VICTORIA'S GOLD NUGGETS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11783, 8 November 1912, Page 6

VICTORIA'S GOLD NUGGETS.

- A recent addition tq the,departmental - records of . Victoria deals with the gold nuggets found in the State. The, work has been "compiled by ;Mr E. J. Dunn, the late director of the' geological survey of the country, and it. is' of niore- tKaii passing interest. Victoria has proved unusually rich in gold .of nil descriptions and nug.gets have been distributed about its hills afid valleys in the most lavish fashion. Mr Dunn is unable to .give a complete list of the great nuggets ' found, lpecause the Chinese diggers there unearthed some very large ones that have never been placed on record. In the early days", indeed, it was not always wise to-give publicity to a large find'of gold and for this reason many huge nuggets were cut up and sold before being weighed. Mr Dunn's list gives ae- ' tails of 1327- nuggets of twenty ounces or ovor.' quite a number being over a thousand ounces." A 'remarkable- thing al.ont, .'the; record is the number of . large riuggf tsdeseribed as having -been '"o'und close to. | the surface of;the ground.. The "V/elcomc ■Stranger:" which weighed; 2ft200~, and was' | found in 1869 " was practically on tlie suri face, and the great Poseidon," of 9530z was found five ve-irs ago only t«i i> ches below the surface. In discussing the peculiar positions in which i'i!ggets have been fottrid, Mr Dunn ad.-aiirfs the theory that they were- carried about by the aborigines. Most likely the natives were attracted by the colour •-fiiie nugget, Hit fin all.v wearied of their plaything on account .of its weight.. At • Wat-chom'. a' 40oss. nugget was found in a native camping place, and other; nuggetsV.fciye /neen dis-. covered in such strange positions as- to leave no doubt that they h,Vd been fjaced there by human agency. S ive'Til fail -sized nuggets have been picked out of.the nwls of . Mallee hens* Mr Dunn thinks that many more discoveries wiil he made 'whichwill bring wealth ic the fortur.are fir.deis. and further fame to the State.