Handwritten notes on Cornish Pumping Engines, Ref. Dickers Mining Record, vol. 1, No 9 July 1862, Page 17. Notes give details of the Cornish Pumping Engines, actual horsepower, coal consumption and size of boilers.document, gold, mining reports, cornish pumping engines, dickers mining record vol 1 no 9 july 1862, sir charles lemon, consolidated mines, mr guy, phillips and darlington's record of mining

The 1st edition of this famous work, giving an excellent account of the machinery used in late 19th century metal mining in the UK and overseas is very rare. It covers a wide range of equipment - pumps, steam engines, drills, winding engines, stamps & concentration mills, aerial ropeways, tramways and early uses of electricity etc. Brown hard cloth covered book. xvi 564 pages with additional advertisements, with over 300 illustrations and drawings, some fold out. Chapters include Water as a motive power, Wind engines and ventilating machinery, Steam boilers/engines and oil engines, hoisting machinery, draining of Mines, pumping engines, rock drilling machinery, boring machinery, concentration machinery, sizing and classifications trommels, joggers and jigging, fine concentration, milling of gold ores, milling of silver ores, amalgamation plates and machinery, dry and roasting machinery, chlorination and cyandide processes for the extraction of gold, electricity as a motive power for mining, electric lighting and blasting, aerial wire ropeways, transport by rail and road. There a a number of lovely line illustrations in the book including: Poncelot's undershot waterwheel; Fromont furnace;Victor turbine; Pelton waterwheel; Root's positive blower;Cross section and front elevation of Lancashire boiler; Robey's Compound Mill Engine; Portable Winding Plant; Iron Pit Head Gear ; Loading Arrangement in an Incline Shaft; kibble; Worthington Pump; California Pump; Scram's Air Compressor; Rock drill Bits; Special Sharpening tools; Boring tools;Rotating Picking table; Ore Feeder; roller crusher; stamp battery; round buddle; slime table; vanner; amalgamating plant; belt elevator;roasting furnace;splicing wire rope; capel; tipping waggon;mining, cornish pump, linkenbach table, water wheel, ventilation, oil engine, california, america, water, steam boilers, steam engines, oil engines, pumpimg, rock drilling, boring, jiggers, milling, silver, gold, drying and roasting, chlorination, cyaniding, lead, zinc, copper, electricity, electric lighting, wire ropes, transport, wind engine, poppet head

Handwritten notes, typed copies of same, on the New Red, White & Blue Consolidated. Extracts from the Mine Manager's Report 16/12/1903. Mine Manager was W. Hicks. Notes refer to a Cornish Lift Pump. The second extract refers to a new Winding Engine. Dated July 24th 1906. Albert Richardson Collectiondocument, gold, new red, white & blue consolidated, new red, white & blue consolidated mine, extracts from mine manager's report, a harkness & co, w hicks, ar

Running through this reserve was one of Victoria's richest gold deep leads. From 1869 to 1896 this mine produced 216,000 ounces of gold, valued at over £885,000. The Timor area was mainly mined by the Duke and Timor Gold Mining Company, later known as Duchess of Timor, Duke, and Grand Duke. On 03 May 1869, at a traditional afternoon ceremony, the machinery was started and launched by the old process of 'giving it a name'. A baptismal ceremony was performed, with a Miss Eliza Watson dashing a bottle of champagne over the fly wheel on its first revolution and proclaiming its name to be 'The Galatea'. The mine here was renowned for the massive pumping engine it boasted. Imported from England, the massive Cornish pump was an improvement that was added in 1874. It had a 30 ton iron beam. The mine was the economic centre of this area, employing hundreds of men over its 27 years. At the height of its operation the company's proprietors boasted that nearly all the inhabitants of the nearby towns of Timor and Bowenvale depended on the mine for support. There were some tumultuous times at the mine, with periods of financial strife as well as accidents. When the pumps broke down in 1879 the mine flooded and remained out of action for two years. Mining was a dangerous occupation and a tragic accident in December 1883 claimed the lives of four men. As the ground here was so wet, pumping water out of the mine was crucial to safely reach the gold. It was this pumping engine, reported to be the largest of its kind in Australia, and comparable in size to just two others in the world, that was the key to the success of the Grand Duke mine. Many other smaller nearby mines also had their water pumped out. During the last seven years of the mine's operation it pumped out 2,000 gallons of water every minute, making this the longest and most continuous wet mine in the state. As well as the pump house and engine, there were four main shafts, 12 Cornish flue boilers, eight iron puddling machines and one battery of 20 heads. A massive pumping engine The arch before you is all that remains of the pump house that served to remove water from this mine. When mining started at Timor in the late 1860s the ground here was very wet. If miners were to have any success in reaching the gold they had to remove the water