Discovery of Welcome Stranger Nugget

Date: February 5, 1869 • Location: Central Goldfields, Australia

Prospectors in Moliagul, Australia, discovered the largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the Welcome Stranger.

Moliagul is a locality in the Shire of Central Goldfields and Shire of Loddon, Victoria, Australia, located 202 kilometres (126 mi) northwest of Melbourne and 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Bendigo. The area is notable for the discovery of a number of gold nuggets. These finds include the world's largest, the Welcome Stranger, which was discovered in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates. At the 2021 census, Moliagul had a population of 80.