document_title: Rattlesnake

question_text: do rattlesnakes lay eggs or give birth to live young

text: Rattlesnake

text: Ecology

text: Range and habitat

text: Rattlesnakes are native to the Americas, living in diverse habitats from southwestern Canada to central Argentina. The large majority of species lives in the American Southwest and Mexico. Four species may be found east of the Mississippi River, and two in South America. In the United States, the states with the most types of rattlesnakes are Texas and Arizona.

text: Rattlesnakes are found in almost every type of habitat capable of supporting terrestrial ectothermic vertebrates, but individual species can have extremely specific habitat requirements, only able to live within certain plant associations in a narrow range of altitudes. Most species live near open, rocky areas. Rocks offer them cover from predators, plentiful prey (e.g. rodents, lizards, insects, etc. that live amidst the rocks), and open basking areas. However, rattlesnakes can also be found in a wide variety of other habitats including prairies, marshes, deserts, and forests.[6] Rattlesnakes prefer a temperature range between 80 and 90°F (26 and 32°C), but can survive temperatures below freezing, recovering from brief exposure to temperatures as low as 4°F (−16°C), and surviving for several days in temperatures as low as 37°F (3°C).[7]

text: The most probable ancestral area of rattlesnakes is the Sierra Madre Occidental region in Mexico. The most probable vegetation or habitat of the ancestral area appears to be pine-oak forests.[8] Feeding habits play an important ecological role by limiting the size of rodent populations, which prevents crop damage and stabilizes ecosystems.[9]

text: Prey

text: Rattlesnakes consume mice, rats, small birds, and other small animals.[10] They lie in wait for their prey, or hunt for it in holes.[11] The prey is killed quickly with a venomous bite as opposed to constriction. If the bitten prey moves away before dying, the rattlesnake can follow it by its scent.[12][13] When it locates the fallen prey, it checks for signs of life by prodding with its snout, flicking its tongue, and using its sense of smell. Once the prey has become incapacitated, the rattlesnake locates its head by odors emitted from the mouth. The prey is then ingested head-first, which allows wings and limbs to fold at the joints in a manner which minimizes the girth of the meal.[14] The gastric fluids of rattlesnakes are extremely powerful, allowing for the digestion of flesh, as well as bone. Optimal digestion occurs when the snake maintains a body temperature between 80 and 85 °F (25 and 29 °C). If the prey is small, the rattlesnake often continues hunting. If it was an adequate meal, the snake finds a warm, safe location in which to coil up and rest until the prey is digested.[15]

text: Rattlesnakes are believed to require at least their own body weight in water annually to remain hydrated. The method in which they drink depends on the water source. In larger bodies of water (streams, ponds, etc.), they  submerge their heads and ingest water by opening and closing their jaws, which sucks in water. If drinking dew, or drinking from small puddles, they sip the liquid either by capillary action or by flattening and flooding their lower jaws.[16]

text: Predators

text: Newborn rattlesnakes are heavily preyed upon by a variety of species, including ravens, crows, roadrunners, raccoons, opossums, skunks, coyotes, weasels, whipsnakes, kingsnakes, and racers. Neonates of the smaller crotaline species are frequently killed and eaten by small predatory birds such as jays, kingfishers, and shrikes. Some species of ants in the genus Formica are known to prey upon neonates, and  Solenopsis invicta (fire ants) likely do, as well. On occasion, hungry adult rattlesnakes cannibalize neonates. The small proportion (often as few as 20%) of rattlesnakes that make it to their second year are heavily preyed upon by a variety of larger predators including coyotes, eagles, hawks, owls, falcons, feral pigs, badgers, indigo snakes, and kingsnakes.[17]

text: The common kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula), a constrictor, is immune to the venom of rattlesnakes and other vipers, and rattlesnakes form part of its natural diet. Rattlesnakes sense kingsnakes' presence by their odor.[18] When they realize a kingsnake is nearby, they begin enacting a set of defensive postures known as "body bridging". Unlike its normal erect and coiled defensive-striking posture, the rattlesnake keeps its head low to the ground in an attempt to prevent the kingsnake from gaining a hold on it (the head being the first part of the rattlesnake to be ingested). The rattlesnake jerks its body about, while bridging its back upwards, forming an elevated coil which faces the kingsnake. The elevated coil is used to strike the attacker, and is also used to shield the head from the kingsnake.[19]

text: Anatomy

text: Sensory organs

text: Like all pit vipers, rattlesnakes have two organs that can sense radiation: their eyes, and a set of heat-sensing "pits" on their faces that enable them to locate prey and move towards it, based on the prey's thermal radiation signature. These pits have a relatively short effective range of about 1 ft, but give the rattlesnake a distinctive advantage in hunting for warm-blooded creatures at night.[20][21]

