THE VENUS BATTERY CHARTERS TOWERS THE VENUS BATTERY A conservation management plan for the Charters Towers City Council n © COPYRIGHT Allom Lovell Pty Ltd, August 01 \\NTServer\public\Projects\01052 ChartersQHTN\Reports\Venus Battery\r01.doc THE VENUS BATTERY CONTENTS n i 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 THE STUDY TEAM 2 1.2 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 2 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE 4 2.1 THE TOWN THEY CALLED “THE WORLD” 4 THE FIRST GOLDFIELDS 4 MILLCHESTER 5 2.2 MILLCHESTER 10 2.3 THE VENUS MILL 10 A NEW OWN ER 12 THE CYANIDE PLANT 13 A STATE BATTERY 15 THE DEPARTMENT OF MINES 17 THE NATIONAL TRUST 19 2.4 THE PRESENT SITE 20 ARCHAEOLO GICAL SITES 24 THE MACHINERY 25 A NOTE ON THE CRUSHING AND TREATMENT PROCESS 27 3 UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE 29 3.1 ABOUT CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE 29 3.2 CHARTERS TOWERS GOLD BATTERIES 29 OTHER SURVIVING BATTERIES 30 THE VENUS BATTERY CONTENTS n ii 3.3 STATE BATTERIES 31 3.4 THE TOWN OF MILLCHESTER 32 3.5 THE MACHINERY 33 3.6 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE 33 4 A VISION 35 USE 35 CONSERVATION 36 VISITOR FACILITIES 37 INTERPRETATION 37 5 CONSERVATION POLICY 39 5.1 MANAGEMENT 39 SINGLE ENTITY IN CONTROL 39 APPROPRIATE SKILLS 40 STAFF REQUIREMENTS 40 DISASTER PLANNING & MANAGEMENT 40 5.2 AN APPROACH TO CONSERVATION 41 BURRA CHARTER 41 ACTION INFORMED BY SIGNIFICANCE 41 MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR 42 PATINATION 42 RECONSTRUCTION 43 RESTORATION 43 5.3 COMPATIBLE USE 43 5.4 THE SITE AND SETTING 44 INTRUSIVE ELEMENTS 44 VIEWS TO THE SITE 44 ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS 45 THE BOUNDARY OF THE SITE 46 THE VENUS BATTERY CONTENTS n iii THE FORMER MILLCHESTER TOWNSHIP 46 NEW STRUCTURES 46 LANDSCAPING 47 5.5 THE ELEMENTS 47 THE MILL (BATTERY) 47 THE ASSAY ROOM 48 THE CYANIDE PLANT 49 TAILINGS PITS 50 THE WEIGHBRIDGE 50 TOILET BLOCK 50 GLADSTONE CREEK 50 5.6 VISITORS 51 VISITOR EXPECTATION 51 VISITOR FACILITIES 51 ACCESS 52 6 IMPLEMENTATION 54 PREPARE INTERPRETATION PLAN 54 PREPARE SCHEMATIC DESIGNS FOR THE ADAPTATION OF THE COMPLEX 54 DOCUMENT CONSERVATION AND ADAPTATION WORKS 54 OBTAIN STATUTORY APPROVALS INCLUDING QHC APPROVAL 54 DOCUMENT INTERPRETATION WORKS 54 CONSTRUCTION WORKS 54 INTERPRETATION WORKS 55 7 APPENDIX 56 7.1 RECENT WORKS 56 7.2 CONDITION 57 STRUCTURE GENERALLY 57 ROOFS 58 GUTTERS AND DOWNPIPES 58 WALL SHEETING 58 FLOORS – MAIN BUILDING 59 THE EXTERIOR GENERALLY – MAIN BUILDING 59 7.3 CONSERVATION WORKS 59 THE VENUS BATTERY CONTENTS n iv FURTHER INVESTIGATION 60 STRUCTURAL REPAIRS – MAIN BUILDING 61 STRUCTURAL REPAIRS – CYANIDE PLANT 61 ROOF AND RAINWATER GOODS – MAIN BUILDING 62 ROOF AND RAINWATER GOODS - CYANIDE PLANT 62 WALL SHEETING – MAIN BUILDING 63 WALL SHEETING - CYANIDE PLANT 63 FLOORS – MAIN BUILDING 63 THE EXTERIOR GENERALLY – MAIN BUILDING 63 OTHER WORKS 64 7.4 ESTIMATES OF COST 68 7.5 CRUSHING RECORD 85 7.6 NOTES 86 THE VENUS BATTERY 1 INTRODUCTION n 1 1 INTRODUCTION he Venus Battery at Millchester is one of the few surviving physical T links to the gold mining past of Charters Towers and the wider region. A crushing and processing plant, the battery was in continuous use to enable the extraction of gold from 1872 to the late 1960s. Since the mid 1970s the site has been operating as a tourist attraction in Charters Towers. 1.1 B ACKGROUND The Queensland Heritage Trails Network is a major initiative of the Queensland government to promote cultural tourism in Queensland, with the development of a number of tourism-related projects across the state. As part of this program the Charters Towers City Council has received funding from the Queensland Heritage Trails Network for the development of a number of projects in the town related to cultural tourism. The Venus Battery conservation management plan is one of four studies being prepared for sites in Charters Towers. Conservation management plans are being prepared for the Stock Exchange Arcade in the centre of the city and for Towers Hill to the south of the town. A report is also being prepared for the “One Square Mile” area in the town which examines the original town area designated in 1877 and the buildings within that one square mile area. Situated on land fronting Jardine Street and Gladstone Creek at Millchester and described as Reserve R214, Lot 33 on DV 480 (reserve for museum purposes), the site is managed by the National Trust of Queensland and included on their heritage list. The site is also entered in the Register of the National Estate of the Australian Heritage Commission, a statutory authority of the Commonwealth government, and in the Queensland Heritage Register under the legislative provisions of the Queensland Heritage Act 1992. While some of these registers merely recognise the cultural