I've actually been to Ballarat..and visited a mine.
My great great granddad was in that area in the early 1850s looking for gold
along with 1000s of others
:)
I found that he sailed out of New York City to Melbourne...
He didnt do too good in Aussie so he moved on NZ...
again the goldfields were srowded...
he got little gold..
but he found himself a wife...
]
so he found a good thing after all...
:)
Except for the way he traveled and got there his history and travels are written in the flyleaves of his family Bible...