MAUDE AND YELLOW GIRL MINING SITE
KANGAROO CREEK TRACK GLEN VALLEY, EAST GIPPSLAND SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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MAUDE AND YELLOW GIRL MINING SITE - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site: Gold reefs in the Glen Wills area were worked from 1891, following the failure of the tin lodes. Yellow Girl Reef was opened up in 1892, by adit on the west bank of Mt Wills Creek. The reef gave some phenomenal yields (reputedly up to 42 oz per ton), but the shoots of ore were small. From 1902, the Yellow Girl mine was worked on a larger scale. A 5-head water-driven battery, complete with gold-saving appliances, was installed close to the tunnel mouth in 1905, and its first crushing, of 2,000 tons of ore, returned 4,544 oz of gold. From a shoot of gold 150 ft in length, 121 tons of stone for crushed for 2,860 oz. The mine eventually closed in about 1917, having produced £28,000 worth of gold.The Maude and Homeward Bound mines were first worked in 1892, and by the end of the decade were amalgamated under one company. The company had a steam-driven plant. By 1907, when the mine was let on tribute, £75,820 worth of gold had been produced. In 1912, the Maude Reefs Co. was formed to work the Maude and Homeward Bound. A new steam-driven battery was installed, to be replaced by a water-powered plant in 1916, shortly before the mine closed down.The Maude and Yellow Girl Co. was formed in 1931 to work the former Maude, Homeward Bound, and Yellow Girl ground, and their mine was the focus of a mining revival at Glen Wills. Initially (according to Fairweather), the 5-head Yellow Girl battery was used for crushing, but it was upgraded to ten heads before long. A 20-head battery and new treatment plant including a gyratory crusher, Wilfley tables, Watson & Denny pans, cone classifier, and eight-cell flotation machine - were installed at the Maude and Yellow Girl mine in 1941. Operations at the mine were wound down during the later years of WW2, but by 1948 the battery was operating for two (and occasionally three) shifts daily. The mine closed down in 1952, but work continued by other parties until 1967, and the mine is currently held under lease. The workings that comprised the Maude and Yellow Girl mine yielded a total of 103,556 oz of gold—almost half the total gold production of the Mt Wills field.Heritage Inventory Description
MAUDE AND YELLOW GIRL MINING SITE - Heritage Inventory Description
The Maude and Yellow Girl original battery site comprises the following features:/nBattery shed - Timber-framed shed with galvanised iron roof and paling walls. The battery has been removed, only concrete foundations left. /nEngine shed - Concrete mounting beds and machinery. The intact plant includes a large compressor (manufactured by Ruston, Lincoln, England) and double cylinder engine (Ingersoll-Rand Co., New York, USA, Imperial type 10)./nPelton wheel shed - The shed has collapsed slightly and contains intact machinery including intact pelton wheel and single cylinder engine./nOffice or change room - Small shed./nTailings dump - To the south of the sheds is a small tailings dump./nMullock - Small heap with open (fenced) shaft. /nThe Maude & Yellow girl treatment plant comprises:/nIntact battery shed and machinery (now partly scavenged). The shed contains machinery which includes: /nBattery - Intact wooden-framed battery of 20 stamper heads. The two northernmost battery boxes were manufactured by Thompsons (nine of the ten stems have been removed from the building); the other two boxes bear the mark 'Thompson & Co., Engineers, Castlemaine, No. Victoria' (one of the ten stems has been removed from the building)./nSlurry plant - intact plant/nPelton wheels - Inlet pipe and five pelton wheels which variously drove the battery and slurry equipment./nLoading chute - Above the rear of the shed is a large wooden chute./nSlum ponds - large pond approximately 200 m wide and 2 m deep./nNo. 5 adit represents the main mine workings associated with the treatment plant. The adit is open, but fenced, and is accompanied by a number of empty mine buildings
Heritage Inventory Significance: State/National The site is of scientific significance because of its rarity and intactness. It also illustrates the network of battery and treatment works.
Informants: David Bannear, Ray Supple/nRecorded by: David Bannear
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MAUDE AND YELLOW GIRL MINING SITEVictorian Heritage Inventory
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