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Gold Diggers |
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Ground sluicing near Ballarat in the 1880s. The dejected miners have cut and lined a water channel into which they throw shovels of sludge. The flowing water dissolves dirt and clay, allowing the freed gold to settle in the catches on the base of the channel. Image Reference : 1(325)
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Sluicing at Cassilis
in the High Country south of Omeo, c. 1900. These miners are working a raised
sluice.
Image Reference : 1(326)
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Hand puddling near
Ballarat in the 1880s. Miners load gold-bearing sludge into the puddler
with water and stir vigorously. This dissolves clay and soil, leaving clean
gravel and sand. This was then panned or cradled.
Image Reference : 1(327)
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Alluvial mining in a dry gully near Benalla in the 1880s. Puddling and cradling were useful methods in areas too dry to sluice. Here puddlers have been made from hollow logs closed at the ends with boards. Image Reference : 1(328)
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A horse-driven puddling machine in Central Victoria in the 1880s.
Horse puddlers processed four times more sludge than a hand puddler. They
created havoc in the creeks of Central Victoria as the fine sludge they
produced was the consistency of batter. This clogged up waterways, flooding
towns and goldfields.
Image Reference : 1(329)
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