Tarnagulla

File:Tarnagulla Poverty Mine Monument.JPG

File:Tarnagulla Main Street.JPG

European settlement in the area began with the taking up of Tarnagulla station in the 1840s.{{cite news | url = http://www.smh.com.au/news/Victoria/Tarnagulla/2005/02/17/1108500207452.html | title = Tarnagulla | department = Travel | work = The Sydney Morning Herald | accessdate = 2007-07-04 | date=8 February 2004}} Gold was first found in the area in 1852 by prospectors on their way to the Korong goldfields near Wedderburn. The discovery led to a gold rush, as more than 5,000 miners made their way to the diggings.{{cite web | last = Patman | first = B.P. | year = 1931 | url = http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/articles/history1.html | title = Back to Tarnagulla - Early history | accessdate = 2007-07-04}} The settlement created by these miners was at first known as Sandy Creek and was renamed Tarnagulla, after the station in 1860. Reflecting this, the Post Office opened on 13 August 1856 as Sandy Creek and was renamed Tarnagulla on 2 January 1861.{{Cite web | last = Phoenix Auctions History | title = Post Office List | url = http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Tarnagulla* | access-date = 19 February 2021 }}

Tarnagulla is phonetic meaning of Polish Czarnogóra{{Cite journal|url = http://www.sbc.org.pl/dlibra/plain-content?id=4756|title = Nazwy geograficzne polskiego pochodzenia na kuli ziemskiej (eng. Polish origin geographical names on the Earth)|date = Spring 1929|journal = Polski Przegląd Kartograficzny (eng. Polish Cartographical Reviev (Quarterly)}} (eng. Black Mountain - Montenegro). Name was given by Polish explorer and geologist Paweł Strzelecki.

The first miners in the area were prospectors from South Australia followed by many more from other diggings and from around the world. A canvas town grew up quickly to service the needs of the miners. In 1853, the first gold nuggets were found near Tarnagulla at Nuggetty Gully with one pair of miners finding 86 lb (39 kg){{dubious|date=March 2010|reason=likely 86 lb t = 32 kg; if this is correct, replace 86 avoirdupois pounds with 1250 troy ounces or 104½ lb troy}} of gold in a fourteen-day period. Many other large nuggets including one weighing 32 lb (14.5 kg){{dubious|date=March 2010|reason=likely 32 lb t = 11.9 kg; if this is correct, replace 32 avoirdupois pounds with 470 troy ounces or 39 lb troy}} were found in the area.

From 1854, the focus of the miners turned to quartz mining with the discovery of the Poverty Reef. The reef was named by one of its discoverers, Mr. Hatt, in remembrance of Poverty Bay, New Zealand where he had been saved from drowning by a Māori woman. The Poverty lode was unusual in that the gold was found in large blocks of quartz. Allegedly the richest pocket of reef gold ever found, more than {{convert|13.5|t|ozt}} of gold was recovered from Poverty Reef in 13 months from an area 3 metres wide and 120 metres deep (10 ft by 400 ft).

The move to quartz mining led to Tarnagulla taking on a more settled appearance with brick and stone buildings replacing the earlier canvas structures. Local government was established in the area with the creation of the Borough of Tarnagulla in 1864. The borough was surveyed in 1864. By 1865, the town had reached its peak with a wide range of businesses operating including 4 hotels, 9 general stores, 3 surgeons, a share broker and watchmaker. In September of that year, the Tarnagulla court held its first sitting. Residents of the town included around 1,000 Chinese as well as groups of Greeks and Italians.

Later settlement focused on agriculture with sheep raising and wheat growing established in the area. A sawmill was established at nearby Bulla-bul Creek in 1863, and the railway from Dunolly reached Tarnagulla in 1888.{{cite web |url=http://www.vicsig.net/infrastructure/location/Tarnagulla |title=VICSIG - Infrastructure - Tarnagulla |publisher=vicsig.net |accessdate=2010-02-05}} New technology such as the use of cyanide allowed rework of some of the tailings of earlier mines. In 1906 the Poseidon nugget, weighing {{convert|26.6|kg|ozt}} was found at Tarnagulla. The nugget was named after the racehorse Poseidon, winner of the 1906 Melbourne Cup. {{cn|date=November 2023}} The nugget is one of the 30 largest gold discoveries in history.{{cite web |title=The world’s 30 largest gold discoveries |url=https://www.goldindustrygroup.com.au/news/2020/11/20/the-worlds-30-largest-gold-discoveries |website=Gold Industry Group |access-date=5 November 2023 |language=en-AU |date=20 November 2020}}

The development of agriculture continued with the establishment of a flour mill in 1873. The mill was operational until 1917 and in 1920 the mill was relocated to Mildura.{{cite web | last = Clark | first = Donald W. | url = http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/articles/flourmill.html | title = The Tarnagulla Flour Mill | accessdate = 2007-07-04}} Gas streetlighting was established in Tarnagulla in 1869 and operated until the arrival of electricity in the town in 1950.{{cite web | last = Clark

| first = Donald W. | url = http://home.vicnet.net.au/~tarnagul/articles/lighting.html | title = Street lighting of Tarnagulla and Newbridge. | accessdate = 2007-07-04}}

Tarnagulla Magistrates' Court closed on 8 June 1979.{{cite web | url=https://www.audit.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/19860901-Special-Report-4-Court-Closures-in-Victoria.pdf | title=Special Report No. 4 - Court Closures in Victoria | publisher=Auditor-General of Victoria | date=1986 |pages=20 | accessdate=12 April 2020}} The abandoned mining village of Llanelly is located 4 km to the north-east.

In 2000 the towns' disused but "magnificent" Wesleyan Methodist church was gutted by fire after ceasing to be a place of worship in the mid 1970s.{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Gavin |title=Exploring Australia's forgotten churches, and their weird and wonderful new uses |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-05/deconsecrated-churches-australia-what-happens-to-them/103043600 |access-date=5 November 2023 |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=5 November 2023 |language=en-AU}}

Today the major industries in Tarnagulla include agriculture, fruit growing and flax oil production.

Golfers play at the course of the Tarnagulla and District Golf Club on Gladstone Street.{{Cite web | author= Golf Select | title = Tarnagulla and District | url = http://www.golfselect.com.au/armchair/courseView.aspx?course_id=1105 | accessdate = 2009-05-11 | postscript= }}

Tarnagulla is near the box-ironbark forests of the Waanyarra Nature Conservation Reserve, the Waanyarra-Dunolly State Forest and the Tarnagulla State Forest.{{cite web |title=Nuggetty Gully |url=https://ccmaps.au/nuggetty_gully/nuggetty_gully.htm |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=Cartography Community Mapping}}

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• [http://tarnagulla.org/ Tarnagulla Community History page]

{{Towns in Loddon Shire}}

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Category:Towns in Victoria (state)

Category:Shire of Loddon

Category:Mining towns in Victoria (state)