The first settlers appeared in Australia in 1788 and, as you know, not of their own free will. These were criminals, convicts exiled to a distant continent. The freemen rode to the "end of the world" reluctantly. In addition, there was a strong belief in the sterility and uselessness of Australia.
"Unwanted" continent
One of the colonists, apparently still very poorly aware of the wealth of this land, warned: “There is no point in settling in Australia. There are no game animals or useful plants, including forests. And the main thing is that there are absolutely no minerals”.
The traveler Mac Donough had the same opinion of Australia. With a painful feeling he recalled the dull thickets, heavy fumes, dead silence. “All this almost broke us mentally,” the researcher wrote.
Opinion about the sterility of the distant continent wavered after in 1840 one of the convicts working on the construction of a railway in New South Wales found a gold nugget under a large stone. He told about the precious find to his comrades and guards, but they accused him of deceit, that he simply melted the stolen gold watch.
The story with Australian gold did not end there. Other evidence began to appear that precious deposits did exist on the “barren” continent. In 1842, gold-bearing quartz was discovered in the Australian Alps. It took a little while, and an amateur geologist, Priest William Clarke, accidentally found a gold nugget the size of a fist. He happily reported this to the governor of the region, Gripps, and heard an alarming exclamation in response: "For God's sake, hide your find if you don't want convicts to cut our throats!"
Australian gold nugget weighing 27 kilograms
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Golden fever
And so many Governor Grippé thought. In 1848, a gold deposit was found near the village of Berrima in New South Wales. The population asked the local authorities to conduct a thorough geological survey of the deposit. But those, fearing to alarm society, cause a boom, flatly refused.
Of course, it was not possible to hide the information for a long time, the secret was revealed in mid-May 1851 by the Sydney Morning Gerald, which reported on the rich gold placers discovered by the blacksmith Edward Hargreaves near the Summerhill Creek River. It turned out to be the same area where Priest Clark found the gold nugget.
Underground gold mine
Another month passed, and what the authorities were so afraid of happened: the gold rush swept the whole of Australia. Almost every tenth inhabitant of it has become a prospector. Trade shops were closed, officials left their offices, there was no one to bake bread, to serve in the police, and desertion in the army began.
Everyone wanted to try their luck. And many found it. Thousands of gold prospectors have become incredibly rich. And this is not surprising, considering that there were gold nuggets of astonishing sizes and weighing 50 kilograms or more.
But the placers on Summerhill Creek River eventually dried up. The gold rush subsided little by little, but not for long. Everything was repeated when in 1892 in eastern Australia, in Coolgardy, in the desert area, no less rich gold deposits were found.
Gold digging camps were pathetic
Amazing discovery
They were discovered by two farmers - Bailey and Ford. It was said that, by the will of fate, having got to this place, in a few hours they became fabulously rich people, picking up about 15 kilograms of pure gold right from the surface of the earth.
A new golden boom has begun. This time, gold diggers from all over the world rushed to Australia in search of happiness. Among them was the sailor Lewis Lasseter - a black-haired stocky man. One of his Australian acquaintances advised him to go to the McDonnell Ridge in central Australia, where, according to rumors, large ruby deposits were discovered.
Lasseter bought several horses, provisions and set off on a long and unknown journey. Only a month later he reached the goal of his difficult journey. Alas, the rumors did not come true. It turned out that an ordinary garnet, red crystalline quartz, was taken for a ruby.
Disappointed Lasseter decided not to go back, but to get to the ocean and again hire a sailor on some merchant ship. It seemed to him that the road ahead was not so far. But week after week passed, and the coast did not appear on the horizon. Food and water supplies were running out. Lasseter's position was becoming desperate. Fortunately, he reached some mountains where he found water. After resting, I set off again and once saw a ridge of greenish stones in front of me. Having picked up and carefully examined one of them, Lasseter noticed thin layers of gold inside the stone!
Excitement seized him. Walking along the crest of the ridge, Lasseter became convinced that it stretches for many miles. He realized that he had discovered a vein of gold that contained huge deposits of the precious metal.
Birth of the company
Having quickly stuffed his bag with stones, Lasseter went on, hoping to reach the populated areas in a short time. Alas, the days passed, and the desert did not end. The horses died of hunger, the water ran out. Lasseter, who was already fainting, was saved by a chance encounter with a camel driver.
So he ended up in the camp of geologists and met a certain Harding. The latter, having learned about the discovery of Lasseter, offered to go together to central Australia. Lasseter did not immediately decide on this. It was 1900 when a new journey to the golden ridge began. Not without adventure, the companions reached the deposit. Measurements have shown that it is about 15 kilometers long and four meters wide and, therefore, contains fantastic reserves of gold.
After staking a large area, as required by the rules, and taking a supply of samples, the prospectors turned back. Now all that remained was to find rich people and start mining the precious metal. But, oddly enough, there were no people willing to finance the enterprise. The reserves of gold in the previously discovered deposits were not yet exhausted, and therefore no one wanted to go to the distant desert and risk it.
Only in 1916, the government of one of the Australian states sent two expeditions there on camels. Harding had died by that time, and Lasseter retired from gold mining for a long time. Both expeditions were unsuccessful, both returned without finding the golden ridge.
In early 1930, Lasseter decided to act again. He managed to interest businessmen and Australian state governments in the world's largest gold deposit. Finally, a mining company was formed, shares sold out, and an expedition with an all-terrain vehicle and a small aircraft for aerial reconnaissance was organized.
Tragic ending
In June 1930 (Australian winter) six people, including Lasseter, were shown on the road. Instead of camels, there was an all-terrain vehicle, but this did not make travel easier. Even from the plane, it was not possible to find the ridge. Lasseter's companions decided to return, but he himself never agreed to turn back and, together with the accidentally met hunter Jones, set off on camels.
It is impossible to tell about all the vicissitudes of their fate in a short essay. And so the search was crowned with success, the ridge was found, but a quarrel arose on the way between Lasseter and Jones. The hunter left, and Lasseter was left alone in the hot (summer had already come), deserted and waterless desert.
The company sent a plane to his aid. An experienced lifeguard and a few Aboriginal people were also hired. An unsuccessful search for traces of Lasseter continued for about three months. It was December, the hottest time in Australia.
Gold mining is not easy
The tragic fate of the gold digger became known when the rescuers met a tribe of natives. It turned out that he spent the last days with them. The savages shared their meager supplies with Lasseter. But his strength was gone. He fell ill, began to go blind and died in one of the camps. The natives showed this place. Rescuers found the remains of Lasseter, and later his diaries were also found with brief illegible entries.
After the death of Lewis Lasseter, some experts began to argue that he was mistaken and mistook a pyrite vein for gold. Nevertheless, interest in the mysterious golden ridge has not faded away, the search for it continues to this day.