from the ground. To deal with this challenge the company imported a massive Cornish pumping engine from England to pump water out of the mine. It was reputed to be one of the best pumping engines in the world at the time. The engine generated 270 horsepower and its iron beam, weighing 30 tons, was the largest in Victoria. The beam of the large pumping engine see-sawed on this pump house wall to move the plunger or bucket in the pump up and down. The vertical cylinder was 80 inches in diameter with a stroke of 10 feet. The piston itself was eight inches in diameter and 17 feet high and the piston pump had a diameter of 22 inches. For such large engines a massive wall to support the beam was necessary. The piston operated on the downstroke and consequently the cylinder had to be anchored to a considerable foundation to overcome the weight of the pump rods in the shaft. The whole apparatus had to be contained in a tall building because of its vertical configuration. The pumping engine's building has beam walls six feet wide and over 26 feet long which rest on foundations 16 feet deep. The granite used to construct the arch was quarried at Mt Hooghly, some eight or nine kilometres away.Colour photographs of the Grand Duke Mine at Timor near Maryborough, Victoria.grand duke mine, timor, maryborough, mining, duke and timor gold mining company, duchess of timor

Handwritten notes on mining machinery sold at auction. South St Mungo - Winding Engine. Pair of 15 ? Cyl. Winding Engines. 7 ft Winding Gear. Also, Jackass Boiler. Feed Pump, Trucks, Rails, Flat Sheets, Poppet Heads, Housing, etc. Sold for 270 pounds. Purchaser H Ralph for Austral Drill Co. Lady Barkly Company - 12-inch Cylinder Winding Engine. 8 ft Winding Gear. Cornish Flue Boiler, Feed Pump, Rails, Poppet Heads, Housing, etc. Sold for 162 pound 10 shillings. Purchaser W. J. Sever, Mining Merchants, Melb. Crushing Battery - Complete 40 Head Battery. Tandem Compound Engine. 11 in & 22 in Cylinders. High Press, Boilers, Electric Lighting Plant. 6 in Cyl. High Speed Engine, Fire-proof, Feed Pump, Rails, Flat Sheets, Tools & Sundries. 1000 pound to R. Ralph. These three mining plants, complete. Sold by Messrs. Bell, Lambert and Nixon - Auctioneers. Ref; Bendigo Advertiser. July 14th, 1910, Page 2.document, gold, new chum & victoria lines of reef, mining machinery new chum line eaglehawk, south st mungo, h ralph, austral drill co, lady barkly company, w j sever, crushing battery, messrs bell, lambert and nixon

This Tangye B-size, single-cylinder, horizontal steam engine was likely manufactured in England around the mid-1880s. It was distributed by Melbourne machinery merchants Cameron & Sutherland, which also operated in Bendigo and Ballarat. A local cheese maker once used the engine to drive factory equipment. It was later donated to the Warrnambool Technical School, which then donated it to Flagstaff Hill to add to its historical steam engine collection. Between its manufacture and its donation to Flagstaff Hill, the governor had been replaced by the current Pickering governor. This engine design was very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When connected and powered up, the engine could drive an overhead line shaft via a flat belt off its flywheel. The line shaft would then drive the machinery via flat belts. It could drive virtually any type of machinery, such as water and sewerage pumps, mine elevators, winches, cranes, metal forges, air blowers, and marine machinery. This engine features a mechanical governor, which controls the speed of the engine regardless of whether it is under load. It also has a water pump built into the valve rod, which is used to supply the boiler with water. Steam enters the cylinder via a slide valve and applies pressure to the piston; it is like a modern internal combustion engine, but in the case of the steam engine, the pressure is exerted in turn on either side of the piston. In other words, the connecting rod is pushed by steam via the piston and piston rod and then pulled back again by steam pushing on the opposite side of the piston. Thus, power is exerted almost continuously, except at the end of each piston stroke, when it reverses direction. In the 1880s, many local butter and cheese manufacturers installed Tangye steam engines to power their machinery. A comprehensive article in the Gippsland Mercury in September 1889 extolled the magnificence of the Farnham Butter Factory in Dennington, Warrnambool, and described how one Tangye engine was used to drive several machines in the cheese- and butter-making processes. A report in the Warragul Guardian in December 1890 notes that the newly opened Warrnambool Butter Factory used a Tangye steam engine to pump water from a 60-foot well. Tangye: Richard Tangye (1833–1906) and four of his brothers—James, Joseph, Edward, and George—were the sons of Joseph Tangye, a Quaker Cornish miner. In 1857, they founded the engineering firm Richard Tangye & Brothers in Birmingham, UK. In 1860, the firm became Tangye Brothers and moved to Cornwall Works in Birmingham. The business encouraged inventors to join the company and develop their patents there, as happened with Weston’s differential pulley block, invented by the Englishman Thomas Aldridge Weston in 1854. Tangye