Bernhardt Otto Holtermann (28 April 1835, Hamburg, Germany - 28 April 1885, Sydney, Australia[1]) was a successful gold miner, businessman, and politician in Australia. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame is his association with the Holtermann Nugget, the largest specimen of gold ever found, 1.5 meters (59 inches) long, weighing 286 kg (630 pounds),[2] and with an estimated gold content of 5000 ounces (57 kg).[3] A larger find was made by the same men, but was broken up before being brought to the surface.
Holtermann emigrated in 1858 to avoid military service.[2] He departed Liverpool aboard the ship Salem and reached Australia in August. After working at a variety of jobs, he teamed up with Polish miner Ludwig Hugo Louis Beyers. They began prospecting around Hill End, New South Wales. Years of unrewarding labour followed. On 22 February 1868, Holtermann married Harriett Emmett, while Beyers married her sister Mary.
Finally, things began looking up in 1871. The Star of Hope Gold Mining Company, in which he and Beyers were among the partners, struck rich veins of gold. Then, on 19 October 1872, the Holtermann Nugget was discovered. It was not strictly speaking a nugget, but rather a specimen or matrix (a vein of gold embedded in rock, in this case quartz)[3], nor was Holtermann the sole finder, but the name stuck.
He built a magnificent mansion in St Leonards, a suburb of Sydney, complete with a stained glass window depicting himself and the nugget. He invested wisely and kept his wealth, allowing him to take up his true passion, photography.[4]
Holtermann financed and possibly participated in Beaufoy Merlin's project to photograph New South Wales and exhibit the results abroad to encourage immigration. The work was taken up after Merlin's death in 1873 by his assistant, Charles Bayliss. In 1875, Holtermann and Bayliss produced the Holtermann panorama, a series of "23 albumen silver photographs which join together to form a continuous 978-centimetre view of Sydney Harbour and its suburbs."[5] Some of the photographs, including the panorama, were displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, where they won a bronze medal.[5] The panorama was also displayed at the 1877 Exposition Universelle Internationale in Paris.[5]
In 1882, on his third try, Holtermann was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for St Leonards.
He died on his 50th birthday in 1885, leaving a wife, three sons, and two daughters.[2]