Abstract
Originally this thesis was intended to cover just the period during which goldmining contributed significantly to life in Lawrence from 1861 until the closing of the Blue Spur Consolidated Goldmining Company just before the outbreak of the First World War. Because loose ends had to be tied up, and because questions asked by interested people almost invariably related to the years after 1914, I extended my scope by stages, first until the death of John Stenhouse in 1929, then to the death of John Norris in 1942, then to the removal to new premises in 1950, then to the Gabriel’s Gully Centennial in 1961, and finally to the present day. [Extract from Preface]