bought the patent in 1858, giving the firm the sole right to manufacture it. The design received a medal for “original application, practical utility and success” at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Also in 1858, the Tangye firm was commissioned by Brunel’s shipping company to manufacture hydraulic lifting jacks, or rams, to launch the steamship SS Great Eastern. The success of this project brought favourable attention to the firm, and it became involved in other notable projects, including the erection of Cleopatra’s Needle in London in 1878 and work on the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland. The firm underwent several name changes over the years, including James Tangye and Brothers (1857), Tangye Brothers and Price (1859), Tangye Brothers (1860), Tangye Brothers & Holman (1876), Tangye Brothers (by 1878), Tangye Ltd. (1881), and then simply Tangye. Its machinery and equipment were exported worldwide. In 1884, a branch with showrooms, offices, and a warehouse was opened in Melbourne at Cornwall House, Collins Street West. The firm was well known for producing high-quality machinery for agriculture and industry. Even today, new Tangye machinery is available for a subsidiary of Allspeeds. An extensive account of the firm’s history, names, inventions, and further references is available in Grace’s Guide, which also includes references to and diagrams of the Tangye horizontal steam engine. The horizontal steam engine was made by the well-known engineering firm Tangye, known for its high quality of manufacture. It was an important development in machinery because it helped improve productivity. Engines of this type are still used in some parts of the world today. This engine is a good example of a late 19th-century steam engine used in industry and agriculture and adapted for many different purposes. It is also important locally because it was connected to a local cheese making business and part of the thriving western district dairy industry. It may have been one of the Tangyes engines used at the Farnham butter factory or the Warrnambool Butter Factory, which was reported to be one of the most important in the Colony. It is also connected to the Warrnambool Technical School, established in 1968. Steam engine: stationary Tangye Size B, single-cylinder, horizontal Mill type steam engine. It has a 4-inch diameter cylinder with an 8-inch stroke. The body is painted green, and the Pickering governor is red. It was manufactured in Birmingham, England, in accordance with Tangye's Patent 238930, and distributed by Cameron and Sunderland, Melbourne, in the mid-1880s. TANGEYS PATENT BIRMINGHAM B SIZE 238930 CAMERON & SUTHERLAND MELBOURNE THE PICKERING PORTLAND . GOVERNOR . CONN. U.S.A.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, maritime village, maritime museum, flagstaff hill maritime museum and village, shipwreck coast, great ocean road, machine, invention, engine, steam, steam engine, horizontal steam engine, tangyes horizontal steam engine, stationary steam engine, single cylinder steam engine, manufacturing, farming, pumps, lifting equipment, engines, machine tools, hydraulic rams, hydraulic pumps, steam pumps, differential pulleys, mill type steam engine, 4 inch cylinder, weston’s differential pulley, thomas aldridge weston, 1862 international exhibition in london, brunel, ss great eastern, cleopatra’s needle, forth road bridge, cornwall house, collins street melbourne, agricultural machinery, industrial machinery, allspeeds, dairy, pump, richard tangye & brothers, james tangye and brothers, tangye brothers and price, tangye brothers, tangye brothers & holman, tangyes ltd., tangye, richard tangye, james tangye, joseph tangye, edward tangye, george tangye, cornwall works, birmingham, pickering governor, pickering portland connecticut usa, 19th century, dairy plant, steam power, tangye's patent 238930, tangye b size engine, cameron & sutherland, machine merchants, 1880s, mid-1880s, cheese manufacturer, butter manufacturer, diary industry, warrnambool technical school, belt driven machinery, agriculture, mechanical governor, farnham butter factory, warrnambool butter factory

This "Cornish" organ was imported by Thomas Sebire of Wandin in 1911. In 1942 it was bequeathed to his daughter, Edna (Mrs. G. Andrews of Wandin) and by her to her daughter, Beverly (Mrs. L.D. Creek of Nhill) in 1971. Mrs Creek has made this organ available for the Wandin Historical Display. Mrs. G. Andrews was organist of the Wandin Methodist Church from 1927 to 1942. Owned and used by Thomas Sebire.Pump organ with pedals. Has carved decoration on front and sides."Cornish Company, Washington New Jersey USA"harmoniums, organs

