What was a selector in the time of gold rush?

A selector was a person who selected a piece of land which they would then apply for to the government. The land was usually rich and well suited to crops and agriculture, rather than larger properties which would be used for running stock.

Often, selectors would take over land already established by squatters, and because the squatters had not paid for their land, they had no recourse. They had to give it up to the selector.

Selectors were not limited to the time of the goldrushes, which began in 1851. Selectors were around from the 1860s through to the 1880s.