Marlborough Museum Collection of Gold Mining Objects and Photographs
Shovel

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Record 25/33
Copyright Marlborough Museum - Marlborough Historical Society Inc
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Collection Reid
Description One gold miner's shovel. It is a small, wooden handled shovel with a metal digging end. Shovel is diagonally across the bottom of the inside of the railway trolley in image 1.

Found with the 1997 gold mining display.

A label from the 1997 gold mining display, source, date of writing and author unknown, is as follows: "Panning. Away from the riverbed gold was also found in the rocky banks and at the base of the terrace gravels that lined much of the river. This gold was more difficult to get and most miners confined themselves to the riverbed where they initially used short handled shovels and pans.

"The most favoured sites were the bars of rock and gravel that separated the deep pools in the river. The rock bars with their cracks and crevices acted like ripples in a sluice box, trapping the gold which was easily recovered, even by those who were inexperienced in using a tin dish. Those without a dish could get worthwhile gold out of the crevices using nothing more than a stout knife, a technique known as fossicking."

Object ID 1996.090.0013
Object Name Shovel
Other # G1996/86/#5
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Last modified on: December 19, 2014