Yellow covered booklet 'History of the Bendigo Goldfield from its commencement in 1851 to June 1881' Presented with the Eaglehawk Specimen Case and giving a description of its contents, for transmission with the said case to England. Dedicated to G.D. Peters, Esq, London, by Mr. Hay Kirkwood, Eaglehawk. Inside first page ( un-numbered) 'The Bendigo Goldfield Compiled by Messrs Hay Kirkwood and Wm. Welch. The Rise and Progress. At the latter end of 1851, a few enterprising pioneers, with Captain Harrison, now police magistrate of Castlemaine, made their way from Forest Creek ( Castlemaine ) 30 miles distant, to a place on the Bendigo Creek, now called Golden Square, then a squatter's run, where rich auriferous ground was met with. The new soon spread far and near, and the world was soon startled with the intelligence that another very extensive goldfield had been discovered, the importance of which may be gathered from the fact that in the month of June, in the following year, six months after the first sod was raised, 80,000 ounces of pure native gold was taken by Melbourne.Printer: W. Welch, View Streetbendigo, mining, melbourne exhibition 1880