Not long after the first officially recognised discovery of gold in the New South Wales Colony by the brothers William and James Tom, John Lister and Edward Hargraves in 1851 a myriad of prospectors followed in their footsteps, the miners travelled to area's beyond the settled districts, previously unexplored lands, rivers and creeks all became potential goldfields. News of these new goldfields spread rapidly by word of mouth on every St corner and pub, newspapers endeavoured to relay news of new discoveries expeditiously, sometimes at the expense of fact, although in all fairness to the reporters and correspondents the "facts" as told to them were not completely factual. Exaggeration and lack of local knowledge distorted what was the actual situation on the ground at the various goldfields. Names of geographical features were misspelt or spelt the way it was pronounced, it must be remembered that even though English was the language of the Colony there were so many English speaking prospectors of different nationalities whose accents allowed for variations in pronunciations. Not only was the language an issue, locations of geographical features when being reported upon appeared in different locations.

Initially upon the discovery of gold in the district the individual Goldfields were referred to by their locale, not until the Goldfields expanded in the early 1850s did the name "Tambaroura" become extensively used by those reporting on the discoveries, the Tambaroura Goldfield which included Bald Hills Creek, Bald Hills (later known as Forbes 1860-62, Hillend and finally Hill End), Golden Gully, Samuels Flat, Tambaroura Creek, Tambaroura Proper, Dirt Holes Creek and Green Valley all fell under the umbrella of The "Tambaroura". The descriptions in the following newspaper articles give an appreciation of the influx and distribution of the prospectors.

8 Oct 1851
The Lower Turon, Hawkins Bald Hill Creek and Dirt Hole Creek
29 Oct 1851
The Turon, including Hawkins Ridge and Dirt Hole Creek
29 Nov 1851
The Lower Turon

The Empire newspaper dated 30 Oct 1852 gives an account of the geographical footprint and size of The "Tambaroura".

Initially the Goldfield may have been haphazard in its function but was very soon brought under control by the appointment of Gold Commissioners and their subordinates to police everything associated with the retrieval of the gold and the associated commercial industry which it created.

The Tambaroora Goldfield was first proclaimed on the 2 Feb 1853 in a Proclamation for Gold Fields, although not mentioned by name it was one of the tributories of the Macquarie River. On the 26 Feb 1864 it was mentioned specifically in a Gazzette Notification of the Tambaroora Gold Field

1856 saw the arrival of the first Chinese to the Goldfield en masse, their work ethic stood them apart from their European counterparts and initially drew a great deal of negativity from the rest of the mining community. In time this negativity subsided and eventually their integration into the mining and general community made a valuable contribution to the socioeconomic climate of the Tambaroura.

In July 1857 the Sydney Morning Herald gave a detailed description of The "Tambaroura", and again in 1865 another description of "Tambaroora"

Its size as described in newspapers grew and shrunk in relation to the reporter or correspondents local knowledge when reporting on the district. With so much rapid development taking place Proclamations and Acts were created to ensure control of the Crown Lands and Pastoral Leases that occupied the area and policing and management of the Goldfields.

In 1859 a Tambaroora Birth, Deaths and Marriage Registration District was gazetted to record those events in the area.

The early 1860s saw the creation and naming of the Parish of Tambaroora, covering an area from Dirt Hole Creek in the north down to the Macquarie River in the south, with a width of approximately five miles. The parish area covers only a portion of the original Tambaroura. Two other Parishes had portions of their land within the Tambaroura, the Parish of Cummings in the north west and the Parish of Carroll in the south east.

Up until Jul 1870 only five batteries existed on the Goldfield, the Victoria in Foremans Gully on Engine Rd which was built on the subscriptions of the community in 1860 with the guidance of the Police Magistrate Joseph Cox, it is interesting to note that Engine Rd formed part of the original Rd from the township of Tambaroora and Dirt Holes Creeks to Bald Hills, the other batteries were the Excelsior at Newmans Gully, the Rose of England at Dirt Holes, the Little Wonder on the Lower Turon and the Root-Hog Mills at Root Hog on the Macquarie river. Crushings from the Batteries

8^th Feburary 1870 saw the creation of the Hill End and Tambaroora Temporary Common for the usage of the residents.

Random notes from the 8 Aug 1870 gave detail of a Tambaroora of 1870.

With the increase in miners the population started to spread out, A Reporter on one of his journeys to the Goldfield filed this report on the "The Bald Hills" and its rapid expansion, it was this expansion that was partially responsible for many of the discoveries of gold in matrix laying on the ground in proximity to exposed quartz reefs. This led to a move from alluvial mining to reef mining in the late 1860's, discoveries made up to twenty years previous which had remained concealed were now being rediscovered, eventually this form of gold acquisition extended to cover a far larger area, the mining of the reefs around the Root Hog and Chambers Creek and the Lower Turon in the area where the Turon River meets the Macquarie River, up over Hawkins Hill, under and to the west of Hill End and continued north along and to the west of Golden Gully all the way thru Tambaroora Proper across Tambaroora Creek and under Red Hill to Dirt Holes. Some of these reefs had been discovered many years previous but due to government intervention any mining activity was restricted. A frenzy of speculation followed with many gold leases applied for and surveyed in anticipation of a greater wealth being found. Tambaroora shared in the reef mining frenzy, many companies took up leases along the reefs, Whites Line and the Rose of Denmark Line are two of the longest lines in the Goldfield. The numerous reefs along the western side of Golden Gully saw many companies created and occupying leases all the way to Red Hill, Tambaroora. But this frenzy did not live up to expectations, the land was virtually depleted of the hidden wealth within a few years, the village of Hill End which took only two years to build was within another two years being emptied of those who created it. The Mining Warden for the area in 1878 commented in one of his reports of the exodus of the occupants of the area en masse.