text: Heat-sensing pits

text: Aside from this pair of simple eyes, rattlesnakes are able to detect thermal radiation emitted by warm-blooded organisms in their environment.  Functioning optically like a pinhole camera eye, thermal radiation, in the form of infrared wavelength light, enters, passes through the opening of the pit and strikes the pit membrane located in the back wall, warming this part of the organ. Due to the extremely high density of these heat-sensitive receptors innervating this membrane, the rattlesnake can detect temperature changes of 0.003 °C or less in its immediate surroundings. Infrared cues from these receptors are transmitted to the brain by the trigeminal nerve, where they are used to create thermal maps of the snake’s surroundings. Due to the small sizes of the pit openings, typically these thermals images are low in resolution and contrast. Nevertheless, rattlesnakes superimpose visual images created from information from the eyes with these thermal images from the pit organs to more accurately visualize their surroundings in low levels of light.  Research conducted recently on the molecular mechanism of this ability suggests the temperature sensitivity of these pit organs is closely linked to the activity of transient receptor potential ankyrin 1, a temperature-sensitive ion channel saturated in the pit membrane.

text: Eyes

text: Rattlesnake eyes, which contain a large number of rod cells, are well adapted to nocturnal use.[22][23] However, rattlesnakes are not exclusively nocturnal, and their vision is more acute during daylight conditions.[23] Rattlesnakes also possess cone cells, which means  they are capable of some form of color vision. The rattlesnake eye lacks a fovea, making it impossible for them to see sharply defined images. Instead, they mostly rely on the perception of movement.[22] Rattlesnake eyes are capable of horizontal rotation, but they do not appear to move their eyeballs to follow moving objects.[24]

text: Smell

text: Rattlesnakes have an exceptionally keen sense of smell. They can sense olfactory stimuli both through their nostrils and by flicking their tongues, which carry scent-bearing particles to the Jacobson's organs in the roof of their mouths.[25][26]

text: Auditory system

text: Like all snakes, rattlesnakes lack external ear openings, and the structures of their middle ear are not as highly specialized as those of other vertebrates, such as mammals. Thus, their sense of hearing is not very effective, but they are capable of sensing vibrations in the ground, passed by the skeleton to the auditory nerve.[22]

text: Fangs

text: Rattlesnake fangs are connected by venom ducts to large venom glands near the outer edge of the upper jaw, towards the rear of the head. When the rattlesnake bites, muscles on the sides of the venom glands contract, which squeezes the venom through the ducts and into the fangs. When the fangs are not in use, they remain folded against the palate.[27][28]

text: Rattlesnakes are born with fully functioning fangs and venom, and are capable of killing prey at birth.[17][29] Adult rattlesnakes shed their fangs every 6–10 weeks. At least three pairs of replacement fangs lie behind the functional pair.[30]

text: Venom

text: The venom is hemotoxic, destroying tissue, causing necrosis and coagulopathy (disrupted blood clotting).[31] In the U.S., the tiger rattlesnake (C. tigris) and some varieties of the Mojave rattlesnake (C. scutulatus) also have a presynaptic neurotoxic venom component known as Mojave type A toxin, which can cause severe paralysis.[31][32][33] Although it has a comparatively low venom yield,[34] the venom toxicity of C. tigris is considered to be among the highest of all rattlesnake venoms, and among the highest of all snakes in the Western Hemisphere based on LD50 studies conducted on laboratory mice. C. scutulatus is also widely regarded as producing one of the most toxic snake venoms in the Americas, based on LD50 studies in laboratory mice.[35]

text: Rattlesnake venom is a mixture of five to 15 enzymes, various metal ions, biogenic amines, lipids, free amino acids, proteins, and polypeptides. It contains components designed to immobilize and disable the prey, as well as digestive enzymes which break down tissue to prepare for later ingestion.[26][30] The venom is very stable, and retains its toxicity for many years in storage.[26]

text: Older snakes possess more potent venom, and larger snakes are frequently capable of storing larger volumes of it.[36]

text: Rattle

text:
Rattlesnake

The characteristic sound of a rattlesnake - the rattle shaking, as a result of extremely rapid tail movement
Problems playing this file? See media help.

text: According to Rubio, "The most widely accepted hypothesis for the evolution of the rattle is that the rattle is a warning device for predatory animals that might be a threat to the rattlesnake. It produces a signal to drive them away."[37]

text: The rattle is composed of a series of hollow, interlocked segments made of keratin, which are created by modifying the scales that cover the tip of the tail. The contraction of special "shaker" muscles in the tail causes these segments to vibrate against one another, making the rattling noise (which is amplified because the segments are hollow) in a behavior known as tail vibration.[1][38][39] The muscles that cause the rattle to shake are some of the fastest known, firing 50 times per second on average, sustained for up to three hours.[40]

text: At birth, a “prebutton” is present at the tip of the snake's tail; it is replaced by the “button” several days later when the first skin is shed. However, no sound can be made by the rattle until a second segment is added when the skin is shed again.[41] A new rattle segment is added each time the snake sheds its skin, and the snake may shed its skin several times a year, depending on food supply and growth rate.

