What is the importance of gold?

Answer 1

In general, gold is the most inert, non-reactive of all metals; it will never react with oxygen, either atmospheric or in solution.

Can be useful in electronics since it is a metal and therefore conductive.

Answer 2

The discovery of gold was crucial to the development of Australia, culturally, economically and politically.

As more people left the Australian colonies to join the gold rush in California in the 1850s, it became apparent that the outward tide of manpower would need to be stemmed. The government began to seek experts who could locate gold in Australian countrysides. After gold was "officially" discovered in Australia in 1851, not far from Bathurst, New South Wales, many people flocked to the goldfields. Immigrants, particularly Chinese, brought the influence of their own culture.

Gold also sparked the birth of democracy in Australia. The Eureka Stockade was the 1854 miners' uprising on the goldfields of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Conditions on the Australian goldfields were harsh. The main source of discontent was the miner's licence, which cost a monthly fee of 30 shillings and permitted the holder to work a 3.6 metre square "claim". Licences had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in the finding of any gold, and miner were subjected to frequent licence hunts. The Victorian government failed to act on behalf of the miners, so on 29 November 1854, the miners burned their licences in a mass display of resistance. Irish immigrant Peter Lalor was elected to lead the rebellion.

On December 1, the miners began to construct a wooden barricade, a stockade from which they planned to defend themselves against further licence arrests or other incursions by the authorities. At 3:00am on Sunday, 3 December 1854, 276 police and military personnel and several civilians stormed the stockade. It remains unclear which side fired first, but in the ensuing battle, 22 diggers and 5 troopers died.

Although the rebellion itself failed in its objective, it gained the attention of the Government. A Commission of Enquiry was conducted and changes were implemented. These included abolition of monthly gold licences, replaced by an affordable annual miner's licence. The numbers of troopers were reduced significantly, and Legislative Council was expanded to allow representation to the major goldfields. Peter Lalor and another representative, John Basson Humffray, were elected for Ballarat. Later, Lalor was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria. For these reasons, the Eureka Stockade is regarded by many as the birthplace of Australian Democracy.

The wealth generated by the discovery of gold in Victoria, soon after its separation from New South Wales, also helped transformed Melbourne from a small colonial outpost to the fourth largest city in the British Empire. Gold enabled the growth of small towns wherever it was found. The diggers needed supplies, so demand generated business, and towns grew from this need as people moved in to supply all the tools and other equipment required by the miners.

Even today, gold remains one of Australia's major exports.

Also see the related question.