Coal River and the First Mines in Russell Rigby (Member, Coal River Working Party)

Introduction “Coal River” was one of the early European names given to the site of Newcastle, at the mouth of the Hunter River, because of the coal seams outcropping on the rock platforms. The present landscape has been shaped by intensive human activity over the past two hundred years, with significant relics of each stage preserved. The Coal River Heritage Precinct has been defined to include Nobbys, (Signal Hill) and Macquarie Pier (breakwater) (Figure 1).

The Coal River Working Party (CRWP) was formed in 2003 by the University of Newcastle, with membership from University, industry and interested community bodies & individuals. The CRWP aims to protect Newcastle's culturally important landmarks that were only recently placed on the NSW Heritage Register. Since its formation members of the CRWP have : ● located the earliest Australian mining records in UK archives ● located the first surveys of Newcastle and the lower Hunter River, and organised the presentation of copies of the maps by the Governor to community representatives ● identified the probable location of early convict mines, confirmed the targets with geophysics and surveying, and successfully drilled into the mine voids ● prepared and submitted an application for the addition of the Precinct to the National Heritage List ● raised public awareness of the heritage values of the site ● presented all of the available source documents and results on the Coal River website (www.newcastle.edu.au/service/archives/coalriver/)

One of the next stages of the work of the CRWP is to combine all of the plans, maps and historical documents with a digital 3D representation of the Coal River Precinct and surrounding Newcastle, to show the past and future changes in the site through time

Time line The Newcastle Coal Measure rocks were deposited in the major Permian sedimentary sequence of the Basin. The sequence was intruded by igneous dykes and sills in the Jurassic and Tertiary, and overlying strata removed by erosion. 120,000 years ago the sea level was about 5m higher than present, falling to more than 60m below present level 12,000 years ago.

The earliest dated Aboriginal activity in the Lower Hunter area was about 8000BP. The Awabakal are the only recorded Aboriginal group to utilize coal for fuel, and their language includes nikkin, the only known Aboriginal word for coal. Many of the landscape features around the Hunter River estuary (Coquun) have recorded Aboriginal names, and also feature in Dreamtime stories.

The first mention of the Hunter area is the entry in the log entry by James Cook in 1770, of a small clump of an island (Nobbys). The area was probably visited by escaping convicts and fishermen between 1788 and 1797 when Lt John Shortland sailed into the river mouth while searching for escaped convicts. He took samples of the coal from outcrops on the rock platforms around the river mouth, and drew an 'eye-sketch' of the harbour and estuary. He named the river Hunter's River in honour of his friend, Governor John Hunter, but none of the other names he gave have survived in common use. For the next few years coal was collected off the rock platforms by the crews of visiting privately- owned ships, and the area was usually referred to as Coal River. The first systematic exploration and surveying was conducted in 1801, followed by the establishment of a short-lived penal station. The permanent penal station was established in 1804.

Table 1: Coal River Time Line Year Event 250my BP Newcastle Coal Measure rocks deposited 120,000 BP Sea-level 100m lower than present 12,000BP Sea-level 5m higher than present 8,000BP Earliest dated aboriginal sites in Lower Hunter 1770 Cook sails past Nobbys - “ a small clump of an island” 1791 William & Mary Bryant, escaping convicts, find coal on coastline near Newcastle 1797 Lt John Shortland enters Hunter's River 1800 First export of Newcastle coal to Bengal 1801 Survey & mapping of Coal Harbour and Hunter River by Paterson, Grant & Barallier 1801-02 Short-lived penal station at Coal River 1804 Permanent settlement established at New Castle 1817 Mining shifts from Signal Hill area 1818 Commencement of Macquarie Pier to Nobbys 1823 Penal colony shifts to 1824-30 AA Company founded, takes over Government mines 1843 Last convicts in mines 1846 Macquarie Pier connected to Nobbys 1856-60 Great Northern Railway constructed, and extended to eastern Newcastle harbour 1858 Nobbys lighthouse operational, Signal Hill beacon extinguished 1881-85 Fort Scratchley constructed on Signal Hill 1916 Mining finishes in inner city Newcastle and Delta mines Barallier Plan – 1801 (Figures 2 - 4) In June 1801 Colonel Paterson led an exploration party to Coal River in the Lady Nelson, to investigate the coal, timber and lime resources. The survey work was carried out by Ensign Barallier, and compiled onto a large map showing the river as far upstream as Maitland and Clarencetown (Figure 3). Also on the plan was a more detailed chart of the harbour, with water depths and the location of coal outcrops (Figure 4). This was the first detailed survey of the Hunter River and estuary, as the only earlier known map is the “eye-sketch” prepared by Lt John Shortland.

