James Joseph Larcombe

Mirror Saturday 7 February 1931

JIM LARCOMBE TELLS US HOW HE FOUND THE NUGGET A CASUAL visit to the exhibit of the "Golden Eagle," the largest nugget found in this State, impresses the average citizen more than all the talk in the world. Jim Larcombe and his son are two typical "diggers." In conversation with the elder Larcombe, The Mirror man was told how the nugget was found. Here's the story: "When I took over the patch from Sheehan I felt sure I would find color. I had a theory that the cement shelf covered gold. A few days before the big strike my son, who had been with two other diggers, came to me and said they had decided to abandon their claim and push on. I said to the boy, 'I am getting a bit of color here and you may as well work with' me.' During the past few days I worked a few dwts. daily. THE DAY OF THE STRIKE was particularly hot and just before we be- came rich I advised the boy to rest off for a while and I would put the dirt through the shaker. He went quiet for a time, then commenced on a hole. "To give you an idea of the depth, I might say the cement shelf averaged about 12in. below the surface, and was about 6in. to 8in. in thickness, so that following my theory we were down an average of 18in. to 27in. THE LUCK COMES "After digging a few minutes, the boy called out, 'I've got it, dad!' and rushed over and saw that end (pointing to one of the 'Eagle's' wings) sticking out. "I got one hand on it, but could not move it, However, I quickly got two hands on and gave a mighty tug which brought the nugget out of its pocket. With a tremendous heave for it was embedded in about 1cwt. of cement) I threw the nugget on to the side of the overturned dirt at the top of the hole and quickly realised that we had secured something out of the ordinary. "And then everybody came to see it." "The Mirror's" impressions of Mr. Larcombe and his son are that they are just the real Aussie type and are not liable to "lose their blocks. The boy is a fresh-complexioned young Aussie—a nice lad—and seems to be more embarrassed by the public interest than his own good fortune.

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