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The Beechworth Burke Museum
From the collection of The Beechworth Burke Museum
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Photograph - Photograph - Reproduction, 1890-1900

  • A black and white photograph taken from a high angle of rough terrain on the Rocky Mountain Mine. There is stone rubble spread across the landscape as well as mining equipment such as a vertical conveyor belt.

    7814 (cropped)

  • A black and white photograph taken from a high angle of rough terrain on the Rocky Mountain Mine. There is stone rubble spread across the landscape as well as mining equipment such as a vertical conveyor belt. There is a thin white border around the image.

    7814 (obverse)

  • A white card with an identification number in pencil.

    7814 (reverse)

  • A black and white photograph taken from a high angle of rough terrain on the Rocky Mountain Mine. There is stone rubble spread across the landscape as well as mining equipment such as a vertical conveyor belt.
  • A black and white photograph taken from a high angle of rough terrain on the Rocky Mountain Mine. There is stone rubble spread across the landscape as well as mining equipment such as a vertical conveyor belt. There is a thin white border around the image.
  • A white card with an identification number in pencil.

Historical information

The photograph appears to depict the of the entrance to the Rocky Mountain Tunnel. The Rocky Mountain Tunnel runs from opening of the tunnel, underneath the Beechworth town, to the Gorge. This tunnel drained the excess water from the upper Spring Creek Goldfield to allow for mining access in the area.

The Rocky Mountain Co. blasted through the granite rock to create the original 400ft-long tunnel in 1859, but between 1867 and 1871, the Rocky Mountain Gold Sluicing Co. widened and extended it. At its completion, it measured 14ft deep, 6ft wide, and almost half a mile long. The mining surveyor at Beechworth called it 'without doubt, the greatest undertaking of the kind in the colony'. When the company became the Rocky Mountain Extended Gold Sluicing Co. in the mid-1870s, they continued the tunnelling work. The work was reportedly vital to mining being able to continue at Beechworth and may have established world records in tunnelling through hard rock.

The entrance at the Gorge side of the tunnel can be seen from the Beechworth Gorge Walk. The tunnel continues to be an outfall drain for the lake and the town.

Significance

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 late 1800s and 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.

The Burke Museum is home to a substantial collection of Australian mining photographs which can be used to gain a deeper understanding into life on the gold fields, technology used in mining, the miners themselves and the impact of the gold digging on the environment.

Physical description

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

Inscriptions & markings

7814

Subjects

References

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