Welcome stranger

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A woodcut of the Welcome Stranger published in The Illustrated Australian News for Home Reader dated March 1, 1869. The scale at the bottom is 30 cm.

The Welcome Stranger is weighing 97.14 kg, the largest ever found Alluvial - Gold Nugget . It measured 61 cm × 31 cm and was found by gold diggers John Deason and Richard Oates on February 5, 1869 near Moliagul in the Australian state of Victoria , around 15 kilometers northwest of Dunolly .

discovery

It was discovered just three centimeters deep at the foot of a tree near a depression called the Bulldog Gully. It had a gross weight of 109.59 kg. When processed, it weighed 78 kg, the net weight was 72.02 kg.

Since no scales were available at the time of the discovery to weigh such a weight, the nugget was smashed into three pieces on an anvil by the blacksmith Archibald Walls of Dunolly.

Deason, Oates and some friends took the nugget to the London Chartered Bank of Australia at Dunolly for an advance of £ 9,000. Deason and Oates ultimately received an estimated £ 9,381 for the nugget known as the “Welcome Stranger”. According to the gold prices as of February 2018, the value would be the equivalent of $ 3.8 million. It was heavier than the Welcome Nugget found in Ballarat in 1858 . The gold rush field supervisor, FK Orme, noted that 2269 ounces (189 lbs 1 oz) 10 dwt 14 grains (70.5591 kg) of molten gold could be recovered from it, excluding the small amounts given away by the finders.

The inscription on the base of the memorial obelisk.

The nugget was soon melted down and transported in ingots to the Bank of England in Melbourne . It left the country aboard the steamship Reigate on February 21st.

To commemorate the discovery of the Welcome Stranger , an obelisk was erected near the site in 1897 . A replica of the Welcome Stranger is in the City Museum in Melbourne, Victoria, and another replica is owned by the descendants of John Deason.

Gold diggers and their wives pose with the finders of the nugget, Richard Oates, John Deason and his wife
Statue in Redruth, England, commemorating the find

Explorer

John Deason was born in 1829 on the island of Tresco , Isles of Scilly , 45 km southwest of Cornwall . In 1851 he was a tin maker before becoming a gold digger.

Deason resumed gold digging after the discovery. Although he owned a shop in Moliagul, he soon lost much of his wealth due to poor investment in gold mining projects. He bought a small farm near Moliagul, where he lived until his death in 1915 and died at the age of 85.

Richard Oates was born near Pendeen in Cornwall around 1827 . After the find in 1869, he returned to the United Kingdom and married. He returned to Australia with his wife and had four children there. In 1895 they bought 3.2 km² of land near Marong, Victoria, some 15 miles west of Bendigo , Victoria, where Oates lived until his death in 1906 at the age of 79.

See also

  • Deason, Denise: Welcome, stranger: The amazing true story of one man's legendary search for gold - at all costs , Viking / Penguin Books, Melbourne 2005, ISBN 978-0-670-02876-4 .

Web links

Commons : Welcome Stranger  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The "Welcome Stranger" (picture). . State Library of Victoria search. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b Potter, Terry F .: The Welcome Stranger: a definitive account of the worlds largest alluvial gold nugget . Terry F Potter, Kangaroo Flat, Vic. 1999, OCLC 222566360 .
  3. ↑ paperspast: THE WELCOME STRANGER. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  4. ↑ WILLS AND BEQUESTS. In: Melbourne Punch (Vic .: 1855-1900) . Vic. December 1, 1887, p. 12 ( gov.au [accessed February 5, 2019]).
  5. ↑ LARGEST NUGGET IN THE WORLD. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Gold-Net Australia Online - April 2000. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Mr. John Deason. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  8. ^ State Library Victoria - Viewer. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  9. ↑ John (John Jenkins) DEASON. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  10. ↑ "WELCOME STRANGER" NUGGET. In: Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA: 1896-1916) . WA October 19, 1915, p. 5 ( gov.au [accessed February 5, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Richard OATES. Retrieved February 5, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Michael Samueli: 5 February 1869: World's biggest gold nugget is found (en-GB) . In: MoneyWeek , February 5, 2015.