‘Suddenly the sound of two metals meeting rang out from the point of his pick; he stooped down: a shining yellow spot had been laid bare!... it was a mass with the volume of a big paving-stone, a piece of gold set right in the middle of a hole, - a piece of gold weighing 132 pounds! I was not on the spot at the moment when the man who made this wonderful find came up from the hole; I saw him only an hour later. He was a negro... He was speaking very softly, like a man who has just committed a crime. His white partners were in little better case than he was; they were stunned by success... The day after this memorable event the five partners... announced their intention of making back for Europe immediately. And actually, having gone back to town, they embarked on the same steamer that had brought them out, taking with them on one hand two hundred thousand francs’ worth of gold, and on the other hand the memory of having been miners for two days.’

Image: Lucky digger that returned Artist: S.T. Gill Text: Letters from a miner in Australia Author: Antoine Fauchery

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