In February 1869, two British prospectors, John Deason and Richard Oates, made a historic discovery in central Victoria, Australia. While digging for gold, they came across a large rock which turned out to be a giant block of gold weighing 72 kg. This huge block was 0.6 meters long and almost 0.3 meters wide.
Excited by their find, Deason and Oates decided to keep it a secret until they could safely secure the gold. Under cover of darkness, they took the gold and brought it back to Dyson's tent. After burning the dirt and removing the black quartz covering the gold block, they took some of the black quartz to a local ore crusher, which yielded 1.7 kg of gold. The remaining gold block was transported to the town of Dunolly, where they sold 66 kg to the bank.
The gold block, called “Welcome Stranger,” was too large to be weighed in the bank, so it had to be split into three blocks for weighing. The bank paid £9,563 for the gold, a substantial sum equivalent to an average worker's wages for 43 years. Despite their unexpected success, Deason and Oates faced different fates after the discovery. Dyson continued to mine for gold and eventually became the manager of a store in Moliagal, where he lost most of his fortune through failed investments. Meanwhile, Oates returned to England, married, returned to Australia and lived on a farm until his death.
Moliagool, where the historic discovery took place, was a bustling town during the Victorian gold rush, but is now a quiet community with sparse houses and growing crops. The area known as the Golden Triangle still attracts gold prospectors, where some of the largest blocks of gold in the world have been discovered over the years. These discoveries include the Lady Hotham gold block, the “Welcome Nugget” and the recent discovery of a 72kg gold block in Ballarat.
Modern mining practices in Victoria have advanced significantly, with companies using technology to better predict and access gold-bearing quartz reefs deep underground. Drilling methods and machinery help extract rock samples more efficiently, resulting in an annual gold production of approximately 18,427 kg from Victoria's mines. Despite the challenges and risks of mining, the allure of finding gold continues to draw prospectors to this historic region.