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Onkaparinga, SA

Although South Australia mostly missed out on the financial benefits of the large-scale rushes of Victoria and New South Wales it did have a significant, albeit small, gold rush in the Onkaparinga Valley during the 1850s.

While the number of miners to this goldfield was relatively small by the standards of the Victorian rushes, the Onkaparinga field briefly provided the possibility of a rich South Australian rush, and gold fever led many to chance their luck in the colony. However the gold returns to companies such as South Australian Gold Company and Onkaparinga Gold Company were minimal and many speculators lost their money.

Keir Reeves

References
State Library of South Australia, 'There's Gold in "Them Thar Hills" - Prospecting in the Mount Lofty Ranges in the 19th Century', in The Manning Index of South Australian History, http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/manning/sa/mining/diamonds.htm#gold. Details