The A1 Gold Mine is located north of Woods Point, near Jamieson, in the Upper Goulburn region of Victoria. Gold was discovered at the A1 site in 1861 and mining operations began in 1864. The A1 Mine Settlement refers to a small township known variously as Castle Reef, Castle Point, and Raspberry Creek, which developed in the 1860s around mining industry centred on a crushing machine that worked the three gold reefs in the area. Historically, the name "A1"referred to the high quality of gold found in the quartz reefs at depths of at least two thousand feet. Along with the Morning Star mine at Woods Point, the A1 gold mine produced almost sixty percent of Victoria's gold output in the 1950s to 1970s and continued operating until 1992 when it went into administration. Operations at the site were revived in 2016 and the A1 Mine is now considered one of Victoria's premier gold mines. The A1 mine is part of the extensive and prospective Lachlan Fold Belt, a north-west trending belt of tightly folded Early Devonian sedimentary rocks extending from New South Wales to Victoria. Mineralisation is hosted within or immediately adjacent to diorite dykes. Contemporary development of the 'Queens Lode' at the A1 mine signals a move from high-grade, narrow vein airleg mining into larger scale, mechanical mining designed to increase ore production volume. This original, undated photograph of the A1 Mine appears to depict an area or phase of disuse or abandonment. The aged and humble appearance of the cottage suggests association with the historical A1 Mine Settlement, therefore the image may have been taken prior to the 1950s-1970s revival period in which the A1 mine is known to have produced high gold yields. The photograph contributes to our understanding of the A1 Gold Mine's impact on the landscape and the social, environmental impacts of mining on communities and may be compared with others in the Burke Museum's extensive collection of mining photographs to deepen our understanding of mining in the Jamieson area.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on photographic paperReverse: 5577 / A1 Mine / Near Jamieson / Vic. /burke museum, beechworth museum, beechworth, gold fields, gold rush, victorian gold rush, mining tunnels, gold ming history, colonial australia, australian gold rushes, mining technology, beechworth historic district, indigo gold trail, indigo shire, upper goulburn shire, jamieson, woods point-walhalla goldfield, a1 gold mine, victorian high country, modern mining methods, orogenic gold province, gold mineralisation, devonian, dykes

Peter Ruston was born in 1824 in Yorkshire. He migrated to Australia in 1850 where he found work as a bullock driver. By 1858 he had saved enough to buy his own bullock team and carted flour from the mill on the Plenty near Janefield to Greensborough and St Andrews. He later carted quartz from the mine at Queenstown (St Andrews) to the crushing plant at Panton Hill.A pioneer Greensborough family.Digital copy of black and white photograph.peter rustin, peter ruston

A short distance upstream from the old wooden Warrandyte Bridge, the Yarra river was at one time dammed to give power to a large wooden waterwheel which drove a plant for crushing gold. Up until around 1908 the waters of the Yarra, pent up by a stone weir, forced their way past this old wheel turning it to crush the precious quartz. In 1925 the reamins of the State Battery were removed. The large water wheel (thanks to the forethought of a local resident, Mr. P. Mackie) was left in its position.This photo forms part of a collection of photographs gathered by the Shire of Eltham for their centenary project book,"Pioneers and Painters: 100 years of the Shire of Eltham" by Alan Marshall (1971). The collection of over 500 images is held in partnership between Eltham District Historical Society and Yarra Plenty Regional Library (Eltham Library) and is now formally known as the 'The Shire of Eltham Pioneers Photograph Collection.' It is significant in being the first community sourced collection representing the places and people of the Shire's first one hundred years.Digital image 4 x 5 inch B&W Negshire of eltham pioneers photograph collection, warrandyte, water wheel, caledonia battery, state battery, warrandyte battery

