Tarnagulla is an old goldmining settlement although it is virtually a ghost town today. Gold was first found there in 1852 at Sandy Creek. A settlement emerged called Sandy Creek but it was renamed in 1860 after the 'Tarnagulla' station which was taken up in the 1840s. The main strike occurred in 1862 at Poverty Reef which was allegedly the richest pocket of reef gold ever recorded, yielding 13.5 tonnes of precious metal in 13 months from an area 3 metres wide and 120 metres deep. It was named by one of its discoverers who was wrecked at Poverty Bay in New Zealand and rescued by a Maori woman whom he married (both are buried in the local cemetery). The Poseidon nugget, weighing 26.6 kg, was found belatedly in 1906. Today the area around Tarnagulla is focused on agriculture, fruit-growing and flax oil. The village is located 176 km north west of Melbourne.