"GOLD!" : NEW Book released today in Australia by David Hill

David Hill's new book "GOLD! The fever that forever changed Australia" was apparently just released.
RRP: $34.95

I'm off to the store now to try and find a copy.

David Hill, the bestselling author of 1788: The Brutal Truth Of The First Fleet, draws on official diaries, letters, newspapers and records to reimagine the story of Australia’s gold rushes.
The gold fields were some of the coldest, hottest, wettest and driest places in Australia. They were often wild, lawless and dangerous. But despite all the dangers, fortune hunters went there in droves. Gold! is the story of this gold 'fever' that spread across Australia.
Using his master storyteller’s skill of bringing the past to life, Hill reveals how the gold rushes of the mid to late 1800s were a significant turning point in Australia’s history. Gold! is a book that will capture your imagination.

A brief introduction on Youtube by David himself.

I already have a copy that i bought a couple of weeks ago, havnt read it yet as wife has put it away for birthday in november.

I will buy this book. If it as good as gold and ghosts i will buy a few more.

To JackOgold, I have had this book for about 3 weeks ago. Are you aware that there is a hunt to win $2000 worth of real gold competition in it, but you only have until Nov 30th 2010 to enter.

Thanks Nam, I didnt know about the competition, got the wife to get the book out so i could have a look. I get the book on the 10th because she wont let me have it till then. I checked out the web site and looked at the questions. I already know many of the answers as i love to study Australian gold history. Im looking forward to reading this book, I also quite enjoyed 'The glint of gold', another great book on the NSW gold field history.

Some pics of the book. I found that Angus & Robertson had just put their stock out. My wife and I went to the local Coffee Club to read our prospective books over a Mocha coffee and chat about new detectors.





The text is not too small but the book was a lot thicker than I expected it to be.



There's a selection of color illustrations towards the middle of the book which show life on the early Australian Goldfields. Unfortunately, I found that most of the written content has already been covered in prior publications by other Authors so there was little new material. The end-product of the book was as though someone had taken a few of the historical stories from "Gold, Gem & Treasure magazine" and mixed it with "River Of Gold" (Hector Holthouse) and the richly illustrated "Gold" by Jeoff Hocking. Whilst it read well, it seemed a little sanitized and bereft of Holthouse's enthusiasm. Though some of the quotes within were interesting and informing.

One section covered the Holterman Nugget and its discovery and careful photography by Merlin Beaufoy. But it doesn't mention that the famous picture shows a clever "forgery" that was the result of getting Holterman to pose leaning on a hat rack (or somesuch) for one photograph and then cutting out the nugget from another photograph and pasting it onto the one with Holterman posing in it. Nothing wrong with overlooking this early attempt to "Photoshop" but I felt that it merited a mention in the book. Perhaps this was on another page? Maybe David Hill felt that it slowed the pace of the reading. Nonetheless, it is an affordable and interesting read which covers the early findings of gold back in the early 1800s prior to Hargraves' "Discovery" of payable gold, the grisly cannibalism of the Queensland Aboriginal non-nomadic tribes and the Gold Rush followups in New Zealand and also the ill-fated adventures of Harold Lassiter and his famous "Lost Reef" of gold.


Note that the actual book cover shows a silhouetted Gold Panner against the sunset whereas the promotional image of the book cover (in my original post above) shows the panner with more lighting and detail on his body and pan. I'm guessing they decided to go with a less "artificial" looking illustration/photograph just prior to launch. The book "GOLD!" is 497 pages long. It is just shy of 4cm thick BUT.... a massive 7mm of the rear section is devoted to references and indexes.

I see they printed a picture of my nugget with someone else leaning on it.

Nugget Meister wrote:I see they printed a picture of my nugget with someone else leaning on it.

Is this the pic? Don't worry, they cleaned it up for you before publication.

No no no! The one with me riding out of the setting sun on a unicorn with my GPX on my back whilst holding my magnificent 100 kilogram nugget. You know the one!

