eGold - A Nation's Heritage

The discovery of large gold nuggets is a distinctive and enduring feature of the central Victorian region. One of the first of these finds was the Heron’s nugget, discovered near Fryerstown. Weighing 1,008 oz, it was the biggest chunk of ore found on the Mount Alexander Goldfield. In 1858, The Welcome, weighing 2,200 oz was found at Bakery Hill, Ballarat and, a decade later, two Cornishmen unearthed the world’s largest nugget, the Welcome Stranger, at Moliagul. In 1871, the 1,600 oz Precious and the 1,110 oz Viscount Canterbury nuggets were found at Rheola. By 1910, the region had produced 1,300 nuggets over 20 oz – the bulk of the world’s known nuggets.