View of the Government Camp, Creswick's Creek, Victoria

Abstract

View of figures, tents and a timber bridge on a goldfield. On the hill in the background are the buildings and flagpole of the local goldfield Commissioner's headquarters. Mid foreground are two horsemen, one a trooper and one a man wearing a top hat. A miner carries a bucket on a stick and another holds a pan. A bullock cart and a horsedrawn cart can be seen on a track on the other side of the creek. The engraving also depicts a number of advertisements attached to trees, including one for the Theatre. Gold was discovered in the Creswick district, north of Ballarat in 1851. Details such as the scattered distribution of the miners, the simplicity of tools like pans and buckets indicate that most of the mining in this field was alluvial. It was not until 1872 that gold was found below the basalt bedrock. Show more