Although it would seem likely that its name (Spanish meaning 'the golden one' and usually associated with vast wealth) from the imagined riches which were waiting for the gold miners who poured into the area, in reality the name was given to the first European property in the area and was an expression of the confidence of the owner, a drover named William Baker, who saw the green pastures and believed that here was his Eldorado.
Gold was discovered in the district in 1854 and over the next twelve months thousands of miners arrived hoping to find their fortune. The town soon moved into deep mining with shafts being sunk to depths of 100 metres and by 1860 tin was being mined as well. By the 1870s there were around 4000 people living in the town many of whom were Cornish miners who had come across from the copper mines of South Australia.
The technique of deep mining fell into disrepute when, in 1895, there was a collapse at McEvoy mine which killed six miners. After that the town's main gold extraction occurred as a result of open cut activities. This resulted in the construction of a huge dredge (now listed by the National Estate) in 1936. It was reputedly the largest in the southern hemisphere and continued to operate until 1954 extracting 2.3 million grams of gold and 1475 tonnes of tin. Many of the miners houses were removed from the town in the 1950s.
Back to Places to Visit