The Australian gold rushes started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hargraves discovered gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Hargraves called Ophir. Six months after gold was found in New South Wales, it was found in Victoria at Ballarat, and a short time later at Bendigo Creek. Gold was also found all over Australia, it was discovered in Western Australia in the 1850s, in Queensland in 1853, in the Northern Territory in 1865, and at Beaconsfield, Tasmania in 1869. With the goldrush came a huge influx of immigrants, the population increasing threefold from 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871.

With the gold rush came the construction of the first railways and telegraph line, multiculturalism and racism, the Eureka Stockade and the end of penal transportation to the east coast of Australia.

Reference

• Australian Department of Culture and Recreation. The Australian Gold Rush