The Ballarat School of Mines was the first school of technical education in Australasia.Double page, double sided, newspaper article from The Weekly Times with 10 images and captions depicting scenes within the School of Mines and Industries, Ballarat Technical Art School and Junior Technical School, Ballarat. Verso: Top Half page: 5 photographs on Callawadda, A pastoral district near Glenorchy Verso Bottom Half page: large photograph of boys attending the Junior technical school at Ballarat Verso Right hand page: 7 "Intersting photographs from England, Scotland and The United StatesSide A: Magazine- Section 8, The Weekley Times, Heading and captions, torn lower left corner to centre, small tears throughout especially left hand side and centre fold, Side B: the weekly times, school of mines and industries, scientific instruments, junior technical school, ballarat, smb, ballarat school of mines, university of ballarat, 1934, callawadda, glenorchy, boys, hutchings, mr j. c. hutchings j.p., state school, bryn avon homestead, broadcasting, mrs hutchings, sheep, xray, cancer treatment, northern belle, loch lomond, oxford college, red lion brewery, aldershot tattoo, siege of namur, battleship, idianapolis battleship, new york, quartz crushing battery, machine shop, pottery, electrical engineering, art department, dressmaking, building, woodwork, assaying, laboratory, architectural drawing, engineering drawing, drawing, assay, drawing from the antique, plaster casts, assay room, ballarat technical art school, bicycles

"The United Pyrites Company's Works are situated about three quarters of a mile from Spargo Brothers, and are on the northern side of the Marong road, in Pinch-gut Gully. Two processes are followed at these works, viz., the amalgamating process and the treatment by means of chlorine gas. The latter is called the Newbery-Vautin system, and the mode pursued is that laid down by Mr. Cosmo Newbery and Mr Vautin, whose names have been given to the process. Mr. Edwards manages these works. Three reverbatory furnaces are used to roast the pyrites, which is weighed in the truck before being put into the furnaces. At this weighbridge a sample of each lot is kept, and if the yield is not equal to expectation, the works are carefully gone over to see where the fault occurs. Care is taken at the furnace to regulate the heat, otherwise the pyrites might slag instead of roasting evenly right through. An immense revolving furnace (made of boiler iron) was used at these works. It was found to be suitable for treating blanket sand, but was not a success for roasting coarse pyrites. The process of amalgamating by means of Chilian mills is the same in these works as at the Western Works, but the United Works are on a larger scale, and eleven mills are utilised. It is the chlorine gas process which is most interesting here. The gas is made from sulphuric acid, black oxide of manganese, and common salt, and the gas is introduced into huge vats, where it works its way through a filter of pieces of quartz and then through the bed of roasted pyrites lying above. The action of the gas transforms the gold into chloride of gold. This is easily dissolved in water, and in that form is drawn off into huge delf jars, where the use of sulphate of iron precipitates the gold to the bottom. A small battery—eight head of stamps in two boxes—is in use here to crush small consignments of stone sent for trial. Test crushings come from all the Australasian colonies, and even from India. The jars used are manufactured at Epsom, and some of the salt used is also of home manufacture, from the Salt Lakes on the Northern plains. Mr. Edwards took us over a new building in course of erection, and in which the chlorine gas is to be generated in the midst of the pyrites— a still further advancement in the new process. There is some very good machinery in this new building, and the tailings from the ordinary pyrites works will also be treated by this chlorine gas system, which has been found to work well at Mount Morgan, in Queensland. The purest of gold is obtained by this process, the gold passing in solution into a charcoal filter, from which it emerges in the shape of metallic gold. We saw some nice cakes of retorted gold at the works. One of 26oz. was from some New Zealand pyrites (2½ tons), and assayed over 23 carats. There were also cakes of Avoca gold, of silver, and of the tremulous amalgam." (The Argus, 4 February 1887)Two handwritten letters to the Ballarat School of Mines on Bendigo United Pyrites Company Letterhead.bendigo united pyrites company, pyrites, ballarat school of mines, j.j. deeble, joel deeble, joel james deeble, a.m. dean, fred j. martell, martell, s.h. cowan, letterhead