Microfiche copies of parts of the plan, and the accompanying report, were known from NSW State Archives. Following investigative work by members of the CRWP the original complete plan was located in the UK Archives. In 2007 mounted copies were presented by NSW Governor Marie Bashier to Newcastle City Council, representatives of the Awabakal, and local history groups.

1804 Mine Plan (Figures 5 - 9) Australia's mining records date back more than two centuries to a plan drafted by an officer of the Royal Marines. Lieutenant Charles Menzies was the Commandant of the newly established penal station at Newcastle. The penal station had been established in March 1804 to supply coal, timber, salt and lime to Sydney, and to be a secondary place of punishment for convicts who had re- offended in Sydney. The first convicts sent to Newcastle included Irish survivors of the Vinegar Hill uprising in Sydney. When Menzies arrived he found that the mining activity at Colliers Point had been conducted in a very haphazard fashion by ships' crews and during the first settlement, with unsupported adits driven up to 30m into the hillside. He undertook to establish the mines in a more systematic fashion, and private coal mining was forbidden. In July 1804 Menzies compiled a plan of this mine: A Plan of His Majesty's Coal Mine at Kings Town New Castle District County of Northumberland in its present situation of working July 1804: (Figure 5). The plan was sent, with other reports and correspondence to the Governor in Sydney on the next available ship. Governor King subsequently sent the plan, together with samples of the freshly mined coal, to Lord Hobart in where it was filed in the records of the British Empire. This plan, now in the British National Archives in London, is the earliest known artefact of Australia's mining industry. Putting it in historical perspective, the plan was prepared less than five months after the establishment of the permanent penal station in Newcastle in March 1804, about three years after the first shipment of coal to Bengal, and seven years after the discovery of coal at Newcastle by Shortland in 1797. Apart from being the first known mine plan, it is also the first example of mine surveying (Figures 6a & 6b, and 7), mine planning (Figure 8) and mine geology (Figure 9) in Australia. There is sufficient information on the plan to attempt to reconstruct the workings, but some assumptions must be made as there inconsistencies in the bearings and distances quoted.(Figure 6b). It does not appear to be drawn to scale, and may have been drawn as a “centreline” sketch plan as a reference for the table of bearings and distances. The workings have been shown 1m wide on the interpreted mine plan. The seam worked is the upper split of the Dudley Seam, and not the lower split which is at the level of the rock platform. This is based on the note: The openings are 70 feet above the surface of the sea, - as much to the surface of the hill. One annotation on the plan shows Q as the direction intended to be pursued which will open a communication to the beach, a potential pathway shortening the distance convicts had to carry the coal in baskets, rather than a shortcut to surfing pleasure. At the end of K the annotation reads A fault in flukin. The flukin referred to here is likely to be a thin igneous dyke, altered to soft white clay, rather than fault gouge. The specific dyke has not been identified. Flukin is an unusual spelling of the word flucan which is originally a Cornish mining term: flucan: A narrow band of crushed rock or clayey material found along a fault zone or vein of ore. See also:breccia; gouge; selvage; pug. Also spelled fluccan; flookan; flukan; floocan. The word is common in 19th century reports of mining in Cornwall, and also occurs in reports from hard rock mining in Australia and USA, but the only time it appears in a coal context is in a dictionary of mining terms in the Pennsylvania anthracite coalfield. There is insufficient information on the plan or in the contemporaneous records to fix the location of these workings accurately. Based on the alignment of the two openings on a northeast-trending hill face, and on the proposed communication to the beach, it is likely that the workings were near the north-east point of Colliers Point, and most of the workings have been removed during the construction of a quarry tramway, the fort ramparts and Fort Drive. (Fig 12) The only other plan of convict coal workings in Newcastle is RT757, prepared in the 1980s after the workings were intersected in the foundations for the Newmed building at Newcastle Hospital. The workings shown are quite irregular, so Menzies' intentions for more systematic workings were not always continued by later supervisors. Other early 19th century plan references to the convict mines show the positions of some of the shafts, and the roads used to transport the coal to the wharf in whelbarrows or drays.

