Bayley`s ObeliskPrint Page

The obelisk is a concrete post and plaque marking the spot where Arthur Bayley discovered gold in 1892. The headframe, of which only the base remains, was part of the workings of Bayley's Reward Claim Reef. The obelisk was erected in 1942 on the fiftieth anniversary of the gold discovery.

In 1892 William Ford and Arthur Bayley left for an area near Southern Cross and then towards Mount Burges. They returned to the Cross for provisions in June 1892 and set out once more to the east. Three months later, on 17 September, 1892, Bayley returned with about 554 ounces of gold. The discovery soon sparked another rush to the east. What had occurred at Coolgardie between the arrival of Bayley and Ford, and Bayley`s return to Southern Cross became the subject of much dispute. Of the fact of their discovery of gold in the area, there is little doubt. Although they reported evidence of earlier pegging to the south of the Fly Flat area, it is almost certain that no one found gold near to Coolgardie before Bayley and Ford.

However, their first discovery was not the reef gold that was to make their fortune later. Before their return to Southern Cross in June, Bayley and Ford collected around 200 ounces of gold in a period of about five or six weeks by specking and dry blowing. According to Bayley, it was Ford who picked up the first nugget early in their time at a place he called Fly Flat. Bayley and Ford did not report this find when they went to Southern Cross for supplies for it appears that they were keen to secure as much gold as possible before knowledge of the discovery inevitably became public.

Warden Lambden Owen as representative of the WA Historical Society, together with the President of the Legislative Council (Sir John Kirwan) and Mr Lionel P. Kelly, MLA, left Perth yesterday for Coolgardie to attend the ceremony tomorrow afternoon to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Bayley's Reward reef. On the site of the discovery a memorial, suitably inscribed, has been just completed by the proprietors of the Phoenix Gold mine (formerly Bayley's Reward GM).
The West Australian (Perth), 19th September 1942.

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