Victorian response to lure of N.Z.

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 17

Victorian response to lure of N.Z.

The Gold Fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria. By R. Brough Smyth. Oueensberry Hill Press, Melbourne, 1980. 644 pp. $35. (Reviewed by Ruth Zanker)

This mammoth collation of material about the Victorian gold fields, first published in 1869. is a must for anyone researching the period of the gold-rushes in Australia and New Zealand. It was published by the Victorian Colonial Government when gold production was waning in Victoria and was a bold attempt to advertise developments and encourage new exploration. thus stemming the tide of emigration and ensuring the continued spectacular development of the colony. The Government had reason for concern, for fields in Otago had lured away more than 10.000 prospectors, but there was more reason for optimism. It was widely believed that vast gold lodes lay in the basalts of western Victoria, and the

Otway Ranges were rumoured to hold enough oil to outstrip American wells.

This book is an extraordinary historical lucky dip — a nugget of gold on one page and 'mullock on the next. Smyth, director of mines from 1860. evidently believed in the power of the word. In 644 closely typed pages and several superb maps and illustrations, he seems to omit nothing about the gold fields. There are detailed reports of each gold field (from New Chum flat to Ballaarat(sic), and comments on conditions in Otago), descriptions of techniques and tools (Long Toms, Jenny Linds and gads), lists of surface nuggets, movements of population and money, and discussions of the bold mining laws of the 1850 s and 1860 s, all topped off by an exhaustive appendix and a pithy glossary of mining terms with entries such as "Fossicker': Is to miner as is the gleaner to the reaper.” "Gold Fields” offers incidental illustration of the difference between the American and Antipodean frontier

experiences. The Californian rushes were the apogee of anarchic and unregulated development. Victorian settlers, however, looked to government from the beginning to initiate exploration, reward success and regulate settlement in a largely hostile environment. Smyth comments with pique that the press of England knew "less of our country than of Tasmania or Norfolk Island or that exotic place Japan.” His book is a public-relations exercise commissioned by the Victorian Government expressly to attract investment. Perhaps ’it is worth remembering this long history' of governmental involvement ' in development in Australia, as in NewZealand, when Friedman comes calling. Queensberry Hill Press has, as usual, produced a handsome volume. It is a facsimile of the original with burgundv cover, embossed in gold with the figure of a miner standing at his shaft. The w-oodcuts were executed bv Frederick Grosse "in that gentleman's best style.”