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in January 1849, an ex-convict called Thomas Chapman found a 38 ounce gold nugget in Daisy Creek (7 km from Talbot) while working as a shepherd, this was to spark a minor Gold Rush which authorities had been trying to keep quiet to avoid lawlessness invading the land. The main gold rush only commenced in 1851 after the law was changed allowing miners to own the gold as long as they paid a miner's licence (formerly, any gold found was deemed property of the Crown).
1850: Lorne (Louttit Bay) in the
Otways is used as a port for timber and its 1st settler developed a cattle run in 1853.
1851, colony of Victoria founded, with Charles La Trobe of Latrobe St fame (1801-1875) appointed as 1st governor, coinciding with the gold rush which resulted in 313,000 new settlers immigrating to Victoria, rapidly outstripping NSW in population & development. In 1852 alone, 86,000 British migrated seeking their fortune.
1853, James Blackburn (1803-1854) commences construction of Melbourne's 1st controlled water supply - the Yan Yean Reservoir, but soon after died of typhoid. Fresh tap water became available in 1857.
1853, govt grants MCC a new site for a cricket ground in the Government Paddock / Yarra Park which was to become the MCG.
1853, Joseph Reed (1828-1890), architect, wins competition to design Melbourne's Public Library and later teams with Frederick Barnes (1824-1884) to create a number of leading buildings in the boom era including Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Town Hall, Trades Hall, Rippon Lea and St Michael's Church.
1854, the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat; The Age newspaper is founded and was soon taken over by David Syme (1827-1908).
1854, Melbourne's first railway bridge was built for Hobsons Bay Railway - a timber trestle bridge just below Yarra Falls, and soon a government built iron railway bridge with a record clear span of 61m was built across the Maribyrnong River for access to Williamstown.
1856, a wrought iron bridge built at Church St
1856: 136 hotels, inns and taverns crowded into an area one mile long and half a mile broad, bounded by Flinders, Spencer, Latrobe and Spring Streets, The hours were 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the warmer months of the year, with special licences available until midnight. Beer for ‘off the premises consumption’ could be bought on Sundays for two hours after 1 p.m.
1857, Ferdinand Von Mueller (1825-1896) becomes Victoria's 1st government botanist and curator for the Royal Botanic Gardens. 16 years later he was replaced by English landscape gardener William Guilfoyle(1840-1912) to changed it from an educational facility to a recreational one much to Von Mueller's displeasure.
1857:
Kyneton was proclaimed a municipality and, thanks to the gold rush and through traffic, Kyneton became the state's major agricultural town and the general prosperity and development resulted in a building boom which saw bluestone quarrying become a substantial industry.
1859: the Bendigo train line construction reaches Sunbury
1861, iron lattice-girder road bridge built across the Yarra at eastern end of Bridge Rd which is Australia's oldest surviving metal truss bridge, although it has been modified twice since.
1861, the Albion & Darlington steam train stations on the Sunbury line which opened in 1860, are closed and demolished, Maidstone is closed in 1865
1862: the Bendigo train line construction reaches Castlemaine then Bendigo. It was extended to Echuca in 1864.
1876: William Wardell (1823-1899) architect, builds St Patrick's Cathedral, one of the biggest Gothic Revival churches in the world, and Government House.
1876: the 8 storey Yorkshire Brewery Tower in Collingwood becomes the tallest building in Melbourne and remains the tallest for the next 12 years.
1878: the private Melbourne and Hobson's Bay United Railway Company which controlled the lines from Flinders Street station to South Yarra was purchased by the State Government enabling the Gippsland line to be brought directly into Melbourne.