Two years after the Kimberley rush, gold was discovered in the Pilbara tableland region of Western Australia by Jimmy Withnell, the son of a sheep station family. Following the find, thousands of diggers flocked to the new field; the majority of them were hardened veterans accustomed to difficult mining conditions. The diggings at Pilbara proved to be rich in ore and the miners soon fanned out from the original site to the neighbouring tablelands and ravines (including diggings at Marble Bar and the Ashburton River) in search of their fortune.
