Specimen M 34546 The Bunyip Gold Nugget, Gold

Summary

Gold nuggets are a feature of the Victorian goldfields, both historically and at present; fossickers with metal detectors are uncovering nuggets missed by the early gold diggers. While the Bunyip nugget, weighing 1.55 kilograms (50 ounces), is only small by Victorian standards, very few of similar dimensions survive in museum collections. The nugget was ploughed up by a farmer near Bridgewater, west of Bendigo. Its location, close to the Loddon River and well away from other nugget finds, suggests the Bunyip nugget might have been carried some distance by Aboriginal people. It was purchased by the National Museum of Victoria in 1978 for $40 000.