Home Topics History & Culture Australia’s Gold Rush in pictures

Australia’s Gold Rush in pictures

By Amy Middleton • 31 May 2013

Mine head with group of gold miners, Gulgong area. Image credit: State Library of NSW

Reading Time: 5 Minutes • Print this page

Images from the late 1800s depict the heady excitement of Australia’s Gold Rush period.

The early 1870s was a surreal period of Australia’s history. The Gold Rush had seized the nation. Make-shift towns were springing up throughout New South Wales and Victoria, to support miners seeking wealth and prosperity.

It was around this time that German-born entrepreneur Bernhardt Otto Holtermann set up shop at Hill End, near Bathurst, NSW. Holtermann made a fortune mining gold, and discovered what is known as the Holtermann Nugget, the largest specimen of gold ever found. It was 1.5m long and weighed 286kg.

But Holtermann’s true legacy lies in a series of photographs he commissioned as a sort of marketing campaign, intended to promote Australian colonies to the rest of the world. The images now present possibly the finest visual relic of this heady and chaotic time.

English photographer Beaufoy Merlin and his assistant Charles Bayliss took masses of photographs for Holtermann’s project, documenting the colonies and pop-up towns including Gulgong and Hill End in New South Wales, which were newly established to support gold diggers.

Life in Australia during the Gold Rush

After the Gold Rush, the photographs were stored in a garden shed in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood, not to be rediscovered until 1951. The collection was then carefully restored by the State Library of New South Wales.

Alan Davies, photographic curator at the State Library, says the photos depict a fascinating time, “where pies and coffee were available 24/7, gold nuggets were pulled out like potatoes and people of all classes and nationalities mingled together.”

“The Holtermann Collection is Australia’s most significant 19th century photographic archive due to its sheer size – 3500 negatives – and its unrivalled visual record of life in Australia,” says Alan. “Few photographic collections such as this have survived anywhere in the world.”

In May 2013, the collection was included in the UNESCO Memory of the World register, an international initiative which aims to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity.

Holtermann Collection: Views of Ballarat, Heathcote and panorama of Beechworth

Ballarat District Hospital. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Ballarat Fire Brigade Station. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Bridge Street, Ballarat east, from J.Dodds’ Bucks Head Hotel. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Heathcote, Victoria, along High Street. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Panorama of Beechworth. Image credit: State Library of NSW

Holtermann Collection: Views of Sydney and suburbs

Clipper ship “Kingsbridge” at Campbell’s Wharf, Circular Quay West. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Toll road New South Head Road, looking west to Darlinghurst. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Looking along Alison Road to Randwick Racecourse. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Hotel and houses at Watson’s Bay Wharf. Image credit: State Library of NSW
St. John’s Church of England, Glebe. Image credit: State Library of NSW

Holtermann Collection: Views of Melbourne and suburbs

Melbourne Savings Bank. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Bank Street, Emerald Hill, (from J.B. Youl’s drapery shop), Melbourne. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Government Printing Office, Melbourne. Image credit: State Library of NSW
National Museum, Melbourne University. Image credit: State Library of NSW

Holtermann Collection: Views of Gulgong

Bank of New South Wales, corner Mayne & Herbert streets, Gulgong. Image credit: State Library of NSW
All Saints Church, Petersham. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Edward Field’s Hotel, (originally Joseph Collits Inn 1846), Little Hartley. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Children of Mr George Richardson, Conveyancer, pose in front of the house, Crystal Street, Petersham. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Women and children in front of bark roof house, Gulgong. Image credit: State Library of NSW

Holtermann Collection: Views of Hill End

Chappell’s stamper battery, near Bald Hill on Hill End Creek. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Gold mines on Hawkins Hill, central section, looking south. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Pullen and Rawsthorne’s stamper battery at the southern end of Clarke Street, Hill End. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Steam winch drawing an ore bucket from a goldmine, Hill End. Image credit: State Library of NSW
Price’s, later Peterson’s [Petersen’s], battery, Hill End. Image credit: State Library of NSW