Barossa Goldfields is a locality in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. It is on the southwestern side of the

Barossa Council Barossa Council is a local government area in the Barossa Valley in South Australia. The council area covers 912 square kilometres, and had a population of over 23,000 in the 2016 Census and 25,066 in the 2021 census. History Barossa Council ...

, bounded on the southwest by the South Para River. The locality is now essentially rural, but is named for the gold mining and prospecting in the second half of the nineteenth century in the area, on the creeks descending to the South Para River. Part of that area is now preserved as part of the Para Wirra Recreation Park. A total of 778 kg of gold was produced in the area. Gold was discovered in October 1868 by Job Harris, a publican at Sandy Creek. Within the first week, 2000 people had rushed to the area and 4000 within a few weeks. The town of Barossa was established and survived until the 1950s. A second town of Victoria was established in 1869. By late 1870, the rush had subsided and only 100 miners remained with others having moved on to other fields. There were resurgences in 1887 and 1889 and companies formed to dig for deeper gold leads. None of the companies was successful, despite constructing a large gold battery and tramways to supply it. Alluvial deposits were reworked during the 1930s depression.

References

{{authority control Mining towns in South Australia Gold mines in South Australia Former mines in Australia