On this day in 1869, the world's biggest gold nugget was found in Australia by two Cornish gold hunters. It was named the “Welcome Stranger” and was discovered in Moliagul, Victoria which is around 200km northwest of Melbourne.
The two men who discovered it were John Deason and Richard Oates. They found it only an inch below the ground near a tree. Its gross weight was just under 110kg, which after they managed to trim the dirt and mud around it dropped to 78kg, and eventually weighed slightly more than 71kg after being refined.
The gold was so heavy that it caused a constant headache for the two men. First, they had difficulty transporting the nugget back. Secondly, they were unable to weight it because no scales for gold went up to such weights. Eventually, it was broken on an anvil into three pieces by a blacksmith named Archibald Wall to be weighed.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Along with a few friends, they then took the gold to the London Chartered Bank of Australia in Dunolly. After some consideration the bank bought the Welcome Stranger at just under £9,400 or £1.3m in today's money (71kg of gold will set you back around £3m today, with the current gold price of around £1,350 an ounce). The gold was soon melted down into ingots, transported to Melbourne, and then, by late February, left for London to take residence in the Bank of England.
After their discovery the two men headed separate ways. Deason, who was by trade a tin dresser, stayed in Australia and invested his money in gold mines. Unfortunately, he never hit it rich again and lost a substantial part of his fortune trying. He eventually died in 1915, at the age of 85.
Oates, on the other hand, returned to England and got married. After some time he returned with his wife to Australia and they parented four children. He used his share of the money from The Welcome Stranger to buy an 800-acre farm. He lived and farmed there until his death in 1906, aged 79.
-
Rents rise at slowest pace for four years – is buy-to-let still worth it?Slowing rental growth and higher property taxes are creating a headache for landlords. Does buy-to-let still offer a good yield?
-
Should you bag a bargain with a half-price investment trust?Twenty-six investment trusts look cheap by historic standards, with some trading at a discount of more than 50%. Are they a bargain or value trap?
-
31 August 1957: the Federation of Malaya declares independence from the UKFeatures On this day in 1957, after ten years of preparation, the Federation of Malaya became an independent nation.
-
13 April 1960: the first satellite navigation system is launchedFeatures On this day in 1960, Nasa sent the Transit 1B satellite into orbit to provide positioning for the US Navy’s fleet of Polaris ballistic missile submarines.
-
9 April 1838: National Gallery opens in Trafalgar SquareFeatures On this day in 1838, William Wilkins’ new National Gallery building in Trafalgar Square opened to the public.
-
3 March 1962: British Antarctic Territory is createdFeatures On this day in 1962, Britain formed the British Antarctic Territory administered from the Falkland Islands.
-
10 March 2000: the dotcom bubble peaks
Features Tech mania fanned by the dawning of the internet age inflated the dotcom bubble to maximum extent, on this day in 2000.
-
9 March 1776: Adam Smith publishes 'The Wealth of Nations'
Features On this day in 1776, Adam Smith, the “father of modern economics”, published his hugely influential book The Wealth of Nations.
-
8 March 1817: the New York Stock Exchange is formedFeatures On this day in 1817, a group of brokers moved out of a New York coffee house to form what would become the biggest stock exchange in the world.
-
7 March 1969: Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the Victoria Line
Features On this day in 1969, Queen Elizabeth II took only her second trip on the tube to officially open the underground’s newest line – the Victoria Line.
