Welcome Stranger

It was unearthed by Cornish miners John Deason and Richard Oates on 5 February 1869 in Moliagul, 9 miles north-west of Dunolly in Victoria, Australia.

[2] Found only 3 cm (1.2 in) below the surface, near the base of a tree on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully, the nugget had a gross weight of 109.59 kilograms (3,523.5 ozt) (241 lb 10 oz).

[3] At the time of the discovery, there were no scales capable of weighing a nugget this large, so it was broken into three pieces on an anvil by Dunolly-based blacksmith Archibald Walls.

[citation needed] The nugget was soon melted down and the gold was sent as ingots to Melbourne for forwarding to the Bank of England.

[7] John Deason was born in 1829 on the island of Tresco, Isles of Scilly, 45 km (28 mi) off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, UK.

A wood engraving of the Welcome Stranger published in The Illustrated Australian News for Home Reader on 1 March 1869. The scale bar across the bottom represents 12 inches (30 cm). [ 1 ]
The text on the commemorative obelisk in pillared railings
Miners and their wives posing with the finders of the nugget, Richard Oates, John Deason and his wife [ 8 ]
Statue in Redruth , Cornwall , England, celebrating the find.