Parks VictoriaPhone 13 1963www.parks.vic.gov.au

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Welcome Stranger Discovery Walk

Moliagul Historic Area

Parks Victoria recognises the Dja Dja Wurrung People as the Traditional Owners of this land, and pays our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Getting ThereThe Welcome Stranger Monument and Picnic Area is located in the Moliagul Historic Area, about 2.5 hours drive (200 km) north west of Melbourne or 1 hour (65km) west of Bendigo. From the Dunolly-Moliagul Road, turn onto Monument Road and then onto Monument Track or Welcome Stranger Road. Access is via gravel roads suitable for 2WD vehicles.

Things to do

PicnicsThe main picnic area is located just north of the monument, and offers a shelter, picnic tables and wood barbecues. Running water is available from a tank but is not suitable for drinking. A second picnic area with table and a wood barbecue is located near Stop 2 on the Discovery Walk. Please bring your own firewood and drinking water, and take all your rubbish home with you for recycling or disposal.

CampingBush camping is permitted at the picnic area, with informal sites suitable for tents, camper vans, and caravans. No fees or bookings apply. Space is limited.

Welcome Stranger Discovery Walk

850m, 30 min circuit, Grade 2

This easy walk through recovering bushland passes many sites associated with the Victorian Gold Rush, and the two miners who discovered the Welcome Stranger nugget. The walk starts from the stone monument commemorating the discovery of the nugget. A sign at the monument tells the story of this remarkable find and the men who unearthed it. Numbered markers along the track correspond to the information below:

Stop 1 Examples of surface mining.Stop 2 Site of John Deason’s two-room house.Stop 3 Site of Deason and Oates’ puddler. Deason built his house

nearby as a deterrent to would-be thieves.Stop 4 Site of Richard Oates’ house.Stop 5 This wooden headstone dates from the 1860s. It is

reputed to be a Chinese grave.Stop 6 Site of a Chinese camp.Stop 7 A former puddling machine.

Stop 8 This forest was cut down to meet the miners’ needs.Stop 9 Examples of new growth (coppice) among Red and Grey

Box trees.Stop 10 Black Gully. Miners worked upstream to here.

Gold at MoliagulThe first recorded discovery of gold in this district was made in September 1852. Prospectors from around the world flocked to the area, hoping to strike it rich. The site of a Chinese camp can be seen at Stop 6 along the walk. However, as gold proved increasingly hard to find in the area, many left to try their luck elsewhere. Among those that remained were two Cornish miners, John Deason and Richard Oates who had grown

up together on the island of Tresco, off Lands End in England. They had arrived in Bendigo in February 1854 and spent eight years there before moving on to Moliagul.Deason and Oates pegged a puddling claim on the side of this hill and established a farm nearby. They stripped the topsoil from their claim, washing it in a puddling machine (Stop 3 on the walk).

Illustration of a typical puddling machine at Forest Creek near Castlemaine, by S. T Gill for James J. Blundell & Co. 1855. Source: State Library of Victoria.

Panning for gold was a slow process, and puddling could significantly speed it up. Puddling machines consisted of deep circular ditches with an island in the middle. On the island was a pivot post that supported a strong pole which was pulled around the edge of the ditch by a horse. Paddles or iron rakes hung from the pole to stir the soil and water into a slurry. When the slurry drained away, the miners could retrieve the heavy gold that had sunk to the bottom.

The discovery of the Welcome StrangerOn the morning of Friday 5 February 1869, while Deason was breaking up soil on the claim, he hit what at first seemed to be

stone. However, after clearing away the soil with a pick, he saw gold, only 2.5cm below the surface.Not wanting to create suspicion among their neighbours, the two miners covered the nugget and continued as if nothing had happened, until they were able to safely move it later. The gold was stained black by ironstone deposits and was mixed with a large quantity of quartz. They heated the nugget in the fire at Deason’s home (Stop 2 on the walk) to make the quartz brittle and easier to prise off when cool. 26kg of quartz was removed and later crushed at a local battery to extract the remaining gold.

