In February 1869, two gold miners named John Deason and Richard Oates were digging in the roots of a tree near the village of Moliagul in Australia. About an inch under the soil, their pick struck something hard. They had found the Welcome Stranger, the biggest gold nugget ever discovered.
It was a single chunk of nearly pure gold weighing about 158 pounds. That’s heavier than most ten-year-olds. It was so large that no scale in town could measure it, so the men carried it to the local blacksmith. The blacksmith had to chip it into chunks on his anvil just so it could be weighed.
The Welcome Stranger made the miners rich for life. In today’s money the nugget would be worth millions of dollars. Sadly, no piece of the original survives - every bit was melted down and sold. But the spot where it was found is now marked, in case anyone fancies digging up another tree root.
