One of the first large goldfield meetings was at Castlemaine in 1851. After the extraordinary success of the Mt Alexander Diggings the Government issued a proclamation, raising the licence fee from thirty shillings to three pounds. As soon as these intentions became known a public meeting of miners was held. For miles around work ceased, with diggers travelling as far as Bendigo to attend the meeting. It is estimated that around 18,000 people attended the meeting. The notes with the engraving state The trees in this locality are chiefly Stringybark; some of them are peeled of their covering, as many persons prefer erecting bark huts to living in a comfortless tent. The various groups, and costumes of the men, are characteristic of our gold digging community. This item is part of the Federation University Art Collection. The Art Collection features over 2000 works and was listed as a 'Ballarat Treasure' in 2007.Colour lithograph of a meeting of diggers at a meeting in Mt Alexander. The meeting was the result of goldfields agitations against the license fee. lower centre "Great Meeting of Gold Diggers Dec 15th 1851" lower left side "Drawn By D. Tulloch" lower right side "Engraved by Thomas Ham"art, artwork, ham, thomas ham, tulloch, castlemaine, goldfields agitation, printmaking, edition, coloured lithograph, david tulloch, gold pan, shovel, wheelbarrow, waggon, bark hut, ring barked tree, gold mining

Hand drawn map in colour showing Yarrowee River and claims including James Oddie and Highett.dunn, dunn's map, comissioner's tent, oddie's claim, highett's claim, macdonald, suter & co claim, james oddie, golden point, gold discovery

The photograph printed on this postcard comes from the collection of the Mitchell Library in Sydney. It is sepia in tone and depicts seven men standing and sitting around a mine shaft in the Beechworth region. The photograph has been dated to approximately 1872. This period in history post-dates the Victorian gold rushes which occurred 1852-1853 in Ballarat, Bendigo and Beechworth. During this period, in the 1870s, the surface alluvial gold had been discovered and removed from location. Therefore, in order to reach the deeper and less accessible alluvial gold, diggers began to dig shafts into the earth. These shafts sunk below the ground level by 20 to 30 feet and required timber structures around the entrance and winches to bring the paydirt to the top. The top of this wooden structure is visible behind the man standing in the upper right of the image. This type of mining was highly dangerous as mines often caved in which injured the minors and often resulted in death. Thus, following this period, in the early 1900s, miners opted instead for hydrolic slucing which cut away the earth without the devastating consequences of a mine cave in. This particular group of miners appear to have been unable to afford a horse (then worth around 50 pounds) which were generally used at mines like this to help pull buckets attached to ropes up and down the mine. Instead, this group brought the buckets up and down by windlass. The windlass was a wooden structure mounted over the mining shaft and fitted with a hand-cranked winch which enabled the bucket attached to the rope to be brought up and down.Gold was first discovered in Beechworth in Spring and Reid's Creek in the summer of 1852-1853. At its popularity, this region had approximately 8000 people on the gold fields searching for gold on the banks of these creeks. These periods did not require the use of heavy machinery or the digging of deep mining shafts like the one depicted in this image. Therefore, this image has important connotations for the technologies associated with mining during the approximated 1870s when gold was harder to access. This is a later period in gold history which does not fit into the "gold rush" period. Instead, it occurred after the surface gold had disappeared and therefore, is essential for researchers who are investigating the mining techniques and structures used to reach the alluvial gold which was located deeper under ground in the 1870s. This period predates the use of big heavy machinery used to mine in the 1900s which include dredges. Images such as this one can also impart essential information as to the wardrobe and fashion of men during this period. It also imparts knowledge about the landscape of Beechworth which is useful for people researching the environment and impact of gold mining in the north-east region of Victoria. In addition, since this image is a postcard reproduction of an early Australian image which may date to approximately 1990 it can impart knowledge as to the interests of people during this time period when there may have been an increase into Australian history.A sepia tone facsimile of an early Australian photograph (circa 1872) printed as a postcard.Obverse: BEECHWORTH / Victoria, Australia / Reverse: GM 2 3275 / CORRESPONDENCE / AUSTRALIAN / YESTERYEAR / CARDS / ADDRESS / Published by George Symons (057) 65 3240 / THE MINEHEAD C. 1872 / The easily gleaned gold of the early fields did / not last very long. In order to reach less / accessible alluvial gold diggers began sinking shafts as much as twenty to thirty feet down / and the mines required timbering and winches / to bring the paydirt to the top. / This syndicate has been unable to afford the / luxury of a horse (about 50 pounds) and so everything / must go up and down by windlass and rawhide / bucket. / Photo: Mitchell Library, Sydney / A sepia tone facsimile of / an early Australian photographmining album, gold mine, beechworth, burke museum, mine shaft, postcard, australian yesteryear cards, george symons, the minehead, gold fields, alluvial gold, early australia, c.1872, 1872, gold diggers, north east victoria

