ALEXANDRE JULIEN DUCHENE was not even four years into a fourteen year sentence in Van Diemen’s Land in 1840 when Major D’Arcy Wentworth, the Police Magistrate at Launceston, described him as ‘a man of most exemplary conduct’. Edward Hammond Hargraves, was less than two years into enjoying his claim to have started the Australian gold … Continue reading Duchene / Hargraves
Exodus and Panic
Exodus and Panic: Melbourne's reaction to the Bathurst gold discoveries of May 1851 This article was shortlisted for the "Best Peer Reviewed History Article" in the 2015 Victorian Community History Awards. Originally published as: Douglas Wilkie, 'Exodus and Panic: Melbourne's reaction to the Bathurst gold discoveries of May 1851', Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 85, no. … Continue reading Exodus and Panic
Ten Thousand Fathoms Deep
Eighteen fifty-one was the year in which Port Phillip was separated from New South Wales and became Victoria. It was also the year in which the great Victorian gold rushes started. Many historians, and even a greater number of non-historians, believe these two events occurred within weeks of each other simply by coincidence. However, the … Continue reading Ten Thousand Fathoms Deep
