How was gold discovered in Australia?

Gold was discovered in Australia as early as the 1830s, but discoveries were kept secret because there was the concern that it would cause unrest among the convicts. However, when the gold rush began in California, there was a huge rush to the American goldfields, and many men were leaving Australia. In order to prevent this trend from continuing, the authorities offered a reward to the first person to find payable gold in Australia.

Edward Hargraves had recently returned from the Californian goldfields, where he had not had any success in finding gold. He carefully studied the geology of the countryside around Bathurst and was certain that it had similar traits to that of the California goldfields. He went prospecting with the help of John Lister, a man who had already found gold in the region. Lister and his friend William Tom led Hargraves directly to where gold was found, at Summerhill Creek, at a site which Hargraves named "Ophir".