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The Beechworth Burke Museum
From the collection of The Beechworth Burke Museum
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Photograph, 1900-1912

  • Cropped photograph of a building in the middle ground with a large brick chimney stack to it's right- wood stacks beside it and a hill with trees in the background.

    A02610 (cropped obverse)

  • Photograph of a building in the middle ground with a large brick chimney stack to it's right- wood stacks beside it and a hill with trees in the background. Mounted on cardboard with writing (see transcript)

    A02610 (obverse)

  • Reverse of a cardboard photograph mount with writing (see transcript)

    A02610 (reverse)

  • Cropped photograph of a building in the middle ground with a large brick chimney stack to it's right- wood stacks beside it and a hill with trees in the background.
  • Photograph of a building in the middle ground with a large brick chimney stack to it's right- wood stacks beside it and a hill with trees in the background. Mounted on cardboard with writing (see transcript)
  • Reverse of a cardboard photograph mount with writing (see transcript)

Historical information

This photograph depicts a power house for the Cocks Pioneer Gold and Tin Sluicing Company and is dated 1900-1912. John Cock migrated to Victoria from Cornwall in 1854 and worked on the El Dorado mines for 20 years, before going on to become a superintendent and/or advisor to all Indigo shire deep lead companies of the 1890's. The Cocks Pioneer Electric Gold and Tin Co was formed in 1899 at El Dorado, an area to the east of Beechworth proper, which marked the transition in this area from traditional lead mining methods to open cut sluicing and was said to use pump hydraulic sluicing to best effect in the Beechworth division. This power house fuelled the mining operations of the company with a steam-powered generator.

Significance

This photograph has historic significance and research potential for study on the gold mining of the Beechworth region, specifically the new methods used, types of equipment, and the power sources required to fuel expanding mining operations after the initial gold rush of 1853-1854.

Physical description

A black and white rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper and mounted on board.

Inscriptions & markings

Obverse:
(5) /
Power House /
Cocks Pioneer Gold & Tin Sluicing Co. N.L. /
1900-1912

Reverse:
15 /
10 (?) /
1997.2610 /
A02610

Subjects

References

  • reCollections: Damage and Decay Heritage Collections Council (1998) reCollections: Damage and Decay, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Australian Government, accessed 19 September 2021.
  • reCollections: Caring for Cultural Material 1 Heritage Collections Council (1998) reCollections: Caring for Cultural Materials 1, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Australian Government, accessed 19 September 2021.
  • Beechworth A Titan's Field ISBN/ISSN: 0949905259 Woods C (1985) Beechworth, A Titan's Field, Hargreen Publishing Company, North Melbourne.
  • Photograph - Digital Image MM0025 Cocks Pioneer Gold & Tin Mines NL sluicing works, open cut hydraulic mine image - El Dorado Museum Association inc
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