This picture is dated to 1906 and depicts an open cut sluicing site located in El Dorado captured looking west from the No.1 Bedrock Site. Sluicing was undertaken in the area from 1900 to 1942 with some short breaks between these periods. The image depicts a location mined by Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Sluicing Company (as recorded on the annotation on the card mount). It portrays open cut rocks with a crevice in the center of the image where the sluicing was being undertaken. The Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines N.L was one of El Dorado's two largest open cut sluicing mines of the 20th Century. The other was named the Cocks El Dorado Gold Dredging Company. The Cocks Pioneer Mines operated from 1901 until 1941 and found a total of 117,378 ounces of Gold and 1,673 tones of tin concentrates over these years. The Cocks company was formed in 1898 and operated until 1941. Open cut sluicing involved the use of high-powered hoses which used the centrifugal sand pump system (known as hydraulic sluicing) which broke down the soil which was then processed for gold and other precious metals. From 1914 , four years after this image was captured, the company reformed to Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL (previously it was known as Cocks Pioneer Sluicing Co) and undertook large scale sluicing operations until 1929 and then 1934-1941. El Dorado is located on Reedy Creek and is surrounded by forested country to the north and east. It is 20 km east of Wangaratta in Victoria's regional north-east. John Cock was the son of a Cornish minor who arrived in El Dorado in 1858. Cock founded his gold and tin mining company which ran successfully for many years in the El Dorado region. It was an open cut sluicing company because of the abandonment of underground mining after this was deemed too dangerous. In 1935 Cock's El Dorado Company commissioned the floating dredge which is still visible in El Dorado today. The dredge was built by the Thompson engineering works, Castlemaine, and weighed over 2,000 tones and today has a place on the Victorian Registers of historic buildings. Interestingly, the name El Dorado does not derive from the gold in the region, but from the Barambogie pastoral run completed by William Baker in 1840-1841. Gold was discovered in El Dorado 1854 but the gold was too deep for individual prospectors to find, it required the use of heavy machinery.The search for gold is ingrained into the history of Victoria and therefore, images like this one which portray an open cut sluicing site can reveal important information for society and technology for the date when the photograph was taken. This image is of important historical significance for its ability to convey information about sluicing and the methods used to find gold in 1906. It also shows a location where sluicing was undertook which provides insight into the impact of sluicing on the environment at a time when it was done. This image is important for current research into the history of El Dorado, a small regional location near Wangaratta in Victoria's North East. Therefore, this image has the capacity to be beneficial for research into society and the motivations of those living and working in this region during this period and therefore, has social significance. The Beechworth Burke Museum has additional images relating to gold sluicing and El Dorado which can be analysed and studied alongside images like this one.Sepia coloured rectangular photograph printed on gloss photographic paper mounted on board.Obverse: COCKS PIONEER Q + T SL CO, N.L. / 1906 / No.1 BED ROCK SITE LOOKING WEST Reverse: 1997 2612 A02612el dorado, north east gold, sluicing, gold sluicing, hydraulic sluicing, gold and tin mine, open cut mining, mining, gold mining, north-east victoria, beechworth, burke museum, 1906

The photo from 1907-8 is a sepia print, depicting a small valley with building at base. There are flumes visible above areas of water, trees on hills and a few small cottages on the hillside. Cock's Pioneer Gold & Tin Sluicing Co NZ No 2 Site. The photo was taken of Matthews Gully looking west. Sluicing was undertaken in the area from 1900 to 1942 with some short breaks between these periods. The image depicts a location mined by Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Sluicing Company (as recorded on the annotation on the card mount) The Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines N.L was one of El Dorado's two largest open cut sluicing mines of the 20th Century. The other was named the Cocks El Dorado Gold Dredging Company. The Cocks Pioneer Mines operated from 1901 until 1941 and found a total of 117,378 ounces of Gold and 1,673 tones of tin concentrates over these years. The Cocks company was formed in 1898 and operated until 1941. Open cut sluicing involved the use of high-powered hoses which used the centrifugal sand pump system (known as hydraulic sluicing) which broke down the soil which was then processed for gold and other precious metals. From 1914 , four years after this image was captured, the company reformed to Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL (previously it was known as Cocks Pioneer Sluicing Co) and undertook large scale sluicing operations until 1929 and then 1934-1941. El Dorado is located on Reedy Creek and is surrounded by forested country to the north and east. It is 20 km east of Wangaratta in Victoria's regional north-east. John Cock was the son of a Cornish minor who arrived in El Dorado in 1858. Cock founded his gold and tin mining company which ran successfully for many years in the El Dorado region. It was an open cut sluicing company because of the abandonment of underground mining after this was deemed too dangerous. In 1935 Cock's El Dorado Company commissioned the floating dredge which