ABSTRACT
Only one out of the 42 gold bubble companies that raised funds from the British public for ventures in California or Australia ultimately survived and prospered as a gold mining enterprise: the Port Phillip and Colonial Gold Mining Company. It operated in Victoria, Australia, and like its contemporaries there, was compelled to compete with the diggers in what was then an unfavourable social and regulatory environment. It endured more than three years of struggle, and spent more than half of its £100,000 capital, before settling on a course that offered a chance of success: ore treatment, rather than ore mining. Although far less contentious under the prevailing legislative and social conditions, even this approach would embroil the company in another three years of struggle before its success was beyond doubt.
