Beaconsfield Gold Mine: A Rich History and Miraculous Rescue

The Beaconsfield gold mine, Tasmania: a 1902 share certificate issued on behalf of the Bonanza Proprietary, N.L., for shares (issued to Edward Walker of Longford) in the gold mining project 'Situate at Beaconsfield' and signed by the office bearers of the Company. Framed & glazed, 27 x 31.5 cm. More than a century later, in 2006 the incredible story of the rescue of miners, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, from almost a kilometre underground took place at the Beaconsfield mine. Gold was first discovered in Beaconsfield in 1847. However it was not until 1877, when Brothers William and David Dally discovered the cap of a payable gold reef on the eastern slope of cabbage tree hill, that the intensive mining of the area really began.