DISCOVERY OF GOLD.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20788, 23 February 1933, Page 13

DISCOVERY OF GOLD.

j ■ THE FIRST REPORTS. NEW SOUTH WALES ANNIVERSARY. (vioM oi>& own cOAiusro«D«a'i-.j SIDNEY, February 16. Last Sunday was the eighty-second anniversary ol' the "official" discovery oi' gold ill New South Wulcs —the beginning of the digging days in the btatc. it was on February 12, 1851, that Edward Margraves, newly returned from California, and John Lister, washed the first pan of gold-bearing gravel lit the junction or the SummerliiU and Lewes i/ond creeks, in the ranges beyond liathurst. Bathurst, now a prosperous inland centre, was in the Midst of the earliest gold finds. Thera are several well-authenticated roports of earlier discoveries than those luado by Margraves' and Lister. For instance, it was on Februiiiy 16, 1823, 110 years ago, that James O'Brien, a surveyor, noted in his field book that near tho Fish riper, and between Itydal and Bathurst, he found "numerousparticles of gold on the hills, convenient. to the river." This is probably the first authenticated discovery ot gold in Australia, as doubt attaches to all the earlier reports. It is a strange fact that in the earlier days of New South Walea talk ot gold discoveries Was officially discouraged, and it was many years before this attitude could be broken down. In 1849 one W. J. Smith exhibited to the -.joloninl Secretary in Sydney a piece of gold embedded, in quartz, and offered to reveal the place where it was found if he w6ris paid a large sum of money. He was told, almost in as many words, to get about his busiiifss, but it is understood that tho field on which he made his find turned out to be ono of the most profitable in the State. It is evident that the politicians of the earlier dnya fOnrcd a rush with which they might not bo able to contend. Many goldseekers were discouraged, but not all ef them. The gold fever is not easily cured, and in the years that have parsed since, New South Wales has given to the world an enormous quantity of gold, with a promise of much more to follow. The politician of today realises the value of gold and would welcome further rich discoveries. The history of gold-seeking in Australia is tho most romantic of all histories. Countless fields have disgorgod untold wealth, and tho search goes on unceasingly. There are probably more fossickers out to-day than at any time in recent history, and perhaps the <1 axis not far off whort another rich fi"d will be madfe. A geologist «&id the other day tli&t ho was convinced that there was more gold in New South Wnlcs than had been taken out of it. Who Will lie lucky enough to prove that lie is right?