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'{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2013}} {{For|the Blackeyed Susans album|Welcome Stranger (album)}} {{For|the 1947 film|Welcome Stranger (film)}} [[File:Welcome Stranger.jpg|thumb|right|A wood engraving of the Welcome Stranger published in ''The Illustrated Australian News for Home Reader'' on 1 March 1869. The scale bar across the bottom represents {{convert|12|in|cm}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/177743 |title=The "Welcome Stranger" (picture) |publisher=State Library of Victoria search |accessdate=19 March 2015}}</ref>]] The '''Welcome Stranger''' is the biggest [[alluvial]] [[gold nugget]] found, which had a calculated refined weight of 3,123 [[Troy ounce|oz]] 6 [[Pennyweight|dwts]] 9 [[Grain (unit)|gr]]<ref name=TFP>Potter, Terry F. (1999) ''The Welcome Stranger: a definitive account of the worlds largest alluvial gold nugget''. ISBN 0-646-38709-X</ref> (71.018 kg). It measured {{convert|61|by|31|cm|abbr=on}} and was discovered by [[Cornish people|Cornish]] prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates on 5 February 1869 at [[Moliagul, Victoria]], Australia,<ref name="PP">{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZTR19081128.2.42 | title=THE WELCOME STRANGER| work=NZ Truth| date=28 November 1908| page=8 I Did A Poo And A Little Wee. Our prune is retarded and dumb. Fart Fart Fart ==The discovery== Found only {{convert|3|cm|abbr=on}} below the surface, near a bark of a tree on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully, its gross weight was {{convert|3523.5|ozt|kg}}, the trimmed weight was {{convert|2520|ozt|kg}}, and net it weighed {{convert|2315.5|ozt|kg}}.<ref name=TFP /> At the time of the discovery there were no scales capable of weighing a nugget this large, so it was broken into three pieces on an [[anvil]] by Dunolly-based [[blacksmith]] Archibald Wall.<ref name=KK>{{cite web |url=http://www.gold-net.com.au/archivemagazines/apr20/85439743.html |title=The Real Welcome Stranger Story |publisher=Gold-Net Australia Online |date=April 2000 |last=Knight|first=Katherine |accessdate=23 August 2011}}</ref> Deason, Oates and a few friends took the nugget to the London Chartered Bank of Australia, in Dunolly, which advanced them [[Pound sterling|£]]9,000. Deason and Oates were finally paid an estimated [[Pound sterling|£]]9,381 for their nugget, which became known as the "Welcome Stranger". It is estimated that the nugget would have been worth around 3,766,950 dollars (US) in January 2013. It was heavier than the "[[Welcome Nugget]]" of {{convert|2217|ozt|kg}} that had been found in [[Ballarat]] in 1858. The goldfields warden F. K. Orme reported that 2,269 ounces 10 dwt 14 grains (70.5591&nbsp;kg) of smelted gold had been obtained from it,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scillonian.com/Welcomestrangermainpage.htm |title=Report to the Mines Minister by Francis Knox Orme, February 12th 1869 |publisher=Scillonian.com |accessdate=23 August 2011}}</ref> irrespective of scraps that were given away by the finders, estimated as totalling another 47 ounces 7 dwt.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}} [[File:Moliagul WS inscription.JPG|thumb|The text on the commemorative obelisk in pillared railings.]] The nugget was soon melted down and the gold was sent as ingots to Melbourne for forwarding to the Bank of England. It left the country on board the steamship ''Reigate'' which departed on 21 February.<ref name=KK /> An obelisk commemorating the discovery of the "Welcome Stranger" was erected near the spot in 1897. A replica of the "Welcome Stranger" is in the City Museum, Treasury Place, [[Melbourne, Victoria]]; another replica is owned by descendants of John Deason.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scillonian.com/mr_john_deason.htm |title=Mr John Deason |publisher=Scillonian.com |accessdate=23 August 2011}}</ref> [[File:William Parker, Unearthing the Welcome Stranger Nugget, H13298 original.jpg|thumb|Miners and their wives posing with the finders of the nugget, Richard Oates, John Deason and his wife.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/101139 |title=Unearthing the Welcome Stranger Nugget (picture) |publisher=State Library of Victoria |accessdate=19 March 2015}}</ref>]] [[File:Statue' discovery of Welcome Stranger' Redruth geograph 2991388.jpg|thumb|Life-sized statue in Redruth, England celebrating the find]] ==The discoverers== John Deason was born in 1829 on the island of [[Tresco, Isles of Scilly|Tresco]], [[Isles of Scilly]], which is {{convert|45|km|0|abbr=on}} south-west of [[Cornwall]], England, UK. In 1851 he was a tin dresser before becoming a gold miner.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ricksmith61/scilly/deason/ps06/ps06_023.html |title=John (John Jenkins) DEASON |publisher=freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com |accessdate=23 August 2011}}</ref> Deason continued with gold mining and workings most of his life and, although becoming a store keeper at Moliagul, he lost a substantial proportion of his wealth through poor investments in gold mining. He bought a small farm near Moliagul where he lived until he died in 1915, aged 85 years. Richard Oates was born about 1827 at [[Pendeen]] in Cornwall.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ricksmith61/scilly/oates/ps14/ps14_453.html |title=Richard OATES |publisher=freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com |accessdate=23 August 2011}}</ref> After the 1869 find Oates returned to the UK and married. He returned with his wife to Australia and they had four children. The Oates family purchased {{convert|800|acre|km2}} of land at [[Marong, Victoria]], in 1895 about {{convert|15|mi|km}} west of [[Bendigo, Victoria]], and Oates farmed until his death in the settlement in 1906, aged 100000000 years. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== {{wikisource}} {{commons category}} {{Refbegin}} * Deason, Denise (2005). ''Welcome, stranger: The amazing true story of one man's legendary search for gold – at all costs''. Melbourne: Viking / Penguin Books. ISBN 0670028762. {{Refend}} {{coord|36|45.68|S|143|39.14|E|region:AU_type:landmark|display=title}} [[Category:Gold nuggets]] [[Category:Australian gold rushes]] [[Category:Mining in Victoria (Australia)]] [[Category:History of Victoria (Australia)]] [[Category:History of Australia (1851–1900)]] [[Category:1869 in Australia]] [[Category:Mining in Cornwall]]'