“THE GOLDEN GULLY”.
In a country like our own a golden mountain could not well exist without a golden gully, and as everybody had some sort of faith in the existence of the former, a report of immense quantities of gold having been found in some secluded glen not far distant from Tamarura (Tambaroora) readily obtained credence. On the first receipt of the intelligence at the Turon, a few stole away in the night-time, and this circumstance being whispered abroad, a general rush took place, and hundreds were quickly on the way to the Golden Gully. In a few hours the face of the hill was laid out in claims, and perfectly alive with industrious gold-seekers. After a day or two spent in profitless toil in which an immense amount of labour was performed, the population dropped off by dozens and scores, until at last, not more than two or three solitary tents and innumerable mounds of earth remained to mark the whereabouts of the Golden Gully, the occupants of which, we understand, are making fair average earnings.
Click here to see the original article in the Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal Saturday on 22 November 1851 p. 6.
The Sydney Morning Herald of Friday 30 January, 1852 (p. 2), writing about bushrangers, shows gold must also have been found in the area known as Tamaroora as “Mr. Assistant Commissioner JOHNSON arrived at Tamaroora [Tambaroora] Creek accompanied by a trooper and GEORGEY SUTTOR, an aboriginal native” to inspect licences.
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“YESTERDAY’S RECEIPTS OF GOLD BY THE WESTERN ESCORT AND MAILS.”
Then the earliest mention of the name Tambaroora appears to be in an article describing the amount of gold in the district being sent to Sydney via the Gold Escorts in the Sydney Morning Herald of 27 Feb 1852. It also lists a number of the successful diggers who were on the Turon, Macquarie, Meroo Rivers and Tambaroora Creek.
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THE GOLD CIRCULARS
Six months later, “At Tamaroora Creek, 22 oz. have been washed from a single load of stuff, and many parties are making from 5 oz. to 6 oz. per day. The whole of this district and the Golden Gully is in a most flourishing condition…..
An armed escort has been established by Government between Mudgee and Sofala taking in Avisford and Tamaroora along the way, which will be a great advantage to miners in these districts…. The escorts brought in from
| Braidwood, | 183 ozs. |
| Bell’s Creek, | 180 ozs. |
| Major’s Creek, | 139 ozs. |
| Goulburn, | 122 ozs. |
| Sofala, | 496 ozs. |
| Tamaroora, | 1062 ozs. |
| Bathurst, | 453 ozs. |
| Meroo, | 369 ozs. |
| Mudgee, | 127ozs. |
and the mails from
| Sofala, | 835 ozs. |
| Bathurst, | 158 ozs. |
| Mudgee, | 50 ozs. |
| Braidwood, | 51 ozs. |
| Wellington, | 21 ozs. |
| Gundagai, | 13 ozs. |
| Tamworth, | 205 ozs. |
| Moreton Bay, | 7 ozs. |
Making a total by escort and mails, of 4471 ozs. In value about £14,550.” [Note: nearly one quarter of this was from Tambaroora]
For the full story click here.