The Sulieman Pasha is possibly named after the most important Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman One, or Suleiman the Magnificent, when the Ottoman Empire was at its peak. Or potentially a number of Ottoman governors, statesmen and military commanders with the same name after, however the spelling is slightly different to the mine name. No Turkish connection was found relating to the formation of the company, and remains unconfirmed. The mine operated from two shafts; No. 1 near the corner of Humffray and Mair streets, and also near where the Welcome Nugget (2217 ounces) was found years earlier; and the controversial No. 2 shaft several blocks south bordering the northern side of the main highway through Ballarat. The company produced 62 666 ounces of gold, the twelfth highest quartz reef gold production for any mine on the Ballarat goldfield. Some crushing figure examples are January-June 1881: 3674 tonnes 1085 ounces; January-June 1885: 2949 tonnes 1281 ounces; July-December 1885: 4459 tonnes 1119 ounces; January-June 1887: 1869 tonnes 730 ounces; July-December 1892: 1450 tonnes 771 ounces; July-December 1896: 4365 tonnes 1372 ounces. Like many mines in the area, gold grades were low. John Watson was noted as mine manager in the 1880s, and John Williams 1890s. The company was re-organised twice increasing the number of shares from 4000 to 24 000, and increasing the capital available. The Sulieman Pasha Company was formed in 1878. David Fitzpatrick was given the honour of turning the first sod of both the No.1 and later No. 2 shafts. The first dividend was given to shareholders in July 1881. The company obtained a prospecting vote (government grant) to start, and was very proud to be the first Victorian gold mining company to pay the funds back to the government. The event was marked by a lavish banquet laid out for ministers and government officials by the company. Leases were purchased to the south in 1885 to the Llanberris Mine boundary, after poor results began accumulating from the small No. 1 shaft. To take advantage of this new land the company planned to sink a second shaft. Initially this was to take place on government land, but the uproar from nearby residents caused the company to purchase land along the Main Road (now Western Highway), and the old Yarrowee Hotel which had occupied the site since the alluvial digger days of the 1850's was demolished. The area had since those days become heavily occupied with a number of shops, houses, a post office, church and two schools in the immediate area. The thought of an underground mine next door drew considerable opposition. The company (before the days of public relations departments) wrote 'most people would have thought that progress as vital as mining would be supported by tradesmen whose business rely on the mining industry. It seems when it comes to mining they are bereft of their senses, and considering the low ebb of mining in Ballarat East, the action of our opponents are unaccountable. (Sarcastically) There are certain engineering difficulties in moving the quartz reefs to a new location, but if we could to appease our opponents we would'. The company also wanted to take over 4 acres of the St Paul's school oval for machinery, but accused the St Paul's Church of wanting extortionate amounts of money upfront, and on a yearly basis for the privilege. It stated the church could not be opposed to mining when several years earlier it had formed its own company to mine the land, only for shareholders to lose their money. In 1886, the company approached the Minister for Mines, and attended heated public meetings on the matter. The local residents, shop owners, and church submitted a 60 person petition to the local council and government authorities. They stated the shaft contravened the mining statutes, which stating no mining could take place within 150 yards of a public building or church. A speech by a resident stated 'mining always comes with glorious pictures of the great benefits which would accrue all parties concerned if their request is granted, but if property is destroyed or depreciated in value, no-one then comes forward and compensates them'. The No. 2 shaft was approved including taking over part of the school oval. In 1888, workers at the company's No. 2 shaft went on strike to try and bring their wages in line with other mines in the district (the No. 1 shaft was operated by tributers). William Madden (26) was killed from a fall of earth underground the same year, while a year later his father John Madden (70) was similarly killed in the Madame Berry Mine elsewhere in the district. In 1897 as the amount of gold being found fell away, it came to light part of the deal to purchase the Yarrowee Hotel site was a 5% royalty on gold found. Shareholders could not understand why they were paying a royalty to the former owners of the property. The mine closed in 1898 due to a lack of gold. In 1902 a boy (age unknown) called Charles Lee was killed from a fractured skull while working to dismantle the Sulieman Pasha plant. The fuss over the No. 2 shaft had a sequel. On the company winding up, the land was purchased by J.S. Trethowan who built a house next to the shaft. In 1907, the shaft caved-in creating a sinkhole immediately at the back of the house. A Mr Chamberlain heard a deep rumbling sound at 5am, and looked out the window to see his fowl house and thirteen chickens disappear down an expanding hole. He then went back to bed, and called the police later in the day. The shaft was 1050 feet deep, and the hole at the surface that developed was 20 feet by 17 feet across, and 20 feet depth. In 1930 it is reported a syndicate had been formed to clean out the old shaft, and re-open the mine. It is assumed this was the No. 1 shaft but no more was found. (https://www.mindat.org/loc-304239.html, accessed 07/08/2019) A transverse section plan of the Sulieman Pasha Mine.sulieman pasha company, plan, mining, united black hill mine, victoria united mine, victoria street, britannia united mine, last chance mine, llanberris mine, ottoman empire, john watson, john williams, david fitzpatrick

