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Title
Proclamation by His Excellency Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esquire
Description

Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe issued a proclamation that all gold within the Colony of Victoria belonged to the Crown. Regulations were being prepared that would authorise only those with a licence to dig for gold.

Date
16 August 1851
Published Source
Australian National Dictionary Centre, The Gold Rushes and Australian English: a resource for researchers, teachers and students, Australian National University, 2005, http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aus_words/gold/index.php. Details
Rights
This material is provided by the Australian National Dictionary Centre, a joint project of the Australian National University and Oxford University Press Australia.

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Transcript

PROCLAMATION. By His Excellency Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Victoria, and it Dependencies &c., &c., &c. Whereas by Law, all Mines of Gold, and all Gold in its natural place of deposit, within the Colony of Victoria, whether on the Lands of the Queen or any of Her Majesty’s subjects, belong to the Crown; And whereas information has been received by the Government that Gold exists upon and in the soil of the Colony, and that certain persons have commenced, or are about to commence, searching and digging for the same, for their own use, without leave or other authority from her Majesty: Now, I, Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esquire, the Lieutenant Governor aforesaid, on behalf of Her Majesty, do hereby publicly notify and declare, that all persons who shall take from any Lands within the said Colony, any Gold, Metal or Ore containing Gold, or who within any of the Waste Lands which have not yet been alienated by the Crown, shall dig for and disturb the soil in search for such Gold, Metal or Ore without having been duly authorised in that behalf, by Her Majesty’s Colonial Government, will be prosecuted, both Criminally and Civilly, as the Law allows: And I further notify and declare that such Regulations as upon further information, may be found expedient, will be speedily prepared and published[,] setting forth the terms on which Licenses will be issued for this purpose, on the payment of a reasonable fee. Given under my Hand and Seal, at the Government Office, Melbourne, this fifteenth day of August, in the Year of Our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, and in the fifteenth year of Her Majesty’s Reign. (L.S.) C.J. LA TROBE. By His Excellency’s Command, W. LONSDALE. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! Argus, 18 August 1851