Unearthing the Welcome Stranger Nugget. Photograph by W. Parker 1869. Source: State Library of Victoria. John Deason, Mrs Deason and Richard Oates are front and centre.

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Revealing the findDeason and Oates kept the discovery to themselves all weekend, before finally revealing it to their friends at a party on Monday. The following day, they travelled together to Dunolly, where they took the nugget to the London Chartered Bank. The nugget was too large to be weighed on the bank’s scales, so it had to be cut into smaller pieces. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, no-one thought to photograph the nugget, and the only sketches made were drawn from memory.The total weight of the nugget, including the gold obtained from the crushed quartz and smaller pieces broken off and given to friends, was estimated at 72.5kg. It remains the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found.

Life after the findRichard Oates briefly returned to Cornwall, where he married Jane Penrose and brought her back to Moliagul. He continued working the claim with Deason until 1875, then he switched to farming, moving to Dunolly, Bealiba and Woodstock (near Bendigo). He died in 1906, aged 79, and is buried in Marong Cemetery.

John Deason continued mining, operating puddling machines and later a quartz crushing battery, right through the depression of the 1890s. He invested money in a property near Moliagul, and he and his family moved there. John Deason died in 1915, aged 85, and is buried in Moliagul Cemetery. His descendants still farm in the area.

Caring for the park

Dogs are permitted but must be kept on a lead at all times. No bins are provided. Please take all rubbish home with you for

recycling or disposal. Firewood collection is not permitted in the park. Please bring

any firewood you need with you.

Fires must only be lit in the fireplaces provided, and: No fires may be lit on Total Fire Ban days.• Never leave the fire unattended. An adult must supervise

at all times. • Put the fire out with water, not soil. Make sure you have

at least 10 litres of water available for immediate use. • If the campfire is cool to touch, it is safe to leave.

Hunting is prohibited. Fossicking, prospecting and digging are permitted in the

Moliagul Historic Area, but all the artefacts in the Welcome Stranger precinct and discovery walk are protected under the Heritage Act 2017 and must not be disturbed. Penalties apply.

Toilets

There are no toilets at this site. The nearest public toilets are a short drive away at the Moliagul Rest Area / Campground, 1434 Dunolly-Moliagul Road, opposite the turnoff for Monument Road. Campers at the Welcome Stranger are advised to bring chemical toilets. The nearest free chemical dump point is located at the Goldfields Reservoir in Maryborough.

Be prepared and stay safe

In an emergency call Triple Zero (000) for fire, police and ambulance. Be aware that phone signals are not reliable in the park.

Please stay on the track. This is a historic mining landscape with uneven ground and mine shafts.

No drinking water is available – please bring your own.

Avoid parking, camping or resting under or near large trees. Branches may fall and swing away from the tree at any time.

The Moliagul Historic Area is in the North Central fire district. Bushfire safety is a personal responsibility. Anyone entering parks and forests during the bushfire season needs to stay aware of forecast weather conditions. Check the Fire Danger Rating and for days of Total Fire Ban in the ‘Prepare and Get Ready’ tab at www.emergency.vic.gov.au, on the VicEmergency smartphone app or call the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226.

No fires may be lit on Total Fire Ban days. On Code Red Fire Danger Rating days this park will be closed for public safety. Do not expect an official warning. Check the latest conditions at www.parks.vic.gov.au or by calling 13 1963.

Other places to visitFor a wonderful perspective over the surrounding landscape, follow Mt Moliagul Rd to the top of Mt Moliagul, or visit nearby Kooyoora State Park, a significant place for the Dja Dja Wurrung People, to enjoy scenic walks, drives, views, camping and picnics.

Further informationFor more information about parks and reserves in Victoria go to www.parks.vic.gov.au or call 13 1963. For information about accommodation and tours, contact:

Dunolly Visitor Information Centre109 Broadway, Dunolly VIC 3472Phone: (03) 5468 1205

Central Goldfields Visitor Information Centre Cnr Alma and Nolan Streets, Maryborough VIC 3465Phone: (03) 5460 4511 or visit www.visitmaryborough.com.au

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