It’s been said that the people who made their fortunes during the gold rushes of the 1850s were those selling the shovels, not the ones digging. These scales were used in the store of Edmund Webb at Bathurst, whose general warehouse business prospered when the gold find at the Ophir goldfields was proclaimed in May […]
Throughout the nineteenth century the various goldfields near Rockley all experienced a number of rushes as miners reacted to new discoveries and went in search of the latest Eldorado. Stores were established on the larger fields to supply miners with life’s necessities and where miners could sell their gold. Scales such as this one would […]
In the 2004 book Time gentlemen, please!: Maitland’s Hotels Past & Present, a redrawn copy of this old undated plan of West Maitland was published, with an estimate that it was drawn around, or at least represents, the year 1858. But what evidence places it in the 1850s? For the Wonnarua people, the area depicted […]
If it possible to ascribe personal characteristics based on a photograph this portrait of Julius Herman Rosler (1825-1914) – known as John – suggests a self-confident man determined to make his mark on the world, something he certainly did. One obituary published upon Rosler’s death was subtitled ‘A Romantic Career’ which somewhat downplays a life […]
Kathleen Lyttleton-Taylor’s (nee Regan) gift of eighteen stunning pieces of historic silverware, made to the Tamworth Regional Gallery in 1963, includes the works of twelve accomplished Australian silversmiths. These makers originate from three different Australian states and backgrounds, which gives the collection mixed stylistic and personal influence. The work of William Edwards of Melbourne; Evan […]
This enchanting heart-shaped gold nugget has little monetary value today but its unearthing at Ophir, near Orange, in April 1851 spurred gold fever far and wide. It became the first payable gold in Australia and commenced the nation’s historic gold rush era. The gold rush transformed many aspects of life in the Central West, and […]
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