Research Guides: Gold miners and mining: Goldfields places & maps

Goldfields places

Local histories

When you're researching goldfields towns and diggings, start by searching our catalogue by place, district or shire name, to see if any local histories have been published. These books often include information about goldfields and mining in the local area.

Some examples of goldfield town histories include:

James Flett's detailed studies of Maryborough and Dunolly. These are well worth reading if you're researching the history of mining around those towns.
The history of gold discovery in Victoria, which summarises the early histories of many goldfields towns
The gold fields and mineral districts of Victoria (available online). Robert Brough Smyth's 1869 book includes information about the geology and mining history of all major Victorian goldfields.

Indexes

A contribution to the bibliography of the economic geology of Victoria to the end of 1903 (available online) lists hundreds of references to articles, reports and books about mining companies and operations. The references are organised by town/goldfield name. Most of the publications referenced can be found at the Library.
The 1872 Bendigo goldfield registry (available online) includes descriptions and plans of many of the local mines, reefs and goldfields.

Online resources

The Victorian government has published a number of excellent online resources, including:

Archaeological histories of gold mining sites across Victoria
Histories of mining plots in Gippsland, North East, North West and South West Victoria.

Finding information on smaller settlements or rushes

Many of the short-lived rushes or smaller settlements may not have detailed information published on them. Try the following resources to find information on these places:

Historic local newspapers often provide the most useful information. A gazetteer of newspapers from the central Victorian goldfields (1851-1901) (PDF, 567 kB) is available online. Many of the newspapers that it lists are in the Library's collection.
The Library's Local History Index is also a useful source of information about goldfields places, both prominent and lesser-known. The index gives references to significant articles in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and to in-house research files. References are organised by place name. The index is available on microfiche in the in the Family History and Newspapers Room. The microfiche index was completed in 1994, and references found after that date have been added to our online Australiana Index.
The Informit database of Australian research articles can be useful to find recently published research on particular towns. It's available at the Library to all users. Victorian Library members can also access it from home. It contains some online content, and also indexes a wide range of journals. Many of the indexed journals are held by the Library.
Lost & almost forgotten towns of colonial Victoria provides GPS coordinates to help you track down locations.
Victorian place names and registration districts (for use with Victorian birth, death and marriage indexes) includes a list of places now known by another name.
The government’s Vicnames website can be searched to find the GPS coordinates of some historic towns and landmarks. Remember that some common names, based on local landmarks, may have been used in other locations which featured similar landmarks.

Maps

Maps of goldfield towns and districts

To find maps search our catalogue by place or district name. Many of the historic maps in our collection have been digitised, and most can be downloaded for free in high resolution (TIFF).

Maps can help you to trace the development of a goldfields town. For example, compare these maps of Dunolly from 1857 and 1859.

Many maps include the names of long-forgotten towns, leads (gold bearing areas) and mines.

Useful maps in the SLV collection include:

Maps showing the routes to major goldfields:
- The digger's road guide to the gold mines of Victoria and the country extending 210 miles round Melbourne (1853)
- Ham's squatting map of Victoria (1853)
Mining district of Ballaarat from 1859. This shows mining district boundaries, gold mining areas, boundaries of pre-emptive rights, railways and cadastral information.
John David Tully has published many maps of the north-central goldfields, as well as several historical booklets. His hand drawn maps often name reefs, quarries, dams, old hotel and school sites (including dates of operation) and features of the local vegetation.
- Talbot maps is a good example of his publications. It is comprehensively indexed by place name.

Mining lease maps

The library holds a collection of Ballarat mining maps dated between 1870–1890 (approx.), which have been digitised. The maps are specific to the Ballarat district, covering subdivisions of Gordon, Creswick and Ballarat, along with some maps of Bendigo. The maps show land where applications for mining permits were made, along with details about whether the applications were successful or not.
The Public Record Office Victoria has digitised VPRS 1019 Mining Surveyor's Surveys, Ballarat East Division. These maps and plans provide information about mining 'lease and licence applications, territorial disputes and private properties where mining was taking place. The records also document the many mining companies that were operating in the Ballarat East area at the time'.

Geological maps

Maps can also give you information about the topography of an area, as well as soils, rocks and other geological features.

Geological quarter sheets produced by the Geological Survey Office are especially good for this detail. These can also be found on the Victorian Government's Earth Resources website.
Cross-sectional diagrams of mine shafts and soil types can be found by searching the Library's catalogue.

Detail from Plan showing outcrops of reefs on supposed extension of
the New Chum line of reef, MAPS 824.365 GBFD 1886

Detail from S.P. Hogg's map of the mining district of Sandhurst, MAPS 824.365 GBD 1872

Detail from geological quarter sheet Parts of parishes of Rathscar, Wareek,
Maryborough, Bet Bet and Bung Bong, MAPS 820 CAQ 1860- No. 42b SW.

Images of goldfields places

Detail from [Port Phillip and Colonial Gold Mining Co., Clunes], circa 1861, H32085

Photographs and drawings can bring goldfields experiences and scenery to life. Many of these images are in the State Library of Victoria's Pictures Collection, and can be viewed online on our catalogue.

Photographers:

Illustrators and artists:

The State Library of New South Wales have digitised their Holtermann Collection which includes rare photographs of several Victorian goldfields towns in the 1870s.