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In the early 1850s, the newly-formed colony of Victoria was
gripped by gold fever.
Victoria’s first official discovery of payable gold
was made in June 1851 by James Esmond at Clunes. This was
followed in July by a discovery by Louis John Michel and his
party at Anderson’s Creek, Warrandyte.
The announcement of these discoveries sparked the Victorian
gold rush of the 1850s and was to transform the colony from
a small pastoral settlement into the commercial and cultural
centre of Australia.
In the first months of the rush, rich gold-fields were opened
at Mount Alexander, Buninyong and Ballarat, Sandhurst, Beechworth
and Yackandandah. Thousands of diggers flocked to these fields,
following each new rush as it was announced. Initially they
came from within Victoria and surrounding colonies, but as
the news of the Victorian gold-fields spread, diggers arrived
from Britain, Europe and America, all with the intention of
making their fortunes.
By the end of the gold rush decade, the population of Victoria
had reached over 500,000 – a dramatic increase from
80,000 in 1851 – and over 25 million ounces of gold
had been extracted from the Victorian fields, the equivalent
of eleven billion dollars today.
Over 150 years after the first official discoveries, Victorian
Gold: The gold rush and its impact on cultural life celebrates
this significant period in Victoria’s history. Through
three themes – Life on the gold-fields, Significant
arrivals and A city’s progress: Melbourne 1851–61
– the exhibition presents the work of artists of the
gold-fields, surveys the contributions of these artists to
the development of art in Victoria, and explores the growth
of the City of Melbourne during the gold rush decade.
Acknowledgements
Curator – Lisa Sullivan
Designer – Kate Scott, the Potter
Programmer and consultant – Vanessa Sowerwine
Photography – Robert Colvin
Works from the collection of Denis Joachim reproduced with
the kind permission of Denis Joachim.
© The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne.
Victorian gold: The gold rush and its impact on cultural
life – exhibition catalogue available from the Ian Potter
Museum of Art.
This on-line exhibition is an initiative of the Collections
Management Project, the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University
of Melbourne 2002.
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