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.
Hargraves in 1851, by Thomas Tyrwhitt Balcombe (1810-1861)
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.
Gold diggings, Ararat, Victoria, by Edward Roper, 1854
Australian gold diggings, by Edwin Stocqueler, c. 1855
Edward Hargraves, returning the salute of the gold miners, 1851, Thomas Balcombe.
A large gold specimen from the Ballarat mines, weighing over 150 grams, size 7.4×4.4×2.3 cm.