Ophir NSW – Site of Australia’s “first significant gold discovery”
Ophir is located 27 km northeast of Orange and 280 km west of Sydney via Orange. It is the first site where payable gold resulting in a gold strike was recorded in Australia in April 1851.
Ophir is born
A little-known fact is that the very first gold found in 1851 in New South Wales by Edward Hargreaves, was actually given a Hebrew name – ‘’Ophir’’ – the name and place in the bible famous for its gold and wealth.
Successfully drumming up enthusiasm for gold in the west, Hargraves set about publicising it via articles in the Sydney Morning Herald and holding court at Bathurst, lecturing and explaining techniques for gold mining.
Colonial geologist Samuel Stutchbury travelled to Ophir to confirm gold finds for the government. In his report to Governor FitzRoy on 19 May, he wrote –
‘gold has been obtained in considerable quantity. The number of persons engaged at work and about the diggings cannot be less than 400 and of all classes.’
He apologised for his report being written in pencil, ‘…as there is no ink yet in this city of Ophir.’
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The government declared a gold discovery on May 22, 1851.
There’s gold in the hills
The government feared the entire labouring class would abandon their duties in Sydney as clerks, labourers and servants failed to appear for work as thousands rushed west for the newly named “Ophir” goldfields.
There was a concern that shepherds, drovers and farmers would also abandon the developing agricultural industries that had been prospering the young colony. Governor FitzRoy wrote to Earl Grey on 29 May reporting that –
‘thousands of people of every class are proceeding to the locality, – tradesmen and mechanics deserting certain and lucrative employment for the chance of success in digging for gold, – so that the population of Sydney has visibly diminished.’
Gold fever takes hold
Pastoralist James Macarthur suggested that martial law be introduced to prevent complete chaos. However, the news spread of Hargraves’ discovery and it was impossible for the government to stop the flow of people westwards. The one conversation around Sydney was, ‘Have you been?’ or ‘Have your servants run yet?’
Sydney shopkeepers, canny in their ability to turn a profit and create consumer demand, began to fill their windows with all manner of miner’s wares. Blue and red serge shirts, ‘real gold-digging gloves’, mining boots, blankets and other camping goods became staple items. The newspapers were filled with advertisements for items to take to the goldfields.
All roads lead to Ophir
On the roads to the diggings, all classes of people travelled with their belongings. There was an atmosphere of excitement and impending wealth. Eye-witness, Godfrey Charles Mundy, a soldier and writer stated –
“..sixty drays and carts, heavily laden, proceeding westward with tents, rockers, flour, tea, sugar, mining tools, etc. Each accompanied by from four to eight men, half of whom bore fire-arms. Some looked eager and impatient, some half-ashamed of their errant, others sad and thoughtful, all resolved.”
By the end of May 1851, hundreds of diggers had arrived in the Ophir region and had begun their search for gold.
Story courtesy of NSW State Library.