text: Rattlesnakes travel with their rattles held up to protect them from damage, but in spite of this precaution, their day-to-day activities in the wild still cause them to regularly break off end segments. Because of this, the age of a rattlesnake is not related to the number of rattles on its tail.[1][39][40]

text: One of the differentiating features of males and females is the males have thicker and longer tails (because they contain the inverted hemipenes). Also, the tails of males taper gradually from the body, whereas the tails of females narrow abruptly at the vent.[42]

text: Skin and circulation

text: Rattlesnake skin has  a set of overlapping scales which cover the entire body, providing protection from a variety of threats including dehydration and physical trauma.[43] The typical rattlesnake, genus Crotalus, has the top of its head covered with small scales, except, with a few species, a few crowded plates directly over the snout.[44]  The skin of snakes is highly sensitive to contact, tension, and pressure; they are capable of feeling pain.[45]

text: An important function of the skin is the sensation of changes in air temperature, which can guide the snakes towards warm basking/shelter locations.[46] All snakes are ectotherms. To maintain a stable body temperature, they exchange heat with their external environments. Snakes often move into open, sunny areas to absorb heat from the sun and warmed earth, a behavior known as basking. Nerves in the skin regulate the flow of blood into the veins near the surface. Rubio states, "The skin's acceptance of radiant energy, its ability to determine the temperature, and the snake's ability to move toward or away from one temperature gradient to another are among the most important behavioral actions in its daily life."[45]

text: The skin of rattlesnakes is intricately patterned in a manner that camouflages them from their predators.[46][47] Rattlesnakes do not generally have bright or showy colors (reds, yellows, blues, etc.), instead relying on subtle earth tones that resemble the surrounding environment.[48]

text: Creases in the epidermal tissue connect the scales of rattlesnakes. When ingesting large prey, these creases can unfold, allowing the skin to expand to envelop a much greater volume. The skin appears to tightly stretch to accommodate the meal, but in reality, the skin is simply smoothing out from its creased state and is not under very high tension.[49]

text: Reproduction

text: Most rattlesnake species mate during the summer or fall, while some species mate only in the spring, or during both the spring and fall.[50]

text: Females secrete small amounts of sex pheromones, which leave a trail the males follow using their tongues and Jacobson's organs as  guides.[50] Once a receptive female has been located, the male  often spends several days following her around (a behavior not common outside of the mating season), frequently touching and rubbing her in an attempt to stimulate her.[51][52]

text: The males of some species, such as timber rattlesnakes (C. horridus), fight each other during the mating season, in competition over females. These fights known as "combat dances" consist of the two males intertwining the anterior portion of their bodies, often with their heads and necks held vertically. The larger males usually end up driving the smaller males away.[53][54]

text: Although many kinds of snakes and other reptiles are oviparous (lay eggs), rattlesnakes are ovoviviparous (give birth to live young after carrying eggs inside).[55] The female produces the ova ("eggs") in her ovaries, after which they pass through the body cavity and into one of her two oviducts. The ova are arranged in a continuous chain in a coiled section of the oviduct, known as the "tuba".[51] Male rattlesnakes have sexual organs known as hemipenes, located in the base of the tail. The hemipenis is retracted inside of the body when mating is not occurring. Females can store semen for months in internal recesses known as spermathecae, which permits them to mate during the fall, but not fertilize the ova until the following spring.[51] The Arizona black rattlesnake (C. oreganus cerberus), has been observed to exhibit complex social behavior reminiscent of that in mammals. Females often remain with their young in nests for several weeks, and mothers have been observed cooperatively parenting their broods.[56]

text: Rattlesnakes generally take several years to mature, and females usually reproduce only once every three years.[57]

text: Brumation

text:
In the colder winter months, some rattlesnake species enter a period of brumation, which is dormancy similar to hibernation.
They often gather together for brumation in  large numbers (sometimes over 1,000 snakes), huddling together inside underground "rattlesnake dens" or hibernacula.[58][59] Rattlesnakes regularly share their winter burrows with a wide variety of other species (such as turtles, small mammals, invertebrates, and other types of snakes).[58]

text: Rattlesnakes often return to the same den, year after year, sometimes traveling several miles to get there. It is not known exactly how the rattlesnakes find their way back to the dens each year, but may use a combination of pheromone trails and visual cues (e.g., topography, celestial navigation, and solar orientation).[60]

