DONNELLY'S OR TRAILL BROTHERS' MINE
DANE TRACK DARGO, WELLINGTON SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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DONNELLY'S OR TRAILL BROTHERS' MINE - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site: Traill brothers were active prospectors and miners at the Wentworth River from the 1880s. In 1884, they discovered the Joker Reef near the Normanby, on Teapot Creek. The reef was worked by shaft, and quartz from the mine was crushed at the Normanby battery. The Normanby Reef was first worked in 1879, the battery erected the following year. Bushfires in 1889 destroyed the original Normanby battery, but a 10-head battery stood at the mine when it was taken up in 1933. Five of the ten heads were moved up the creek, closer to the mine, which was worked by tunnels driven south.In 1898, the Traills found a new reef at the head of Donnelly's Creek, another Wentworth tributary. The reef, which they worked by shaft, promised to be very rich but the prospectors were held back by a lack of battery facilities in the area—'a fortune awaits any capitalist or company erecting batteries in the various creeks for public crushing.' No further reference to the Traill brothers' mine has been found.If the existing battery site is in fact at Donnelly's Creek, it must be assumed that the reef discovered in 1898 was later developed on a fairly large scale (although no reference to such workings has been found). The presence of adits is puzzling, as the reef was initially worked by shaft. It is possible that the location given for the battery site is incorrect, and that it is actually the site of the Normanby mine, which was worked by adits and is known to have had a 10-head battery. Even so, the two five-head battery boxes were separated in the mid-1930s, and Rob Christie says that the Normanby battery has been removed from its site.Heritage Inventory Description
DONNELLY'S OR TRAILL BROTHERS' MINE - Heritage Inventory Description
The Traill brothers' battery site comprises a standing 10-head battery, with five associated levels of quartz workings (collapsed or open adits), baker's oven, numerous hut sites, and a network of tracks. A steam engine has been removed from the site.
Heritage Inventory Significance: RegionalScientific significanceùbecause of its intactness and rarity
Informant/s: Rob Christie (Dargo)/nRecorded by: David Bannear
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DONNELLY'S OR TRAILL BROTHERS' MINEVictorian Heritage Inventory
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