Two Cornish miners found the huge nugget dubbed the Welcome Stranger while prospecting in the gold fields of Victoria, Australia on 5 February 1869. It weighed 11 stone (72kg) and was 61cm long (24 inches) when it was found buried just below the surface.

How heavy is the Welcome Stranger nugget?

The Welcome Stranger The nugget weighed 2316 troy ounces* (about 72 kg) and at the time of discovery was the largest known gold nugget in the world, measuring 60 by 45 by 19 centimetres. The site of discovery is marked by a stone monument.

Who found the biggest piece of gold in Ballarat?

Welcome Nugget: 2,433oz. The biggest nugget found in gold-rich Ballarat, Victoria, it was discovered by miners from Cornwall, England in June 1858.

Whats the biggest gold nugget ever found?

the Welcome Stranger
Considered by most authorities to be the biggest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Stranger was found at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. It weighed gross, over 2,520 troy ounces (78 kg; 173 lb) and returned over 2,284 troy ounces (71.0 kg; 156.6 lb) net.

Who owns the Welcome Stranger nugget?

John Deason
The ‘Welcome Stranger’ nugget It was found by Cornish miner John Deason and his partner Richard Oates near Moliagul in central Victoria, long after the initial rushes. While digging around the roots of a stringybark tree Deason discovered the nugget lying only 3 cm below the surface.

Who named the Welcome Stranger?

miner John Deason
The ‘Welcome Stranger’ was found on 5 February 1869 by Cornish miner John Deason, who was working in Bulldog Gully, near Moliagul in central Victoria. While searching around the roots of a tree he discovered, 3 cm below the surface, a gold nugget.

How much was the Welcome Stranger gold nugget worth?

The 66kg ‘Welcome Stranger’, then the world’s largest-known gold nugget, was taken to Dunolly where it had to be broken on an anvil before it could fit on the bank’s scales. It was worth 10,000 pounds – around $3-4 million in today’s money. Deason returned to Moliagul and his descendants are still in the area. Oates returned to Cornwall.

How much did the Welcome Stranger get paid?

Deason, Oates, and a few friends took the nugget to the London Chartered Bank of Australia, in Dunolly, which advanced them £ 9,000. Deason and Oates were finally paid an estimated £ 9,381 for their nugget, which became known as the “Welcome Stranger”.

How big was the Welcome Nugget when it was sold?

The mass was so great that the men at first thought they had struck a reef of pure gold. Sold for 10,500 pounds sterling, it found a home in Melbourne until being sold again on March 18, 1859. It weighed 2,195 troy ounces (68.272 kg) and fetched 9,325 pounds sterling at its resale.

Where was the Welcome Stranger nugget found in 1869?

On February 5, the 150th anniversary of the lucky find will be celebrated at the historical marker, 2km south-west of Moliagul. Hot spot: this marker in bush 2km south west of Moliagul in centtral Victoria, shows where the Welcome Stranger nugget was found in 1869.