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Gold And Immigration. Section 4 The Chinese In Victoria Markings: 1 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. (Hughue) The Chinese in the gold rush wore their national costume. They were often called ''celestials'' Markings: 24 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Scene on Sandridge pier. In 1853, the first Chinese attracted by news of the gold discoveries reached Victoria. Markings: 25 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Slide si of a 'joss house' with some Chinese people outside and one in the doorway. A 'joss house' or temple was a feature or many Chinese camps. Markings: 14 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. (huyghue) The Red Street, Ballarat. . . . . particularly since much of their wealth came from the ''tailings''. Slide shows large Chinese camp and Chinese mining. Markings: 12 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

This photograph was taken in approximately 1870 and depicts four male miners standing in mining sluice at the Three Mile Goldfields. These men are wearing typical attire for 1870s gold miners. They wear white shirts, tan coloured pants with water proof shoes and most of the men are wearing an apron to prevent their clothing from becoming too dirty from the mud. Each man is wearing a wide brim hat and hold large wooden tools used for sorting through the sluice. Three of the four men have full beards. The photograph was donated to the Burke Museum by R. Ziegenbein before 2001 but the photographer and the individuals captured in the photo are unknown. The image depicts the landscape of the Three Mile Goldfields during a period when open cut sluicing was undertaken to reach gold. Open cut sluicing is a method used to extract gold and other precious metals from beneath the surface of the earth. This technique involved the use of high-powered hoses which broke down the soil enabling miners to come along and search this soil for gold. After the gold rush of the early 1850s, diggers had to enlist the assistance of heavy machinery and techniques like hydraulic sluicing in order to reach gold because the surface alluvial gold had already been discovered and removed. This heavy machinery was not used until after 1853. The Three Mile Goldfields was a site of rich alluvial gold deposits located about 5 km south of Beechworth in Victoria. Today, the location of this gold deposit is called Baarmutha. It was a popular area for gold mining in the 1850s but became largely abandoned by the following decade. In 1865, a man named John Pund recognized that the area could be potentially rich if a better water supply could be obtained. He secured a 15 year license with three other miners. Within the next five years, these men had constructed 19 km of water race going from Upper Nine Mile Creek to Three Mile Creek. By 1881, these four men had delivered 950,000 gallons to the Three Mile Sluicing area which is depicted in this photograph. Pund was later go into partnership with John Alston Wallace who would become owner of the Star Hotel in Beechworth. The Three Mile sluicing location continued to be operational until 1950. Sluice box workers were a vital part of gold mining regardless of how inefficient they were in the recovery of gold. After using hydraulic sluicing to cut away the earth, miners would use the big wooden boxes depicted in the image to catch the earth which would then be sifted for gold. However, accidents would occur often which would result in the gold washing away and unable to be recovered. It was not a very efficient system because the gold, which was alluvial and thus very fine, would often pass through the sluice box undetected.The search for gold is ingrained into the history of Victoria and therefore, images like this one which portray an open cut sluicing site can reveal important information for society and technology for the date when the photograph was taken. This image is of important historical significance for its ability to convey information about sluicing and the methods used to find gold in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It also shows a location where sluicing was undertook which provides insight into the impact of sluicing on the environment at a time when it was done. Images, like this one, of Australian gold rush history can reveal important information about the social and environmental impact of this period. This image depicts diggers standing in a mining location and therefore, this image has the capacity to reveal or support significant information for researchers studying the fashion and social status of diggers in Australia in approximately 1870. It can also provide information on the landscape of Australia in this period and the impact of mining for gold on both society and the Australian landscape. The Burke Museum is home to a substantial collection of Australian mining photographs which can be used to gain a deeper understanding into life on the gold fields, technology used in mining, the miners themselves and the impact of the gold digging on the environment.Sepia toned rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper and mounted on board.[illegible] about 1870 / 97 2514.1 / 2594 30three mile goldfields, goldfields, 1870, 1870 gold, australia, australian landscape, miners, gold miners, diggers, gold diggers, beechworth, victoria, sluice box workers, sluicing, sluice, mining

