Historical information

William Rae (1823-1887) was born into a farming family in Scotland and came to Australia in i852. After coming to the Bendigo area, he established a puddling machine in American Gully. He then bought a claim on the Victoria reef and was quite successful. Subsequently he bought a steam engine and three batteries to begin crushing quartz. This was such a boon that he moved to a more convenient location in Happy Valley, where he set up a crushing battery with 35 heads.

Physical description

Sketch of a crushing works. Printed underneath is: Wm. Rae's Crushing Works, Happy Valley, Bendigo. Written on the back is: Happy Valley Rd. South side below Wells St. Picture shows a crushing works building with a tall chimney and some smaller outbuildings. On the hill in the background are poppet legs, other mine structures and some trees. There are heaps of mullock and in the foreground are a number of people.