Welcome Stranger

The Welcome Stranger was the name given to the discovery of a large gold nugget, measuring 61 cm by 31 cm, discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia on February 5 1869. It weighed 2316 troy ounces or about 72 kg. It is the largest alluvial gold find in the world.

Related Topics:
Gold nugget - Moliagul, Victoria - Australia - February 5 - 1869 - Troy ounces - Alluvial - Gold

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At the time of the discovery there were no scales capable of weighing a nugget of this size and it was later broken into smaller peices on an anvil for weighing by a local blacksmith. Deason and Oates were paid 19,068 pounds for their discovery which became known as "Welcome Stranger".

Related Topics:
Anvil - Blacksmith - Pounds

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John Deason was born in 1829 at Tresco, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, England. Prior to being a gold miner, in 1851 he was tin dresser.http://www.comp.utas.edu.au/users/rsmith/scilly/deason/ps06/ps06_023.html Deason continued with gold mining and workings most of his life and although becoming a store keeper at Moliagal. He lost a substantial proportion of his wealth through poor investments in gold mining. He bought a small farm near Moliagal where he lived at the end of his life and died in 1915, aged 85 years.

Related Topics:
Tresco - Isles of Scilly - Cornwall, England

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Richard Oates was born about 1831 at Pendeen, Cornwall, England. http://www.comp.utas.edu.au/users/rsmith/scilly/oates/ps14/ps14_453.html After the 1869 find Oates returned to England and married. He returned with his wife to Australia where they had four children. The Oates family purchased 800 acres (320 ha) of land in 1895 about 15 miles (25 km) west of Bendigo, Victoria, and Oates farmed until his death at Marong, Victoria in 1906 aged 75 years.

Related Topics:
Pendeen - Bendigo, Victoria - Marong, Victoria

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