Gold

[Davent]

Wonder how much gold those old timers would have given for an Engel, battery, and solar panel .....I'll chuck in a 12 v fan as well!

 

[Flowerpot]

A Lonley Prospector Waiting to Die:

One of Australia's Loneliest Men

In constant pain from the stump of an amputated leg an 83 year old bachelor dollies stone at his lonely tin camp in the ghost town of Kanowna while waiting to die.

He is Irish-born Joe (Joseph Patrick) Palmer who has been prospecting for more than 50 years. 'I have no friends and nowhere else to live,' he said yesterday. 'I don't like hospitals, cities or beer. All I want is to die.' Although he is regarded locally as an uncommunicative hermit he welcomes' the occasional visitor with all the enthusiasm of a lonely man. When he interrupted . his stay on the Goldfields to try coal mining his leg was cut off
days after he arrived at Collie.
For 32 years his gold prospecting has been handicapped by an artificial leg and a partly crippled arm. He has never struck it rich, his best find being a 22oz. slug which he picked up at Lake Darlot many years ago.
Now when he uses his dolly pot and pestle on odd stones he picks up he does not expect to find many colours. He is just 'keeping out of the way and waiting to die.' . And while waiting he is avoiding all that is distasteful to him - the din of city life, raucous laughter and the tinkling of beer glasses.
Joe Palmer is one of Australia's loneliest men. His dollypot is his only comfort.

Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Monday 17 January 1949, page 9

Note: Joe passed away not long after this article was written and was buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery on the 4th Oct 1950.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...9437_eefeb092-064c-4b0d-b8bd-4acca8b8378c.jpg

I love this kind of Australian history. Dear old fella. Bloodyhell getting to 83 is pretty flamin good, especially back then. :Y:

 

[Goldchaser1]

A Well Known Prospector:
Western Mail 28 March 1908, page 29
Jimmy Lennon is probably one of the most interesting survivors of the roaring nineties. He was the first to find gold at Lennonville, Lakeway and other locations on the Eastern and North Western Fields. His latest discovery being Mt Edgar, the copper-silver-lead-zinc mine situated near Marble Bar. Mr Lennon possesses qualities of a high order. He is a superb horseman and an unerring bushman and his energy when in the field it tireless. A few months ago he was still battling for gold in the great North West where he has a host of admirers who are always ready to Grubstake him. His old Murchison acquaintances will all join in wishing Mr Lennon all the success he deserves.

 

[aussiefarmer]

I struggle to find pictures of the diggings being worked , i want to see sluices rocker boxes etc in position. Just to help my brain decode the diggings.. if anyone has some please post them up or even a link to a good source that would make my day.

Great topic and i hope it goes hammer and tongs.

 

[MegsyB007]

Hi af,

If you put in Google Images "australian goldfields 1800's pictures" it comes up with some good pics with links to some great sites.

Cheers,
Megsy

 

[Moneybox]

I don't know how much water was around then but these days I think most would soon perish out here any time during the summer and even in the cooler months you'd really need good guidance from the locals to find enough water to camp for a bit.

 

[Goldchaser1]

They were alot tougher and resilient then us MB.....

 

[CreviceSucker]

Note the backpacks they are wearing were the latest tech from Anaconda at the time

 

[user 5263]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/doc/member-docs/5263/1585408961_doc2.pdf

Now if I could just find that pile of dirt and take the trailer out I would have some thing to do in my backyard for a while.

 

[diggit]

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...6014_c5bd6df3-0607-4957-8dba-869669dd4135.jpg

They were alot tougher and resilient then us MB.....

Carrying "Bags O' Gold" home with a dash of scurvy....Ohh the sheer torture of it all! layful:

 

[just starting]

This is an interesting read with some pictures and articles from the gold rush era.

http://www.richardson.org.au/gold_rush_ballarat_victoria_1850s.html

 

[Goldchaser1]

Yep keep em coming,heres one from Nerriga i had framed years ago....

 

[user 4485]

Been put on before but anyone interested check out the Holtermann Collection:
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/holtermann-collection
They opened up a museum in Gulgong NSW also (currently closed):
https://holtermann.museum
Worth a look if in the area after this shitfight is over.

 

[RM Outback]

Love Gulgong erfect: the main street is like walking back into a time capsule. We didn't have a lot of time to experience the whole area but we will be back :Y: :beer:

 

[Goldchaser1]

Thanks mbasko,some amazing pics,cant beleive those shops are still standing and what a spot for the museum.
Never been to gulgong RM,by what you say and i see above its on my list now but i have read up on the local deposits a cuppla times years back,there was no shortage of gold and nuggets but alot of it was deep i thought.......

 

[just starting]

Been put on before but anyone interested check out the Holtermann Collection:
https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/holtermann-collection
They opened up a museum in Gulgong NSW also (currently closed):
https://holtermann.museum
Worth a look if in the area after this shitfight is over.

Just to add to that, Mbasko , here is the ABC Landline story on it. https://www.abc.net.au/local/archives/landline/content/2013/s3722536.htm

 

[RM Outback]

Thanks mbasko,some amazing pics,cant beleive those shops are still standing and what a spot for the museum.
Never been to gulgong RM,by what you say and i see above its on my list now but i have read up on the local deposits a cuppla times years back,there was no shortage of gold and nuggets but alot of it was deep i thought.......

They had agold festival in Gulgong just after we were there so missed out. This year like most events the 150th celebrations have been postponed in April hopefully getting it on the calendar for October.

https://gulgong.com.au/news-upcoming-events/

 

[user 4485]

Thanks mbasko,some amazing pics,cant beleive those shops are still standing and what a spot for the museum.
Never been to gulgong RM,by what you say and i see above its on my list now but i have read up on the local deposits a cuppla times years back,there was no shortage of gold and nuggets but alot of it was deep i thought.......

Yeah Gulgong is one of the last good examples of a goldrush town with a lot of buildings still standing & in use. Very little left out at Home Rule etc. as far as buildings but a good example of the deep lead mining out there. Some huge mullock heaps.
It was mostly known as a deep lead system. There were some reefs around & at the start of the rush they were picking up gold off the surface of Red Hill + for years they would get gold out of the stone gutters after rain. The reefs never turned out as productive as the leads though. Water was a big issue in the deep leads. Probably more gold still 60m+ under Gulgong than they ever got out
Some of the leads (although part of a deep lead system down to 76m) state depths from near surface or surface outcrops so cover was quite shallow in areas. There are areas of shallow alluvial diggings too but they have mostly been flattened out for farmland so not obvious where they were.
Most areas are now on private property or otherwise tied up/offlimits so not an easy place to go for a swing.

 

[Goldchaser1]

Not gold related but a great old pic of my late father in his younger years,he was a drover in qld,worked with alot of indigenous fellas and learnt alot from them he said,many were still full blood back then.....

on

 

[Goldchaser1]

Titled: finding some colour.....