Edward+Hargraves


 * Who was Edward Hargraves? What did he discover? **

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He weighed 18 stone and was a sailor, publican, shopkeeper and adventurer. Edward Hargraves was also the man who would set off the first Australian gold rush. As self-appointed leader of a small group which travelled to California in 1850, Hargraves learned the craft of prospecting for gold with pans, cradles and excavation. More importantly he noticed similarities in the Californian terrain with that of his Australian home. Unsuccessful in California, he returned to Australia, determined to discover gold.

Source: [] Edward Hargreaves was one of the first diggers to return from America, disappointed at what he had seen. Hargreaves is often regarded as the father of the Australian Gold Rush. On his return from California, he saw geological similarities in his own district of Bathurst. It is believed that shepherds, the Tom Brothers and Lister found the gold Edward Hargreaves later presented to the Colonial Secretary. Hargreaves is also attributed with the invention of the cradle and the discovery of gold in Ballarat. Hargreaves was in the right place at the right time. The Bathurst gold was the catalyst for a large wave of migration and a source of revenue for England who made sure all the gold ended up in the old country

S ource: [] In 1851, [|Edward Hargraves] discovered a 'grain of gold' in a waterhole near Bathurst. The discovery marked the beginning of the Australian gold rushes and a radical change in the economic and social fabric of the nation.

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