Copies of all images from the 1887 version of Withers' 'History of Ballarat'. The images include copies of the Eureka Stockade reward posters. mail coach, eureka graves, ballaarat old cemetery, mining registrar's office, reward posters, lake wendouree, bakery hill, madame berry gold mining company, ballarat from bath's hotel, quartz crushing, black hill, horse puddler, pennyweight flat, aborigines, creswick, withers, william b. withers, history of ballarat

Framed sign relating to a 40 head crushing battery and winding plate of the model of the Band and Albion Consuls Gold Mining Company Ballarat, which was originally loaned by the Exhibition Commissioners to the Ballarat School of Mines Museum. band and albion consuls gold mining company, ballarat exhibition, ballarat school of mines museum

Joan O'Shea Collection. Victoria Hill Bendigo Gold Mining on the Richest Quartz Reef in Bendigo, from 1854 to 1916. Colour and Black and White Booklet 16 Pages. Includes Maps of the Victoria Hill Area, photographs of the remains of a twenty head crushing battery, burnt ground from quartz roasting, The Victoria Quartz Mine Photograph from Australian Mining Standard June 1899, The compressor beds and concrete foundations for the poppet legs all that remain today of the Victoria Quartz Mine deepest mine on Bendigo Goldfield 4613 feet or 1406.04 metres. Also included photograph of the view of Victoria Hill from The New Chum Hill in the 1870s. The Location of the 3 mines Ballerstedt's open cut, North Old Chum and Lansell's 180 are marked. A depiction of Rae's Open Cut gives an understanding of the primitive nature of early workings on the Goldfields. The Booklet also provides a brief history of Victoria Hill itself.Bendigo Trust Publication March 1972. Printed in Bendigo Cambridge Press.bendigo, mining, victoria hill

''The John Brown Knitwear Factory and its Historical Associations'' (A Richardson), a. Two pages of typed text; b. Two pages of hand-written text. References to: New Chum mine; Victoria mine; Big 180 mine; Victoria Reef Quartz mine; Victoria Quartz company; Little 180 mine; New Chum and Victoria crushing battery; ''Jeweller's Shop''; Advance mine;A. Richardsonbendigo, business, john brown knitwear, victoria hill, little 180 mine, new chum and the victoria crushing battery, marong road

3 Pages titled Victoria Hill. On one side is a sketch of W Rae's Home built in the early 1870's and Rae's Open Cut. Mentioned is a short history of Victoria Hill and the mine of Christopher Ballerstadt and his son Theodore. The remains of a 20 head crushing battery, which was originally the ten head crusher of the Little 180 Mine remains. It later became the twenty head New Chum Syncline Battery. Water became a problem and the New Chum Drainage Scheme was introduced and the cost of pumping and bailing was shared between the mines.bendigo, history, long gully history group, the long gully history group - victoria hill, gold mines hotel, christopher ballerstedt, theodore ballerstadt, ballerstadt's open cut, lansell's 180 mine, little 180 mine, new chum syncline battery, victoria reef quartz mining co, victoria quartz, new chum drainage system, w rae's home, rae's open cut

Three pages numbered 18/19, 20/21 and 22/23 titled Victoria Hill. First page has some information on Victoria Hill, a sketch of W Rae's Home and Rae's Open cut. The second page has a map of the Victoria Hill Area showing streets and the New Chum Anticline, a sketch of Ballerstedt's Open Cut and a Key to Victoria Hill Area Map. The third page mentions the Victoria Quartz mine, Tributors and quartz roasting. It also has sketch of a 20 Head Crushing Battery, Victoria Hill.bendigo, history, long gully history group, the long gully history group - victoria hill, gold mines hotel, christopher ballerstedt, theodore ballerstedt, ballerstedt's open cut, lansell's 180 mine, little 180 mine, new chum syncline battery, victoria reef quartz mining co, victoria quartz, new chum drainage scheme, a roberts and sons, tributors, william rae's bon accord mine and open cut, william rae, adventure and advance open cuts, central nell gwynne, heinz butcher shop

