Mining Heritage of the Australian Alps - Australian Alps National Parks

2.2 BRIEF HISTORY
(Global & Australian context histories are included in Appendix 10)
2.2.1 SUMMARY HISTORY
Prelude
There were three important precursors to mining in the Australian Alps. The first of these was the
sparse European settlement established in lands in and adjoining the Alps. Graziers occupied land
around the Australian Alps from the early 1820's in NSW, and it was their quest for good grazing
lands that brought settlement in the mid-1830's to the Omeo area, geographically central to the
Victorian Alps. The thin European presence brought progressive exploration of the high country, and
gradually the wildernesses were penetrated.
The second important precursor was the discovery of payable gold in NSW in 1851, that started the
first gold rushes, and the subsequent Victorian discoveries that triggered the global rushes. These
demonstrated that the continent (or at least NSW and the newly-created colony of Victoria), could
produce unheard-of wealth from the ground, and the rate of new & widespread discoveries in itself
demonstrated that this wealth was not localised, but could occur anywhere.
The third important precursor was the discovery of major goldfields adjacent to the Alps, that drew
large numbers of miners and prospectors to the foot of the Alps. In Victoria, the key discoveries were
Beechworth in 1852, where thousands of miners rushed to north-east Victoria, and Omeo in 1851. In
NSW, the key discoveries were to the west, at Tumbarumba in 1855, and Adelong in 1857 - these
followed earlier discoveries in the coastal ranges to the east, Araluen and Braidwood in 1851.
Gold & Other Metals
The diggers who were attracted to Beechworth, in north-east Victoria, wasted no time in prospecting
the surrounding country. Yackandandah was quickly opened, and a party of prospectors led by the
American, Pardoe, prospected up the Ovens River to its source in the Alps, in 1853. They then
followed the Buckland River downstream, until they found rich gold, and the ensuing rush attracted
six to eight thousand miners. While the earliest, richest diggings were upstream of the boundary of
the present Mt Buffalo National Park, it is possible that the first diggings within the study area were
undertaken here on the Buckland River, because all available ground was taken up for many miles
along the valley floor.
The spillover of late-comers to the Buckland spread along the upper Ovens River, establishing Bright
(Morses Creek) by the end of 1853, and reaching Harrietville, at the junction of the East and West
branches of the Ovens, by 1854. The small number of miners worked both branches at this period,
and this is the first digging definitely attributable to the study area.
On the Omeo side, the early 1851 diggings that had been abandoned were revitalised in 1854, and
prospectors moved out to open up a series of rich alluvial goldfields, the first of these within the study
area being the Gibbo River in about 1855. Miners from Omeo opened the Cobungra diggings in
1857, and gold was quickly traced to the headwaters, now within the Alpine NP. Miners moving up
from the Upper Ovens crossed over Mt Hotham, and the first gold diggings in the Upper Dargo were
opened in about 1858.
In NSW, the Rev W B Clarke had explored the Snowy Mountains area in 1851-52 and reported traces
of gold from various localities, but his valuable work appears to have been little-used. In 1859 the
Pollock brothers, accustomed to bringing sheep to the high country for summer grazing, and
undertaking a little prospecting themselves, discovered the rich gold deposits of Kiandra. They
reported their find in the established gold mining town of Tumbarumba, and the greatest rush the Alps
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