Treasure hunters heading to hill March-ing to fortune

GOLD was discovered in Wedderburn in 1852. The most popular story regarding the find is that a shepherd named Brady found gold while looking after sheep.

Apparently he wasn’t particularly interested in the find and passed the information on to some prospectors from South Australia travelling through the area.

The area where the first gold was found is located on the St Arnaud Road approximately 3km from Wedderburn.

The site now boasts a sign “Brady’s Find”. Although the South Australians tried to keep their find secret, word leaked out and by December 1852 there were some 6000 people in the area looking for gold.

Just under a century later, there was the second big rush. In March 1950, veteran prospector Bert Smith dug a hole in Wilson Street, Wedderburn, and found a gold nugget. It turned out to be worth £1100.

Bert’s sentiments ‘hope there’s more’ were shared by many people and his find sparked a frantic gold rush where the town’s backyards, roads and gardens were torn up in search for gold Wedderburn corner store Bert’s find uncovered more than a lone lump of gold: it was revealed that Wedderburn resident Dave Butterick had been mining in his backyard for the past three years and had found a lot of gold. Three nuggets were spectacular: Golden Retriever was found on March 11 1950 and valued at £13000. Wedderburn Dog was found the following day and Golden Wedge, a seven-ounce nugget, was found on March 29 1950.

In April 1950, over 8000 people came to Wedderburn to see them all on display. There is still gold in and around Wedderburn.

Some people believe there is a reef under the town itself and several times in recent decades the streets have been dug up in search of it.

In 1980, schoolboys Russell Fazzani, Jim Hard and Adam Turner decided to try their luck prospecting at Beggary Hill. It was not long before their metal detector buzzed with the discovery of what turned out to be an 85-ounce gold nugget.

This March, another 70-plus years on from the second rush, the 21st century crop of prospectors will be hoping they strike gold or fortune during the Minelab Wedderburn Detector Jamboree.