Moliagul - Places to See

John Flynn Memorial
There is a memorial by the intersection of Bealiba and Murray Sts which is dedicated to the Reverend John Flynn, the founder of the Flying Doctor Service, who was born here in 1880. Nearby is an old brick building, opposite the public hall, which is reputedly the site where John Deason, one of the finders of the 'Welcome Stranger', died. Around the corner is the Mt Moliagul Hotel, established in 1856 and currently vacant.

School and Church
At the corner of Graham St and High St are the Moliagul State School (1872) and the Anglican Church, built of stone and brick in 1864-65.

Moliagul Historic Reserve
2 km south-west of town (the route is signposted from Moliagul's main street) is a granite obelisk which was placed here in 1897 by the Mines Department. It marks the site the 66-kg 'Welcome Stranger' gold nugget was found on February 5, 1869 (see the introduction to Moliagul for a fuller account of the event).

The Welcome Stranger Discovery Walk starts from the obelisk and explores the reserve which has a picnic area, shelters, barbecues and drinking water. It was behind the picnic table near the start of the track that John Deason had a small two-roomed shack. It was to this shack that he first transported the nugget, placing it in the fire to burn off the debris.

A little further on is the puddler where Deason and Oates treated the wash from their claim. A puddler was a watertight circular trench that was filled with water. Dirt from the claim was then added and a horse walked in a circle dragging chains or harrows around the trench to break up the dirt and dissolve the clay. The sludge was drained off and the remaining rocks removed and put through a cradle to glean the gold. The proximity to the house was to deter theft from the puddler.

The pile of stones further on are all that remain of Richard Oates' house. He was working in the paddock here when Deason called him to see the nugget. At that time there were a number of Chinese and European miners about, as well as market gardens and two dairies.

Further on is a wooden headstone on the fenceline which dates from the 1860s. It si thought to mark a Chinese grave.

Stones from fireplaces and raised dirt floors are all that remain of the Chinese camp from the 1860s. Like most such camps it was at a remove from the remainder of the settlement due to the hostility of the other miners.

The walk continues past an old puddling machine and the remnants of a once robust forest which provided shelter for kangaroos and emus before being chopped down by the miners.