850s'' (1994)</ref> At its peak some two tonnes of gold per week flowed into the Treasury Building in [[Melbourne]].
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| − | The gold era hurled Victoria from a sheep grazing economy based around wealthy squatters, into an emerging industrial base and small (yeoman) farming community. The social impact of gold was that Victoria's population boomed and the lack of available land for small farming generated massive social tensions. Those on-going tensions around land and selection (small farming) culminated in the Kelly Outbreak of 1878. <ref> John McQuilton, ''The Kelly Outbreak 1878-1880; The geographical dimensions of social banditry'' (1979)</ref>
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| − | It was gold that created the growth and power of Melbourne over its rivals; this is witnessed in the rail networks radiating out of Melbourne to its regional towns and ports. Politically, Victoria's goldminers led the world with the introduction of male franchise and secret ballots, based on Chartist principles. As gold dwindled, pressures for land reform, protectionism and political reform grew and generated social struggles. <ref> Antony O'Brien, ''Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields''</ref> <ref> I.D. McNaughton, 'Colonial Liberalism, 1851-92', in Gordon Greenwood (ed.) ''Australia: A social and political history'' (1955)</ref> A Land Convention in Melbourne during 1857 demanded land reform. Melbourne, or "Smellbourne" (due to the stench of the tanneries along the river) became one of the great cities of the [[United Kingdom|British Empire]] and the world. Following the huge gold rushes were the Chinese in 1854. Their presence on the goldfields of Bendigo, Beechworth and the Bright district resulted in riots, entry taxes, killings and segeration in the short term and became the foundations of the White Australia policy. <ref> Katherine Cronin, ''Colonial Casualties: Chinese in Early Victoria'' (1982); and ''Cf'' O'Brien, Ch. 3.</ref> In short, gold was a revolutionary event and reshaped Victoria, its society and politics.
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| − | this is all bullshit dont believe anything u read off wikipedia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| − | == Major and long lasting impact ==
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| − | [[Image:ProspectorsHut Dargo.jpg|right|thumb|Prospector's Hut, Upper [[Dargo, Victoria]] ([[Gippsland]]), [[1870 in Australia|1870]].]]
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| − | Australia's population changed dramatically as a result of the rushes. In 1851 the Australian population was 437,655, of which 77,345, or just under 18%, were Victorians. A decade later the Australian population had grown to 1,151,947 and the Victorian population had increased to 538,628; just under 47% of the Australian total and a seven-fold increase. In some small country towns where gold was found aboundant, the population could grow of over 1000% in a decade (e.g. Rutherglen had a population of ~2'000. Ten years later, it had ~60'000 which is a 3000% increase). The rapid growth was predominantly a result of the gold rushes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Caldwell | first = J. C. | authorlink = | editor = Wray Vamplew (ed.) | title = Australians: Historical Statistics | date = 1987 | publisher = Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates | location = Broadway, New South Wales, Australia | id = ISBN 0-949288-29-2 | pages = pages 23 and 26 | chapter = Chapter 2: Population}}</ref>
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| − | The gold rush is reflected in the architecture of Victorian gold-boom cities like Melbourne, [[Castlemaine, Victoria|Castlemaine]], [[Ballarat, Victoria|Ballarat]], [[Bendigo, Victoria|Bendigo]] and [[Ararat, Victoria|Ararat]]. Ballarat has [[Sovereign Hill]] — a 60 acre (240,000 m²) recreation of a gold rush town — as well as the Gold Museum, while Bendigo has a large operating gold mine system which also functions as a tourist attraction.
