MARYBOROUGH) 1850-1980 Historic Notes
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NORTH WEST VICTORIA HISTORIC MINING PLOTS (MARYBOROUGH) 1850-1980 Historic Notes David Bannear Heritage Victoria MARYBOROUGH HISTORICAL NOTES (1) 1899: Maryborough gives its name to the largest of the Victorian mining districts. The only part of the Maryborough mining district, which has proved to be auriferous, is its southern portion. All the large mallee countries of Weeah, Tatchera, Karkarooc, and Mellewa, which are also included within its boundaries are, so far as is known, absolutely non-auriferous, although as these large plains are generally held to be the floor of an ancient sea it is possible that borings may yet prove the existence of alluvial deposits at certain depths. Gold-bearing wash has been found in the rich agricultural land about Swanwater, and loaming and trenching in the early days about Mount Jeffcott have shown the existence of gold in these districts approaching the mallee. There is no doubt that the long range of the Pyrenees, with its branching spurs more or less intersected with reefs, runs out in many lines into these widely extending plains. MARYBOROUGH PROPER. A Great Alluvial Field: As Bendigo furnishes the best illustration of a great reefing field, so Maryborough stands foremost as a great alluvial field. Of deep alluvial leads it may be said that they conform roughly to the course of the rivers of today, and were without a doubt the ancient waterways. As the rivers took their course through the valleys they acted like giant sluices, and where they passed through the auriferous gravels, concentrated the gold, bearing off the lighter material once more, to eventually form the great tertiary plains which are so conspicuous a feature of the northern area of the colony. The tributaries likewise acted as conductors and concentrators of the gold-bearing gravels, and where a junction was effected with the main system, especially if it occurred within the limits of an auriferous belt, a larger amount of gold was deposited. The gold-bearing areas through which the old rivers passed having a strike nearly north and south, and the rivers themselves having a similar trend, it followed that wherever the latter obtained a moderately straight run on an auriferous belt there would be found a greater quantity of gold then in those portions where it let the bold-bearing area; for as long as it kept within the auriferous limit the lead was not only enriched by the free gold concentrated by the previous action of the sea, but the rivers also contributed their quota by the disintegration of the reefs they intersected at right angles or along their course. Where the lead passed beyond the auriferous belt there would be deposited less gold than within it, and only the fine particles carried thither by the force of the current, but inside that area the probabilities of heavy accumulations of the precious metal were very great.1 1854-6: Mr E. O’Farrell, formerly Chairman of the Mining Board of the Maryborough Mining District, has communicated some information relative to the gold workings in his district. He says: On arriving at Simpson’s Ranges, in June 1854, seeking for new fields, I and my three mates found a prospecting party at work at a place since known as the White Hills. At that time there were only thirty or forty men in addition to the prospectors, and these were engaged principally in stacking or surfacing. No water was available to wash the stuff at any place nearer than Bet-Bet and Deep Creek—distant three to five miles from the auriferous ground. The hill was not of great extent, and situate in a large flat almost surrounded by a blind creek. The sinking was very difficult, being through whit cement. One party bottomed on the edge of the creek and carried a drive towards the hill—where they picked out nuggets varying in weight from one to ten ounces. All the ground was soon marked off in claims, though the sinking was hard and difficult. It was only by the use of gads that we could get through the hard cement, the depth of which was from ten to thirteen feet. It occupied parties from fourteen to twenty-one days to sink through this stratum. The bottom was a splendid soft white pipeclay, and though the washdirt taken out at that time was only some six or nine inches, yet the nuggets which could be picked out paid the men well. The next scene of operations was a hill about one mile south of the first gold workings, and on the same flat; about two miles and a half from the site of the town of Maryborough. In its character it was similar to the first. The depth of sinking was from sixteen to twenty-four feet and through hard cement mixed with large white boulders. The washdirt taken out was only some four or six inches—but in it were found a large number of splendid nuggets thickly scattered over the white pipeclay bottom. In consequence of the distance from water there was little or no dirt washed from either of the hills. One load of forty small buckets washed by us yielded 3 oz. This was not considered at that time sufficiently remunerative, as we had to pay £2 for the carting of each load. Payable gold was discovered just at this time by another party, about three miles higher up, in shallow ground, about three feet deep; and to that we removed. Claims were marked out rapidly—a rush set in—and it was fed by parties returning disappointed from the shallow diggings at Avoca. Gold was found in almost every hole—and within a period of less than three months from the time when I first saw the prospectors’ tent near the site of the town of Maryborough, there were at least thirty thousand miners on the ground. The rush after this time increased. The depth of sinking varied from four, six, eight, ten, fourteen, twenty, up to thirty-five feet, at which depth it began to bear the name of Blackman’s Lead. 1 Australian Mining Standard , Special Edition, June 1, 1899, p. 104 Another branch of the same lead extending south towards Amherst—which was very rich, and in depth not exceeding seven or ten feet—was traced down the flat, where it narrowed from fifteen or sixteen claims of twenty-four feet each to a width of four or five claims towards the point of its junction with the Blackman’s Lead. The value of those leads is well known, but I, myself, witnessed prospects from one shovelful of dirt taken out of the gutters of 18 or 20 oz. The same stuff washed on an average for about two feet in thickness as much as 24 and 36 oz of gold to forty small buckets. This was out of the Main Lead gutter—not by any means as rich as the Blackman’s Lead, which yielded nuggets of all shapes and sizes. The sinking on both the leads was easy … The washdirt at that time taken out varied from one foot to three feet in thickness—but since then the strata have paid puddlers and others, in many places, from the surface to a depth of twenty feet. It was thought that the ground at or below the junction of the two rich leads would be exceedingly valuable, but such was not the case. At the junction the ground was poor for nearly half a mile, and it was only where the lead took another bend and left the side of the range that the gold again became plentiful. This part was named Commissioner’s Flat. Here the sinking became deeper, varying from fifty-five to sixty-five feet, the gold being scattered; the lead from fourteen to sixteen claims in width; the washdirt from two to five feet in thickness; and the average yield from four to ten ounces to the load of forty American buckets. About the year 1855 the miners left Maryborough to seek better fortune on the south side of the Dividing Range, at a place named Alma, where gold was obtained in an extensive flat at a depth of five feet. This place is about two and a half miles from Maryborough. Some of my acquaintances made as much as £500 and £800 out of claims measuring only twenty-four feet. The sinking increased from five to seventy-five feet, and finally the flat made a junction with the Balaclava and Portuguese Leads—two very valuable leads within five miles of Maryborough. These, like other leads in the district, were first opened on the surface, and were traced about two and a half miles; being in some places only three or four claims in width, and in others from twenty to thirty, widening towards the junction with the Alma Lead. The sinking on these leads, as well as the Adelaide Lead, Waterloo Flat, Inkerman, and Slaughter-yard Hill Lead was all of a similar character… The washdirt averaged from six inches to three feet in thickness, and the yield was from 1 oz to 4 oz to the load. While thousands were rushing about and sinking on the Alma, Balaclava, and other leads, hundreds betook themselves to prospecting the shallow gullies near Maryborough, most of which empty themselves into the Carisbrook or Deep Creek. The principal gullies are Madman’s, Deadhorse, Flagstaff, Shellback, Oldman’s, Mosquito, Blucher’s, Smoky, Whitehorse, Arnold’s, Ironstone, Golden Point, and Nuggetty—all of which were extremely rich, but for the most part only one claim in width.