By Syed Mohammad Ayaan Ahmed 9B (Aligned)

Australian Gold Rush

History of Discovery

James Nash
In the early 1860s the colony of Queensland was bankrupt. Then a quietly-
spoken, solitary man called James Nash discovered gold in the area now
known as Gympie. The government of Queensland had offered a reward of
£3000 for anyone who could locate a new payable source of gold within 90
miles of Brisbane. In August 1867, Nash located gold near the Mary River. He
kept his findings quiet initially, until reporting his discovery to the Queensland
Government on 16 October 1867. The report kicked off one of the ‘wildest
rushes of Queensland’s history’. 
Edward Hargraves
Edward Hammond Hargraves is generally credited with being the man who
started the first Australian gold rush. In the effort to stop losing its population
to the Californian gold rush, the New South Wales government offered a
reward to whoever could find payable quantities of gold in Australia.
Hargraves, who had been in California, returned to Australia in 1851 hoping to
collect the reward. He travelled to the Bathurst plains where he enlisted the
help of John Lister, and brothers William, James and Henry Toms. After
finding £13 worth of gold specks, Hargraves left the others to continue the
search and showed his finds to the Colonial Secretary, deliberately
misrepresenting the quantities discovered and downplaying his colleagues’
efforts.
Henry Thom Sing
During the gold rushes, many Chinese immigrants settled in Australia and
made their lives here. Henry Thom Sing, also known as ‘Ah Sin’ or ‘Tom Ah
Sing’, was a Chinese-born entrepreneur and community leader who settled in
Launceston. Tasmania. Sing travelled to Australia to take his chances in the
Victorian gold rush. In 1868 he came to Launceston, Tasmania. Sing spoke
excellent English, worked as an agent and interpreter for Chinese speakers,
and imported goods from China. Sing was a keen supporter of local
businesses and held a number of spectacular Chinese carnivals around
Launceston to share Chinese cultural heritage. Sing’s St John Street premises
are still a part of Launceston’s commercial sector, and his name is
remembered as part of Launceston’s history.