- Alternative Names
- Victoria Goldfield
- Warrandyte
Although there had been rumours of gold in the area throughout the 1840s, the first official discovery at Andersons Creek was in July 1851, by Louis John Michel and his party of six men. This find contends with that at Clunes, by William Campbell and a Mr. Esmond, for the title of the first official discovery of gold in Victoria.Michel named the goldfield the Victoria, after the new colony, but it later became known as the Warrandyte Goldfield.
Alluvial mining was only briefly successful here and miners soon left the area for richer fields elsewhere. From the 1860s to the 1880s, the area was revived for quartz mining, but this method also failed to produce substantial quantities of gold.
