Moliagul - Culture and History

Gold was first found at Moliagul in late 1852 (in Queen's Gully). By January 1853 there was a store, blacksmith's and butcher's shop but the Sandy Creek rush saw the nascent settlement deserted. A new rush unfolded in the Moliagul area when gold was found at Little

Hill in July 1855 and it is estimated there were soon about 16 000 people in the area.

The Mt Moliagul Hotel was established in 1856.

However, Moliagul would barely rate a mention in the annals of history were it not for an event which unfolded on February 5, 1869. On that day, Cornish miner John Deason, who had been prospecting hereabouts for seven years, was working in Bulldog Gully, near Moliagul. While searching about the roots of a tree he discovered, 3 cm below the surface, a gold nugget. He concealed his find until dark. Then, with his partner, Richard Oates, he dug it out and snuck it home in a wagon. The two then held a party, during which they revealed their find to the assembled guests. The 66-kg 'Welcome Stranger', then the world's largest-known gold nugget, was taken to Dunolly where it had to be broken on an anvil (located in the Goldfields Historical and Arts Museum) before it could fit on the bank's scales. It was worth 10 000 pounds at the time ($3-4 million in today's money). Deason returned to Moliagul and his descendants are still in the area. Oates went back to Cornwall for a while but returned to live out his life at Dunolly.

The Reverend John Flynn, who founded the legendary Flying Doctor Service, was born here in 1880.