text: Species with long periods of brumation tend to have much lower reproductive rates than those with shorter brumation periods, or those that do not brumate all. Female timber rattlesnakes in high peaks in the Appalachian Mountains of New England reproduce every three years on average; the lance-headed rattlesnake (C. polystictus), native to the warm climate of Mexico, reproduces annually.[61]

text: Like most other snakes, rattlesnakes aestivate during very hot or dry periods, which is why they are rarely seen during the hottest and driest months of summer.[62]

text: Conservation status

text: Rattlesnakes tend to avoid developed areas, preferring undisturbed, natural habitats. Rapid habitat destruction by humans, mass killings during events such as rattlesnake round-ups, and deliberate extermination campaigns all pose threats to rattlesnake populations in many areas. Several species of rattlesnakes, such as the timber rattlesnake, massasauga, and canebrake rattlesnake, are listed as threatened or endangered in many U.S. states.[63]

text: A large number of rattlesnakes die from being run over by cars.[17]

text: In more heavily populated and trafficked areas, reports have been increasing of rattlesnakes that do not rattle. This phenomenon is commonly attributed to selective pressure by humans, who often kill the snakes when they are discovered.[64] Non-rattling snakes are more likely to go unnoticed, so survive to reproduce offspring that, like themselves, are less likely to rattle.

text: Safety and first aid

text: Rattlesnakes are the leading cause of snakebite injuries in North America and a significant cause in Central and South America.[33][65]

text: Avoiding bites

text: Rattlesnakes tend to avoid wide-open spaces where they cannot hide from predators, and generally avoid humans if they are aware of their approach.[66] Rattlesnakes rarely bite unless they feel threatened or provoked. A majority of victims (about 72%[67]) are males, often young and intoxicated. Around half of bites occur in cases where the victim saw the snake, yet made no effort to move away.[26]

text: Caution is advised even when snakes are believed to be dead; rattlesnake heads can see, flick the tongue, and inflict venomous bites for up to an hour after being severed from the body.[68][69]

text: Effect of bites on humans

text: An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States each year, with about five deaths.[70] The most important factor in survival following a severe envenomation is the time elapsed between the bite and treatment. Most deaths occur between six and 48 hours after the bite. If antivenom treatment is given within two hours of the bite, the probability of recovery is greater than 99%.[71]

text: When a bite occurs, the amount of venom injected is under voluntary control by the snake. The amount released depends on a variety of factors, including the condition of the snake (e.g., having long, healthy fangs and a full venom sack) and its temperament (an angry, hungry snake that has just been stepped on vs. a satiated snake that was merely surprised by walking near it).[72] About 20% of bites result in no envenomation at all. A lack of burning pain and edema 3⁄8 in (1 cm) away from the fang marks after one hour suggests either no or minimal envenomation occurred. A lack of edema or erythema in the area of the bite after eight hours indicates a lack of envenomation for most rattlesnake bites.[73]

text: Common symptoms include swelling, severe pain, tingling, weakness, anxiety, nausea and vomiting, hemorrhaging, perspiration, and eventually heart failure.[72][74] Local pain following envenomation is often intense, increasing with the ensuing edema.[72] Children generally experience more severe symptoms because they receive a larger amount of venom per unit of body mass.[73]

text: Antivenin

text: Antivenin, often referred to as antivenom, is commonly used to treat the effects of local and systemic pit viper envenomations.[75] The first step in the production of crotaline antivenin is collecting ("milking") the venom of a live rattlesnake—usually from the western diamondback (Crotalus atrox), eastern diamondback (Crotalus adamanteus), South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissis terrificus), or fer-de-lance (Bothrops atrox). The extracted venom is then diluted and injected into horses, goats, or sheep, whose immune systems produce antibodies that protect from the toxic effects of the venom. These antibodies accumulate in the blood, which is then extracted and centrifuged to separate the red blood cells. The resulting serum is purified into a lyophilized powder, which is packaged for distribution and later use by human patients.[76][77]

text: Because antivenin is derived from animal antibodies, people generally display an allergic response during infusion, known as serum sickness.[78][79]

text: Veterinary care

text: In the United States, more than 15,000 domesticated animals are bitten by snakes each year. Rattlesnake envenomations account for 80% of the deadly incidents.[80]

text: Dogs are most commonly bitten on the front legs and head. Horses generally receive bites on the muzzle, and cattle on their tongues and muzzles. If a domesticated animal is bitten, the hair around the bite should be removed, so  the wound can be clearly seen. The crotaline Fab antivenin has been shown to be effective in the treatment of canine rattlesnake bites. Symptoms include swelling, slight bleeding, sensitivity, shaking, and anxiety.[36]

text: In human culture

text: Spirituality

text: Indigenous Americans

text: Aztec paintings, Central American temples, and the great burial mounds in the southeastern United States are frequently adorned with depictions of rattlesnakes, often within the symbols and emblems of the most powerful deities.[81]

text: The Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerican religion was depicted as having the combined features of the quetzal and rattlesnake.[82] The Ancient Maya considered the rattlesnake to be a "vision serpent" that acted as a conduit to the "otherworld".[83]

text: Rattlesnakes are a key element in Aztec mythology and were widely represented in Aztec art, including sculptures, jewelry, and architectural elements.

