The prospector, who only wants to be known as “Caz” said he was surprised at his find especially as he had many other false starts.

The Mining Exchange Gold Shop owner and gold dealer Cordell Kent, who spoke to Caz, said the gold was one of the largest to be found in Ballarat in recent times.

“It was found a few weeks ago just north of Ballarat,” Mr Kent said. “It was one of the most amazing pieces we have seen for a while.”

Mr Kent said the gold was found in a “sluiced area” of an ancient river bed that was blown out with high pressure more than 100 years ago.

Caz got lucky when he hit a quartz weighing 156 ounces with an estimated gold content of about 76 ounces.

“It was a really hot day and the prospect of digging a deep hole, in hard ground, ‘just to find rubbish’ was annoying,” Caz said. “At about 45 centimetres depth the ground was still looking great and the target was still down ‘there’ in the bottom. I half heartedly hoped it might be gold.”

Instead he found a “small dinner plate quartz rock”.

“As soon as my finger tips wrapped around the rock and I started to lift, I knew it was way heavier than just stone,” he said. “Clay stuck all over it, and when I rubbed some of it away, I got my first glimpse of gold.”