Paynes Find is a former gold rush settlement on what is now the Great Northern Highway. Only a roadhouse and a few other buildings remain today. The area is renowned for its wildflowers.

The townsite was gazetted in 1911, the same year the gold battery was constructed. The battery is the only currently operational battery left in the state.

The town is named after the prospector, Thomas Payne, who was the first to discover gold in the area and was the first to register a lease for gold mining with the Mines Department. He was rewarded with free use of the state’s gold battery and his ore was the first to be crushed using the battery.

By the 1930s the town had prospered and the population was estimated at about 500.

 

© Kim Epton 2017-2022
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