text: Christian snake handling sects

text: Members of some Christian sects in the southern United States are regularly bitten while participating in "snake handling" rituals. Snake handling is when people hold venomous snakes, unprotected, as part of a religious service inspired by a literal interpretation of the Bible verses Mark 16:17-18 which reads, "In my name ... they will pick up snakes with their hands".[26][84]

text: As food

text: Journalist Alistair Cooke claimed that rattlesnake tastes "just like chicken, only tougher".[85] Others have compared the flavor to a wide range of other meats, including veal, frog, tortoise, quail, fish, rabbit, and even canned tuna.[86] Methods of preparation include barbecueing[87] and frying; author Maud Newton, following a recipe by Harry Crews, described the taste, "at least when breaded and fried, like a sinewy, half-starved tilapia."[88]

text: Symbolism

text: The rattlesnake became a symbolic animal for the Colonials during the Revolutionary War period, and is depicted prominently on the Gadsden Flag. It continues to be used as a symbol by the United States military, and political movements within the United States.


document_title: Victorian gold rush

question_text: where was the first gold found in victoria

root

text: Victorian gold rush

text: Overview[edit]

text: The Victorian Gold Discovery Committee wrote in 1854:

tag: p

text: The discovery of the Victorian Goldfields has converted a remote dependency into a country of world wide fame; it has attracted a population, extraordinary in number, with unprecedented rapidity; it has enhanced the value of property to an enormous extent; it has made this the richest country in the world; and, in less than three years, it has done for this colony the work of an age, and made its impulses felt in the most distant regions of the earth.[2]

text: For a number of years the gold output from Victoria was greater than in any other country in the world with the exception of the more extensive fields of California. Victoria's greatest yield for one year was in 1856, when 3,053,744 troy ounces (94,982 kg) of gold were extracted from the diggings.[3] From 1851 to 1896 the Victorian Mines Department reported that a total of 61,034,682 oz (1,898,391 kg) of gold was mined in Victoria.[4]

text: Gold was first discovered in Australia on 15 February 1823, by assistant surveyor James McBrien, at Fish River, between Rydal and Bathurst (in New South Wales). The find was considered unimportant at the time, and was not pursued for policy reasons.[5]

text: In the 1850s gold discoveries in Victoria, in Beechworth, Castlemaine, Daylesford, Ballarat and Bendigo sparked gold rushes similar to the California Gold Rush.[6] At its peak some two tonnes of gold per week flowed into the Treasury Building in Melbourne.

text: The gold exported to Britain in the 1850s paid all her foreign debts and helped lay the foundation of her enormous commercial expansion in the latter half of the century.[7]

text: Melbourne was a major boomtown during the gold rush.  The city became the centre of the colony with rail networks radiating to the regional towns and ports.

text: Politically, Victoria's goldminers sped up the introduction of greater parliamentary democracy in Victoria, based on British Chartist principles adopted to some extent by the miners' activist bodies such as Bendigo's Anti-Gold Licence Association and the Ballarat Reform League.

text: As the alluvial gold dwindled, pressures for land reform, protectionism and political reform generated social struggles.[8][9] and a Land Convention in Melbourne during 1857 recorded demands for land reform.

text: By 1854 Chinese people were contributing to the gold rushes. Their presence on the goldfields of Bendigo, Beechworth and the Bright district resulted in riots, entry taxes, killings and segregation in the short term, and became the foundations of the White Australia policy.[8][10] In short, the gold rush was a revolutionary event and reshaped Victoria, its society and politics.[11]

text: Background[edit]

text: There were rumours abroad about the presence of gold in Australia, but Government officials kept all findings secret for fear of disorganising the young colony. However the Colonial Secretary, Edward Deas Thomson, saw a great future for the country when Edward Hargraves proved his theory that Australia was a vast storehouse of gold. Hargraves had been in the California gold rush and knew gold country, when he first saw it, round Bathurst. The news spread like wildfire, and soon the race was on from coast to gold fields. Flocks were left untended, drovers deserted their teams, merchants and lawyers rushed from their desks and entire ships' crews, captains included, marched off to seek their fortunes.[12]

text: Gold discovered[edit]

