indicus
Very Well-Known Member
It's often said, Australia was founded on the sheeps back; however early pioneers quest for richs played a significent role in the birth of a nation....
The Mid 1800's seen struggling colonies such as Queensland, in need of resources to cover the expenses for exploration, and developement of new industries.....
A wave of early explorers, visionaries, and fortune seekers set about forging paths into uncharted and often hostile terrtory. Prominent names such as James Venture Mulligan and Christie Parmerston, whose exploration lead to the construction of tracks through unexplored terrain, the discovery of Goldfields; and subsequently, Northern gold mining settlements...
By the late 1800's, the rush was in 'full-swing'...Miners, fortune seekers and their families, who were hoping to 'cash-in' on the rapidly expanding colony; turned up by land and sea, from all corners of the globe in large numbers, as news of richs spread. Small towns, sprang to life overnight, in the vast northern outback. Queensland was spared financial ruin, but at what cost?
For one; the human toll was astronomicial...newcomers, often faced a lack of basic essentials, and were ill equiped, including a poor knowledge of how to survive in a harsh northern outback. In the begining, starvation and often hostile natives, were the worst of their problems.
Most of the fields were short lived, every creek and gully mined for it's alluvivial. The large reefs were mined out, or unworkable; due to flooding.....Most of the scrub had been cleared for it's timber, to power the steam engines for crushing the ore.....very little was left. Mostly it all died as quick as it started; most of the small settlements disappeared, as did most of the gold, apart from some bygone remnants.....
The Mid 1800's seen struggling colonies such as Queensland, in need of resources to cover the expenses for exploration, and developement of new industries.....
A wave of early explorers, visionaries, and fortune seekers set about forging paths into uncharted and often hostile terrtory. Prominent names such as James Venture Mulligan and Christie Parmerston, whose exploration lead to the construction of tracks through unexplored terrain, the discovery of Goldfields; and subsequently, Northern gold mining settlements...
By the late 1800's, the rush was in 'full-swing'...Miners, fortune seekers and their families, who were hoping to 'cash-in' on the rapidly expanding colony; turned up by land and sea, from all corners of the globe in large numbers, as news of richs spread. Small towns, sprang to life overnight, in the vast northern outback. Queensland was spared financial ruin, but at what cost?
For one; the human toll was astronomicial...newcomers, often faced a lack of basic essentials, and were ill equiped, including a poor knowledge of how to survive in a harsh northern outback. In the begining, starvation and often hostile natives, were the worst of their problems.
Most of the fields were short lived, every creek and gully mined for it's alluvivial. The large reefs were mined out, or unworkable; due to flooding.....Most of the scrub had been cleared for it's timber, to power the steam engines for crushing the ore.....very little was left. Mostly it all died as quick as it started; most of the small settlements disappeared, as did most of the gold, apart from some bygone remnants.....
