Take a walk through the Craigie State Forest and explore the historically significant landscape of
Blackmans Lead, along with this stone monument commemorating the 1858 discovery of a 537 ounce gold nugget!
The following text is displayed on the monument:
537 oz
NUGGET
J.W. RICE
JAN 1858
Illustrated information sign at Rice's Dwelling.
Rice's house was located nearby at the historic
Battery Dam and Distillery site, where remnants of the dwelling's low stone and mud walls are still visible. An information sign at the site displays the following text:
These low stone and mud walls are all that remain of the three-roomed family dwelling of Thomas Rice.
The Rice brothers, Thomas and William, are associated with the discovery of gold at Maryborough in 1854. Thomas Rice unearthed a gold nugget weighing 537 oz at Blackmans Lead about 1.5 km north from here.
Many significant gold nugget discoveries occurred on
Blackman's Lead in the 19th century. The following text was printed in The Argus in 1934 and describes some of the impressive gold nuggets which were pulled out of Blackman's Lead during the gold rush:
Two diggers on Blackman's Lead quickly took 690oz from their claim. Taking another claim, they found a great pear shaped nugget more than 11lb in weight, valued at £400. The length of the leads was eight miles. Where Blackman's Lead and Main Lead joined the yield was poorer than where they were separate. In June, 1855, at a depth of 5ft in Blackman's Lead, a nugget of 1,034oz was found and sold for £3,250. Another found in January, 1858, in Blackman's at 6ft, weighed 537oz. Source.
Be careful when walking through the bush as there is a lot of unstable and uneven ground. Be aware of the
dangers of mine shafts.
SEE ALSO
GOLD PROSPECTING RESOURCES
BBQ
Maryborough
