Summary

Gold mining model of Daisy Hill, near Maryborough, made in the late 1850s. It features in Museums Victoria's Melbourne Story exhibition.

This model depicts gold miners at Daisy Hill, near Maryborough during the Victorian gold rush. It was one of a dozen Victorian goldfields models commissioned in the late 1850s by Frederick McCoy, the director of this museum, from Swedish-born miner and artisan, Carl Nordström.

Nordström visited each location to research mining methods, and made thorough notes and sketches of the equipment, creating one of the most detailed records of early Victorian mining techniques.

The miners seen here are seeking alluvial gold from the hillsides flanking the creek. The gold lurks in a thin drift of 'washdirt', overlying a layer of white pipe clay, just above bedrock.

The numerous shafts reflect the limited 12 x 12 feet (13.4 square metres) claim size allowed to each miner.

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