Georeferencing historical plans & images

In 2004 Peter Sherlock of Monteath and Powys used an 1856 plan of Flagstaff Hill to fix the location of three mine drifts shown on the plan, and on an 1854 geological section of the hillside (Figure 10). The fix obtained using cadastral boundaries was confirmed by overlaying a recent aerial orthophoto over the 1856 plan, and the internal consistency of the data in the 19th century plans confirmed by comparison of mapped geological features. The locations of the drifts were pegged, and used as the starting points for geophysical investigations.

The CRWP has worked closely with the Surveying Department at Newcastle University and two student projects have provided valuable information to the project.

In 2006 two Surveying undergraduates Alex Widgery and John Wilson, investigated the 1804 mine plan and Armstrong 1830 plan, with the aim of georeferencing the two plans. The 1804 mine plan was not capable of being accurately located because of the incomplete and ambiguous data on the plan. The 1830 plan of the town of Newcastle was fixed using a known monument, and six cadastral boundary corners which can be traced through the historical records from 1830 to present. This fix of the 1830 plan allowed the position to be defined of several historically significant sites, which had been previously only vaguely located.

Caribe Tarawa has just completed his project Changes in the Newcastle Foreshore since 1800 which georeferences the Barallier 1801 plan, and a series of harbour charts and maps. The aim is to show the movement of the shore line in the harbour over the last two centuries due to engineering works and associated erosion or sedimentation (Figure 11). This information will be used as the basis for a 3D representation through time of the Newcastle City area.

Overlays on current images of photos of Nobbys headland from 1900 are being used in an attempt to locate tunnels driven into the headland in the 1850s (Figure 12). The tunnels were driven at the base of the cliff so that explosives could be used to reduce the height of Nobbys, and remove a problem for navigation at the port entrance. Following a public outcry the plan did not proced, and instead the new lighthouse was constructed on a partially reduced headland in 1857. The lighthouse on Nobbys is the oldest operating light on the NSW coast, and the building provides a good control point for locating map and photographic features. The mouth of one of the tunnels is visible in photos from the early 20th century, at the base of the cliff directly below the lighthouse (Fig 12c), but it has long been covered by sand and rock-falls.

Monteath and Powys Pty Ltd won the People and Community section of the 2006 NSW Awards for Excellence in Surveying and Spatial Information “for their work in locating and rediscovery of Newcastle's historic convict coal mines located under Fort Scratchley”.

John Wilson and Alex Widgery won the University Student Project category in the 2007 New South Wales Institution of Surveyors Excellence in Surveying Awards for their work on the Coal River Project.

Geophysical methods for locating possible mine entries

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was used along a transect parallel to the concrete ramparts on Fort Drive, to try to identify any ground disturbance beneath the road surface which may have been due to the early mine workings. The estimated drift locations pegged after georeferencing were used as the initial reference points.

The results of the survey indicated that a possible tunnel was located to the north of the initial Drift 1 site, and that there was no indication of disturbed ground at or near the initial Drift 2 site. The absence of any anomaly at or near Drift 2 site was attributed to the projected level of the seam being at road level.

Electromagnetic surveys were also conducted along the same transect. Several anomalies were noted near the Drift 1 site, but did not provide a definitive target like the GPR.

Using the GPR results the initial survey positions were moved 6m north and used for targetting the drilling program conducted in 2005. The drilling successfully intersected mine voids at each of the three locations, at the expected levels. (Fig 13, 14, 15, 16)

Historical changes in magnetic declination Georeferencing of a map or image depends on being able to: ● identify points on the map which can be related to known points in 2D or 3D space, & ● transform the map so that the identified map points are shifted to the equivalent grid locations,using some form of “best-fit” process.

When the map being georeferenced is more than 200 years old, and possibly the first map compiled for the area, there may be few identifiable control points, and significant distortions due to the survey methods used. The only other control features usually on the map are the scale and the North direction (True or Magnetic). These can be used either to give an indication of the rotation and stretch needed in the transformation, or as a check on the results of the transformation using control points.

