Australian Alps education kit
Australian Alps Liaison Committee, November 2005
Minerals and mining in the Australian Alps
Remnants of gold, silver and tin mining can be seen in what is now the southern end of Kosciuszko National Park. The first discovery of gold in the Australian Alps was in 1839 by the explorer Count Paul Edmund de Strzelecki, who claimed the first ascent of Mount Kosciuszko.
In 1853, the newly appointed Government Botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller, visited Mount Buffalo with the overseer of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens to collect specimens of alpine flora. Upon their return, Mueller announced that he had also found gold in the Ovens River, causing much interest from the public.
Among the people to be attracted to the goldfields were James and John Manfield, who climbed the plateau in 1856 with a party of miners, in search of gold. Although they did not find gold, the Manfields established a business guiding people up the plateau so that they could experience the tremendous views.
Graziers also made some of the early mineral discoveries in the Australian Alps and once news spread of discoveries, many thousands of people flocked to sites such as Kiandra in NSW and Walhalla in Victoria. This movement of people was supported by the colonial government of Victoria in the early 1850s when Alfred Howitt was commissioned by the government to cut approximately 350 kilometres of tracks linking the various goldfields.
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