out of the sight-seeing, through the impetus it gave his nobbier-selling. Woodlock's good fortune did not thrive with him, for six years after (in 1857) he was executed for murder in the Mebourne Gaol. Mr. T. T. A'Beckett published an extremly interesting pamphlet intituled The Gold and the Government, — a well-written, scholarly brochure, teeming with good advice, and indirectly advocating what was afterwards legalized—"An Export Duty on Gold." M r . William Westgarth, w h o had visited Ballarat, gave it as his opinion that upwards of £10,000 worth of gold was the daily yield at and about "Golden Point," where some 7000 persons were at work, and would therefore average something like £1 8s. 6d. per diem. Sly-grog selling and drinking had not only commenced, but was in full swing there, and ^ 8 0 0 worth of the contraband stuff had been seized by the police. The average price of gold was n o w from £3 to £$ 2s., and every day brought accounts of much success, but more failures. O n the 22nd October a party of four m e n arrived in town from Ballarat with 93 lbs. of gold, procured, as they declared, in 14 days at "Golden Point." They offered their treasure for sale to Messrs. Symons and Perry, but could not agree upon terms. T h e m e n were there o w n escort, and came d o w n heavily armed. Towards the close of the month a weekly mail was established between Melbourne and Ballarat. Another false alarm was got up in Melbourne by some publicans in the suburbs procuring a quantity of gold leaf, old brass and copper filings and mica. A pseudo-auriferous amalgam was compounded from these ingredients, and with it the neighbourhood of certain hotels was "salted" and several gold cries started. O n e of the supposed new gold-fields was off West Lonsdale Street, near the Fagstaff Hill; another, above all places in the world, at Sandridge; a third at Collingwood; and a fourth at Richmond. There were " rushes" to each of the " diggings," the publicans profited by the shabby hoaxes, the gold-hunters vowed vengeance, but still incontinently tippled, and a party of police had to be called out to prevent the Lonsdale thoroughfares being broken up with excavations.
THE MOUNT ALEXANDER GOLDFIELD.
Dr. William Barker was the occupier of what was known as the Mount Alexander Station, on part of which the T o w n of Castlemaine is built, and stretching northwards in the direction of Sandhurst. Employed here as a hut-keeper was a m a n named Christopher T h o m a s Peters. O n e day in July (1851) this person whilst pottering about a waterhole on Barker's Creek, which was subsequently known as " Specimen Gully," found some samples of gold. H e communicated the discovery to three fellow-servants. They formed a party and worked the gully until the 1st September, when they desisted for fear of being prosecuted and punished for trespass, and one of them, named Warbey, communicated the discovery to a Melbourne newspaper. Roving diggers from Ballarat, in quest of new revelations, were scouring the country in all directions, and as good news travels often as rapidly as bad, some of them were not long in hearing of Barker's Creek, where people quickly collected, and one of thefirstintimations received in town was that three m e n had got 73 ozs. there in a day. During the month of October occasional "finds" were reported, and ere the 1st November had arrived the M o u n t Alexander goldfield flamed forth in all its glory, Melbourne being dazzled by the intelligence received. A M r . Leete made his appearance in town with 250 ozs. of gold as good in quality as that of Ballarat, obtained in a week by him and four others. It was found in the bed of a nearly dry creek at the foot of M o u n t Alexander, wending for miles towards Barker's Creek. They had been gold-hunting for a fortnight without success, and one day, opening a hole by chance, appearances were encouraging, and they persisted. O n e of the first spadefuls of earth showed golden indications, when they forthwith excavated an area of 12 feet by 8, and, washing the stuff, gold was obtained in abundance. B y this time the diggers were in a considerable migration from Ballarat, and stirred by the news the Lieutenant-Governor had started for the n e w region. H e returned on the 28th October, astounded by what he had seen of the success of the miners, and entertaining an opinion that the M o u n t Alexander gold district was more extensive than the Ballarat one.