is still visible in El Dorado today. The dredge was built by the Thompson engineering works, Castlemaine, and weighed over 2,000 tones and today has a place on the Victorian Registers of historic buildings. Interestingly, the name El Dorado does not derive from the gold in the region, but from the Barambogie pastoral run completed by William Baker in 1840-1841. Gold was discovered in El Dorado 1854 but the gold was too deep for individual prospectors to find, it required the use of heavy machinery.The search for gold is ingrained into the history of Victoria and therefore, images like this one which portray an open cut sluicing site can reveal important information for society and technology for the date when the photograph was taken. This image is of important historical significance for its ability to convey information about sluicing and the methods used to find gold in 1910. It also shows a location where sluicing was undertook which provides insight into the impact of sluicing on the environment at a time when it was done. This image is important for current research into the history of El Dorado, a small regional location near Wangaratta in Victoria's North East. Therefore, this image has the capacity to be beneficial for research into society and the motivations of those living and working in this region during this period and therefore, has social significance. The Beechworth Burke Museum has additional images relating to gold sluicing and El Dorado which can be analysed and studied alongside images like this one.Sepia coloured rectangle photograph printed on gloss photographic paper Reverse: 1997. 2613/ A02613/ No2 site/ Matthews Gully/ Cocks Pioneer G&T. ?? Co NZ/ No2 Site looking West/ 1907-8/ (7)sluicing, hydraulic sluicing, 1907, 1908, mining, cock's pioneer gold & tin sluicing co nz, nz, site no 2, matthews gully, west, valley, building, cottages, hillside, trees, water, gold and tin mine

Taken in 1906 this photograph shows the Red Rock Site of Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mine Sluicing Company with the view looking east. Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold and Tin Mine company was formed in 1899. By 1909 17,284 ounces of gold and 224 ton of tin ore had been recovered from the mine and it was deemed inadequate and uneconomical to continue. the mine was re-formed in 1914 and carried on large-scale hydraulic sluicing operations. Taken in 1906 this photograph shows the Red Rock Site of Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mine Sluicing Company with the view looking east. Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold and Tin Mine company was formed in 1899. By 1909 17,284 ounces of gold and 224 ton of tin ore had been recovered from the mine and it was deemed inadequate and uneconomical to continue. the mine was re-formed in 1914 and carried on large-scale hydraulic sluicing operations. Sluicing was undertaken in the area from 1900 to 1942 with some short breaks between these periods. The image depicts a location mined by Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Sluicing Company (as recorded on the annotation on the card mount). It portrays open cut rocks with a crevice in the center of the image where the sluicing was being undertaken. There is a large timber structure on the left hand side of the picture partially cropped in the frame. The Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines N.L was one of El Dorado's two largest open cut sluicing mines of the 20th Century. The other was named the Cocks El Dorado Gold Dredging Company. Open cut sluicing involved the use of high-powered hoses which used the centrifugal sand pump system (known as hydraulic sluicing) which broke down the soil which was then processed for gold and other precious metals. El Dorado is located on Reedy Creek and is surrounded by forested country to the north and east. It is 20 km east of Wangaratta in Victoria's regional north-east. John Cock was the son of a Cornish minor who arrived in El Dorado in 1858. Cock founded his gold and tin mining company which ran successfully for many years in the El Dorado region. It was an open cut sluicing company because of the abandonment of underground mining after this was deemed too dangerous. In 1935 Cock's El Dorado Company commissioned the floating dredge which is still visible in El Dorado today. The dredge was built by the Thompson engineering works, Castlemaine, and weighed over 2,000 tones and today has a place on the Victorian Registers of historic buildings. Interestingly, the name El Dorado does not derive from the gold in the region, but from the Barambogie pastoral run completed by William Baker in 1840-1841. Gold was discovered in El Dorado 1854 but the gold was too deep for individual prospectors to find, it required the use of heavy machinery. The search for gold is ingrained into the history of Victoria and therefore, images like this one which portray an open cut sluicing site can reveal important information for society and technology for the date when the photograph was taken. This image is of important historical significance for its ability to convey information about sluicing and the methods used to find gold in the early 1900s. It also shows a location where sluicing