In March 1850 three men, Campbell, Esmond and Bruhn, made what is believed to be the earliest gold discovery in Victoria on Donald Cameron’s run at Clunes. Unlike most other fields the Clunes goldfield was almost deficient in shallow alluvial gold and, by 1859, several mining companies were engaged in sinking for deeply buried alluvial leads. The decline of quartz mining in Clunes was gradual and mirrored well by the fate of its greatest mine, the Port Phillip Company, when its operations were suspended in the late 1880s.
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Esmond discovering gold at Clunes, 1851, courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
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Clunes Post Office, by John T. Collins, 1907-2001 (photographer), courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
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General view of Clunes, c. 1860 - c. 1869, courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
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The Port Phillip Gold Mining Company's claim and the township of Clunes, 19 June 1869, by Calvert, Samuel, courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
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Disturbances at Clunes - miners resisting the introduction of Chinese labour, 31 December 1873, by Calvert, Samuel, courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
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Clunes, VIC
- References
- Bannear, David, Heritage Victoria, Historic gold mining information, Department of Sustainability and Environment. Details
- Darbyshire, J. and C.E. Sayers, Old gold mining towns of Australia, International Limited Editions, 1974. Details
- Flett, James, The history of gold discovery in Victoria, The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1970. Details
