Just outside
Moliagul, between Gypsy Road, D179 Track, and D175 Track, there's a patch of bush on Bulldog Reef that is absolutely loaded with open mine shafts, many of which still have wooden logs bordering the tops.
This spot is fascinating to wander through as it's uncommon to see so many deep open mine shafts in one place, some of them just metres apart.
The shafts are all uncovered and are very deep. Take great care when walking through the area, don't get too close to the holes, keep your dog on a lead, and do not bring small children.
Update 2022: These mine shafts now have safety fences around them along with warning signs. Please observe all signs and do not attempt to cross any fences.
Underground
They found that all the shafts connect underground as one mine.
Please note that The Victorian Historical Mine Shaft Chasers Inc are an experienced team who use safety equipment and sensors during their explorations - do not attempt to enter these mine shafts as doing so may result in injury or death.
HISTORY OF the SITE
1850s Bulldog Reef: This reef has been worked both sides of the Bulldog or Black Lead. To the north, it was
also called the Black Reef or Welcome Stranger Reef. On the south it was also Moliagul Reef ... The northern
end was discovered in 1857 and by 1859 was returning 2 1/2 oz/ton ... a shaft was sunk to the west to work the
reef at the 200 ft level.
1857: Bulldog Gully was opened in May 1856, and the Black Lead, of
Welcome Stranger fame, in 1857.
May 1857: There was also a large rush on 25th May to Bulldog Gully ... but the gold was neither rich nor extensive, although there was a great number there.
1857: This reef was worked first at the time of the Bulldog Rush by all foreigners - Italians, Frenchmen and
Jews - in August 1857, and the reef was yielding well at this time. It was also called Black Reef.
1859: Only one claim working on the Bulldog Reef, but it was averaging 2-1/2 ounces to the ton and was 40
yards long and 140 feet deep.
June 1859: Bulldog Reef [
Moliagul] - 1 claims, 40yds aggregate length, yielding 2-1/2 oz/ton.
1860s: Bulldog Lead, Black Lead: Nuggets -
Welcome Stranger 2332 oz (1869), 113 oz (1869), 114 oz (1859),
and 36 oz (1866). This was a well-established area by the time John Deason and Richard Oates found the
Welcome Stranger. A piece of ground still occupied was a Chinese market garden cultivated by J. Youlk. Further
down in Bulldog Gully were two dairies owned by Walter Brown and Mrs. Gutcher.
March 1861: [This reef] is being energetically and profitably worked.
1862: Number of claims working - a year of great reefing activity. About this time, Richard Meer's Reunion Co had the reef - five acres on lease...
1867: 1867 and later it was worked for a long time by McJuncken and party.
1869: Moliagul became famous when the "
Welcome Stranger" nugget was discovered by Cornish miners,
John Deason and Richard Oates, at Bulldog Gully,
Moliagul, on February 5th, 1869. The nugget was the largest
found in Victoria, and the largest of the world's nuggets. The gross weight was 2520 ounces. Some of the
gold was kept by the finders, but the amount sold was valued at £9,553. Owing to the nuggets great size (about
2 feet long and 1 foot wide), it could not be weighed on the largest scales at the London Chartered Bank,
Dunolly, so was taken to Walls's blacksmith shop nearby, and
reduced to a number of fragments on the anvil.
8th Feb 1869 -
Welcome Stranger ... It weighed 210lbs gross and 2268 oz, 10 dwts, 14 grains of smelted gold
have been obtained from it irrespective of a number of pieces of gold and specimens which have been given
away by the finders. The finders are John Deason and Richard Oates, miners who have worked in this locality
for about seven years and have a puddling machine there, and the nugget was found ... about an inch below the
surface on the western side of the gully slope, going from Black Reef down to a gully which is known as the
Bulldog Gully or Black Lead. They estimate the size as about 21 inches in length and 10 inches in thickness, but
unfortunately broke the nugget in three parts before they informed anyone of it. The spot where the nugget was
found is about 50 yards west of the Bulldog Reef in which the quartz lode runs from one to four feet wide and
has been worked to water at a depth of, say, 100 feet, and is about 200 yards east of the alluvial gully known as
Black Lead, and where the depth of sinking is from there to 10 feet with a sandstone bottom. The nugget was
found in some surfacing (of which from 10 inches to a foot is generally puddled) of loose, gravelly loam, resting
on thick red clay, with a bottom of sandstone about 10 inches from the surface. The actual amount paid for the
gold sent to the bank was £9534.
Sept 1871: A lease has been taken up on the Black Reef and Stewart's Reef, by a company to be styled the
William the Conqueror Company, and mining operations are to be commenced forthwith. The reefs both yielded
largely when originally worked, and the ground taken up includes that where the "
Welcome Stranger"
nugget was got, which was found close to the cap of the Black Reef.
1896: In the 1896 activity in mining at Moliagul [this reef] was worked again by Lidge who got up to 2-1/2 ounces
to the ton.
1897: The obselisk commemorating the finding was erected by the Mines Department in 1897 during a period of
renewed reefing activity at
Dunolly.
August 1898: Moliagul Consolidated Co ... timbered to surface from 82 feet.
Oct 1898: Moliagul Consolidated ... called for tenders to drive on course of leader from prospect shaft, close to
Welcome Stranger obelisk.
Oct 1898: Erected whip frame. Monday, start Whip horse.
April 1899: Moliagul Consolidated - plant from
Dunolly all delivered on mine. Boiler and plant to hand from
Ballarat.
May 1899: One pair of poppet legs erected, next set raised today. Foundations cut, bed logs in position to carry
horses for engines, pumping and winding gear.
August 1899: Boiler built in. Cutting down flue and excavating foundations for smoke stack. Overhead wheels in.
Brace and railings will be finished next week. Costeening east and west to south of
Welcome Stranger
Monuement; 12 feet west of monument cut leader showing gold. This will trench along when further advanced
with costeening.
Sept 1899: All brickwork finsihed; boiler and cistern finished. Steam pipes connected. Building house over
boiler. Sinking winze on indicator near monuement.
August 1899: Shaft unwatered and timbered. Resumed sinking. Will open out at 200 feet to cut both reefs.
Trenching new find west of main workings ... Accepted tender to dismantle, cart and erect battery.
Jan 1900: Moliagul Consol - Battery, ready to commence erection.
May 1900: Good progress connecting winding engine.
June 1900: Complete erection engines, expect coupled next week.
6 Dec 1900: Moliagul Consols - This lease (No. 3695) lies about 10 chains S-W from the Queen lease... Five
hundred feet north of the main shaft, and within the area contained within the lease, is the
"Welcome
Stranger" monument, an obelisk erected by the Mines Department to mark the spot where the "Welcome
Stranger" was found by John Deason and Richard Oats in 1869. A pumping and winding plant suitable for
sinking to 300 feet is erected at the mine.
1901: The Moliagul Consols Mine which worked the Black Reef, south of the site of the
Welcome Stranger
discovery, closed, and its plant was auctioned in 1901.
PROSPECTORS AND MINERS ASSOCIATION VICTORIA
Established in 1980, the Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria is a voluntary body created to protect the rights and opportunities of those who wish to prospect, fossick or mine in the State of Victoria, Australia.
You can support the PMAV in their fight to uphold these rights by
becoming a member. You'll also gain access to exclusive publications, field days, prospecting tips, discounts and competitions.
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Moliagul
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