Telling BITS of history as they really were! Gold fever hit Australia in the 1850s … and it was the start of a wild, crazy hunt that saw people from all over the world come to try their luck. A few people might have dug up a fortune, but what most diggers dug was latrines. It turns out that the Gold Rush was mostly smelly, dirty, filthy and just yuck. Welcome to the most STINKY look at Australia yet!

This book, attempting a synthesis of all the gold rushes as an aspect of the expansion of European peoples, examines not only Ballarat and Bendigo, California, the Klondike and the Rand, but the lesser known gold-fields of the Rockies, Siberia, and Brazil.

Between 1849 and 1853 shares in nearly 120 public companies to exploit the booming goldfields of California and Australia were offered to the British public. The companies were collectively capitalised at over £15 million, but in the end only some £1.75 million was actually raised between 42 of them, with only one company surviving what the newspapers of the day described as a ’gold bubble’. This book provides an overview of the entire bubble event, its antecedents and its outcomes. A number of researchers have investigated an earlier boom in the mid-1820s to reopen gold and silver mines in Latin America and several have studied individual company operations of that period. This is the first detailed investigation of the British gold bubble companies of the 1850s and their involvement in the almost simultaneous gold rushes on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Adrian O'Shea has just had the worst day of his life. Not only has his fience dumped him, his business has gone bankrupt. AND he finds himself 150 years in the past, taking the place of his great, great grandfather of the same name.Adrian soon learns that he has been returned to the past to fix up the mess his forefather was making of his life. The original Adrian O'Shea was a drunkard, dragging his beautiful wife Cassandra into poverty with him.Cassandra, recovering from a painful miscarriage, begins to see a new side to her husband, a man she'd been close to hating, and wonders if perhaps their marriage might stand a chance after all.But there are people who want Adrian dead. Trying to stay alive becomes as big a struggle for him as trying not to fall in love with the charming and gentle Cassandra, who is, after all, another man's wife.

Robert Philps, later a Minister for Mines and a Queensland Premier, called it "the biggest ever mining swindle in the Colonies". He for one certainly knew, because Robert Ross himself sold Philps a swag of the Company shares in early 1888. This is the true story of multiple gold frauds by Robert Ross near Yeppoon Queensland, and a dubious Sydney Company involving many leading identities now well known in our history. Some made fortunes almost overnight and some ended up mortally wounded. The Supreme Court sessions featured most of the leading 'silks' in the Colony and even our later first Prime Minister Edmund Barton and all the sworn evidence and verdicts were meticulously recorded and then first sealed under Statute for 30 years.

Vol. for 1879 contains atlas.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Australia is packed with color photographs, illustrations, and detailed maps that will help you discover Australia region-by-region, from the aboriginal sights of the Northern Territory to the wilderness of Tasmania. This fully updated guide includes 3-D illustrated cutaways and floor plans of must-see sights such as the Sydney Opera House and Canberra war memorial, as well as street-by-street maps of major Australian cities and towns. Detailed listings will guide you to hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops for all budgets. What's new in DK Eyewitness Travel Guides: New itineraries based on length of stay, regional destinations, and themes. Brand-new hotel and restaurants listings including DK's Choice recommendations. Restaurant locations plotted on redrawn area maps and listed with sights. Redesigned and refreshed interiors make the guides even easier to read. With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that brighten every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Australia truly shows you this destination as no one else can.

Throughout history, gold has been the stuff of legends, fortunes, conflict and change. The discovery of gold in Australia150 years ago precipitated enormous developments in the newly settled land. The population and economy boomed in spontaneous cities. The effects on both the environment and indigenous Aboriginal peoples have been profound and lasting. In this book, a team of prominent historians and curators have collaborated to produce an innovative cultural history of gold and its impact on the development of Australian society.

The purpose of this book is to allow interested community members to gain an understanding of the historically important role postal services made to contemporary Australia. Specific attention is given to the appreciation of the beautiful architectural styles of the historically significant postal buildings and red pillar post boxes that are still available to be viewed. In a similar format to our first book ‘Discovering Australia’s historical milemarkers and boundary stones’, this book begins with a brief history of Australia’s postal services dating from the establishment of the first post office in 1809 up to the present day. Information on significant communication strategies such as the Cobb & Co. mail service and the Overland Telegraph Line (OTL) are included. Information is provided on the biographies of some important contributors to the Australian postal services. The following chapters, organised state by state from Queensland to the Northern Territory, describe a sample of post offices and red pillar post boxes. Finally, some interesting postal items are described with references providing links for further reading.