Category:Welcome Stranger

English: The "Welcome Stranger" was the name given to the largest alluvial gold nugget found in the world, with a calculated refined weight of 2,283 oz 6dwts 9 gr. It measured 61 cm (24 inches) by 31 cm (12.2 inches), and was discovered by John Deason and Richard Oates, both Cornish, at Moliagul, Australia on 5 February 1869 about 9 miles north-west of Dunolly. Found only 2 inches (7.5 centimetres) below the surface, near a root of a tree on a slope leading to what was then known as Bulldog Gully. Its gross weight was 3523.5 troy ounces, the trimmed weight was 2520 troy ounces, and net it weighed 2315.5 troy ounces or 72.02 kg. The goldfields warden F. K. Orme reported 2268 ounces 10 dwt 14 grains (70.5591 kg) of smelted gold obtained from it (97.9% of the total weight), irrespective of scraps that were given away by the finders, estimated as totalling another 47 ounces 7 dwt.