was undertook which provides insight into the impact of sluicing on the environment at a time when it was done. This image is important for current research into the history of El Dorado, a small regional location near Wangaratta in Victoria's North East. Therefore, this image has the capacity to be beneficial for research into society and the motivations of those living and working in this region during this period and therefore, has social significance. The Beechworth Burke Museum has additional images relating to gold sluicing and El Dorado which can be analysed and studied alongside images like this one.Sepia rectangular photograph printed on gloss photographic paper mounted on board. Obverse: COCKS PIONEER. G. & T. Sluicing Co. N.L./ 1906/ (9)/ No. 1 Bed Rock Site Looking East/ Reverse: 1997.2614 A02614mining, sluicing, gold, tin, john cock, cocks pioneer, sepia photograph, photograph, beechworth, goldfield, el dorado, gold and tin mine, burke museum

This photograph dating to 1910 depicts an open cut sluicing site located in El Dorado captured looking east up the open cut from the number 3 Barge site. Sluicing was undertaken in the area from 1900 to 1942 with some short breaks between these periods. The image depicts a location mined by Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Sluicing Company (as recorded on the annotation on the card mount). It portrays open cut rocks with a crevice in the center of the image where the sluicing was being undertaken. There is a small timber structure on the right of the image which could be an entrance to a mine or supports made of wood to prevent a cave in at the open cut site and above the cut rock there is bush. The timber structure has rail tracks on top of the bridge which could suggest the identification of this structure as a mine entrance. The rail tracks were used for little carts which hauled soil from the mine. The Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines N.L was one of El Dorado's two largest open cut sluicing mines of the 20th Century. The other was named the Cocks El Dorado Gold Dredging Company. The Cocks Pioneer Mines operated from 1901 until 1941 and found a total of 117,378 ounces of Gold and 1,673 tones of tin concentrates over these years. The Cocks company was formed in 1898 and operated until 1941. Open cut sluicing involved the use of high-powered hoses which used the centrifugal sand pump system (known as hydraulic sluicing) which broke down the soil which was then processed for gold and other precious metals. From 1914 , four years after this image was captured, the company reformed to Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Mines NL (previously it was known as Cocks Pioneer Sluicing Co) and undertook large scale sluicing operations until 1929 and then 1934-1941. El Dorado is located on Reedy Creek and is surrounded by forested country to the north and east. It is 20 km east of Wangaratta in Victoria's regional north-east. John Cock was the son of a Cornish minor who arrived in El Dorado in 1858. Cock founded his gold and tin mining company which ran successfully for many years in the El Dorado region. It was an open cut sluicing company because of the abandonment of underground mining after this was deemed too dangerous. In 1935 Cock's El Dorado Company commissioned the floating dredge which is still visible in El Dorado today. The dredge was built by the Thompson engineering works, Castlemaine, and weighed over 2,000 tones and today has a place on the Victorian Registers of historic buildings. Interestingly, the name El Dorado does not derive from the gold in the region, but from the Barambogie pastoral run completed by William Baker in 1840-1841. Gold was discovered in El Dorado 1854 but the gold was too deep for individual prospectors to find, it required the use of heavy machinery.The search for gold is ingrained into the history of Victoria and therefore, images like this one which portray an open cut sluicing site can reveal important information for society and technology for the date when the photograph was taken. This image is of important historical significance for its ability to convey information about sluicing and the methods used to find gold in 1910. It also shows a location where sluicing was undertook which provides insight into the impact of sluicing on the environment at a time when it was done. This image is important for current research into the history of El Dorado, a small regional location near Wangaratta in Victoria's North East. Therefore, this image has the capacity to be beneficial for research into society and the motivations of those living and working in this region during this period and therefore, has social significance. The Beechworth Burke Museum has additional images relating to gold sluicing and El Dorado which can be analysed and studied alongside images like this one.Sepia coloured rectangular photograph printed on gloss photographic paper mounted on board.Obverse: COCKS PIONEER Q + T SL CO, N.L. / 1910 / LOOKING EAST UP OPEN CUT / FROM NO3 BARGE SITE / Reverse: 1997 . 2611 / A02611el dorado, north east gold, sluicing, gold sluicing, hydraulic sluicing, 1910, gold and tin mine, open cut mining, mining, gold mining, north-east victoria, beechworth, burke museum