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James mcbrien had found some gold,But the government was not thrilled.
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And polish scientist explorer john lotski in 1834
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And paul strzelecki in 1839
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In 1844,reverend william clark showed the NSW governor george gipps some gold he found,but..."Put it away mr clark,or we shall all have our throats cut",(Mr gipps really said this)
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The NSW government thought gold fever would trigger a convict uprising,
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But it all changed when 6'000 Australians went off to join the california gold rush,in 1849,Because the government announced a reward for large quantities of it.
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Edward Hargraves planned to get gold as well,he planned to rush to california to find gold,and when he had it,he would rush back to Australia to claim his stake of the reward.
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Everybody laughed when Edward said he's strike it rich near bathurst,as it was just like california.
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But Hargraves would have the last laugh,he enlisted local boy john lister,who had already found gold in the area,but neglected to tell anyone about it.on the 12 of february,1851,hargraves followed lister down to lewis creek,and his luck panned out.
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They had made a grave discovery,but Edward Hargraves decided to be a traitor and leave the tom brothers and lister,who had made more gold than him,so he took the gold to go and claim his reward.
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Hargraves told every-man and his dog about the discovery,even when lister begged him not to,this caused so many people to start digging in ophir,and the australians hit hot pay dirt,and so the first Australian gold rush was born
