CLARKEVILLE BATTERY
HENSLEIGH CREEK ROAD BENDOC, EAST GIPPSLAND SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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CLARKEVILLE BATTERY - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site: Possibly Welcome Stranger, Clarkeville GMC, Sunbeam, Lewis's.Reefs were discovered on the Dividing Range, at the head of the Bendoc River, in 1889. Claims included the Waratah, Welcome Find, Jungle King, Belle of Bendoc, Snowstorm, and No Name, on two distinct lines of reef, about 400 yards apart. In 1898, small parties at work included Clarkeville GMC, Clarkeville Extended Co., and the Waggra, Empire, Band of Hope, and Sunbeam claims. All claims were worked by shaft, the deepest being that of the Sunbeam at 160 ft (including winze). In 1889, the Welcome Stranger mine erected a 4-head wooden dolly, having originally used Aspen's. A 20-head battery was installed, but never used, at the New North Discovery mine (later worked by the Clarkeville GMC) in the early 1890s. Two batteries operated at Clarkeville in 1898: the Sunbeam, of 10-head with a 20-hp engine; and Lewis's 6-head, run by a 25-ft waterwheel. S.B. Hunter, who surveyed the field in 1898, appeared to think little of it and was scornful of past mismanagement. At the turn of the century, a Ballarat syndicate attempted to re-open the New North Discovery mine, sinking the shaft to about 300 ft. They found an abundance of quartz, but it yielded poorly.Heritage Inventory Description
CLARKEVILLE BATTERY - Heritage Inventory Description
Features of the Clarkeville battery site are a collapsed 5-head battery and a portable steam engine. Battery foundations are located in a dark, overgrown excavation at creek-level. Battery - collapsed iron-framed 5-head battery with traces of timber bedlogs and mortar blocks. Portable engine - steam engine, bulldozed and largely excavated, only firebox remains.Part of Clarkeville site network-with Clarkeville battery.
Heritage Inventory Significance: RegionalScientific significanceùrarityArchaeological potentialùexcavation of engineNetwork valuesùwith AspenÆs battery site
Heritage Inventory Site Features: BatteryùOn a dark, overgrown excavation at creek-level is a collapsed, iron-framed 5-head battery, along with traces of the timber bedlogs and mortar blocks on which it once stood. The stampers have been removed from the site and the battery box shifted. Only the iron framework and cam shaft appears to be in situ. Part of manufacturerÆs plate survives on the battery box: P.N. Russell & Co.Portable engineùA portable steam engine lies above the battery foundations. It has been bulldozed and is largely buried, only the firebox being visible. The single cylinder has a 7-inch diameter and is 13 inches long. The manufacturerÆs plate is visible but almost illegible: it appears to read æRansomes, Head & JeffriesÆ.The battery was manufactured in Sydney by the same maker as the Pioneer battery. Both are 5-head and iron-framedùit is possible that the two five-head boxes were once part of a ten-head plant. The Pioneer battery bears the date 1868; the Clarkeville battery may be contemporary. (Research P.N. Russell & Co.ùdates?) Of the Clarkeville batteries identified by historical research, the Sunbeam battery (1898) appears to provide the closest match with the physical remains: a 10-head battery with a 20-hp engine.
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CLARKEVILLE BATTERYVictorian Heritage Inventory
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