These are some interesting articles, which have been published, in various Australian newspapers over the years. Some of these leads could be worth following up!

If you happen to find others of interest, please let us know and we will add them to this web page.

An old prospector, Antanio Dambrogio, a native of Switzerland, aged 81 years, was found unconscious in his hut, close to Kangaroo Flat railway Station on Wednesday and died soon after removal to the Bendigo Hospital. He had resided for over 50 years in an old hut, and lived the life of a hermit. Police-constable Earnshaw, on making a search of the hut, found, concealed in a stone jar buried in the ground, bank receipts, of the value of £2,019/5/- and banking and mining shares of about £2,000. Old residents state that Dambrogio was a successful gold-digger in the early days but his wealth was not known, even to his intimate friends. He has no relatives in Australia. A medical examination showed that the old man died from heart failure. Many interesting documents were found but, so far, no will has been discovered.

(THE ARGUS … 2^nd June 1917)

Following the discovery of a gold-bearing stone in peculiar circumstances on the outskirts of Townsville, there is much local excitement on the old Ravenswood goldfield. A car became embedded in a shallow hole, accelerated, and the rear wheel hurled out a stone, which was later found to contain nearly three ounces of gold. It is reported that many of the residents, including women and children, are now busily engaged searching gullies and washing dirt.

(THE ADVERTISER … 3^rd January 1933)

Pending investigations which may disclose whether the £61 in notes found in a tin partly buried at Somerton is actually part of the £200/8/6 recently stolen from the strongroom of A.G. Healing Ltd, a solicitor is holding the money on behalf of the finder, Brian Adams, aged 7, of St. Anne’s Estate, Somerton. Six five-pond notes, 31 one-pound notes and four two-penny stamps were found in the buried tin. The money taken from Healings also included six five-pound notes and a number of £1 and 10/- notes, several postal notes and eight two-penny stamps. However, as Healings do not know the numbers of the stolen notes, proof that the money found by the boy was part of that, which was stolen, may be difficult.

(THE ADVERTISER … 23^rd May 1934)

A family passing through Mudgee had a fortunate find. They camped on pipeclay, about 4 miles from Mudgee, and the father started prospecting among the old mine workings, with no results, until his little son, who had been playing on an old mullock heap, scratched the surface and picked up a gold nugget, which was found to weigh 7 ounces. Can you imagine the scene? The boy probably called out "Is this what you’re looking for, Dad?".

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 16^th July 1934)

It was reported that a greengrocer at Wedderburn, Mr Albert Smith, had recently unearthed a 75 ounce nugget worth £1,100. The gold was encased in quartz and was found at a depth of 5 feet in Mr Smith’s roadside alluvial claim, right in town, opposite the Presbyterian Church. During the next three days, four new claims were pegged out in Wilson Street, the main thoroughfare in Wedderburn. About 150 yards of Wilson Street had now been pegged. Then came news that a retired farmer, Mr Dave Butterick, and his three sons-in-law, had won nearly £10,000 worth of gold from their backyard mine. Their mining property could not be extended for it was bounded by the local school, the Presbyterian Church and the Bank of Australasia. The Butterick syndicate had been working away quietly at their mine for a considerable period of time but they had been close-mouthed about their success.

(SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 16^th March 1950)

Mr Reg Chapman, son-in-law of Mr Dave Butterick, has found a 75 ounce nugget, 8 feet below the surface. Tonight, Albert Smith is digging by lamplight on the opposite side of the road in an attempt to reach the reef before Mr Chapman.

(SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 21^st March 1950)

Seventeen years ago George Howe lost a tin containing banknotes near Mole Creek in the wilds of north-west Tasmania. Yesterday, his son stumbled over the tin while brush cutting. He opened the rusted tin and found two pound notes, mouldy and discoloured. Mr Howe’s son remarked to a fellow scrub-feller when he arrived in the district yesterday morning: "This is where my father lost some notes a long time ago’. A few hours later, he picked up the tin.

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 29^TH May 1955)

A shearer has found gold worth more than £300 in an old cupboard he bought for one pound five shillings in 1942. The shearer, Mr Herbert John Harris, 25, of Kewdale, found the gold while breaking up the cupboard to get timber for repair work. He pulled a partition out of the cupboard top and heard a rattle. He undid two screws fastening the ends of the partition and found three hollowed out compartments, each containing gold. Altogether there was about 20 ounces of melted gold wrapped in brown paper.

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 3^rd July 1957)

A young golfer searching for a lost ball yesterday found a tin of gold estimated to be worth £300. He is Allan Stain, 20, a shearer, of Peak Hill, who was playing at Peak Hill golf course. Peak Hill, between Parkes and Dubbo, was the scene of one of the State’s biggest gold rushes last century. The golf course is built on the worked-out goldfield area. Stain was practising on his own when he sliced a shot into the rough. After searching for several minutes for the ball, he kicked over a pile of dirt and rock to see whether it was underneath. From the centre of the pile of dirt, a stream of alluvial gold spilled from a badly corroded battered tin. Stain collected the gold, and, while looking around to see if there were more tins hidden in the dirt, found the lost ball. Stain’s father said last night that the gold weighed more than 16 ounces and was worth about £300. He said that he thought the gold had been buried last century by a miner who had either forgotten the hiding place or died before he could recover his hoard.

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 14^th December 1957)

Maris Derams, a university student, dug up two glass jars containing £925 under the floor of his parents’ garage. The money is believed to have been buried several years ago.

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 5^th March 1959)

A policeman claimed in the Supreme Court today that he was entitled to keep a £540 gold ingot which he found near the Mount Isa drive-in picture theatre. He is Constable Myles Byrne of Hawthorne Street, Woolloongabba. Byrne appealed against a magistrate’s decision on may 6 in Mt. Isa Court ordering that the ingot be held by the Commonwealth bank until November and its value then be paid into the State Treasury. Mr. Justice Wantstall was told that Byrne found the ingot lying on the ground in an unfenced public exit from the drive-in on August 30, 1957.

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 30^th June 1959)

Police today traced the owner of treasure trove found buried at Belgrave and solved a 17 year old mystery for 74 year-old Mr Albert White of Footscray. Mr Otto Bakos, of Belgrave, uncovered a rusted milk tin containing £120 in old notes, a gold wedding ring, and a gold engagement ring when digging his garden a week ago. Police enquiries today led to Mr White who tenanted the house until his wife’s death in 1943. He said he had often wondered what happened to the rings. His thrifty Scottish-born wife must have saved the £120 from housekeeping money and buried it, with the rings, for safety. Mr White, who has since remarried, said he would send Mr Bakos ‘a very fine reward’.

(THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD … 17^th September 1960)

To be continued …..