text: In March 1850, Mr. W. Campbell of Strath Loddon found on the station of Mr. Donald Cameron, of Clunes several minute pieces of native gold in quartz. This was concealed at the time but on 10 January 1851, Campbell disclosed it. Others had found indications of gold. Dr. George H. Bruhn, a German physician, whose services as an analyst were in great demand, had been shown specimens of gold from what afterwards became the Clunes diggings. In spite of these and other discoveries, however, it was impracticable to market the gold, and James Esmond's "find" which was made on Creswick's Creek, a tributary of the Loddon River, at Clunes on 1 July 1851, was the first marketable gold field.[13]

text: A party formed by Mr. Louis John Michel, consisting of himself, Mr. William Haberlin, James Furnival, James Melville, James Headon, and B. Groenig, discovered the existence of gold in the quartz rocks of the Yarra ranges, at Andersons Creek, near Warrandyte, in the latter part of June, and showed it on the spot to Dr. Webb Richmond, on behalf of the Gold Discovery Committee on 5 July.[14]

text: The third discovery was by Mr. Thomas Hiscock, a resident at Buninyong; induced by the writings of the Rev. W. B. Clarke, and by the discovery of Brentani's nugget in the Pyrenees district two years before, he had kept a constant lookout for gold in his neighbourhood. He discovered an auriferous deposit in the gully of the Buninyong ranges now bearing his name, on 8 August 1851, and he communicated the fact, with its precise locality, to the editor of the Geelong Advertiser on the 10th of that month.

text: Dr. George H. Bruhn, a German physician, in the month of January, 1851, (i.e. before Mr. Hargraves' discovery at Summerhill) started from Melbourne to explore "the mineral resources of this colony'. During his lengthened tour, he found, in April, indications of gold in quartz about two miles from Mr. Barker's station, and on arriving at Mr. Cameron's station was shown by that gentleman specimens of gold at what are now called the Clunes diggings. This information he made widely known through the country in the course of his journey, and communicated to Mr. James Esmond, at that time engaged in erecting a building at Mr. James Hodgkinson's station. Dr. Bruhn forwarded specimens, which were received by the Gold Discovery Committee on 30 June 1851.

text: The Gold Discovery Committee awarded £1000 to Michel and his party; £1000 to Hiscock, as the substantial discoverer of the Ballarat deposits; £1000 to Campbell as the original discoverer of Clunes; £1000 to Esmond as the first active producer of alluvial gold for the market and £500 to Dr. Bruhn.[14]

text: On 20 July 1851 Thomas Peters, a hut-keeper on William Barker's Mount Alexander station, found specks of gold at what is now known as Specimen Gully.  This find was published in the Melbourne Argus on 8 September 1851, leading to a rush to the Mount Alexander or Forest Creek diggings, centred on present-day Castlemaine, claimed as the richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world.

text: These discoveries were soon surpassed by Ballarat and Bendigo. Further discoveries including Beechworth in 1852, Bright, Omeo, Chiltern (1858–59) and Walhalla followed.

text:
Year

Non-indigenous population of Melbourne

1835
0

1840
10,000

1851
29,000

1854
123,000

tag: table

text: The population of Melbourne grew swiftly as the gold fever took hold. The total number of people in Victoria also rose. By 1851 it was 75,000 people. Ten years later this rose to over 500,000.

text: Surface alluvial gold was the first to be exploited. It is reported that in 1851, when the first miners arrived on the Mount Alexander goldfield, near Castlemaine, nuggets could be picked up without digging. Then followed the exploitation of alluvial gold in creeks and rivers, or deposited in silt on river banks and flats. The gold-seekers used pans, sluice boxes and cradles to separate this gold from the dirt.

text: As surface alluvial gold ran out, gold seekers were forced to look further underground. Miners discovered so-called deep leads, which were gold-bearing watercourses that had been buried at various depths by centuries of silting and, in some Victorian goldfields such as Ballarat, volcanic action. They also began to exploit the underground gold reefs which were the original sources of the gold. Deep mining was more difficult and dangerous. Places such as Bendigo and Ballarat saw great concentrations of miners, who were forming partnerships and syndicates to enable them to sink ever-deeper shafts. Coupled with erratic and vexatious policing and licence checks, tensions flared around Beechworth, Bendigo and Ballarat. These frictions culminated in the Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat in 1854. Following that uprising, a range of reforms gave miners a greater say in resolving disputes via Mining Courts, and extended electoral franchise to them.

text: As gold-rush immigrants flooded into Victoria in 1852, a tent city, known as Canvas Town, was established at South Melbourne. The area soon became a massive slum, home to tens of thousands of migrants from around the world who arrived to seek their fortunes in the goldfields. Significant "Chinatowns" became established in Melbourne, Bendigo and Castlemaine.

text: At Walhalla alone, Cohens Reef produced over 50 tonnes (1.6 million tr oz) of gold in 40 years of mining.

