On the discovery of gold by Paddy Hannan, the word spread like wild fire. In a few days 400 people had descended on the area. Over the next few weeks there were over 2000 people. A tent city sprung up around the site. This picture commemorates that tent city. Looking at this picture I imagine the ghosts of all those miners, harboring feelings of hope and redemption. Even a small nugget could suffice to bring great wealth and exalt them into the stratosphere of the denizens of influence and privilege in society. There was obviously the greed and the competitiveness that must have pervaded. It must have been a highly surreal environment to live in. Like a kind of Las Vegas where you could suddenly strike it lucky.
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