Gold Escort
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
File:Painting of Gold Escort.jpg
Gold Escorts were common across Australian goldfields, transporting mined and processed material from mines to banks and mints across the country.
They were important in safely transporting gold, and were in most cases carried out by police assisted units.{{Citation | author1=Blake, L. J. (Leslie James) | title=Gold escorts in Australia | date=1978 | publisher=Rigby | isbn=978-0-7270-0496-3 }}{{Citation | author1=Parker, Heather | author2=Ellis, Colin, (illus.) | author3=Tatiara (S.A.). Council | title=All in the line of duty : danger and drudgery on the gold escort route Adelaide - Mount Alexander, 1852-53 | date=1971 | publisher=[District Council of Tatiara] | isbn=978-0-9598647-0-0 }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88088235 |title=GOLD ESCORT. |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |volume=III |issue=817 |location=Western Australia |date=19 July 1898 |access-date=15 July 2018 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108533681 |title=GOLD ESCORT. |newspaper=The Wyalong Advocate and Mining, Agricultural and Pastoral Gazette |volume=2 |issue=82 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=9 April 1904 |access-date=15 July 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223650990 |title=GOLD ESCORT. |newspaper=New South Wales Government Gazette |issue=183 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 June 1876 |access-date=15 July 2018 |page=2195 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Victoria
During the Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850s, a special armed detachment from South Australia provided a 'Gold Escort' for the secure transportation of gold overland from the western Victorian gold fields to Adelaide. The first gold escort led by Alexander Tolmer (a 'colourful' character who later became the South Australian Police Commissioner{{cite web |url=https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+6851 |title=Alexander Tolmer |author= |date=2018 |website=collections.slsa.sa.gov.au |publisher=Government of South Australia |access-date=13 July 2018 }}
) departed Victoria on 5 March 1852 carrying {{convert|5,199|oz|kg|-1}} of gold and arrived in Adelaide two weeks later.{{cite book |last=Blake |first=L.J. |date=1971 |title=Gold Escort |location=Melbourne |publisher=Hawthorn Press |page=212 }} Eventually, eighteen trips were made between 1852 and 1853 transporting {{convert|328,502|oz|kg|-1}} of gold. The Victorian-goldfields to Adelaide route was notable for the distance and amount of gold carried, almost a quarter of all gold, {{convert|1,520,578 |oz|kg|-1}}, transported within Victoria during the gold rush (1851-1865).{{cite book |last=Blake |first=L.J. |date=1971 |title=Gold Escort |location=Melbourne |publisher=Hawthorn Press |page=214 }}
The Gold Escort route started in the Bendigo area and then went west across the Pyrenees to the small settlement of Horsham. From Horsham, the route passed north-west through the Little Desert region into South Australian territory and then ran roughly parallel with the coast to Adelaide.{{cite book |last=Blake |first=L.J. |date=1971 |title=Gold Escort |location=Melbourne |publisher=Hawthorn Press |pages=66–80 }}
New South Wales
Gold escorts were targets of bushrangers.
On Sunday, 15 June 1862, a group of bushrangers, led by Frank Gardiner ambushed the gold escort near Eugowra, 23 miles east of Forbes, and robbed the coach of gold and bank-notes of an estimated value of £14,000.
The bushranger Ben Hall and his gang made a surprise attack on the Araluen gold escort on 13 March 1865, as it travelled up the old mountain road, just outside Majors Creek. Although one constable was seriously wounded, the police escorting the gold resisted, and the bushrangers fled empty-handed.{{Cite news |date=1865-03-18 |title=ATTEMPTED ROBBERY OF THE ARALUEN ESCORT |pages=2 |work=Goulburn Herald and Chronicle (NSW : 1864 - 1881) |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100826890 |access-date=2021-06-01}}{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Peter |date=2018-03-13 |title=Attack fails to steal gold |url=https://www.braidwoodtimes.com.au/story/5280581/attack-fails-to-steal-gold/ |access-date=2021-06-01 |website=Braidwood Times |language=en-AU}} The wagonette that was carrying the gold is preserved in the Braidwood Museum.{{Cite web |title=The Braidwood Gold Escort Carriage |url=http://www.braidwoodmuseum.org.au/gold%20escort.html |access-date=2021-06-03 |website=www.braidwoodmuseum.org.au}}