The great gold lottery
The discovery of gold in Australia is as much a story of commercial and industrial innovation as one of mere ‘good fortune and hard work’. During 1851 and 1852, the immediate impact of the discovery of gold on a pastoral and agrarian economy was dramatic, and for the most part, negative. Although the discovery of gold provided obvious benefits, they were qualified by the desertion of farms and factories by workers leaving for the goldfields, depriving industry and agriculture of sufficient manpower to carry on production.