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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Township is 225-km northwest of Melbourne. Gold was first discovered by Europeans there in August 1852, at the site of the old policy camp in Golden gully. The gold field now covers an area of 17 km by 66.5 km, with coarse gold being recovered from most gullies, hills and flats within the field. Between September and December 1852, 6000 to 7000 diggers rushed to the locality. With very little rain falling, by June 1853 only 100 or so men remained to work without water. The rains allowed 800 diggers to return in 1855.In 1856 Capt. Smith discovered gold at what he called Smiths Gully. In 1859 and 1861 other small rushes occurred, but in August 1869 Alexander Clelland sank a shallow shaft outside John Paddock and found a 40 oz nugget at the bottom. The Government rewarded him 100 pounds for the discovery of what he called "Bervie" Gold field. This name was spelled incorrectly and became Berlin in the official register. By September 1868, 500 miners were at work, in October a 24-lb nugget was found at Fortunate Gully, and thousands rushed to the area.In 1876 the Berlin Rush was renamed Rheola after a town in Wales. The Rheola area became famous for its beds of large nuggets scattered through the gullies. These nuggets carried in appearance from one patch to the next, some were bright and angular, with little evidence of abrasion, others were plate like, or smoothly eroded with iron staining.The townships of Berlin Rush,Tylers and Johnstown quickly grew up to serve the diggers drinking and other needs. In 1870 it was estimated that a further 40 grog shanties were scattered through the various diggings.On February 5, 1869 Richard Oates and John Deeson found the Welcome Stranger nugget, the largest ever recovered gold nugget in the
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