Queensland's mining heritage
Stacks of historyEureka - early gold mining
Mining difficulties
Mining settlements
Other metals
Mining memories
If diamonds are a girl's best friend, what does that make gold, silver, tin, and copper? It makes them the precious metals which kick-started north Queensland's golden mining era.
Metals attracted more settlers to Queensland than any pastoral or agricultural industry. While the early mining days were dominated by the gold rushes, other metals also generated interest.
Today, brick smelters and chimneys stand as testament to a tumultuous and prosperous past.
Eureka - early gold mining
It binds couples in marriage. It's used by celebrities for teeth fillings. It's
a symbol of wealth and good fortune. 'It' is gold, and it launched Queensland's
mining history.
From 1873 to 1906, Queensland's gold and metals exports exceeded wool exports.
First discovered in 1857 on Canoona, a sheep station north of Gladstone, gold had a powerful impact on Queensland's growth, and dominated Queensland's 19th century mining.
A major rush at Gympie, 130km north of Brisbane, eased the new colony's economic problems in 1868.
Everyone was attracted by the excitement surrounding Queensland's major gold discoveries in the 1870s, Queensland's golden era. Gold was even used to promote settlement in certain areas. To encourage settlement in the Townsville region, residents offered a reward of £1000 to the person who found gold within the area. A station manager found gold on the Star River, which caused a small rush.
Charters Towers' gold rush was one of the most important in Queensland's history. Beginning in 1871, it transformed Charters Towers into a mining, business, and social centre.
At the height of the Charters Towers gold rush in 1873, Queensland's richest alluvial gold deposits were found near the Palmer River in the far north. Many Chinese miners were attracted to the Palmer goldfields.
Other rushes occurred in the late 1870s in Coen, on the remote Cape York Peninsula; at Bowerbird, north of Cloncurry; and on the Mulgrave, deep in rainforests between Cairns and Innisfail.
During the 1880s, two factors transformed Queensland's mining industry: gold was sought by deep-reefing, and prospectors diversified their mining interests to include other metals. Etheridge became the second richest field in north Queensland.
Croydon's rush in 1887 was the last of note in Queensland. But it was short-lived because of inefficient, man-powered machinery. After 1904, gold yields diminished and the Charters Towers mines lost their glow.
Gold mining was revived by government subsidies during the depression. In the 1930s, Mt Coolon, south of Charters Towers, was Queensland's largest gold producer. More recently in the 1980s, a mining boom occurred, typified by the massive open-cut mines at Mt Leyshon, south of Charters Towers.
Mining difficulties
Early Queensland prospectors were starry-eyed but resilient. They had to be,
to survive in the rough and primitive mineral fields. Many fossickers risked
everything to try their luck on the fields.
The greatest problem in Queensland mineral fields was their remoteness. While most discoveries were on the edge of settled areas, such as Cloncurry and Etheridge, some were in remote, inaccessible areas. This created huge transportation and supply costs.
Victoria's gold fields had old alluvial channels buried under later deposits, and could be exploited over long periods. But Queensland's alluvial fields were shallow, and yields dried up quickly.
Combined minerals also caused problems for early fossickers. For example, in Chillagoe, copper and silver-lead were found together, and early fossickers didn't have suitable equipment for separating minerals. Sophisticated separation processes were not developed until recently.
Mining settlements
Mining settlements were usually built near mines, mills, railways, and water
supplies. The location and form of some mining towns, especially base metal
mines, were determined by mining companies.
Because mining and ore treatment processes relied on service industries, employment opportunities boomed. Mining settlements needed reliable transportation, which created jobs for horse breeders, saddlers, harness makers, wagon builders, and farriers.
Settlements also needed engineers, bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, and ironmongers. By 1890, the prosperous Charters Towers had two foundries, four saw mills, and a brickworks. No other North Queensland mining town became this complex or prosperous until Mt Isa's rise after World War II.
Other metals
While gold was the best known of our underground treasures, other metals also
enticed prospectors.
Silver
Silver was discovered alone in small quantities or more commonly with lead and
zinc. It was first discovered at North Queensland's Totley on the Ravenswood
field in 1871. Other deposits were found on the Dry River near Herberton and
at Montalbion. Full scale smelting began at Muldiva on the Chillagoe field in
1892. By 1965, Mt Isa mine yielded more silver than any Australian mine.
Tin
The Great Northern tin discoveries on the banks of the Wild River in 1880 led
to Herberton's development. Queensland's richest tin yield was found at Irvinebank
in 1888. Tin dredging led to a mining revival around Mt Garnet after World War
II.
Copper
Copper was found in the 1860s in Cloncurry's Great Australia mine, and later
on the Einasleigh river, at Mt Molloy, and around Chillagoe. Copper mining took
off in 1906 with rising copper prices and the Queensland Government's decision
to extend the railway from Richmond to Cloncurry.
A collapse in the world price for copper at the end of World War 1 meant that by the 1920s, the copper boom was over. Obsolete plant and treatment technologies meant low grade ore could not be efficiently treated.
The rise of Mt Isa Mines began with the discovery of lead-zinc outcrops by John Campbell Miles in 1923. By 1941, large reserves of copper were found in Mt Isa's Black Star mine and copper was smelted from 1943. With new copper smelters, the annual copper yield of the Black Rock open-cut had grown to twice that of all other Australian mines combined by the end of 1965.
Mt Isa Mines developed the 'Isasmelt' process in the 1980s, increasing the lead output by over 200 000 tonnes a year. This process has since been exported to the USA, Europe and India.
Mining memories
Queensland's early mines are a fascinating part of our heritage, worthy of protecting
and visiting where possible. Some are listed in the Queensland
Heritage Register , but all are living memories of our golden years.
Palmer River
Steam-powered mining equipment is all that remains in this once golden mining
field. While Charters Towers and Etheridge gold rushes were still at their height,
James Mulligan discovered Queensland's richest source of alluvial gold in the
Palmer River in 1873.
The Palmer became well known for its Chinese population, which peaked at 17 000 in 1877, when people were shipped out from South China via Cooktown.
Gold reefing commenced in 1877 but the Hodgkinson rush ended the Palmer's golden era.
The Palmer River Goldfield still retains Queensland's largest surviving collection of steam-powered mining plant. Protected under Queensland Heritage legislation, this plant can not be moved.
Great Australia Mine - Cloncurry
While it wasn't the most productive mine, the Great Australia Mine is important
in Queensland's history. In 1867, Ernst Henry, Cloncurry's 'father' of the copper
industry, discovered veins of copper outcropping near Cloncurry. He boldly named
his discovery the 'Great Australia'. It was Queensland's most northerly and
isolated mine.
The mine still contains relics of its colourful history. It houses Queensland's oldest water-jacket smelter casing and Cornish boilers - relics of our mining heritage.
Last updated: 28 November 2003