text: Lead-up to the Eureka Stockade[edit]

text: The conditions which led up to the Eureka Stockade arose mainly from the actions taken by the Government in supervising the various goldfields. To meet the expense of securing order and to restrain unauthorised mining on Crown land, a local Act of January 1852 imposed on all diggers a licence fee of 30 shillings per month, the penalty for mining without a licence being £6 for the first offence and afterwards imprisonment for terms up to six months. Clause 7 of this Act also appropriated half the fine to the use of the informer or prosecutor, a provocative and irritating provision. In December, 1853, an amending Act reduced the fee to £1 per month, but did not alter the diggers' greatest grievance, that they could be imprisoned for not having the actual licence on them, though their possession of one could be proved from the official record. They were also unrepresented in Parliament, and in 1854 the population on the Ballarat goldfields was estimated at 20,000.

text: Charles Hotham, who arrived in Victoria in June 1854, was alarmed at the depleted state of the Treasury and the growing expense of goldfields administration. He ordered the police to redouble their exertions in collecting the fees. To miners just scraping by, the payment of £12 per annum was impossible, and there is no doubt that hundreds did endeavour to evade payment, but the innocent suffered with the guilty. The police, too, had been largely recruited from Tasmania, and many were ex-convicts.  These grievances were common to all the Victorian fields, and had under Latrobe's administration produced riots at Beechworth and Castlemaine, but Ballarat, always the most domestic of the goldfields, was renowned for its peaceful progressiveness and quietness.

text: On the night of 6 October, however, a Scottish miner named James Scobie was killed at the Eureka Hotel, near Ballarat, and the murdered man's associate accused the proprietor (Bentley, a Tasmanian ex-convict) of the murder. Bentley was brought up before a magistrate, who was alleged to be financially under Bentleys' thumb, and he was discharged. The miners were indignant; a meeting was called and a demand made for a fresh prosecution. The meeting itself was orderly, but towards the end of proceedings a cry was raised that the police (who had been ordered to protect the hotel) were trying to disperse the meeting, and the miners, becoming furious, swept aside the police, smashed the windows and furniture, and burned the building. The police arrested three men- who could not be proved to have been ringleaders or active in the riot, and they were sentenced to three, four, and six months' imprisonment.

text: At an indignation meeting held on 11 November on Bakery Hill, the Ballarat Reform League was formed, with J. B. Humffray (a Welshman) as its first secretary, and Peter Lalor, Frederic Vern (a Hanoverian), Raffaello (an Italian teacher, of languages), Timothy Hayes (an Irishman), and George Black, a well-educated Englishman, as prominent members. A deputation of three men waited on Governor Hotham to demand the release of the prisoners, but he refused and had already sent additional troops to Ballarat, which gave considerable offence by marching through the town with fixed bayonets and by other exasperating conduct. On 29 November, Black, Humffray, and Kennedy reported to a mass meeting held at Bakery Hill the result of their deputation to the Governor, and Vern proposed a burning of the hated licences, which was then carried out. Next day the police carried out a specially vicious and vigorous licence-hunt, and when the troops marched back to camp, the diggers hastened to a conference with the leaders of the Reform League.

text: Peter Lalor was elected leader, and under a blue flag adorned with the stars of the Southern Cross the assembled diggers swore 'to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties.' An area of about an acre on the present Eureka site was hastily enclosed with a pallisade and a deputation was sent to the military camp demanding the release of the morning's prisoners and the cessation of licence-hunting. The Commissioner flatly refused the request, saying that the agitation was 'only a cloak to cover a democratic revolution.' On 1 December the occupants of the stockade were hard at work by 5 a.m. drilling and improving the barrier, and a German blacksmith was fashioning pike-heads. But neither food nor ammunition was available within the stockade, so that by the evening of the 2nd after a very hot day, not more than 200 remained within.

text: Spies informed the Commissioner of the situation and about 4.30 a.m. on Sunday morning (3 December) a troop of 276 men was marched silently to the stockade. Inside the stockade only 50 diggers had rifles; there was also a troop of Californian diggers armed with revolvers and another of Irishmen with pikes. Many of them were asleep when the signal gun was fired and a storming party of 64 'rushed' the stockade. In the first volleys several men fell on both sides, but the line of advancing bayonets, flanked on both sides by cavalry and mounted police, was too much for the diggers. They turned to seek shelter and all was over. Of the military force Captain Wise and four private soldiers were killed, and about a dozen injured. Sixteen miners were killed, and at least eight others died of their wounds, 114 prisoners were taken, and Lalor, badly wounded, managed to escape; so did Black and Vern. The Government then offered £500 for the apprehension of Vern, and £200 each for Black and Lalor.[15]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Australia's population changed dramatically as a result of the rushes.  In 1851 the Australian population was 437,655, of which 77,345, or just under 18%, were Victorians.  A decade later the Australian population had grown to 1,151,947 and the Victorian population had increased to 538,628; just under 47% of the Australian total and a seven-fold increase. In some small country towns where gold was found abundantly, the population could grow by over 1000% in a decade (e.g. Rutherglen had a population of about 2,000. Ten years later, it had approximately 60,000 which is a 3000% increase). The rapid growth was predominantly a result of the gold rushes.[16]

text: The gold rush is reflected in the architecture of Victorian gold-boom cities like Melbourne, Castlemaine, Ballarat, Bendigo and Ararat.  Ballarat today has Sovereign Hill—a 60-acre (24 ha) recreation of a gold rush town—as well as the Gold Museum. Bendigo has a large operating gold mine system which also functions as a tourist attraction.

