Moliagul is a locality in the
Shire of Central Goldfields
Shire of Central Goldfields is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the central part of the state. It covers an area of and, in August 2021 had a population of 13,48 ...
and
Shire of Loddon
The Shire of Loddon is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the northern part of the state. It covers an area of and in 2021 had a population of 7,759.
It includes ...
,
Victoria,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, located northwest of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
and west of
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...
. The area is notable for the discovery of a number of
gold nugget
A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of Native metal, native gold. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placer deposit, placers. Nuggets are recovered by placer mining, but they are also found in residual deposits wher ...
s. These finds include the world's largest, the
Welcome Stranger
Welcome Stranger is the name of the largest alluvial gold nugget ever discovered. It was unearthed by Cornwall, Cornish miners John Deason and Richard Oates on 5February 1869 in Moliagul, 9 miles north-west of Dunolly, Victoria, Dunolly in Vi ...
, which was discovered in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. At the , Moliagul had a population of 80.
[
Moliagul is composed of scattered rural dwellings and small farms, a hotel (now closed), museum, the old school (now a hall) and former church.
Mount Moliagul is located in the locality.
]
History
The name Moliagul is believed to be a derivation of the Aboriginal word "moliagulk", meaning "wooded hill". In late 1852, gold was discovered in Queen's Gully and the settlement of Moliagul sprang up almost immediately. By January of the next year a thriving goldfields town with a store, a butcher's shop and a blacksmith's forge had opened but almost immediately the new settlement was abandoned as people departed for the Sandy Creek gold rush.Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...
period. In 1856 the Mount Moliagul Hotel was opened. Moliagul Post Office opened on 15 November 1858 and closed in 1971.
Notable people
* Reverend John Flynn, the Presbyterian minister and aviator who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), commonly known as the Flying Doctor, is an aeromedical retrieval service in Australia and the largest of its kind in the world. It is a non-profit organisation that provides urgent and emergency medica ...
and who is featured on the current Australian twenty-dollar note was born in Moliagul.
References
Notes
* The travelers guide to the Goldfields: History and natural heritage trails through Central and Western Victoria. Torquay, Bestshot, 2006.
External links
Towns in Victoria (state)
Ghost towns in Victoria (state)
Mining towns in Victoria (state)
Populated places established in the 1850s
{{Australia-ghost-town-stub