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    Where is Dunolly located?
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    Unearthing the Welcome Stranger Nugget, 1869, by W. Parker (photographer), courtesy of State Library of Victoria.
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Dunolly, VIC

In the early 1850s, the Dunolly Mining Division became famous as an area where substantially sized nuggets of gold could be found and diggers rushed to the numerous alluvial gold-bearing sites in the district. The town of Dunolly moved as new discoveries were made further along Burnt Creek; the original site became known as Old Dunolly, or Goldsborough. The population of the area peaked during the Dunolly Rush, which began in June 1856, and precipitated mass movement of diggers from other gold towns in Victoria. In September that year, there were as many as 60,000 people in Dunolly but, as miners left to try their luck at fresh strikes nearby, the number fell to about 20,000 by October. Moliagul, near Dunolly, became famous when the ‘Welcome Stranger’ nugget was discovered there in February 1869, at Bulldog Gully. At 2,284 ounces, it was the largest nugget ever discovered in Victoria.

Jessica Redmond

References
Bannear, David, Heritage Victoria, Historic gold mining information, Department of Sustainability and Environment. Details
Darbyshire, John and C. E. Sayers,, Old gold and mining towns of Australia, International Limited Editions, Adelaide, 1975. Details
Flett, James, The history of gold discovery in Victoria, The Hawthorn Press, Melbourne, 1970. Details