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The Welcome Stranger is the biggest alluvial gold nugget found, which had a calculated refined weight of 3,123 oz 6 dwts 9 gr〔Potter, Terry F. (1999) ''The Welcome Stranger: a definitive account of the worlds largest alluvial gold nugget''. ISBN 0-646-38709-X〕 (71.018 kg). It measured and was discovered by Cornish prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates on 5 February 1869 at Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, about 9 miles (14.6 kilometres) north-west of Dunolly. ==The discovery== Found only 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 , the trimmed weight was , and net it weighed .〔 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 Walls.〔http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174572918?searchTerm=%22Robert%20Walls%20of%20dunolly%22&searchLimits=exactPhrase=Robert+Walls+of+dunolly|||anyWords|||notWords|||requestHandler|||dateFrom=1887-12-01|||dateTo=1887-12-01|||sortby〕 Deason, Oates and a few friends took the nugget to the London Chartered Bank of Australia, in Dunolly, which advanced them £9,000. Deason and Oates were finally paid an estimated £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 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 kg) of smelted gold had been obtained from it,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Report to the Mines Minister by Francis Knox Orme, February 12th 1869 )〕 irrespective of scraps that were given away by the finders, estimated as totalling another 47 ounces 7 dwt. 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. 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.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mr John Deason )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Welcome Stranger」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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