The Dunolly Welcome Stranger anvil monument was erected in 1968 to commemorate the anvil on which the famous Welcome Stranger gold nugget was cut in 1869.
The Welcome Stranger Gold Nugget
The '
Welcome Stranger' was a gigantic gold nugget found near Moliagul on 5 February 1869 by Cornish miner John Deason. He and his mate, Richard Oates, dug it out and took it to Dunolly where it had to be broken on an anvil before it would fit on the bank's scales.
The nugget was worth $10,000 pounds (about $3-4 million in today's money), and is the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found.
Dunolly Museum
The monument is located right outside the
Dunolly Museum, a fantastic museum with an extensive collection of gold rush relics, photographs, firearms, mining equipment, gold nugget replicas and much more.
It is also located right near the
Rene Fox Memorial Garden, an attractive park and picnic area with picnic tables, toilets and rubbish bins available.
BBQ
Dunolly