Black and white photograph, taken from the corner of Thistle and Chum Streets, Lansell's 'Fortuna' is in the background. Note is made of the following unusual features: 1. Poppet legs 125 feet high (tallest on the field) on the North side of Chum St; engine house on opposite side. 2. 'Cleopatra Needle' type square - sectioned chimney on left and mullock road, 65 feet from ground at landing brace, where quartz was trucked directly across to Lansell's crushing battery in his 'Fortuna' grounds.place, mining site, lansell's 222 mine

Interpretive sign and 4 photos Central Nell Gwynne Gold Mine, used in display. Central Nell Gwynne was located near the corner of Marong Road and Happy Valley Road. Opened in 1906, ceased operation in December 1949. Total production: 61,884 ounces of Gold. Today's Value: $99,014,400. Photos: a. Colour photo, concrete footings at mine site, April 2012. b. Colour photo, Central Nell Gwynne poppet head, April 2012.Poppet head painted white with red trim. Concrete footings in foreround. c. Central Nell Gwynne mine site 1930's. Poppet head and engine room sheds on LH side, trestle way to primary crusher and crushing battery. Tailing dam in immediate foreground. on RH side. Sand heaps in middle foreground. d. Central Nell Gwynne Mine 1930. Underground view, men holding carbide lamps working at 265 level in mine. Large quartz spur formation visible in foreground.bendigo, mining, central nell gwynne

Cast iron mercury bucket, used to hold mercury, potentially in the process of recovering minute pieces of gold mixed in soil and sediments. See research page for description of one process of using mercury to extract gold.gold mines, mining equipment, mercury bucket, miners used mercury in a number of ways to amalgamate gold, with each mill or battery operator having their preferred method depending on the nature of the ore. by the late 1850s the most common way of crushing goldbearing quartz ores or consolidated alluvial cements was in a stamp battery. the battery featured heavy iron stamp heads held in a frame, with each head often weighing up to 500 pounds (226 kg) or more (see msv 1880, page 45) (birrell 2005). stamp heads were lifted and dropped by a rotating overhead cam shaft driven by a steam engine or water wheel. ore was fed into a large cast-iron battery box, mixed with a steady stream of water, and pulverised by the stamp heads. in some batteries, mercury was placed in the base of the boxes to amalgamate with freed gold. the violent agitation of the mercury in the mortar box, however, could cause the mercury to break into myriad tiny globules that were carried away by the water with the tailings, thus losing a certain amount of gold in the process (thompson 1867; ritchie & hooker 1997). the water and sand slurry was splashed by the falling stamps from the box through fine mesh screens and onto inclined wooden tables below the mortar box (figure 2). the tables were covered with copper sheets or plates coated with mercury, which caught and amalgamated with a portion of the gold. the grey putty-like amalgam was periodically scraped off the sheets and retorted in a furnace to collect the gold and recover the mercury for reuse. mercury was inevitably lost from the plates, while poor maintenance resulted in further losses of gold and mercury in the tailings. mercury use and loss from gold mining in 19th century victoria. peter davies1, susan lawrence, and jodi turnbull, department of archaeology and history, la trobe university.

Document. Handwritten sheet of Bendigo Advertiser report of 26 Aug. 1856 and a photocopy of same. On Saturday last Messrs Bruce & Co. of the Metropolitan Crushing Works crushed two tons of quartz - from the claim of Messrs Faul & Co in Iron Bark, which yielded the large quantity of 180 oz. of gold. This claim is said to be remarkably rich, and to be inferior to few now in work in Bendigo. Vide Bendigo Advertiser Gold Report of August 26th 1856. Reverse side 'Gold Report 180 oz.from 2 tons 1856'.cottage, miners, bendigo advertiser gold report, messrs bruce & co., metropolitan crushing works, messrs faul & co.