In February 1869, two British prospectors, John Deason and Richard Oates, made a historic discovery in central Victoria, Australia. While digging for gold, they stumbled upon a large rock that turned out to be a giant block of gold weighing 72 kg. This enormous block measured 0.6 meters long and nearly 0.3 meters wide.
Excited by their find, Deason and Oates decided to keep it a secret until they could safely secure the gold. Under the cover of darkness, they retrieved the gold and brought it back to Deason’s tent. After burning off the dirt and removing the black quartz covering the gold block, they took a portion of the black quartz to a local ore crusher, which yielded 1.7 kg of gold. The remaining gold block was transported to the town of Dunolly, where they sold 66 kg to the bank for £9,563 – an amount equivalent to an average worker’s salary for 43 years at that time.
The block of gold, named “Welcome Stranger,” was too large to be weighed at the bank so it had to be divided into three blocks for weighing. Despite their windfall, Deason and Oates faced different fates after the discovery. Deason continued mining for gold and eventually became a store manager in Moliagal where he lost most of his wealth due to failed investments. Meanwhile Oates returned home to England got married before returning again with his family back to Australia where he lived on farm till his death
