Image was taken just before the party set out in search for the Kelly Gang outlaws in the Strathbogie RangesSmall black and white photograph showing a group of ten men with rifles in a (staged) bushland setting. Eight are standing and two are crouched down on one leg.Supt Hares party (written on rear in pencil)search party, police search party, kelly gang, bushrangers, francis augustus hare, superintendent hare, thomas lawless, alfred john falkiner, joseph ladd mayes, john milne, thomas hewitt kirkham, william canny

Black and white photograph showing a group of ten men with rifles in a staged bushland setting. Eight are standing and two are crouching. Superintendent Hare's search party taken just before they were about to start for the Strathbogie Rangeskelly gang, bushrangers, search party, francis augustus hare, thomas lawless, alfred john falkiner, joseph ladd mayes, john milne, thomas hewitt kirkham, william canny

The Ballarat School of Mines is a predecessor institution of Federation University Austraila.An A2 poster showing small black and white portraits of each staffmember at the Ballarat School of Mines. Names include: Curriculum Services - John Kemp, Roger McFarlane, Leanne Gingell, Sandra Glover, Doug Seymour. Human Resources - Ross Furness, Ian Pym, Jenny Gough, Julie Thomas. Planning/Marketing - Keith Boast, Simone Byrne Student Services - Brian Webber, Janet McGie, Jani White, Jan Harwood, Judy Mills, Kirsten Martin, Barrie Frith, Tania Gaunt, Pam Merrett, Heather Durrant, Jola Piskozub, Frances Ratcliffe, Ian Robinson, Merill Potter, Lorelli Huggins, Maureen Auchettl, Fiona Angus, Natalie Howard. Corporate Services - Graham Penhall, Phil Dixon, Ron Sutton, Ron Lucas, Robert Munt, Garry Christie, Don Lawless, Bernie Stevens, David Fithall, Rebeccah Parker, Craig Holloway. Ararat Campus - David Haddow, Kim Knight, Kevin Martin, Maureen Green, Ian Harris, Adrian McMillan, Frank Parker, Keith Akers. Rural Studies - Andrew Sullivan, Gary Lyttle, Ian Best, Graham Shearer, Malcolm Trainer, Ross Holton, Anthony Thake, Paul Norquay, John Harrison. ballarat school of mines, staff, ron wild, max palmer, heather durant, vl d'angri, alistair heighway, neville french

Throughout the 1840s there had been rumours of gold found in the area, but the evidence was suppressed. The authorities sought to keep the region as a quiet pastoral district, and feared that a gold rush could spark chaos and lawlessness among the largely convict population. In January 1849, former convict Thomas Chapman found a 38 ounce gold nugget in Daisy Hill Creek (7 km from Talbot) while working as a shepherd. He sold it to Melbourne jeweller Charles Brentani in early 1849. This was the first confirmed finding of gold in Victoria and kicked off a minor rush to the region. By late February 1849 thirty to forty trespassers were reported to have gathered at Thomas's former hut seeking gold before being disbanded by a party of police sent from Melbourne. Meanwhile, Thomas fled to Sydney, fearing trouble after his unauthorised sale of the gold that, according to the law of the time, was illegal. The first major rush in the area around current day Talbot occurred in December 1852 when gold was found in Daisy Hill, near what is now Amherst Cemetery (2km west of Talbot). News quickly spread and within a few weeks hundreds of miners from the nearby Castlemaine goldfields had arrived to try their luck. The next major gold find was in 1854 at Kangaroo Flat along Back Creek (1km out of Talbot). By November 1855 it was reported around 6,000 miners had taken up residence in what became known as Back Creek. But, as the gold dwindled, so too did the population and by end-1857 only a few houses remained. In 1859, a group of miners from Norway and Sweden led by Carl Hallen decided to look in an area just outside of Back Creek, previously thought barren of gold as it was un-forested. Their gamble was rewarded, and as the news spread, miners once again flooded into the area. Within 4 months of the Hallan Party's first shaft being dug, there were 50,000 people in the Back Creek region. To cater for this influx, streets were improvised in the area of the diggings - starting with what became known as "Scandinavian Crescent" along the edge of the actual diggings themselves. It remains to this day and is now the main street of Talbot. (https://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/talbot-heritage-walk accessed 19 July 2025)Colour photograph of shops on Scandinavian Cresent, the Main road of Talbot, Victoriatalbot, back creek, gold mining