Australian History: 19th Century Bling - Jewellery of the goldfields

While Australian flora and fauna were illustrated and painted from the very start of the colony, this decorative art is the first time they were celebrated by Europeans as matter of Australian pride - preceding the famous Heidelberg school by 50 years.

And this was the first time tools of the trade had been represented in jewellery, as far as we know. Here are the most ordinary things: the tin bucket, the iron spade, the handle of a winch, made in miniature out of one of the most desirable substances on the planet.

And an exhibition at Ballarat's Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka brings many of these pieces, and their stories, to light.

Featuring Cash Brown, then curator of the Museum of Australian Democracy.