The Welcome Stranger measured 61 by 31 cm (24 by 12 in) and had a calculated refined weight of 97.14 kilograms (3,123 troy ounces). It was discovered in 1869 by John Deason and Richard Oates at Moliagul, Victoria. The name was a reference to the Welcome Nugget, which had been discovered in Ballarat, Victoria, eleven years previously and was the biggest nugget ever found prior to the Welcome Stranger.
The biggest gold specimen ever found was 59 inches (1.5 metres) long and weighed 630 pounds (290 kg), with an estimated gold content of 3,000 troy ounces (93 kg). It was discovered in 1872 in Hill End, New South Wales, and is known as the Beyers–Holtermann Specimen – after the two prospectors who discovered it, Louis Beyers and Bernhardt Holtermann.
The biggest nugget ever found outside Australia, and the biggest still in existence (the three above have all been broken up and/or melted down), was discovered in 1983 in Brazil. Named the Pepita Canaã ('sugarcane nugget'), it was purchased in 1984 by the Banco Central do Brasil, and is now displayed in their money museum in Brasilia. It weighs 60.82 kg and is believed to have been even bigger when found, but was broken while being excavated.
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