Show many are made rich in australia austra ia cold and gems of cf never wever never land brought 11 dig biff fortunes melbourne australla australia in the vast never never lund of australia many surprises awalt await the iho explorer it Is the belief of geologists that the mineral resources of at that country have been barely touched and it Is not improbable that other areas of gold goil nuggets scattered battered catt ered over the surface limy billy lit bo found similar to the discoveries at ballaran ballarat Bill Ball arat and in the decade following tile gold rush to california it wits la in that worldwide world wide attention was attracted to the of the mineral richness of australia by the discovery of gold cold in new south wales the first nugget weighed a little over a pound tire the news spread slowly due to the remoteness of the island continent from the other more settled parts of the world but when tile the report finally reached tile the united states many of the forty biners of california made the long ions voyage to alie abe antipode end and joined with others in the rush to tile new camps nuggets of enormous size sirs over the rich discoveries was augmented front from time to time by the finding of gold nuggets of enor enormous size bud and ilch ness the Ball ballaran Eallar arat at district in the iho state slate of victoria toria has bas the record of being probably the most lemarl remarkable able licali locality ty lit in the world la in the matter of yielding gold nuggets these rich lumps of mineral were found scattered over the surface of tile ground and ninny many prospectors piled up quick fortunes by the simple of them up ill it was nas at Ball ballaran ballarat arat that the famous wel in come nugget was found in 1359 it wei weighed glied 2217 ounces and was valued at something like the welcome nugget was not tile alie largest lump of gold found ui lit aua au as 13 seems to bo be commonly supposed in asco tin nn enormous nugget was unearthed at mount Mol Moll insul agul near dunolly denolly Du nolly it was valued at that was a cletty big fat fortune tune for a poor prospector to suddenly eily come across it was named the welcome stranger record mass of gold geld upon a claim tit at aill end new boutil wales tile hie largest mass of gold ever found was dug out tit iii ast 1st in reality Null ty it was almost a nugget us it contained but little quartz quarts the specimen meli measured four indies inches thick it it was valued at more than SG many mally chance discoveries of gold and other precious minerals hive have occurred in western australia und and other oilier parts of tile country stories of if p prospecto vii and wayfarers wayfare rs who found nuggets and outcrop in ull expect ld d places and the fortune that these falsco cries led to are told and retold to the visitor to the different mining camps campa the total yield of gold of australia since la Is approximately three billion dol dollars kirs deserted mining camps campa there are several il mining lining camps camp from which tile hie glory of former kiln eral anil riches has departed notable unions among these are bendigo and ballaran ballarat BaU Ball arnt arat both in the state of victoria the riotous diggings of the earlier days have been replaced liy by substantial towns which depend largely upon other industrial and business interests lutc reaLs for their support in bendigo there are to be tx seen been on every hand evidences of the mining that formerly prevailed there all around the town are the holes mude made by prospectors and abandoned claims chillus and mines which had perhaps yielded their owners fortunes in mineral during the halcyon days throughout alstern australia the lie problem of providing water for the mines find and towns and the alie rural districts where attempts are being blade to carry on agricultural operations has practical consideration and solution on the part of the state government ern ment the rainfall in a broad brand scope of territory Is so meager that water filin tills source bonne is scarcely counted on the supply must be obtained from a long distance away C aply scheme it wai to overcome the perpetual drouK lity condition bud and to enable the development of the aldies of the mines and soil that what Is kuon as aa tile the water supply scheme was COuce conceited hed it la Is tine one of tie the most daring projects of its kind ever undertaken undertake a its has been tile means of adding enormously to the wealth of tills part of fhe 1 lie country it kas bas literally Ilter ally caused the desert to b bloxom eshom like the rose the initial cost of the works was nearly tilts tills great water system supplies 1 31 l towns by nicais of miles of laterals literals late rals and ZW miles of distributing pipe its lateral supply timing to mining districts are CO miles mile long and to a agricultural districts miles long the main reservoir Is situated SIt Hated near close to the indian ocean it is I 1 kept filled by water drainage of a bj bs area of country along the route of tire main pipe line and the laterals literals late rals are spots of trees and other oilier vegetation diat have blen been created by the use of water obtained broto tills source tile the precious fluid lias has enabled the creating of p prosperous communities and towns and lias has been tile the direct cause of bast ast mineral develop development meaL pre precious ious gemi found in some parts of 0 australia guily if in queensland and new south wales valuable geros gem such sue as diamonds 4 sapphires sapp hires und and opals are found in more or less abundance it Is to in new south wales that most of clr ill da diamonds monds have been found since mt 1551 when the first diamonds were discovered la in australia this country ha has given a yield of the stones atones to the lie value of about the sapphires eapp sapp ulrea hires of queensland are of matchless beauty they have found their way into the gem collections of t many people in dIffer different eor parts of tho the world the principal district where these stones are now obtained Is known as the achile field it Is situated about miles west 0 of Rock bampton state stat of queensland and embraces a territory of square miles it Is a wild bild mountainous region that tills lias been comparatively ora ively little explored and contains few permanent settlers the sapphire miner pitches hla his camp in the desolate country builds belld s himself a washing bed and digs the gra gravel tel out of the banks of the dry water courses that run through the region when the sand and dirt have been washed away it Is on an easy matter to pick out the beautiful gems it la Is fascinating work yields all kinds kind of sapphire sapphires Sapp hires hirm the aballe field yields every known variety of sapphire these include the regal cornflower blue the rich yellow and orange stones the colorless gem that closely resembles a diamond tile the true blood red ruby the royal purple oriental amethyst the silky cats eye and the shimmering moonstone unstone uio the opal deposits of australia are eno enormous rinous probably larger than any oilier country in new south wales pals opals to tile the value of more tian than 57 T ime have been mined during the last 3 SS 33 years and tile the opal fields of queensland also have a large record of production it Is in the and litile known region of that state moro more than GOO miles inthe in lit the interior that opals are found in large quantities I 1 it t Is stated that the proved opal runs north and south for miles and has a great width |