Although gold was found at Mitchell’s Creek in the 1850s no real attempt was made to mine the quartz ridges. Alluvial gold was much sought after because it required little equipment to find it.

The Mitchell’s Creek Mining Co erected crushing machines and mined from 1869 to 1879 and then sold to Gordon & Reynolds who mined until 1880. 

The Kaiser Company (1877) mined gold and copper in the same locality and was later sold to James Dick of Glasgow.

Alluvial and reef mining in the Ironbarks area from 1875 to 1914 saw some 140,000 ounces of gold won from the area with a present day value in the millions of dollars. Ironbarks was renamed Stuart Town in the 1880s when the Stuart Government was in office.

By 1896 the mines prospered and quite a large township, Davisville – later known as Bodangora – had sprung up. By 1902 the town’s population was 820. 

Various dredging companies operated along the Macquarie River which proved very profitable before ceasing in 1958 during the war years.

By this time 2.5 million pound of gold had been won from the river.

- Courtesy of Wellington Historical Society