answersLogoWhite

0

The "Welcome Stranger" was the name given to the largest gold nugget ever found and recorded. It measured 61 cm by 31 cm and was discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates at Moliagul, western Victoria, Australia on 5 February 1869 about 9 miles north-west of Dunolly and half-way between Maryborough and St Arnaud. It was found only 5cm below the surface on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully and it weighed 2316 troy ounces or 72.04 kg. The finders were paid £19,068. The Welcome Stranger is not the same as the "Welcome Nugget" found in Ballarat in 1858 which was the largest single nugget prior to the discovery of the Welcome Stranger.

However, larger than this is the Beyers and Holtermann nugget, the largest single piece of reef gold ever discovered in the world. The Beyers and Holtermann nugget was, strictly speaking, not a nugget, but what is called a matrix. Weighing in around 286 kilograms(about 630 pounds), it measured 150cm by 66cm, and was worth at least £12,000 at the time it was discovered, in October 1872. It was discovered by workers at the Star of Hope Gold Mining Co on Hawkins Hill, at the Hill End goldfields in New South Wales, Australia.

As to reef gold, gold sometimes appears as a "vein" included in rock, frequently quartz. In this case it was a quartz reef. By removing the rock around the vein, the gold included in that vein can be recovered in one piece. And that was the case with the Holtermann Nugget.

What is currently the largest nugget on display is probably the Hand of Faith Nugget. This 875 troy ounce (61 pounds, 11 ounce) nugget was discovered in 1980 by the use of a metal detector. It was buried some six inches below the surface of the ground near Wedderburn, Australia, about 40km north of Moliagul, where the Welcome Stranger was found.

User Avatar

Wiki User

10y ago

What else can I help you with?

Continue Learning about Natural Sciences

What was the biggest pure gold nugget ever found?

The Welcome Stranger is the biggest pure gold nugget ever found, discovered in Australia in 1869. It weighed a whopping 2,284 ounces (about 158 pounds) and was valued at the time of discovery at around $10,000.


What is the biggest amount of gold that has ever been found?

The largest nugget of gold ever found was the Welcome Stranger nugget, discovered in Australia in 1869, weighing approximately 2316 troy ounces (72 kg).


What is the biggest gold nuget in the world?

I'm not sure if this is still true but last time i checked it was the size of an egg and i think it was found in Africa. Discuss if you disagree.


Who found the pride of Australia gold nugget?

The "Pride of Australia" gold nugget was found by a prospector named Rafael Selman in 2016 in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. Weighing 3.23 kilograms, it is one of the largest gold nuggets ever discovered in the region.


How heavy was the heaviest gold nugget found in Australia?

The world's largest gold nugget was found in Victoria on 5 February 1869. This was the "Welcome Stranger", and it measured 61cm by 31cm. It was discovered by prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates at Moliagul, which is about halfway between Maryborough and St Arnaud in western Victoria. Because no scales of the time could actually handle the weight of the nugget, it had to be broken into three pieces by a blacksmith in order to be weighed: it weighed in at over 2300 ounces, or 70 kilograms. Deason (Deeson) and Oates were paid £19,068 for their nugget which became known as "Welcome Stranger".This is not the same as the large "Welcome Nugget" found in Ballarat in 1858.

Related Questions

What was the biggest pure gold nugget ever found?

The Welcome Stranger is the biggest pure gold nugget ever found, discovered in Australia in 1869. It weighed a whopping 2,284 ounces (about 158 pounds) and was valued at the time of discovery at around $10,000.


What is the biggest amount of gold that has ever been found?

The largest nugget of gold ever found was the Welcome Stranger nugget, discovered in Australia in 1869, weighing approximately 2316 troy ounces (72 kg).


What does silver nugget found in the earth mean?

A nugget is a lump of metal which is naturally formed by heat in the earth. A silver nugget is a lump of naturally formed silver in metallic form. Nuggets of all kinds are only ever found in the earth.


When was the Holterman nugget found?

The Holterman Nugget was found in Hill End in NSW on 19 October, 1872. It was the largest single nugget ever discovered anywhere, although strictly speaking, it was not really a single nugget but rather a mass of gold found in a reef.


What was the name of the gold nugget found in 1858 at Bakery Hill Ballarat?

The gold nugget found in 1858 at Bakery Hill near Ballarat was the "Welcome Nugget". This is different from the "Welcome Stranger", which was the name given to a largest gold nugget ever found and recorded.


What is the most unusual ingredient you have ever found in a chicken nugget, such as a chicken head?

The most unusual ingredient found in a chicken nugget was a piece of blue plastic.


Where was Holtermann Nugget Found?

The Holtermann nugget was found at hill end


How big is the largest gold nugget ever found in the US?

42 pounds


What did the largest gold nugget ever found in the US weigh and where was it found?

It was found in North Carolina in the 1800;s


Have you ever heard of the urban legend about the McDonald's chicken head nugget"?

Yes, there is an urban legend about a chicken head being found in a McDonald's chicken nugget.


Biggest gold nugget ever found and recorded what was it named?

The "Welcome Stranger" was the name given to the largest gold nugget ever found and recorded. It measured 61 cm by 31 cm and was discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia on 5 February 1869 about 9 miles north-west of Dunolly. It was found only 2 inches (5 centimeters) below the surface on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully and it weighed 2316 troy ounces or 72.04 kg. Note that the Welcome Stranger shouod not be confused with the "Welcome Nugget" found in Ballarat in 1858 which was the largest single nugget prior to the discovery of the Welcome Stranger.


How much does the largest golden nugget weigh?

The largest golden nugget ever found weighed about 389.4 troy ounces, which is approximately 27.2 pounds. It was discovered in Australia in 1980 and is known as the "Welcome Stranger" nugget.