Some Australian Gold Nuggets

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Discovery of nuggets around Australia
While the Victorian alluvial nuggets were the most spectacular, large nuggets were discovered on many Australian goldfields. In Queensland, the Curtis nugget (28 kilograms or 906 ounces) and another of 25 kilograms (804 ounces) were found during early mining at Gympie. Of the New South Wales fields, Burrandong near Orange yielded the largest nugget (40 kilograms or 1286 ounces) in 1858, and nuggets up to about 1200 ounces were found in the Turon River district in the period 1851-2. Kiandra was a prolific field with a 12.5 kilogram (400 ounce) nugget found in the Snowy River in 1860. One of the largest surviving nuggets, the Maitland Bar (11 kilograms or 350 ounces), was discovered near Hargraves in 1887. The so-called Holterman nugget, found at Hill End in 1872, was actually a 300 kg slug of gold mixed with quartz hammered from the reef at depth. In Western Australia, the 35 kilogram (1135-ounce) Golden Eagle, found near Kalgoorlie in 1931, was the largest. In 1894, two big nuggets, of 25 and 26.4 kilograms (800 and 850 ounces), were found at Coolgardie and Londonderry, respectively. In 1890, during early diggings on the Coongan River in the Pilbara goldfield, the Little Hero nugget (10.5 kilograms or 338 ounces) was discovered.



Modern day fossicking
In more recent times, the metal detector has revolutionised the discovery of gold in many of the old goldfields. Collectors have turned a weekend hobby into a livelihood by finding sizeable nuggets missed by the early miners. There is a flourishing market in gold specimens as collectables, and international collectors regularly visit towns in the Victorian goldfields to buy pieces. There is no doubt that many fine specimens, including nuggets and crystals, have left the country without any records being made.


The sometimes colourful fate of contemporary nuggets
A few of the big nuggets found by metal detectors have been announced to the public, and for some the media coverage they’ve received has been notable. In Victoria, these include the magnificent 27 kilogram (845 troy ounces) Hand of Faith nugget, found in 1980 near Kingower and sold, after a protracted battle to find an Australian buyer, to a Las Vegas casino for $1 million. A 10 kilogram (317 ounces) nugget found by two prospectors near Inglewood in 1995 became the subject of a bitter ownership dispute. The beautiful 8 kilogram (256 ounces) Pride of Australia nugget, found near Wedderburn in 1981 and purchased by the State Bank of Victoria, was stolen from the Museum of Victoria in a smash and grab raid on its display case in 1992 and has never been recovered. Perhaps the most notorious of the recent Western Australian nuggets was actually a fake. The Yellow Rose of Texas was fabricated in a garage by members of a Perth family and sold as a genuine 12.4 kilogram (400 ounces) nugget in 1980. The buyer, who paid $350 000, was none other than prominent businessman Alan Bond. After the fake was revealed, and the culprits charged in 1991, Mr Bond sold the ‘nugget’ to the Perth Mint, where it was melted down.

More recently, in 1999, a spectacular 25.5 kilogram (819 ounces) nugget received world attention when it was exported to the USA for auction without the required permit under federal legislation protecting cultural heritage. Found in 1995, the King of the West nugget, as it was originally called, was renamed the Normandy nugget after it was purchased by Normandy Mining Ltd upon its return to Australia. Other Western Australian nuggets include the 16 kilogram (520 ounces) Evening Star and the 6 kilogram (200 ounces) Golden Aussie.


More Famous Australian Nuggets are found HERE