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Market Square Castlemaine, Forest Creek. James J Bundell & Co, Melbourne 1855. Shows the small township, people wagons, dogs. Market Square Castlemaine, 1855. Markings: 26 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Slide depicts the Chinese heading off to the diggings. Mitchell Library. Off to the Diggings. Flemington, 1853. The scheme was then discontinued because it became unprofitable, as the Chinese labourers deserted to the diggings. Markings: 20 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. ? Chinese quarter on an Ovens diggings. Slide shows the Chinese quarters which is a different style building to all others. There are also some Chinese caring buckets in the traditional Chinese manner. Markings: 2 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Slide depicts lots of Chinese miners on their way to the gold fields. (Huyghue) The Overlanders. In the first six months of 1857, 14,486 Chinese landed at Guichen Bay; nearly all of them quietly overladed into Victoria. Markings: 6 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. ''Mount Macedon from the Black Forest 1855'' shows. Writing on picture Mount Macedon from the Black Forest. Signed James ? Depicts Black? Store with travellers many of them Chinese. The slide has blue pen markings on it. Markings: 7 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. The report of Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of the Goldfields (1855) recommended the restriction of the Chinese immigration. Report reads; REPORT from the COMMISSION APPIONTED TO ENQUIRE into the condition of the GOLD-FIELDS OF VICTORIA. To his Excellency SIR CHARLES HOTHAM, K.C.B. Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Victoria, ETC. MELBOURNE Markings: 16 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. In 1873, Chinese labour was used to break a mine strike at Clunes; and in 1878, seamen on the east-coast ships went on strike to protest against the use of cheap Chinese labour by ship owners. Working men were again fearing Chinese labour as a menace to employment and wage standards. Markings: 10 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Slide shows a bustling restaurant, poster advertising White Star Liverpool, Ballaarat Trumpeter Poster laying on counter top. Makings on picture: S.T.G., Interior of John Alloo's Chinese restaurant. Ballaarat. James J Blundell ? ? Melbourne. Section underneath reads; The interior of John Alloo's Chinese restaurant. Ballarat. Markings: 15 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. In 1842, an association of New South Wales pastoralists was formed to recruit Chinese coolies, and bring them to the colony as cheap indentured labourers for the squatters' runs. Not many Chinese were brought out under this scheme; in the Port Phillip District in 1849 there were only 217 Asiatics - most of them Chinese. Markings: 13 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. The Chinese soon became very unpopular with the white diggers on the goldfields. (1) Much of the hostility to them was the result of sheer prejudice directed against people who were alien in race, religion, and language; whose standard of living, by European criteria, was low; and who did not mix with other diggers, but lived - preforce - in separate camps in the diggings. Markings: 22 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. (3) The thriftiness of the Chinese and their low standard of living made the whites afraid of cheap labour and eventual unemployment. (4) The rapid increase in their numbers led to a fear that the future of Victoria as a white colony was threatened. (There were about 42,000 Chinese in Victoria in 1859 - all men, comprising one in seven of the adult male population, In that year, between one-quarter and one-third of the diggers were Chinese.) Markings: 4 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Gold Diggers around a tent with soldiers weighing gold.gold, gold license, goldfield, turon, tents

Diggers & Mining. Gold. The growing trade union movement all over Australia took the lead in an anti-Chinese agitation. By 1881, all the Australian colonies except Tasmania (where few Chinese had ever gone) and Western Australia had re-introduced fairly uniform laws restricting Chinese immigration. In 1866, Western Australia fell into line. The only part of Australia where the Chinese continued to come in any numbers was the Northern Territory (then under South Australian control) . . . Markings: 14 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Gold. Photo of document: Victoria, Victoriae Regine. By His Excellency Sir Charles Hotham, Knight Commander of the most Honourable Military Order of the Bath. Captain-General and Govenor-in-Chief of Victoria, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c., &c., &c. No. XXXIX. In the Act to make provision for certain immigrants. [Assented to 12 June, 1855.] Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Victoria and Preamble, with the advice and the consent and the Legislative Council there of as Accordingly, the Victorian Government, in 1855, passed an act restricting Chinese immigration. Markings: 4 994.GOL. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Joseph Anderson Panton - ''Recollections of Sandhurst in the 1850s Joseph Anderson Panton '' Text of a presentation to BHS by Terry Davidson 1/11/2002. Narrator's script and script of tape recording of interwoven words of Panton (segments taken from Panton's manuscript).Terry Davidsonperson, individual, joseph anderson panton, govener charles hotham., melbourne echibition 1854, commissioner for melbourne international exhibition 1880, chinese gold-diggers, chinese protectorate.

1970 NATIONAL BANK PAINTING REPRODUCTION Upper Shaft , Port Lincoln Mine 1848 possibly painted by W.A. Cawthorne 1848 Below the picture title the words - Reproduced by the National Bank in 1970 from the watercolour in the Mitchell Library , Sydney , by permission of the Trustees.The centre of the picture shows mine workings four or five men are shown in the picture the rest of the area is undevelopedpainting, watercolour, gold diggers

1970 NATIONAL BANK PAINTING REPRODUCTION Mt .Alexander Gold Diggings , 1853 Below the picture title the words - Reproduced by the National Bank in 1970 from the watercolour in the Rex Nan Kivell Collection , National Library of Australia , by permission of the Trustees -Artist unknown 1853 .The background shows numerous scattered buildings , some with early Australian flags , men riding horses .The foreground shows much mining activity with ever -present dogs .tents ,painting, watercolour, gold diggers

1970 NATIONAL BANK PAINTING REPRODUCTION The New Chums Arrival on a Gold Digging .Artist unknown c. 1855 Below the picture title the words - Reproduced by the National Bank in 1970 from the lithograph in the La Trobe Collection , State Library of Victoria , by permission of the Library Council of Victoria .Bottom left corner shows a rough sign nailed to an upright post saying The Star Concert Hall Gus Hatton To night.The painting is divided lengthways by a stream with a two plank crossing apparently to show the differences between the seasoned miners above the stream and the new chums below the stream .The above centre of the picture is a windlass surrounded by men - an Aboriginal sitting by a fire , two men with bottles in hand depicting the proliferation of drink .The New Chums below the stream show men and a woman all wearing smart hats and clothes , some carrying unneeded items such as Umbrellaspainting, watercolour, gold diggers