Diggings

The 'diggings' was a colloquial term used to describe the gold rush locations in Australia during the 1850s. Gold miners - the diggers - would describe their journey 'to the diggings' and say they were 'at (or on) the diggings'. Because of the speed at which a 'rush' to a particular location might occur, or at which it might be abandoned at news of another rush, the term 'diggings' tended to apply to general areas.

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In Victoria, some of the major diggings were Ballarat, Bendigo (Sandhurst), Mount Alexander or Forest Creek, Ovens Valley and Omeo.

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As surface gold diminished and mining companies replaced individual diggers, the term 'diggings' dropped out of use.

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Gold rush: A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. In the history of the United States and Canada, several gold rushes took place throughout the 19th century, first in the Appalachians, and later in the Sierra Nevada, the ...

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Diggings related Images and Photos (experimental)

Diggings at Sheep Station Point on the River Turon

Prospectors Working the Gregory Gold Diggings in the Colorado Rockies May 1859