Arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, Hargraves tried to induce old friends and acquaintances to put up funds for him to make an expedition into the “back-blocks” to discover a goldfield. He pointed out that he had just come from California and was an expert at both discovering and washing gold. His friends refused to put their money into such a wild speculation. Nothing daunted, he invested the few dollars that represented all his capital in a saddle horse. He then rode across the Blue Mountains, through Bathurst, to Guyong, where he picked up a native guide and plunged into the wilderness. About fifteen miles from the settlement, at a point on Lewis Pond’s Creek, a tributary of the McQuarie River, the two men prepared their first meal. Having eaten, Hargraves, probably regretting that he had no larger audience, informed the native of the object of their expedition. The eyes of the “blackfellow” bulged with excitement. This slight encouragement was sufficient to cause Hargraves to get to his feet. “Right where we are now resting is a goldfield,” he announced. “It is all about us. I will prove it to you.” He took a dishpan and washed a pan of dirt. It showed a few grains of gold! In all he washed five pans in rapid succession and four of them showed colors. Later he admitted that his talk had been bluff; he had only hoped that gold was there! A few weeks later, Hargraves walked into the office of the Honorable Deas-Thompson, Colonial Secretary, at Sydney, and opened a mysterious paper package. The official was in a cheerful frame of mind. He listened to his visitor with patience and good humor. “By Jove, my man, it is gold!” he finally exclaimed, adjusting his eyeglasses. “I believe your story. I will have it investigated.” * * * * * Hargraves’ dramatic discovery was not the first time gold had been talked of in Australia. Nearly thirty years before, one of the convicts at Botany Bay showed a specimen of gold-splashed quartz he claimed he had found. When asked to show the place of discovery, he was unable to find it again and was awarded one hundred and fifty lashes for his “deception.” A few years later a gang of convicts building a road through the Blue Mountains found a number of gold specimens, but the news was promptly suppressed because it was feared that the convicts would get out of hand. In 1841, ten years before Hargraves returned from California, a bushman named Adam Forres found a good size nugget and showed it to W. B. Clarke, a geologist. Clarke took it to Governor Gipps, who dismissed the matter by saying, “Put it away, Mr. Clarke, put it away, or we shall all have our throats cut.” Clarke thereupon advised his friends, who were excited about the find, that he would not make it public as he feared it might lead to the “utter disorganization of society.” The investigation of Hargraves’ discovery promised by Secretary Deas-Thompson took place. Again the official mind was stubborn!