Life of Edward Hargraves
Edward Hargraves (1816-1891), gold rush publicist, was born on the 7th October 1816 at Gosport, Hampshire, England. His father was Lieutenant John Hargraves and his mother was Elizabeth Whitcombe. He was educated at Brighton Grammar School. He set sail when he was 14 years old and arrived Sydney in 1832. 4 years later in Sydney, he married Elizabeth Mackay. In 1849 he set sailed to California and returned Sydney in January 1851 to find gold to earn money from the government. On the 12th February 1851, he and John Lister found five specks of gold in Lewis Ponds Creek. During the next few weeks, he traversed more area and made a slight success, but he wanted to find gold so he asked Lister, William, James and Henry (sons of William Tom) to help him continue the search to find gold. So he taught them panning techniques and how to make and use a wooden cradle. On March 1851, there were news from the Tom brothers encouraged Edward Hargraves to write a Sydney Morning Herald describing the field of gold. A few weeks later, he received the government reward and introduced more specific areas where gold existed.On early May, he left for Bathurst. Edward ignored Tom's and Lister's pleas of secrecy about Ophir having a field of gold. By May 15 there were over 300 diggers at Ophir and the first gold rush had begun. The government gave him 10,000 pounds. By 1877, the government gave him a annual pension of 250 pounds. He was also given a lot of testimonials, valuable cups and other kinds of trophies. In 1851, became a commissioner of crown lands for the gold districts and a justice of the peace. From 1853-1854, Edward traveled to England and met the Queen. In 1861, he appealed to the Victorian government. In NSW the Lister and the Tom brothers had been used by Edward. In 1853 a Legislative Council decided to have 1000 pounds granted to the men taught by Edward (Tom brothers and Lister). In 1890, Legislative Assembly said that although Edward was the one who taught Lister and the Tom brothers how to use the dish and wooden cradle, Lister and the Tom brothers were the first discoverers of gold. On the 29th of October 1891, he died at Sydney and was buried in the Waverley cemetery.
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