He returned to Australia with his wife and they had four children. After the 1869 find, Oates returned to the UK and married. Richard Oates was born about 1827 at Pendeen in Cornwall. He bought a small farm near Moliagul where he lived until he died in 1915, aged 85 years. 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. In 1851, he was a tin dresser before becoming a gold miner. John Deason was born in 1829 on the island of Tresco, Isles of Scilly, 45 km (28 mi) off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, UK. Statue in Redruth, England, celebrating the find Discoverers Orme reported that 70.57 kilograms (2,269 ozt) of smelted gold had been obtained from it, irrespective of scraps that were given away by the finders, estimated as totalling another 1.46 kilograms (47 ozt). It was heavier than the " Welcome Nugget" of 69.0 kilograms (2,217 ozt) that had been found in Ballarat in 1858. At August 2019 gold prices, it would be worth US$3.4 million. Deason and Oates were finally paid an estimated £9,381 (equivalent to A$666,000 in 2018) for their nugget, which became known as the "Welcome Stranger". ĭeason, Oates, and a few friends took the nugget to the London Chartered Bank of Australia, in Dunolly, which advanced them £9,000. Īt 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 by Dunolly-based blacksmith Archibald Walls. It measured 61 by 31 cm (24 by 12 in) and was discovered by prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates on 5 February 1869 at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, about 14.6 kilometres (9 miles) north-west of Dunolly.įound only 3 cm (1.2 in) 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 109.59 kilograms (3,523.5 ozt) (241 lb 10 oz). The Welcome Stranger is the biggest alluvial gold nugget that has ever been found, which had a calculated refined weight of 97.14 kilograms (3,123 ozt). The scale bar across the bottom represents 12 inches (30 cm). There you will find the display case containing the gigantic nugget.A wood engraving of the Welcome Stranger published in The Illustrated Australian News for Home Reader on 1 March 1869. Enter the hotel by the main entrance on Fremont Street, turn right, then make a left down the hall some. The nugget rotates around continually in a cabinent not too far from the main entrance. Some claims also list it as the largest nugget currently in existence due to the fact that larger nuggets found have eventually been broken down into gold bars instead of being kept intact as a single nugget. Weighing 875 troy ounces (or about 61 pounds, 11 ounces) the Hand of Faith nugget is the largest nugget ever found using a metal detector. Hillier sold it to the casino for about a million dollars where it has remained ever since. It was located about six inches below the surface. The Hand of Faith nugget was found by Kevin Hillier using a simple metal detector near Kingower, Victoria in Australia on September 26th, 1980. Since 1981, it has been home to one of the largest golden nuggets in existence, the Hand of Faith nugget. The Golden Nugget hotel and casino has been located on Fremont Street since 1946. One of the largest gold nuggets in existence!
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