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The Gold Rush - In the 1800s, it was discovered that locations all over Australia had large gold deposits, starting the Gold Rush - all those who wanted a piece of gold and even a piece of history.

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New South Wales - The most popular and successful locations for gold prospectors were Gulgong, Hill End and Bathurst. As well as Queenstown in Tasmania.

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Victoria -

Victoria was also known for its gold prosperity, especially in Ballarat, Beechworth and Bendigo. Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, known for its big discoveries, still functions as a Gold Rush town.

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Queensland -

Canoona, Charters Towers and Gympies are areas throughout Queensland that were very successful with finding gold, dust and nuggets.

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Western Australia - Western Australia was a big part of the Gold Rush because the amount of space there was to cover. Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie and Halls Creek were all hot spots for gold.

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The Evening Star - One of the more recent large gold nuggets found was the 1992 nugget, The Evening Star discovered in Kargoorlie, WA.

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Weight - It weighed 502 troy ounces and was auctioned off as a fully intact nugget.

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The Normandy Nugget - Three years later, The Normandy Nugget was also found in Kargoorlie during 1995.

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Intact - It currently resides at the Perth Mint, and is the second largest intact nugget in the world. It is the 26th largest gold nugget found in history.

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The Golden Eagle -

Named after its winged shape, the Golden Eagle was found in Larkinville, near Widgiemooltha, WA, during 1931.

(Photo: Flickr/CC by 2.0)

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Rags to riches - Larcombe, the man who found it, was supposedly so poor he was almost starving. After finding the precious metal that weighed 1,135 ounces, he received an offer of £6,000 from a buyer.

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The Hand of Faith - In 1980, The Hand of Faith was found only 12 inches below the surface, resting vertically, near Victoria's Kingower.

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Metal detector - It is the largest gold nugget ever found by a metal detector, thanks to finder Kevin Hillier.

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What makes these Australian nuggets so special? -

At a hefty 875 troy ounces, this nugget is still completely intact, sold to the Golden Nugget Casino Chain for over $1 million dollars.

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Canadian Gully Nuggets - Ballarat's Canadian Gully had its fair run of large finds. In the span of a week, three separate gold nuggets were discovered in the area.

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Geelong Advertiser - "Canadian Gully appears to be as rich in lumps as other fields are in dust," observed the Geelong Advertiser.

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I got nuggets - The first nugget weighed in at 61 kg. Followed days after by two more lumps of gold weighing around 40 and 42 kg.

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Lady Hotham Nugget - In 1954, when Sir Charles Hotham was visiting, the discovery of a nugget weighing over 44 kg. The gold nugget was named in honour of his wife.

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The Welcome Nugget -

Not to be confused with the even bigger Welcome Stranger, The Welcome Nugget was found during June, 1858, at Bakery Hill, Ballarat. It weighed 2,217 troy ounces but was smelted down in London the year later.

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The Welcome Stranger -

The world's biggest solid nugget ever found was the Welcome Stranger. It weighed 3,123 ounces, far surpassing any other nugget discovered in history.

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Prospectors - It was discovered by prospectors John Deason and Richard Oates on February 5, 1869, in Victoria's Moliagul.

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Beyers and Holtermann -

The world's absolute largest single mass of gold ever found came from the Star of Hope Mine at Hawkins Hill, NSW, in 1872.

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Lump -

Although not a solid nugget, the mass is called a matrix, this particular lump contained around 3000 ounces of gold.

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