When was gold first found in Australia?

Answer 1

Indigenous Australians have been on the continent for thousands of years. However, Australia was first "officially" discovered in 1616.

The first landing was in 1606. Willem Jansz/Janszoon was a Dutchman who was seeking new trade routes and trade associates. He became the first recorded European to step foot on Australia's shores on the western shore of Cape York Peninsula, in February 1606. However, he believed the Cape to be part of New Guinea, from whence he crossed the Arafura Sea.

In 1616, Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far whilst trying out Henderik Brouwer's recently discovered route from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia, via the Roaring Forties. Reaching the western coast of Australia, he landed at Cape Inscription on 25 October 1616. His is the first known record of a European visiting Western Australia's shores.

Answer 2

Gold seems to have been first discovered in Australia on 15 February 1823, at Fish River in the Bathurst area. Discoveries were kept secret, for fear of sparking off unrest among the convicts.

Surveyor James McBrien reported finding gold near Bathurst, NSW in 1833.

Gold was first officially discovered in Australia in 1851, not far from Bathurst, New South Wales. Edward Hargraves had carefully studied the geology of the area and, convinced that it was similar to that of the California goldfields, from where he had just returned, went prospecting. He enlisted the assistance of John Lister, a man who had already found gold in the region. Lister led Hargraves directly to where gold was found, at Summerhill Creek, at a site which Hargraves named "Ophir". Hargraves has been credited with the discovery ever since, even though, by rights, credit should go to Lister.