After 37 years of searching, Syd Pearson has finally hit the jackpot when he struck it lucky at a Victorian gold fields.

The 68-year-old garbage man from Maryborough was elated to discover the gigantic piece of 4.3kg gold nugget after years of trying.

The rock is worth almost $300,000 which he was unaware of when it was first dug from the ground.

SYD Pearson remembers the exact moment he struck it lucky in Victoria’s sprawling gold fields. Pacing across a little patch of earth out the back of Dunolly last December, the 68-year-old heard the distinctive hum set off by his metal detector. He chipped away at the spot with a pick axe and then felt the kind of “clunk’’ that would light up the eyes of any prospector. Hands already shaking, the garbage man from Maryborough brushed away the dirt to discover a 4.3kg gold nugget — one of the largest ever dug up from Victoria’s historic goldfields. “I lit a ciggie and made a cup of tea but I didn’t have to bloody stir it,’’ Mr Pearson said.

Soon after he put the stone in his toolbox he drove home to tell his wife the good news. He decided to name the stone Lady Catherine as a way of honouring his wife.