He also strengthened the police force by every means in his
power, and then awaited developments.
He had not long to wait. Almost immediately after the issue of the
proclamation another gold-field was discovered on the Turon River, also
a feeder of the Macquarie, only a few miles from Lewes Pond; and shortly
afterward a third was opened up on the Abercrombie, a tributary of the
Murrumbidgee, which takes its rise in the Cordillera, south of Bathurst.
By the beginning of June, gold began to pour into Bathurst; but Mr.
Hardy, the chief commissioner, was able to report an almost idyllic
peace and plenty at the diggings.
In the middle of July an event occurred which at once produced a violent
attack of gold fever. This was the discovery of an enormous mass of
virgin gold, weighing upward of one hundred pounds, by Doctor Kerr, a
squatter on the Meroo Creek. Doctor Kerr had been guided to the spot by
an aboriginal who had been in his service several years; and, in his
excitement, he broke the matrix in which the nugget was imbedded, and
thus spoiled what would have been the most magnificent specimen of gold
quartz hitherto discovered.
Pages:
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539