the holtermann nugget (12. 808)

Unlike another individual who immigrated to avoid the draft with a mild, tangental case of the gold bug, leaving his native Hamburg some fourteen years prior, Bernhardt Otto Holtermann, who thrived in his adopted homeland of New South Wales and left a positive legacy, on this day in 1872, as an independent prospector under contract with the Star of Hope Mining company, discovered the eponymous gold specimen, a contiguous vein of the precious encased in quartz, the largest ever unearthed, the find weighed ninety-three kilograms, over three-thousand troy-ounces. Already wealthy from successful ventures in mining and sound investments (a shareholder in a residential hotel) and with a controlling interest in the corporation, Holtermann attempted to purchase his discovery for over the going value but was rebuffed by the company, only to have the nugget smelted for bullion—who disheartened prompted Holtermann to change careers and become a philanthropist and pursue his hobbies. Taking up residence in Sydney and building a mansion with a high turret for taking panoramic photos of the harbour, he followed his passion for photography and helped finance campaign directed at potential migrants (for needed labour and hoping to pass on the entrepreneurship that helped him) with his series of panorama images of the city and environs and became alderman for his ward, residing the second city for the remainder of his days.