LARGE NUGGET FOUND

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1931, Page 7

LARGE NUGGET FOUND

WEST AUSTRALIAN DISCOVERY. OFFER OF £6OOO REFUSED. At Larkinville alluvial field recently a 17-year-old youth named James Joseph Larcombe discovered the largest slug of gold ever unearthed in Western Australia. The slug weighs 1123 ounces (fine) and with the premium is worth £5600. Admiring and envious crowds gathered to view the slug when it was placed on exhibition at Coolgardie. Some fine slugs have been found during the last few weeks at Larkinville, but, of course, there has been nothing found even to approach this one. The nugget has been named the Golden Eagle from its resemblance te that bird. When brought to Kalgoorlie to be weighed at the Commonwealth Bank, it caused quite a sensation in the town, and young Larcombe and his father were followed by a large crowd eager to view the nugget. The nugget has been on exhibition during the past few days, and, as a result, over £l5O has been raised for charity. Mr. Larcombe has been offered £6OOO for the nugget, but has refused to dispose of it. At present, its fate is unknown, although there have been suggestions that it will be exhibited throughout Australia. The luck of finding the nugget was no departure from the luck usually attending goldmining, for the, lease on which the nugget was discovered had been previously abandoned by another miner who considered the area useless, while Mr. Larcombe and his son almost decided to abandon it a week before their discovery, but determined to persevere a little longer when gold was found on an adjoining property. In ’spite of Mr- Larcombe’s luck, out of 300 men employed on the field, only about 15 have found gold in any quantity, the majority almost starving and living only on porridge. An influx is expected ’to the field. Most of the big nuggets unearthed in Australia have bedi found in Victoria. The Welcome Stranger, found at Moliagul (Victoria) in 1869, had a gross weight of 2284 ounces, and was valued at £9534. The Welcome Nugget, discovered at Ballarat (Victoria) in 1858, was worth £9325. It weighed 2217 ounces gross. Holtermann’s Nugget, found at Hill End (New South Wales) in 1872, weighed 7560 ounces, and was valued at £12,000. However, technically speaking, this was not nugget, but a mass of gold found in a reef. At Canadian Gully (Victoria) in 1853 and 1854 four nuggets were found with a gross weight respectively of 1619 ounces, 1117 ounces, 1011 ounces and 1177 ounces. In 1857 a nugget in two pieces was found at Dunojly (Victoria), the total weight being 2952 ounces. It had a value of £5500. The Blanche Barkly Nugget, discovered at Gingower (Victoria) in 1857 weighed 1743 dunces, and was worth £6915.

Among the recent discoveries of. nuggets in Western Australia was one at St. Ives, near'Kalgoorlie, in 1926, weighing 101 ounces. The Bobby-Dazzler, the previous biggest nugget found in Western Australia, was unearthed at Pilbara tu 1891. It weighed 487 ounces.