Magnetic declination (or variation) is the angle between true and magnetic north. The declination varies across the globe from more than 30o west of true north to more than 30o east, and also changes with time. The declination in Newcastle at present is 12o 45' east of true, but over the last 200 years the declination has changed by nearly 5o . The rate of change however is not constant over this period (Fig17). Over the last 100 years the declination has increased by 3 degrees, while in the previous 50 years the declination was static, or possibly even decreased.

There are several sources for historical declination values: ● some maps, and particularly marine charts, post the declination value and rate of change in the marginal data or on the compass rose. This type of data has been used for much of the line posted in red (Figure 17). ● where there is good survey control and a plotted magnetic north the declination value can be estimated by comparison between the magnetic north arrow and true north on the georeferenced map. ● by direct observation. The earliest data point on the plotted trend is based on the daily observations of declination recorded in James Cook's log of the Endeavour as he sailed up the east coast of NSW in 1770. The historical observations worldwide have been synthesised into a series of global magnetic models which enable the magnetic field strength and direction to be estimated for any point on the globe at any time. Andrew Lewis from Geoscience Australia has supplied tables of modelled declination values for Newcastle, extending back to 1770, as well as recent observations from Williamtown Airport (1969-1992). The models for the period since 1900 are more accurate than for preceding periods, because there is much more detailed information available to control the modelling. This explains the step in the plotted model results at 1900, and also the divergence between the locally observed and model values before 1900.

Acknowledgements This presentation is a combination of the work of all members of the Coal River Working Party . The work of the CRWP has been supporteed financially by a grant of $10,000 from Newcastle City Council, backing by University of Newcastle , and the time and effort freely given by the individual and corporate members of the working party. Figure 1 Aerial photo of Newcastle with Coal River sites Figure 2 Barallier plan (1801) Figure 3 Detail of Barallier plan (1801) with an overlay of Hunter River and towns Comparison of the 1801 plan and the modern overlay shows the local accuracy of th early surveying , and the effect of the cumulative errors in bearing and distance while surveying up the rivers. The names that Paterson gave to sections of the rivers have changed, with the river north of Raymond Terrace now being called the Williams, the river flowing in from the west being the Hunter, and the Paterson joining the Hunter from the north near Morpeth. The Hunter River between Maitland and Morpeth has been straightened, both naturally during floods and by the construction of levee banks The islands and mudflats of the lower Hunter estuary facing Newcastle Harbour have been reclaimed using ship ballast and dredge spoil and are now the location of the Kooragang and Port Waratah coal loaders, while some areas have been retained as world-significant nature reserves for migratory birds. Figure 4 Detail of Barallier plan (1801) – harbour

Figure 5 Mine plan (1804) Figure 6a Detail of Mine plan (1804) – workings

Fig 6b Detail of Mine plan (1804) with an overlay of interpreted workings Figure 7 Detail of Mine plan (1804) – table of bearings and distances

Figure 8 Detail of Mine plan (1804) – First mine planning in Australia

Figure 9 Detail of Mine plan (1804) - “flukin” - Fig 10 Flagstaff Hill – Definition of drift sites, (2004), subsequently used for geophysical surveys. Fig 11 Foreshore changes The dark blue line is the 2007 foreshore line (see Fig 1), highlighting the extensive changes to the landscape since the establishment of Newcastle in 1804. Barallier's 1801 map of the harbour area has been used as the basis for the Muloobinbah image. Muloobinbah (place of edible sea fern) is the Awabakal name for the Newcastle city area Fig 12 (a,b,c) (2006), with superimposed b&w photo (c1900) The tunnel is visible in the 1900 photo at the base of the cliff directly below the lighthouse. The line of the breakwater, the historic Nobbys lighthouse, and the background Newcastle skyline have been used to set up this overlay. Detailed examination of the Nobbys cliff-face shows that the face has retreated since 1900 due to small rockfalls. Figure 13 GPR section (South to North), showing anomaly due to tunnel under road near Drift 1 site

Figure 14 Drilling. The concrete ramparts at road level date from the construction of Fort Scratchley (1881-1885), while the lighter coloured concrete above was added in the 20th century

Figure 15 Camera in void, Borehole 5 at Drift 3 site:, showing coal face Figure 16a Drillhole locations

Figure 16b Drillhole sections Figure 17 Historical change in magnetic declination - Note: no observed values have been used between 1905 and 1950 The BGS and IGRF model data was supplied by Geoscience Australia