Volume 01: Production and resources of the northern and western districts of New South Wales, 1854 [ca. 1850-1857] - Page 586
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Petrified Tree found in a shaft at Rocky River Diggings
in New England March 1857. A party of diggers on Sydney flats Rocky river found at a depth of seventy five feet from the surface a petrified tree it measured thirty inches in circumference. From the manner in which it lay across the shaft, however, the length could not be ascertained. The tree was met with one fact above the decomposed granite immediately on the top of which were thirty feet of drifted sand, then thirty feet of blue shale or pipe clay, & above that again thirty feet of ironstone. A small piece of this tree was forwarded to Sydney altho [although] it has assumed the appearance & hardness of stone, the grain of the timber is still the distinctly preserved [?] & seems to have been iron bark.
1857
RICH GOLD DISCOVERY GREAT YIELD OF GOLD AT THE HANGING ROCK GOLDFIELD IN THE COUNTY OF PARRY AND DISTRICT OF LIVERPOOL
The Maitland Mercury of 9th June in a leading article gives the utmost prominence to the information received from their agent at the Hanging Rock & Peel River diggings. A successful hit had been made in a quartz vein on the latter diggings yielding the extrordinary [extraordinary] quantity of one hundred & eight ounces to the bucket as its crowning touch. Three letters had been received by then corroborating this intelligence.
The agent for the Mercury states " That on Saturday the 30th May, five men came to my place of business to sell a Small parcel of gold, and informed me that they had just deposited in the hands of our Gold Commissioner, Captain Douglas three hundred & forty five ounces of gold besides what they offered to me; all the produce of five days digging. Doubting at first the literal truth of this statement I went immediately to the Commissioners quarters, & on appealing to him he assured me that there was no exaggeration in the affair and produced the bag of gold as an evidence requiring no further corroboration. As soon as possible thereafter I visited the locality where the gold was got, & was told by the men that their prospects were still getting better -
If then acquainted with the Hanging rock, it is sufficient to say that the spot where this extensive find has been made is situated near the head of the Black fellows gully, on the breast of the adjacent mountain. It is as well to state however, for the information of strangers, that a quantity [?] has been traced from the sugar loaf mountain past the original workings of Dangars gully, Nuggetty gully, & the swamp extending through Foleys Folly to the mountain in which the gold has been obtained, & how much further is yet a mere matter of speculation - The immediate strike has been made upon the course of this vein, which traverses the mountain like a wedge, preserving a general bearing something like from North west to South east. In confirmation of the opinion which the men expressed, that the deposit of gold was getting heavier, I am credibly informed this evening that these fortunate individuals, have obtained to day one hundred & eight ounces in a single bucket of dirt. That the lead of gold will prove an extensive one is
rendered highly probable from the circumstance of Foley & his party having struck it at the rate of an ounce per bucket, about half a mile from the first discovery & the appearance of the quartz in the latter place is considered
by judges more promising than the first". -
AUSTRALIAN GOLD PARLIAMENTARY RETURN
It appears from a parliamentary return issued that, in 1857 New South Wales exported 48,815 ounces 8 dwts, of gold valued at £185,138 -15-0 and Victoria 2.729,655 ounces 16 dwts valued at £10,805.260. The net quantity exported from both colonies since May 1 851 to 31st December 1857 was 17,023,413 ounces 14 dwts valued at £64,122,360