Gates of Gold: The Discovery of Gold, its Legacy and its Contribution to Australian Identity

By Marji Hill

Gates of Gold, the first book in the series Gold! Hidden Stories of Australia's Past, tells about the discovery of gold and the legacy it left that changed the face of Australia defining and shaping its identity. Learn about: 

• how, in the lead up to the discovery of gold with the tra

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Prison Tree Press
• Release date: May 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9780645483413

Marji Hill

Marji Hill is a multi-talented individual with a rich background in business, research, and coaching. She has established herself as a prominent figure in the literary and artistic realms.Her journey into the world of Reconciliation and education began during her tenure as a Research Fellow in Education at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Marji's extensive body of work spanning over seventy books, predominantly focuses on Australia's First Nations people.Among her notable publications is the seminal bibliography Black Australia. She was Project Coordinator for the official Australian Government publication on First Nations people, Australian Aboriginal Culture. Collaborating with esteemed figures such as Al Grassby, Marji co-authored Six Australian Battlefields, an exploration of Australia's hidden history published by Angus and Robertson and later by Allen & Unwin.In 2000, Marji together with Alex Barlow published the nine-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of Australia's Aboriginal Peoples, cementing her status as a leading authority in Indigenous studies. Her commitment to social justice is further exemplified in The Apology: Saying Sorry To The Stolen Generations. In recent years, Marji has expanded her literary repertoire to encompass self-improvement and self-help genres, offering insights into staying young, growing old, and finding inspiration from the natural world.Outside of her literary pursuits, Marji's passion for painting has been a lifelong endeavour. Trained formally at the ANU School of Art & Design in the 1980s, she has showcased her works in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Notably, her painting "Jupiter's Lucky Strike" commemorates the discovery of gold by First Nations boy Jupiter Mosman.Marji's artistic talents have garnered acclaim both nationally and internationally, with her paintings gracing private collections worldwide and being featured in institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ballarat and the Australian Catholic University collections.A seasoned traveller, Marji has journeyed extensively, offering her expertise as a consultant and motivational speaker while nurturing her artistic endeavours. She continues to inspire through her writing, painting, coaching, and publishing leaving an indelible mark on both the literary and artistic landscapes.

Book preview

Introduction

Gates of Gold is about the discovery of gold, its legacy, and how it has defined and shaped Australia’s identity.

READ about the discovery of gold in Australia and how it changed the face of Australia forever

DISCOVER how the golden frenzy brought about a population explosion with diverse communities and religions, different races, and different ideologies

LEARN about the arrival of the Chinese, who contributed greatly to the Australian story, but whose migration to the goldfields gave birth to racist, anti-Chinese sentiment.

FIND OUT why the discovery of gold had such a catastrophic impact on First Nations people and how they found ways to survive even when the odds were pitched so much against them

READ about a landscape transformed and the devastation of its ecosystems

and much more…

Chapter 1 ─ The Lure of Gold

"The irresistible attraction of gold in the nineteenth century

brought to Australia thousands of gold-seeking travellers

from around the world".

Marji Hill

Migration to the goldfields

The irresistible attraction of gold in the nineteenth century brought to Australia thousands of gold-seeking travellers from around the world, lured by the discovery of gold in Victoria

These were people seeking a new life of hope and prosperity who journeyed to down under by ship. The cheapest way to make the journey from the British Isles and Europe was on a slow sailing ship. The trip would sometimes take as much as seven or eight months to reach its destination.

Life on board the ship was difficult. Rough seas, sickness, and poor quality food took its toll.

Some of the travellers wanting to prospect for gold died on the ships. Those that did make it to Australia were often weak and unfit for the hard work of mining for gold and the tough day-to-day life on the goldfields.

South Africa

My father’s parents, Alexander Hill and his wife Margaret Shearer, together with Alexander’s brothers, left Northern Ireland in the 1880s. They were headed to Johannesburg in South Africa.

Like many other Irish men and women, they left their country to find a new life in another part of the world. They wanted to escape the hardships and tough living conditions so they migrated to other countries where they could get a fresh start with new opportunities.

The discovery of gold in South Africa offered opportunity. My family joined thousands of others searching for a new and better life.

The Johannesburg goldfield was proclaimed in 1886, the same year the Croydon goldfield in North Queensland, Australia, was proclaimed.

Within a year of the discovery of gold in Johannesburg, the whole Reef was estimated to have some 7,000 people, with 3,000 residing in Johannesburg itself.

The world's largest gold rush in history had begun and South Africa would never be the same. The dream and prospect of a better life and fabulous wealth were obviously irresistible. News quickly spread around the world about what was happening.

My grandparents departed Ireland and became part of that mass of humanity heading for Johannesburg which they now saw as the land of opportunity.

My father’s older sister, Christian Alice Hill, was born in Johannesburg around 1890. Between her birth and that of my father in 1898, the Hill family left South Africa and migrated to the goldfields in Western Australia. My father, Leslie Clement Hill, was born in a miner’s tent at Coolgardie