At the height of the Californian gold rush, it is estimated that, of the 300 000 fortune hunters that flocked to the west coast of North America, about 1% came from the British colony of New South Wales. Among such adventurers was a man by the name of Edward Hargraves.

Unfortunately, Hargraves was much too fat to be a skilled and energetic gold digger and, thus, did not have much luck in making his fortune on the Californian river diggings. However, he was not deterred by his lack of success, as he came to realise that his skills were more suited to strategy and promotion.

Having heard rumours that gold had been discovered in Australia at an earlier date and being convinced of the similarity in the geological features between his home country and California, Hargraves determined to return to New South Wales, aid in the search for payable gold and make his fortune in the promotion of such a discovery. (Such rumours were based on truth, as gold was discovered as early as 1823 and again in subsequent year but the news of such discoveries was suppressed by the colonial authorities for fear that it would render the large convict and ex-convict community uncontrollable.)

As Hargraves made to leave the Californian diggings, one American acquaintance declared: “There’s no gold in the country you’re going to and if there is, that darned queen of yours won’t let you dig it.” Hargraves' reply was: “There’s as much gold in the country I’m gong to as there is in California, and Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, God bless her, will appoint me one of her gold commissioners.”

On his return, Hargraves travelled up-country from Sydney and, in February 1851, successfully panned out some grains of gold in a creek some 30 miles from the little country town of Bathurst. Being satisfied with the payability of the gold strike, he met with the colonial secretary, Deas Thomas, at the beginning of April and convinced him to dispatch a government geologist to investigate the discovery.

After thorough investigations, the geologist confirmed his claims and Hargraves was subsequently appointed a commissioner of land and given a reward of £10 000 as well as a life pension.

Meanwhile, news of Hargraves’ discovery spread throughout the colonial outpost like wildfire and, by May, the rush to the new gold field was fully under way. Hundreds of eager fortune hunters deserted their posts in Sydney and Melbourne and rushed up-country to Australia’s first gold mining camp, named Ophir after the Biblical gold mining city.

Such was the rush that, just four months after the discovery, Ophir boasted a population of more than 1 000 gold diggers.

Shortly thereafter, a richer and more extensive strike was made on the Turon river, 30 miles to the east.

The second discovery caused an even bigger sensation and compelled many more restless young men to flock to the gold diggings so that, by July, New South Wales boasted a population of more than 3 000 diggers. Among them were several hundred from the new colony of Victoria.

The Victorian authorities, eager to prevent the majority of the population from joining the gold frenzy in New South Wales, offered a reward of £200 for any gold found within 200 miles of Melbourne.

The reward proved an attractive inducement and, within six months of the first find, gold was discovered at Ballarat, in the streams around Mount Alexander, and at Bendigo Creek, all of which were some distance north-west of Melbourne.

While gold had certainly existed in sufficiently payable quantities in New South Wales to attract thousands of fortune seekers, it soon became clear that the Victorian gold discoveries far eclipsed any preceding discoveries.

In fact, such was the richness of Victoria’s gold fields that, at the very height of the rush, it is estimated that 2 t, or 65 000 oz, of gold was exploited on a weekly basis. Moreover, the colony of Victoria contributed more than one-third of the world’s entire gold output during the 1850s.

The incredible wealth that poured out of Victoria was almost unbelievable. When the ships returned to England, carrying 8 t of Australian gold in early 1852, the London Times remarked: “This is California all over again, but, it would appear, California on a larger scale."

Meanwhile, given the slow pace of ocean-going transport, the news took some time to reach the British Isles. However, by July, news of Australia’s gold rushes were beginning to trickle into London. Overnight, the remote Land Down Under became a destination with real attraction and instead of heading for a new life in the US, a large number of Britain’s restless young men now sought a passage to Melbourne. Apart from Britons and a contingent of some 40 000 Chinese gold seekers, the Australian gold rushes also attracted Americans and French, Italian, German, Polish and Hungarian exiles.

The year 1852 was to the Australian colonies what 1849 had been to the west coast of North America. Where less than 19 000 had sailed for Australia in 1851, in the next year the figure was over four times that number.

In 1852 alone, 370 000 immigrants arrived in Australia and the economy of the nation began to boom on an unprecedented level.

By 1871, the population of Australia had increased from 540 000 to an astonishing 1.7-million.

The significant quantities of gold bullion shipped to London brought many imports and much-needed skills to Australia. Moreover, the growth of the gold mining towns also sparked a huge boost in business investment, encouraged the development of much-needed rail and port infrastructure and stimulated the market for local produce.

Indeed, it can be well argued that the Australian gold rushes of the early 1850s turned the Land Down Under from a haven of convicts to a land of golden wealth and opportunity.