Oh Nugget Meister... I think you were exaggerating. That nugget looks to be just a little over 15 kilos to me. Everyone knows you can't hold 100 kilos in an outstretched hand!

Thanks for your indepth report Marco, For the most part, I concur. My mate and I went to the local public house to peruse our prospective books while partaking in a fine ale and chat about bosoms and motor vehicles.

While I found the print size to my liking, I found many of the words had more than two sylables and after about four of these in a row I find my mind wandering back to the afore mentioned bosoms. I feel the author could have either used smaller words or placed pictures of bosoms on at least every other page to aid the reader to maintain focus.

The paper, whilst appearing to be of acceptable quality, I did sustain two nasty paper cuts under my nose. Once while stifling a sneeze with page two and the second while wiping beer froth off my upper lip on page three.

The cover of my particular copy I found is of suitable thickness to double as a beer coaster, as of yet no nasty scooner rings have made it through.

The 497 pages I feel give the book just about the perfect weight and balance to smash a blowie (or any other pesky insect for that matter) ensuring it remains dead. 496 I feel would have required atleast two thumpings where as 498 may have been too messy and put me at risk of knocking over my mates beer.

I look forward to returning next week when I will endevour to get to page six of this fine but floored publication.

cheers!
MT

Yes Madtuna, the cover is indeed ideal as a beer coaster. They even cellu-glazed it to prevent water damage.

And the thickness of the book brings the beer another 4 cm closer to your mouth!

* I mentioned the text size because a few of the people on this forum have ailing eyesight making it harder for them to read books with really fine print. Even I have problems with some of those smaller font sizes.

MT, it seems to me that with the noble way in which you write, you too could have a best seller! lol

G'day all, new member here.

I've just finished a very interesting, well written account of life on the goldfields, entitled "Nothing but gold : the diggers of 1852", by Robyn Annear, Text Publishing, 1999, ISBN 1876485078.
It explains the conditions the miners experienced particularly well !

There are a couple of copies available in the Boroondara library system for those living in the area,

Phil

g'day Phil, and welcome

My mate and I went to the local public house to peruse our prospective books while partaking in a fine ale and chat about bosoms and motor vehicles.

Book hmmmmm all i remmember is 16DDs and something about beer and ...........................
Regards

LOL Great job on the pictures nero_design

Hey Nero
Holterman now looks like Curly from the three stoogers

You know Nero, you and Nuggetmiester should team up together... going back over some old posts it seems you have a hell of a lot in common.

You both keep almost identical odd hours with very early morning posts, you both use watermarks on pictures (like the watermark on nuggetmeisters picture of Julians nugget in the biggest bit thread that incidentaly was taken at Miners Den Parramatta)and you both stick up for dealers and know trivial stuff like the weight of a carton and postage costs to out of the way places like Alice Springs.

I have to say also you are the fastest photoshopper getting about! In this thread Nuggetmiester mentions sunset, gpx on back, unicorn and large nugget and not 10 minutes later you've sourced all the different bits and popped it altogether!
I know a few professional graphic artists like yourself who can't do it that fast...it's almost like you pre-empted his thoughts and had it already to go..that's amazing mate! Well done!

madtuna wrote:You know Nero, you and Nuggetmiester should team up together... going back over some old posts it seems you have a hell of a lot in common.

You both keep almost identical odd hours with very early morning posts, you both use watermarks on pictures (like the watermark on nuggetmeisters picture of Julians nugget in the biggest bit thread that incidentaly was taken at Miners Den Parramatta)and you both stick up for dealers and know trivial stuff like the weight of a carton and postage costs to out of the way places like Alice Springs.

I have to say also you are the fastest photoshopper getting about! In this thread Nuggetmiester mentions sunset, gpx on back, unicorn and large nugget and not 10 minutes later you've sourced all the different bits and popped it altogether!
I know a few professional graphic artists like yourself who can't do it that fast...it's almost like you pre-empted his thoughts and had it already to go..that's amazing mate! Well done!

Wonder if Nero sends birthday and Xmas cards to himself (you know like Mr Bean does).
Regards