significance of the complex and have no statutory authority the entry of the Venus Battery in the Queensland Heritage Register places certain restrictions on 1 its future development which will require the approval of the A current view of the Venus Battery and a locality plan within the former settlement of Queensland Heritage Council. Millchester. [Allom Lovell] This conservation plan is part of the process of understanding the cultural significance of the battery and in developing policies to guide future use and development of the place. It has been carried out following the general principles of the Burra Charter of Australia ICOMOS and the guidelines to that document. Historical information about the development of the site has been gathered and analysed in THE VENUS BATTERY 1 INTRODUCTION n 2 order to arrive at an understanding of the cultural significance of the battery and the wider site. This process has been informed by an analysis of the physical fabric of the site and the building. Conservation policies have been drafted to provide guidance so that the cultural significance of the complex can be conserved in any new proposals for work to the building. A condition survey of the complex was undertaken and from this survey a scope of works and estimates of cost prepared. During the course of this study the National Trust of Queensland files were made available. Discussions were held with the former National Trust Architect Jinx Miles and with Gordon Landsberg of the Charters Towers Branch of the National Trust. Previous studies have been prepared for the site by the National Trust of Queensland and these have been referred to during the course of the present work. Other studies including a study of Mining Heritage Places by Jane Lennon and Howard Pearce in 1996 have also informed the present work. T HE STUDY TEAM The study team for this project included Allom Lovell Architects: Brisbane, Justin McCarthy of Austral Archaeology and Napier Blakely Quantity Surveyors. 1.2 S UMMARY OF FINDINGS The study confirms the listing of the Venus Battery in the Queensland Heritage Register and finds that the Venus Gold Battery is significant as part of the history of Charters Towers as a town founded on gold and whose wealth and influence in time became legendary in Queensland. It is one of only a few remnants of the industrial process of mining and of processing gold in that city. It dates from the earliest settlement of the town and remained a working battery until quite recently. It represents in both its general form and in the details surviving, the quintessential icon of both Charters Towers and that period of Australian history. The site contains all the essential elements of crushing, concentrating cyaniding and a great deal of associated infrastructure. In this it has value in demonstrating the process for which it was constructed. Indeed the Venus Battery is probably the largest and most complete compliment of gold processing plant and equipment in Australia and has cultural significance at a national level. Its conservation since 1975 when it became the property of the National Trust has been of a high order and those standards, and the philosophy of conservation adopted by the Trust should continue. Its proposed role as part of the wider visitor experience within the city is supported. The interpretation of the site and the visitor facilities to be provided will THE VENUS BATTERY 1 INTRODUCTION n 3 however require a creative and sensitive solution to ensure that the significance of this place is in no way compromised. THE VENUS BATTERY 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE n 4 2 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACE he Venus Battery is a remarkable survivor of the period of Charters T Towers history as a gold mining and processing area. Although it has been rebuilt a number of times since its initial establishment in 1872, the site contains important evidence of gold crushing machinery and the various processes involved in the extraction of gold from the stone mined for ore from the halcyon days of Charters Towers. 2.1 T HE TOWN THEY CALLED “ THE WORLD” For a short time in the late nineteenth century, the gold field town of Charters Towers was the second largest city in the colony of Queensland. With a population of more than 25,000 at its peak the city was central to the mining and pastoral activities in the region, and was known by locals and others as, “The World”. T HE FIRST GOLDFIELDS The goldfields at Charters Towers in the late nineteenth century were the richest fields in north Queensland. They provided excellent returns of gold, from 1872 when gold was first discovered in the region, until the early twentieth century. In 1872 four men, George Clarke, Hugh Mosman, ‘John’ Fraser, and an Aborigine Jupiter Mosman first found gold in the area at the base of Towers Hill.