The Web Site of the Hill End and Tambaroora Progress Association

Gold History

The historic village of Hill End and the surrounding territory has a history as rich as the gold that was found there well over one hundred years ago. Alluvial gold was discovered at Hill End in 1851, and there were 150 miners on the site within a month. The first stamper battery in Australia was set up around 1856 by the 'Old Company' which employed Cornish equipment and miners. This stamper battery was located near the township of Tambaroora (5 km to the north of present-day Hill End), reinforcing Tambaroora's position as the major settlement. By the early 1860s it had a population of some 2000 people... The following extract is from Harry Hodge's first book on
'The Hill End Story';

"The story of the Hill End-Tambaroora Goldfield is one of triumph and tragedy, of sudden riches and grinding poverty, of humour and sadness, of hopes deferred and the realisation of dreams. It is one of selfless service and grasping avarice, with much that is sordid and much that is splendid in human nature, coming to the surface in 1872 when the fame of Hill End's gold-encrusted reefs extended throughout the world..."
(Harry Hodge, The Hill End Story)

In 1872 photographer Beaufoy Merlin was commissioned by wealthy mine owner, Bernard Holtermann, to photograph Hill End at the peak of its prosperity. The ‘Holtermann Collection’ of some 637 images is held by the State Library of NSW www.sl.nsw.gov.au/find/picman/comb.cfm, (from ‘select a collection’ choose ‘Holtermann Collection’ and then type in ‘Hill End’).

RECOMMENDED HILL END HISTORY SOURCES:

Frontiers of Gold - Brian Hodge
Gold and People, Recollections of Hill End 1920's to 1960's - Bruce Goodwin
Hillendiana - Donald Friend
Hill End; An Historic Australian Goldfields Landscape - Alan Mayne
Hill End Gold - Malcolm Drinkwater
Remembered with Pride - Mark Hammond
The Artists of Hill End - Gavin Wilson
The Donald Friend Diaries, (Vol. 2) - Donald Friend
The Hill End Story, Books 1/2/3 - Harry Hodge
Valleys of Gold - Brian Hodge

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