Arthur Bayley was a gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 prospector

Prospecting

Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...

 who discovered gold at Fly Flat, Western Australia on 17 September 1892, around which the town of Coolgardie

Coolgardie, Western Australia

Coolgardie is a small town in the Australian state of Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 800 people....

 grew.

Early life

Bayley was born in Newbridge, Victoria

Newbridge, Victoria

Newbridge is a town in central Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Loddon River and in the Shire of Loddon Local Government Area, north of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Newbridge had a population of 476....

, son of John Bayley, a butcher, and his wife Rosanna.
When only 16 years of age he went to North Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 and did prospecting and mining work at Charters Towers, Hughenden, Normanton, Croydon and Palmer. He then went to Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 and landed at Fremantle

Fremantle, Western Australia

Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...

 with about thirty shillings in his pocket.

Prospecting in Western Australia

Bayley walked to Southern Cross

Southern Cross, Western Australia

Southern Cross is a town in Western Australia, 371 kilometres east of Perth on the Great Eastern Highway. It was founded by gold prospectors in 1888, and gazetted in 1890. It is the major town and administrative centre of the Shire of Yilgarn...

, and while working there a few months later heard that gold had been discovered about 130 miles (209.2 km) to the east. Bayley kept this in mind and determined some day to prospect this country himself. In January 1889 he went to the Nullagine diggings and Roebourne in the north-west. He had some success, and after returning to Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 worked again at Southern Cross. Hearing that gold had been found on the Ashburton he again returned to Perth, made to the north and found good gold at Ford's Creek. While prospecting the Murchison River

Murchison River (Western Australia)

The Murchison River is the second longest river in Western Australia. It flows for about from the southern edge of the Robinson Ranges to the Indian Ocean at Kalbarri. It has a mean annual flow of about 200 million cubic metres.-Course:...

 he found Bayley's Island in Lake Austin which also yielded good returns. He became associated with William Ford whom he had known in Queensland, who had heard of gold having been found to the east of Southern Cross, and in June 1892 the two men with five horses set out to find it. Soon after reaching the site of Coolgardie they found a nugget, and within a few days had picked up about 80 ounces of gold. More rich alluvial gold was found and the two men were then compelled to return to Southern Cross for supplies. On returning to the field a quartz outcrop with gold in it was found, which became the famous Bayley's Reward mine. The two men returned to Southern Cross with 554 ounces of gold (worth £2200 at the time — a sizable sum), which they showed to the warden J.M. Finnerty, on 17 September 1892. A reward lease of 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) was granted to them, and on 20 September 1892 the Coolgardie field was declared open. There was a tremendous rush to the field from Southern Cross, much gold was found, and in a few years Coolgardie was a thriving town. Bayley's reward claim proved to be a very profitable one indeed, and was continually worked until 1963. During the 70 years of its existence this mining claim recovered over 500,000 ounces of gold.

Late life

Bayley and Ford sold their claim to a company for £6000 and a sixth interest and Bayley, having returned to Victoria, took up land near Avenel, and lived in prosperous circumstances. Though a strong athletic man he fell into ill health, possibly on account of privations he had suffered while a prospector, and died at Avenel of congestion of the lungs on 29 October 1896. He left a widow but no children.

External links

• Pat Simpson, 'Bayley, Arthur Wellesley (1865 - 1896)', Australian Dictionary of Biography
  Australian Dictionary of Biography
  The Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....
  
  , Volume 7, MUP, 1979, pp 220-221.