30km down the road to Bathurst is the
historic mining village of Sofala. Gold was discovered by Lister &
Tom in February 1851 & payable gold was announced in the Bathurst
Times on 18 June. By 7 July Mr Rogers opened his store selling tea
@ 2/-, flour & biscuits @ 6 pence/lb, sugar @ 5 pence/lb & mutton @
3 pence/lb. The Commissioner arrived at the same time & started
issuing licences.
Early in November 1851, a newspaper
reporter described the town as a large army camp, but by 13 November
the township site had been surveyed & land leased. The area had a
checked career as unrest amongst the miners persisted from the start
of licensing until a truce was declared in 1853. This saw a
reduction in the monthly licence fee from 30 shillings to 20
shillings.
However the gold was running out and
Wattle Flat to the south became the major mining area – by 1855 500
licences were issued for this town. Sofala’s decline had started.