text: The rushes left Victorian architecture in towns in the Goldfields region such as Maldon, Beechworth, Clunes, Heathcote, Maryborough, Daylesford, Stawell, Beaufort, Creswick, St Arnaud, Dunolly, Inglewood, Wedderburn and Buninyong whose economy has differing emphases on home working, tourism, farming, modern industrial and retired sectors. With the exception of Ballarat and Bendigo, many of these towns were substantially larger than they are today. Most populations moved to other districts when gold played out in a given locality.[8] At the other end of the spectrum ghost towns, such as Walhalla, Mafeking and Steiglitz exist.

text: The last major gold rush in Victoria was at Berringa, south of Ballarat, in the first decade of the 20th century. Gold mining became nothing more than a hobby in Victoria for decades mainly because of the depth and cost of pumping.  The First World War also drained Australia of the labour needed to work the mines. More significantly, the prohibition on the export of gold from Australia in 1915 and the abolition of the gold standard, winding down stockpiling of gold and production of sovereigns throughout the Empire saw Australian gold towns shrink, in some cases, being totally abandoned.[17] The slump in gold production never recovered. Gold mining ceased in Stawell in 1920, but recommenced in 1982 and continues as at 2014.[18] However, as of 2005 the recent increase in the gold price has seen a resurgence in commercial mining activity with mining resuming in both of the major fields of Bendigo and Ballarat. Exploration also proceeds elsewhere, for example, in Glen Wills, an isolated mountain area near Mitta Mitta in north-eastern Victoria.


document_title: The pot calling the kettle black

question_text: where did the pot calling the kettle black come from

text: The pot calling the kettle black

text: Origin[edit]

text: The earliest appearance of the idiom is in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation of the Spanish novel Don Quixote. The protagonist is growing increasingly restive under the criticisms of his servant Sancho Panza, of which one is that "You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."[1] The Spanish text at this point reads: Dijo la sartén a la caldera, Quítate allá ojinegra (Said the pan to the pot, get out of there black-eyes).[2] It is identified as a proverb (refrán) in the text, functioning as a retort to the person who criticises another of the same defect that he plainly has. Among several variations, the one where the pan addresses the pot as culinegra (black-arse) makes clear that they are dirtied in common by contact with the cooking fire.[3]

text: This version was also recorded in England soon afterwards as "The pot calls the pan burnt-arse" in John Clarke's collection of proverbs, Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina (1639).[4] A nearer approach to the present wording is provided by William Penn in his collection Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims (1682):

text: Apart from the final example in this passage, there is not a strict accord between the behaviour of the critic and the person censured.

text: An alternative modern interpretation,[6][7] far removed from the original intention, argues that while the pot is sooty (being placed on a fire), the kettle is shiny (being placed on coals only); hence, when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is the pot's own sooty reflection that it sees: the pot accuses the kettle of a fault that only the pot has, rather than one that they share. The point is illustrated by a poem that appeared anonymously in an early issue of St. Nicholas Magazine from 1876:

text:
"Oho!" said the pot to the kettle;
"You are dirty and ugly and black!
Sure no one would think you were metal,
Except when you're given a crack."

text:
"Not so! not so!" kettle said to the pot;
"'Tis your own dirty image you see;
For I am so clean – without blemish or blot –
That your blackness is mirrored in me."[8]

text: Similar themes in antiquity[edit]

text:
In ancient Greece, mention of 'the Snake and the Crab' signified much the same, where the critic censures its own behaviour in another. The first instance of this is in a drinking song (skolion) dating from the late 6th or early 5th century BCE.[9] The fable ascribed to Aesop concerns a mother crab and its young, where the mother tells the child to walk straight and is asked in return to demonstrate how that is done.[10]
The same theme differently expressed occurs in the Aramaic version of the story of Ahiqar, dating from about 500 BCE. 'The bramble sent to the pomegranate tree saying, "Wherefore the multitude of thy thorns to him that toucheth thy fruit?" The pomegranate tree answered and said to the bramble, "Thou art all thorns to him that toucheth thee".[11]
In Matthew 7:3-5, it is criticism of a less significant failing by those who are worse that is the target of the Sermon on the Mount: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

tag: ul