The Gold Rushes of Australia 1851 - 1914

As is the case with any economic boom, the Australian gold rush of 1851 lead to the recruitment of Australians from Eastern Australia, China,and Europe. It is hypothesized that the news of discovery of gold in Western Australia was inhibited earlier by the government out of fear of wounding the economy. It was feared a mass migration of workers to gold fields would leave industry elsewhere in tatters. 

Australians started emigrating to the United States when the gold fields opened in California in 1848. It was at this point that the New  South Wales government sought approval from Britain to take advantage of mining mineral resources and began advertising rewards for the discovery of gold. Immigration included 300,000 people arriving in California between 1848 and 1855. In Victoria, a state of southeastern Australia,the population increased from about 80,000 in 1851 to 550,000 by 1861.

Arrivals at Sydney and Hobart got off of ships and walked to the gold fields. There were times when Australians worked with aboriginals to locate gold, and food and water. At other times the treatment of aboriginals was bad, not unlike the happenings to Native Americans in  America.

The Australian gold rush lasted approximately from May 1851 to around 1914.

If you would like a wonderfully detailed expose on the Aussie gold rush,  please see https://sovereignhilledblog.com/2020/10/15/the-gold-rushes-of-victoria-and-california-compared/

Gold diggings, Ararat, c.1858, by Edward Roper, oil painting, presented by Sir William Dixson, 1929, State Library of New South Wales, public domain