<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prospecting enthusiasts return to Golden Triangle in bid to find big gold nuggets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SYD Pearson remembers the exact moment he struck it lucky in Victoria\u2019s sprawling gold fields. Pacing across a little patch of earth out the back of Dunolly last December, the 68-year-old heard the hum set off by his metal detector then the distinctive \u201cclunk\u2019\u2019 as he chipped into the soil with his pick axe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He knew what it was. Hands already shaking, the garbage man from Maryborough brushed away the dirt to discover a 4.3kg gold nugget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI lit a ciggie and made a cup of tea but I didn\u2019t have to bloody stir it,\u2019\u2019 Mr Pearson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Aussie battler had hit the jackpot. He didn\u2019t know it yet but the rock in his hands would be worth almost $300,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He placed it in his toolbox and drove home, presenting it to his wife and naming it in her honour. The Lady Catherine is now lodged in Victoria\u2019s prospecting history books, part of the rich tapestry of the state\u2019s contemporary gold rush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Framed by the towns of Avoca, Castlemaine and Wedderburn, thousands of enthusiasts are returning to the \u201cGolden Triangle\u2019\u2019 in a bid to strike it rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At around 96 per cent, the gold pulled from the soil here is considered the purest in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prospectors need only a $22 permit to legally claim it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prospectors and Miners Association of Victoria president Olly Oleszek said Mr Pearson\u2019s nugget was one of two discovered in the last six months and among the largest recorded finds in the last decade. But he said even larger rocks certainly remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe harder you work, the luckier you get,\u2019\u2019 Mr Oleszek said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 72kg, the \u201cWelcome Stranger\u2019\u2019, discovered in 1869, is still the largest nugget ever discovered in Australia\u2019s history. Today, it would be worth almost $4 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Pearson and his business partner Jason have been turning the soil for decades and said 166 years since the first rush began, they didn\u2019t mind continuing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like fishing,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cYou\u2019re always after another big one.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lady Catherine was sold to a private buyer in the US but not before Mr Pearson had two replicas created \u2014 one as a keepsake, the other for inclusion in the record of nuggets at the Melbourne Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just the value of it,\u2019\u2019 Mr Pearson said. \u201cI\u2019ve achieved something I spent 37 years trying to do. I always dreamt of finding the big one. I was persistent and never gave up.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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