Diggings

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The Diggings was a colloquial term used to describe the gold rush locations in Australia during the 1850s. Gold miners - the diggers - would describe their journey 'to the diggings' and say they were 'at (or on) the diggings'. Because of the speed at which a 'rush' to a particular location might occur, or at which it might be abandoned at news of another rush, the term 'diggings' tended to apply to general areas.

In Victoria, some of the major diggings were Ballarat, Bendigo (Sandhurst), Mount Alexander or Forest Creek, Ovens Valley and Omeo.

As surface gold diminished and mining companies replaced individual diggers, the term 'diggings' dropped out of use.