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| − | The rushes left the legacy of quaint Victorian towns in the Goldfields tourist region like [[Maldon, Victoria|Maldon]], [[Beechworth, Victoria|Beechworth]], [[Clunes, Victoria|Clunes]], [[Maryborough, Victoria|Maryborough]], [[Daylesford, Victoria|Daylesford]], [[Stawell, Victoria|Stawell]], [[Beaufort, Victoria|Beaufort]], [[Creswick, Victoria|Creswick]], [[St Arnaud, Victoria|St Arnaud]], [[Dunolly, Victoria|Dunolly]], [[Inglewood, Victoria|Inglewood]] and [[Buninyong, Victoria|Buninyong]]. With the exception of Ballarat and Bendigo, many of these towns were substantially larger than they are today. Most populations moved to other districts when gold played out in a given locality. <ref> O'Brien</ref>
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| − | At the other end of the spectrum ghost towns, such as [[Walhalla, Victoria|Walhalla]], [[Mafeking, Victoria|Mafeking]] and [[Steiglitz, Victoria|Steiglitz]] still exist.
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| − | [[Image:Cassilis historical area.jpg|thumb|right|As with many gold towns, after deposits of gold had been exploited, the town of [[Cassilis, Victoria|Cassilis]] ceased to exist. This picture shows the remains of part of King Cassilis Mine]]
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| − | The last major gold rush in Victoria was at [[Berringa, Victoria|Berringa]], south of Ballarat, in the first decade of the [[20th century]]. Gold mining ceased in Victoria, not because there was no more gold but in part because of the depth and cost of pumping. The [[First World War]] also drained Australia of the labour needed to work the mines, but worse the prohibition on the export of gold from Australia in 1915, the abolition of the gold standard throughout the Empire, saw many goldtowns in Victoria die.<ref>Marnie Hague-Muir, "The economy at war" ,Joan Beaumont (ed.) Australia's War 1914-18</ref>. The slump in gold production never recovered. However, as of 2005 the recent increase in the gold price has seen a resurgence in commercial mining activity; mining has yet to be resumed in [[Bendigo, Victoria|Bendigo]], whilst some is occurring in [[Ballarat, Victoria|Ballarat]], and exploration proceeds elsewhere, for example, in [[Glen Wills, Victoria|Glen Wills]], an isolated mountain area near [[Mitta Mitta, Victoria|Mitta Mitta]] in north-eastern Victoria.
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| − | == References ==
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| − | <!--<nowiki>
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| − | See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how
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| − | to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below
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| − | {{FootnotesSmall|resize={{{1|100%}}}}}
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| − | == See also ==
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| − | *[[Gold rush]]
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| − | *[[Welcome Stranger]]
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| − | *[[California Gold Rush]] ([[1848]]-[[1855]])
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| − | ==Further readings==
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| − | * Robyn Annear,''Nothing but Gold'' Robyn Annear ISBN 1-876485-07-8
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| − | * G.F. James & C.G. Lee,''Walhalla Heyday'' G.F. James & C.G. Lee ISBN 0-9596311-3-5
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| − | * John Aldersea & Barbara Hood,''Walhalla: Valley of Gold'' John Aldersea & Barbara Hood ISBN 0-9750887-0-X
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| − | * James Fleet, ''The history of gold discovery in Victoria,'', 1970.
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| − | * Vivine McWaters, ''Beechworth's little canton'', 2002.
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| − | * Geoffrey Serle, ''The Golden Age: A history of the colony of Victoria, 1851-1861'', 1963.
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| − | * Carole Woods, ''Beechworth: A titan's field'', 1985.
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| − | * John Maloney, ''Eureka'', 1984.
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| − | * Dianne Talbot, ''The Buckland Valley Goldfield'', 2004.
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| − | * Frank Cusack (ed.), ''Songs of the goldfields'', 1991.
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| − | == External links ==
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| − | *[http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/windows/gold/index.asp Victorian Museum]
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| − | *[http://www.walhalla.org.au Walhalla]
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| − | *[http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/ Sovereign Hill]
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| − | *[http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/museum/index.shtml Gold Museum at Ballarat]
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| − | *[http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/stories/s1032324.htm Report on resumed exploration]
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| − | [[Category:Australian gold rushes]]
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| − | [[Category:History of Victoria|Gold rush]]
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| − | [[Category:1850s]]
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| − | [[Category:1860s]]
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| − | [[Category:History of Australia (1851-1900)]]
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| − | [[Category:History of mining]]
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