Edward Hammond Hargraves was a gold prospector who claimed to have found gold in Australia in 1851, starting an Australian gold rush. Issues have been contested.

During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of New South Wales had suppressed the news out of the fear that it would reduce the workforce and destabilise the economy.