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Show Punished For Discovering Gold. (London Chronicle.) Not all the old documents and records rec-ords relating to the early history of Australia have been destroyed, as many suppose, and in a recent search among some family papers a curious item was brought to light bearing upon the discovery of gold at the antipodes. According to this, gold was first found by a convict near Parramatta in 1783! i The unfortunate fellow was at once j charged with having stolen a watch and "boiled it down," and being convicted con-victed by the rude court of those early days, was given 150 lashes for his pains. In later vears the record of this incident 'was closely examined by an undoubtedly competent authority, who was quite convinced of the gen uineness of the convict's story. In the early part of last century the prisoners working on the roads toward the Blue mountains often came across the yei-low yei-low metal, but tne reports were always al-ways suppressed purposely by the authorities. |