Tarnagulla, Victoria

Infobox Australian Place | type = town
name = Tarnagulla
state = vic


caption = The former Commonwealth Bank in Tarnagulla, now a Post office and general store.
lga = Shire of Loddon
postcode = 3551
est =
pop = 153
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Bendigo West
fedgov = Bendigo
dist1 = 183
dir1 = NW
location1= Melbourne
dist2 = 47
dir2 = W
location2= Bendigo
dist3 = 15
dir3 = NE
location3= Dunolly

Tarnagulla is a gold mining town in central Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Loddon Local Government Area, convert|183|km|mi|0|lk=on north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Tarnagulla had a population of 153.Census 2006 AUS
id=SSC26731
name=Tarnagulla (State Suburb)
accessdate=2007-07-04
quick=on]

European settlement in the area began with the taking up of Tarnagulla station in the 1840s.cite web
url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/Victoria/Tarnagulla/2005/02/17/1108500207452.html
title = Tarnagulla
work = Travel
publisher = Sydney Morning Herald
accessdate = 2007-07-04] Gold was first found in the area in 1852 by prospectors on their way to the Korong goldfields near Wedderburn. The discovery lead to a gold rush as more than 5,000 miners made their way to the diggings.cite web
last = Patman
first = B.P.
year = 1931
url = http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/articles/history1.html
title = Back to Tarnagulla - Early history
accessdate = 2007-07-04] The settlement created by these miners was first at known as Sandy Creek and was renamed Tarnagulla, after the station in 1860. Reflecting this, the Post Office opened on August 13, 1856 as Sandy Creek and was renamed Tarnagulla on January 2, 1861. Citation
last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= | accessdate = 2008-04-11 ]

The first miners in the area were prospectors from South Australia followed by many more from other diggings and from around the world. A canvas town grew up quickly to service the needs of the miners. In 1853, the first gold nuggets were found near Tarnagulla at Nuggetty Gully with one pair of miners finding 86 lb (39 kg) of gold in a fourteen day period. Many other large nuggets including one weighing 32 lb (14.5 kg) were found in the area.

From 1854, the focus of the miners turned to quartz mining with the discovery of the Poverty Reef. The reef was named by one of its discoverers, Mr. Hatt, in remembrance of Poverty Bay, New Zealand where he had been saved from drowning by a Māori woman. The Poverty lode was unusual in that the gold was found in large blocks of quartz. Allegedly the richest pocket of reef gold ever found, more than 13.5 tonnes of gold was recovered from Poverty Reef in 13 months from an area 3 metres wide and 120 metres deep.

The move to quartz mining lead to Tarnagulla taking on a more settled appearance with brick and stone buildings replacing the earlier canvas structures. Local government was established in the area with the creation of the Borough of Tarnagulla in 1864. The borough was surveyed in 1864. By 1865, the town had reached its peak with a wide range of businesses operating including 4 hotels, 9 general stores, 3 surgeons, a share broker and watchmaker. In September of that year, the Tarnagulla court held its first sitting. Residents of the town included around 1,000 Chinese as well as groups of Greeks and Italians.

Later settlement focused on agriculture with sheep raising and wheat growing established in the area. A sawmill was established at nearby Bulla-bul Creek in 1863. The railway reached Tarnagulla in 1888. New technology such as the use of cyanide allowed rework of some of the tailings of earlier mines. In 1906 the famous Poseidon nugget, weighing 26.6 kilograms was found at Tarnagulla. The nugget was named after the racehorse "Poseidon", winner of the 1906 Melbourne Cup.

The development of agriculture continued with the establishment of a flour mill in 1873. The mill was operational until 1917 and in 1920 the mill was relocated to Mildura.cite web
last = Clark
first = Donald W.
url = http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/articles/flourmill.html
title = The Tarnagulla Flour Mill
accessdate = 2007-07-04] Gas streetlighting was established in Tarnagulla in 1869 and operated until the arrival of electricity in the town in 1950.cite web
last = Clark
first = Donald W.
url = http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/articles/lighting.html
title = Street lighting of Tarnagulla and Newbridge.
accessdate = 2007-07-04] Today the major industries in Tarnagulla include agriculture, fruit growing and flax oil production.

References

External links

* [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/ Tarnagulla Community History page]