A gradual change in geographical identification can be seen in the prospectus's issued for the numerous companies being established from 1871 to 1872. The early advertising for potential shareholders listed a great many of the locations for the mining companies as being either in Tambaroora or Hawkins Hill Tambaroora, Hill End Tambaroora, Golden Gully Tambaroora, Red Hill Tambaroora or Dirt Hole Creek Tambaroora, even Green Valley had been referred to as being under the umbrella of the Tambaroura. In pursuance of all things factual and if one wished to be pedantic, it could be said that the famous Holtermann Specimen was found at Hawkins Hill Tambaroora and not Hill End as the history books would have us believe. Hawkins Hill was not within the village boundary of Hill End, nor did Hill End share its village name as a proclaimed Goldfield or district as did Tambaroora.

Many prospectus' advertised in the early onslaught of Hawkins Hill in 1871 noted the companies locations as being Hawkins Hill Tambaroora or Hawkins Hill, Hill End, Tambaroora.

This gradually changed with promoters of shares promoting the inclusion of "Hill End" in prospectus's being issued, until "Tambaroora" was omitted altogether. In 1876 the Mining Warden for the District in a report referred to the district as being the Tambaroora and Turon Goldfield, Hill End had had its day.

Both names became less significant as the small village of Hill End became a share holders dream due only to the incredible amount of gold in matrix lying latent and being rediscovered at Hawkins Hill, which by the way was not part of Hill End, up until 1871/72 it was referred to as being Hawkins Mount, Hawkins Spur and finally as Hawkins Hill, Tambaroora. Tambaroura/Tambaroora were well known for twenty years previous for its incredible alluvial and limited gold in matrix discoveries, as opposed to Hill End, previously known as Bald Hill from the early 1850s and its alluvial gold deposits. Unknown to many, gold in matrix had been found in the early 1850s at Hawkins Spur/Mount, but laid dormant until promoters were convinced that the economics would produce profit.

History does not make money, and with so many thinking that Tambaroura/Tambaroora had reached its pinnacle promoters realised a new more highly profitable return would be made if the focus moved from Tambaroura/Tambaroora to a less known location, the village of Hill End having only limited exposure in the past would make an appearance as a new Goldfield to potential investors and seemed to be the appropriate choice. The incentive to contribute towards shares in the rapidly expanding companies would have been irresistible...little did they know the villages rise to importance by 1872 would see it matched by its downfall starting from 1874. The newly appointed Mining Warden for the Tambaroora and Turon River Mining District in 1874 noted the rapid decline in mining operations.
Money and Shares have no friends! Both mining and commercial interests left in droves, machinery was quickly removed and relocated to new goldfields throughout the State.

It is akin to a cycle, Tambaroura/Tambaroora was the focus of attention for all things gold in the period 1850's to late 1860's, the emergence of the matrix in gold on Hawkins Hill saw a game changer and the focus moved to Hill End. It must also be remembered in the period of first discovery in the early 1850's the rapid building expansion used materials available locally, in the early development of the township of Tambaroora only a few buildings were constructed of either brick or stone, the later development of Hill End in the early 1870's saw immense changes already made in building construction, technology had eased the burden of construction and saw a rise in trades who specialised in construction, Hill End managed to ride this wave of development and was lucky many buildings were constructed of materials that were of a more permanent nature. Those that stood the test of time survived, a great many were not so lucky and as the world grew so did Occupational Health and Safety, many had to be demolished circa the late 1960's early 1970's when National Parks and Wildlife Services took on responsibility for the first Heritage listed village in Australia. Tambaroora was not so lucky and for some unknown reason the remnants of those buildings that did survive in the township were dozed into obscurity, well almost, the demolished materials are still to be seen to the keen eye.

1874 saw the introduction of the new Mining Act "An Act to make better provision for the regulation of Mining" and was to be cited as the Mining Act 1874. The three divisional Goldfields, North, West and South were abolished and replaced with Districts. In the case of the Tambaroora Goldfield it became the The Tambaroora and Turon Mining District

Many revivals followed, the economic depression of the 1890s had a severe impact on the country and the world, many of those feeling the hardship made their way back to the fields to try their luck.

With the technological advancements made to the mining industry large scale hydraulic sluicing became another method to extract gold from the old alluvial fields. The first to attempt this method on the Tambaroora Goldfield was the Golden Gully and Tambaroora Sluicing Company in 1911. Part of their operation was to construct a 500 foot earthen wall dam across Golden Gully to hold approximately 12,000,000 gallons of water for the sluicing operation, remnants of the wall still remain. Their lease covered most of the Golden Gully west of the township. This was followed by Oriomo Pty Ltd in the 1930s with the construction of a concrete dam with all the associated mining machinery on Tambaroora Creek approximately 1 mile (1.8kms) to the west of the town, to be used to hydraulically sluice alluvium from the Creek at the base of Red Hill which sadly included the destruction of the site of Chinatown. Other operations continued on a smaller scale up to the 1960's.

Mining operations of some sort have never ceased, ongoing operations have continued to the present day at various scales with many mining tenements, gold leases and exploratory licences being issued.

Eventually the spelling of the name Tambaroura changed possibly coming about more from misinterpreting the letter "u" for an "o" as both names appeared with both spellings until the name "Tambaroura" faded away... until NOW !

If no Menu above click HERE
Data was last added to this page on the
09 December 2025