Golden Eagle Gold Nugget Found

It was found in january of 1931 by a teenage boy the son of a miner named jim larcombe.

Golden eagle gold nugget found. The golden eagle nugget was discovered at larkinville by the 17 year old son of mr jim larcombe on thursday 15th january 1931. Larkinville the golden eagle and the great depression hesperian press carlisle 1999. Western australia s last great traditional gold rush occurred at larkinville during the depths of the 1930s depression. A 1 4 kilogram gold nugget found near the wa mining city of kalgoorlie boulder.

Weighing 1 135 oz 15 dwt and measuring 26 x 11 x 2 inches 675 x 290 x 64 mm the nugget was the largest discovered in western australia at the time and created a national sensation. The goldfields around the area were home to the golden eagle nugget which was found in 1931 by jim larcombe. Today the golden eagle nugget is still the largest specimen found in wa. Nuggets are also found in the tailings piles of previous mining operations especially those left by gold mining dredges.

A new gold fever set in attracting investors and many prospectors to western australia. Watercourses often concentrate nuggets and finer gold in placers nuggets are recovered by placer mining but they are also found in residual deposits where the gold bearing veins or lodes are weathered. I can only presume that the jim larcombe in the article was a distant relative. The block of ground on which the nugget was discovered was previously held.

The find was a symbol of hope during the great depression. The find sparked a gold fever and shortly afterward 1 000 men were working the field unearthing other reefs and nuggets. A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. The gold industry has played and continues to play a fundamental role in australia s history economy and social fabric and is vital to our future.

It was unearthed by a depression era miner working in a very remote goldfield near the famous kalgoorlie gold mining area. Many years ago one of my elderly larcombe aunts sent me a yellowed newspaper cutting of a famous gold find in western australia it was the golden eagle nugget discovered in 1931. The find was made in a rich goldfield near the now abandoned town of widgimooltha. It weighed 1 136 ounces 32 2 kg the biggest nugget found in the history of western australian goldfields.

The golden eagle was sold to the state government and melted down during the height of the great depression. One of the largest gold nugget discoveries in australia and the largest gold nugget found in western australia was called the golden eagle nugget.