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The Third Basin Goldrush 1857. Talk by Dr Roger Kellaway 20 July 2014
Talk by Dr Roger Kellaway 20 July 2014
The Launceston Examiner of Thursday, 14 March 1857 contained a short paragraph noting that some weeks ago a fishing party had found gold in the bed of the South Esk River. A group of respectable gentlemen were now setting out for the Third Basin to assess the extent of the discovery. Their report published on Saturday was positive. Every dish washed contained 10 to 20 specks of waterworn gold: not enough to be profitable on its own but a clear indication that the source must be close by. On Sunday, three to four hundred people visited the site. Most were merely curious but some went with spades and tin dishes to test the discovery for themselves. Within a week, a small mining camp emerged at the Third Basin. It contained a few crude hunts with boughs for roofs, numerous canvas tents and even one business. An enterprising pastry-cook had set up a shop to sell cakes and ginger beer to diggers and visitors alike. The population was highly variable. The census of 31 March 1857 recorded 65 persons living at the Third Basin. Other parties were off searching upstream or in bush country towards the Asbestos Range in an unsuccessful search for the source of the gold. As summer turned into autumn, low gold yields and colder and wetter weather saw most diggers return to their normal jobs back in Launceston. There would be thousands of gold rushes of this scale in nineteenth-century Australia. The Third Basin gold rush gains its historical significance from the juxtaposition of place and time. A major gold field within an hour’s walk of Launceston was seen as a city-transforming event. This accounts for the detailed coverage the local papers gave to the diggings and to developments such as the revival of the Northern Gold Prospecting Association. The rush also occurred at a critical time in the economic history of Tasmania. In 1857, the colony was slipping into a depression that was to last until the mid-1870s. While many of the causes involved complex international issues, a Tasmanian gold field could ameliorate the local factors that intensified the depression.
The Launceston Examiner of Thursday, 14 March 1857 contained a short paragraph noting that some weeks ago a fishing party had found gold in the bed of the South Esk River. A group of respectable gentlemen were now setting out for the Third Basin to assess the extent of the discovery. Their report published on Saturday was positive. Every dish washed contained 10 to 20 specks of waterworn gold: not enough to be profitable on its own but a clear indication that the source must be close by. On Sunday, three to four hundred people visited the site. Most were merely curious but some went with spades and tin dishes to test the discovery for themselves. Within a week, a small mining camp emerged at the Third Basin. It contained a few crude hunts with boughs for roofs, numerous canvas tents and even one business. An enterprising pastry-cook had set up a shop to sell cakes and ginger beer to diggers and visitors alike. The population was highly variable. The census of 31 March 1857 recorded 65 persons living at the Third Basin. Other parties were off searching upstream or in bush country towards the Asbestos Range in an unsuccessful search for the source of the gold. As summer turned into autumn, low gold yields and colder and wetter weather saw most diggers return to their normal jobs back in Launceston. There would be thousands of gold rushes of this scale in nineteenth-century Australia. The Third Basin gold rush gains its historical significance from the juxtaposition of place and time. A major gold field within an hour’s walk of Launceston was seen as a city-transforming event. This accounts for the detailed coverage the local papers gave to the diggings and to developments such as the revival of the Northern Gold Prospecting Association. The rush also occurred at a critical time in the economic history of Tasmania. In 1857, the colony was slipping into a depression that was to last until the mid-1870s. While many of the causes involved complex international issues, a Tasmanian gold field could ameliorate the local factors that intensified the depression.
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By Brad WoodTalk by Dr Roger Kellaway 20 July 2014
The Launceston Examiner of Thursday, 14 March 1857 contained a short paragraph noting that some weeks ago a fishing party had found gold in the bed of the South Esk River. A group of respectable gentlemen were now setting out for the Third Basin to assess the extent of the discovery. Their report published on Saturday was positive. Every dish washed contained 10 to 20 specks of waterworn gold: not enough to be profitable on its own but a clear indication that the source must be close by. On Sunday, three to four hundred people visited the site. Most were merely curious but some went with spades and tin dishes to test the discovery for themselves. Within a week, a small mining camp emerged at the Third Basin. It contained a few crude hunts with boughs for roofs, numerous canvas tents and even one business. An enterprising pastry-cook had set up a shop to sell cakes and ginger beer to diggers and visitors alike. The population was highly variable. The census of 31 March 1857 recorded 65 persons living at the Third Basin. Other parties were off searching upstream or in bush country towards the Asbestos Range in an unsuccessful search for the source of the gold. As summer turned into autumn, low gold yields and colder and wetter weather saw most diggers return to their normal jobs back in Launceston. There would be thousands of gold rushes of this scale in nineteenth-century Australia. The Third Basin gold rush gains its historical significance from the juxtaposition of place and time. A major gold field within an hour’s walk of Launceston was seen as a city-transforming event. This accounts for the detailed coverage the local papers gave to the diggings and to developments such as the revival of the Northern Gold Prospecting Association. The rush also occurred at a critical time in the economic history of Tasmania. In 1857, the colony was slipping into a depression that was to last until the mid-1870s. While many of the causes involved complex international issues, a Tasmanian gold field could ameliorate the local factors that intensified the depression.
The Launceston Examiner of Thursday, 14 March 1857 contained a short paragraph noting that some weeks ago a fishing party had found gold in the bed of the South Esk River. A group of respectable gentlemen were now setting out for the Third Basin to assess the extent of the discovery. Their report published on Saturday was positive. Every dish washed contained 10 to 20 specks of waterworn gold: not enough to be profitable on its own but a clear indication that the source must be close by. On Sunday, three to four hundred people visited the site. Most were merely curious but some went with spades and tin dishes to test the discovery for themselves. Within a week, a small mining camp emerged at the Third Basin. It contained a few crude hunts with boughs for roofs, numerous canvas tents and even one business. An enterprising pastry-cook had set up a shop to sell cakes and ginger beer to diggers and visitors alike. The population was highly variable. The census of 31 March 1857 recorded 65 persons living at the Third Basin. Other parties were off searching upstream or in bush country towards the Asbestos Range in an unsuccessful search for the source of the gold. As summer turned into autumn, low gold yields and colder and wetter weather saw most diggers return to their normal jobs back in Launceston. There would be thousands of gold rushes of this scale in nineteenth-century Australia. The Third Basin gold rush gains its historical significance from the juxtaposition of place and time. A major gold field within an hour’s walk of Launceston was seen as a city-transforming event. This accounts for the detailed coverage the local papers gave to the diggings and to developments such as the revival of the Northern Gold Prospecting Association. The rush also occurred at a critical time in the economic history of Tasmania. In 1857, the colony was slipping into a depression that was to last until the mid-1870s. While many of the causes involved complex international issues, a Tasmanian gold field could ameliorate the local factors that intensified the depression.