The Welcome Stranger is the biggest

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

gold nugget :''"Gold nugget" may also refer to the catfish Baryancistrus xanthellus or the mango cultivar Gold Nugget.'' A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placers. Nuggets ...

that has ever been found, which had a calculated refined weight of .Potter, Terry F. (1999) ''The Welcome Stranger: a definitive account of the worlds largest alluvial gold nugget''. It measured and was discovered by prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates on 5 February 1869 at

Moliagul, Victoria Moliagul is a small township in Victoria, Australia, northwest of Melbourne and west of Bendigo. The town's name is believed to be a derivation of the aboriginal word "moliagulk", meaning "wooded hill". The area is notable for the discovery of ...

, Australia, about 14.6 kilometres (9 miles) north-west of

Dunolly Dunolly is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Dunolly - Maryborough Road, in the Shire of Central Goldfields. At the 2016 census, Dunolly had a population of 893, down from 969 in 2006. History The town began during the Victorian ...

Discovery

Found only below the surface, near the base of a tree on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully, the nugget had a gross weight of (241 lb 10 oz). Its trimmed weight was (210 lbs), and its net weight was (192 lbs 11.5 oz). At the time of the discovery, there were no scales capable of weighing a nugget this large, so it was broken into three pieces on an

anvil An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked"). Anvils are as massive as practical, because the higher ...

by Dunolly-based

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

Archibald Walls. Deason, Oates, and a few friends took the nugget to the

London Chartered Bank of Australia The London Chartered Bank of Australia (from 1893 the London Bank of Australia) was an English-run Australian bank which operated from 1852 to 1921. History It was formed in October 1852, with the issuing of a prospectus and granting of a Roya ...

, in Dunolly, which advanced them £9,000. Deason and Oates were finally paid an estimated £9,381 () for their nugget, which became known as the "Welcome Stranger". At August 2019 gold prices, it would be worth US$3.4 million .3 million GBP It was heavier than the "

Welcome Nugget The Welcome Nugget is a large gold nugget, weighing 2,217 troy ounces 16 pennyweight. (68.98 kg), that was discovered by a group of twenty-two Cornish miners at the Red Hill Mining Company site at Bakery Hill (near the present intersecti ...

" of that had been found in

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

in 1858. The goldfields warden F. K. Orme reported that of smelted gold had been obtained from it, irrespective of scraps that were given away by the finders, estimated as totalling another . Moliagul WS inscription

The nugget was soon melted down and the gold was sent as ingots to Melbourne for forwarding to the Bank of England. It left the country on board the steamship ''Reigate'' which departed on 21 February. An obelisk commemorating the discovery of the "Welcome Stranger" was erected near the spot in 1897. A replica of the "Welcome Stranger" is in the Old Treasury building, Treasury Place,

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

; another replica is owned by descendants of John Deason and is now on display at the Dunolly Rural Transaction Center.

Discoverers

John Deason was born in 1829 on the island of Tresco,

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of th ...

, off the southwestern tip of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England, UK. In 1851, he was a tin dresser before becoming a gold miner. Deason continued with gold mining and workings most of his life and, although he became a store keeper at Moliagul, he lost a substantial proportion of his wealth through poor investments in gold mining. He bought a small farm near Moliagul where he lived until he died in 1915, aged 85 years. Richard Oates was born about 1827 at Pendeen in

. After the 1869 find, Oates returned to the UK and married. He returned to Australia with his wife and they had four children. The Oates family, in 1895, purchased of land at Marong, Victoria, about west of

Bendigo, Victoria Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban populat ...

, which Oates farmed until his death in Marong in 1906, aged 79 years. Descendants of the two discoverers gathered to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the nugget.

Discovery

Discoverers

See also

References

Further reading