Both Dick Richards and Jack Barker served as Principal of the Ballarat School of Mines.Letter from Dick Richards to Jack Barker, Principal of the Ballarat School of Mines. The letter discusses the upgrading of the Albert Medal to the George Cross. dick richards, jack barker, ballarat school of mines, albert medal, george medal, james richards, peter richards

Central Deborah Gold Mine history: At its peak, Central Deborah Gold Mine reached a depth of 412 metres. It has 17 separate levels and 15 kilometres of drives and cross cuts (tunnels). The Central Deborah was very much a hands-on mine and the conditions that the miners worked in would be considered shocking by today's standards – being lowered underground in a cage with only two sides, often working ankle to knee deep in water, filling up to 32 ore trucks a shift by hand which were then pushed a mile or more along rails in the drives, working by carbide lamp, breathing in the fumes and rock dust and communication by bells. Geez, they were ironmen. However, at the time working conditions were considered to be among the best on the goldfields at Central Deborah, after all it was one of the only mines that had hot showers. Following Central Deborah Gold Mine's closure, the Bendigo skyline began to noticeably change. Obvious remnants of mining such as poppet heads, engine rooms, service quarters, battery houses and chimneys were steadily disappearing. After intense lobbying by the local community, the Bendigo City Council purchased the still very much intact Central Deborah Gold Mine in 1970 for a mere $6,000 to ensure that a vital link to Bendigo's historic golden past was maintained. The Bendigo Trust was then formed to oversee the operations of the Central Deborah Gold Mine, which led to the surface of the mine being opened to the public in 1971. Initially the surface was open for just 12 hours a week and as the demand for viewing a part of Bendigo's history increased, so did the opening hours. In 1974 the mine was gazetted as a Public Historical Purposes Reserve and attracted such visitors as H.R.H Prince Charles. By far the greatest shortcoming at this stage was that no one could view the underground workings, as these had become flooded. After what could only be described as a monumental effort by everyone involved, Level 2 of the mine was officially opened to the public by the Premier of Victoria, the Honourable John Cain, on 20 June 1986, which brought to fruition a long standing dream.Black and white photograph. Two men with hard hats and lights, inspecting quartz outcrop on wall of drive at Central Deborah Gold Mine.gold mining, central deborah gold mine, ray beer, mine manager

The Ballarat School of Mines was created in 1870, and developed to become the educational facility it is today. Richard W. Richards was Principal of the school in 1958. This letter is from the Young Anglican Fellowship, Ballarat Zone Council's secretary Ian Thompson, thanking Principal of the School of Mines, for the loan of a work-bench to create a Begonia Festival float. The Begonia Festival is an annual Ballarat Festival, that began in 1953 to celebrate the eponymous flower. Letter from Young Anglican Fellowship - Ballarat Zone Council to Ballarat School of Mines, with pen annotations and signatures. ballarat begonia festival, school of mines, young anglican fellowship, ballarat zone council, ian thompson, work-bench, letter, principal, thanks, 1958, sebastopol, richard w richards, dick richards, r w richards

The Ballarat School of Mines was established in 1870, the first of its kind in Australasia. It later became a part of the University of Ballarat , then Federation University Australia.A roll of microfilm containing digitised images of each page of the first four Ballarat School of Mines Minute Books. 26 October 1870 ... The originl intention of the founders of the School - as per resolution of the Mining Bord was to hold the School at the Mechanics Institite Ballaarat and to have special rooms in that building set apart for this purpose. The reasons for this was that the Mechanics Institute had already rooms which could be used for these purposes and the pupils had easy access to the Libary and Museum belonging to that instituions, but after more mature consideration it was deemed advisabke to establish an indpependent institution and obtain a seperate buidling for the School. His Honor J.W. Rogers suggested that an effort should be made to obtain from the Government a lease of teh Old Court House at a pepper corn rent. The building at that time being out of repait and not used by the Government ...ballarat school of mines, minute books, annual report, microfilm, former ballarat circuit court, redmond barry, james flude, mining laboratory, james bickett, william stawell, judge rogers, constitution, mining board of ballarat, duncan gillies, william mclennan, ballarat mechanics' institute, judge warrington rogers, pepper corn rent, harrie wood, professor mccoy, james mcculloch, john alexander macpherson, williammclellan, master, arithmatic, mensuration, surveying, drawing, book-keeping, algebra, euclid, mining, chemistry, somerville learmonth, somerville livingstone learmonth, robert lewis, j.m. bickett, walter cotchett, usher, john cumming, philip russell, andrew anderson, a.h. king, william robertson, band of hope and albion consols, robert gibbs'james mcdowall, r.w. newman, jphn edward bakman, thomas gray, borough council of clunes, h.r. caselli, henry richards caselli, borough council of ballarat west, f.c. downes, l.s. christie, j.d. wanliss, francis summers, thomas whitelaw, h.b. de la poer wall, library donations, roderick murchison, robert brough smyth, museum donation, j.e. crocker, p.c. fitzpatrick, opening address, j.f. usher, edwin trenery, c.s. reeves, t.d. wanliss, john edward bathman, architect, robert davidson

Richard W. Richards was Principal of the Ballarat School of Mines, and was Physicist with the Shackleton Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917) . He was one of seven survivors of the Ross Sea Party who were stranded in Antarctical during Ernest Shackletyon's ill-fated 1914 expedition. xand Principal of the Ballarat School of Mines (1948-1958). Dick Richards died in 1985.Ten handwritten pages by Principal Richard Walter Richards relating to the running of the Ballarat School of Mines at the time if his retirementdick richards, richard w. richards, ballarat school of mines