| Gold mementos make a welcome return |
| By Anthony Radford
Welcome Stranger
A SMALL but significant part of central Victoria’s history made a welcome return to the region at Easter.
On February 5, 1869, John Deason and Richard Oates discovered the largest gold nugget ever found in the world, the Welcome Stranger, at Moliagal, near Dunnolly.
Within days of discovery, the nugget was melted down and most of it was shipped off to England.
However, John Deason gave each of his children a small piece of the nugget, for them to do with it as they wanted.
Alice Deason made her piece into a gold brooch, which is still owned and worn by a descendant in Bendigo today.
Deason’s son, John E Deason, followed gold fever to Kalgoorlie in the 1890s, where he stayed and started a family of his own.
Family friend Greg Campbell came across relatives of John E Deason during a recent trip to Perth.
Deason junior only had two children, and neither of them had children, however Mr Campbell managed to track down some relations of the family during a recent visit to Perth.
“In the late 1800s, early 1900s, John E Deason turned the gold into the little mining emblems on the top of some spoons,” he said.
“The spoons have been around the world in exhibitions.”
Mr Campbell borrowed them and brought them back to Bendigo, and on Sunday night presented them to some of the remaining Deason family.
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