Pearson William TewksburyPrint Page 
The plaque commemorates businessman Pearson William Tewksbury (1869 - 1953), director of the Ovens Valley Gold Dredging Company and owner of eleven dredges. The plaque is placed inside an original dredge bucket once used on one of Tewksbury's gold dredges.
While recuperating at Porepunkah, Victoria, from an eye problem that threatened his sight and his future, Tewksbury became interested in gold prospecting. Attracted by the idea of alluvial dredging as then practised in New Zealand, he took up 40 hectares (100 acres) at Bright and managed to form a syndicate to begin bucket-dredging. When the syndicate ran into critical difficulties, Tewksbury bought out its liabilities and its expensive dredge, and prospected with a New Zealand crew as director of the Ovens Valley Gold Dredging Co.
He then formed eight companies, known as the Tewksbury Group, employing dredges in the Bright district, Victoria, and at the Shoalhaven and the Araluen Valley, New South Wales. He also cannily kept control of all smelting and was reputed to have banked gold worth £1 million. He set up headquarters in the Equitable Buildings, Collins Street, Melbourne. In 1910 he bought the Oriental Hotel in Collins Street where he subsequently lived.
Location
| Address: | Martley Street, Porepunkah, 3740 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -36.697285 Long: 146.912531 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Plaque |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Industry |
| Monument Manufacturer: | Harrietville Historical Society |
| Link: | http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/adbonli… |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Sunday 17th April, 1966 |
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Pearson William Tewksbury O.B.E.
1869 - 1953 born at Yackandandah.
Erected by the Harrietville Historical Society on the site of the "Ovens Valley" dredge
The first of Pearson Tewksbury`s eleven dredges from which he won £1,000,000 worth of gold.
Unveiled 17-4-1966
