ADAMS FREEHOLD ENGINE SHAFT
610 OLD BALLARAT ROAD EVANSFORD, HEPBURN SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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ADAMS FREEHOLD ENGINE SHAFT - History
Contextual History:History of Place:
Heritage Inventory History of Site:
Third period of deep lead mining at Mount Greenock
Adams' Freehold Co. has taken up 800 acres of land under Mining on Private Property Act, 1884. Expected to bottom in a few days.
September 1885: South Greenock Co. have stopped work but a leases has lately been taken up close to the NE, by Richard Hull, under the Mining on Private Property Act. Already payable gold, which is supposed to be the real Mt Greenock Lead. Adams' Freehold Co. - 16 men employed main driving.
June 1886: Adams' Freehold Co. have sunk shaft no. 2 to 103 ft.
September 1886: Adams' Freehold Co. have just bottomed their shaft.
December 1886: Adams' Freehold Co. making slow progress.
June 1887: Adams' Freehold Co. - sinking third shaft. Loss of second shaft was great blow to company. Work would have stopped altogether without government grant.
December 1887: Hull and party tunnelling for the lead - on the same run of ground as Adams' Freehold Co. Have met with little success - ground poor and hard to work. Adams' Freehold Co. - on Mt. Greenock Lead, higher up than Rip Van Winkle Co. Just completed third shaft 172 ft deep. Eight miles west of Talbot. Has lost two shafts through loose and friable ground.
March 1888: Adams' Freehold Co. - another stoppage - breakage of engine shaft. Engine said to be too light for both pumping and winding.
June 1888: Adams' Freehold Co. - main drives silted up with heavy flow of water. Machinery working well.
September 1888: Adams' Freehold Co. - shaft 129 feet on bedrock. Heavy water.
December 1888: Ground held by this company has now been abandoned for the third time without having found the Mt Greenock Lead. Adams' Freehold Co. - after deciding to erect more powerful plant, have remained inactive.
March 1889: A co-operative party of 12 men have made arrangements with the owner to sink on Nichol's Plains. Sunk 45 feet, about 20 chains east of old South Greenwich (Greenock?) Co.'s workings.
References: Flett, J., The History of Gold Discovery in Victoria, 1979, pp245-55
Mining Surveyors Quarterly Reports: September 1886; December 1886; March 1887; June 1887; December 1887; March 1888; June 1888; September 1888; December 1888; and March 1889Heritage Inventory Description
ADAMS FREEHOLD ENGINE SHAFT - Heritage Inventory Description
Adams Freehold Company/nThe last phase of deep lead mining on the Mt. Greenock lead centred around two companies - the Adam's Freehold and New Rip Van Winkle. The former company's operations were on the southern plains; the latter, on the plains, several miles north of the Mt Greenock. Both ventures were unsuccessful, with the Adam's Freehold Company being particularly dogged by ill-fortune. By December 1887, the company had bottomed its third shaft at 172 feet: its two previous shafts being swamped before reaching any gold. The company had more success on its third attempt and managed to bottom its shaft only to find that the pumping plant it had installed was inadequate. After deciding to erect ore powerful plant the company exhausted its capital and the mine closed down in the early 1890s.Engine shaft /nMullock heap - remnant of mullock heap/nMachinery foundations - To the west of the mullock heap, near the side of a hay shed is an arrangement of large brick mounting beds. The largest bed is partly demolished, and is a rectangular tank-like structure which has an overall measurement of 45ft x 10ft. The surviving sections of its walls are 2ft thick and stand to a height of 6ft, and have 11/2 inch mounting bolts. On both sides of the large rectangular bed are smaller solid mounting beds. /nBoiler settings - To the west of the pumping and winding foundations are two (largely buried) stone boiler settings./nCompany operated from 1885 to c.1888; machinery foundations would belong to the last period of machinery installation at the mine, in 1888.
Heritage Inventory Significance:/nRegional. Adam's Freehold sites to be protected [Mullock heap and head frame; machinery foundations, boiler setting and remains of mullock heap]/nHistorical significance: Associated with one of the richest deep lead in the Amherst Mining Division/nArchaeological potential: The site has the potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to provide significant information about the technological history of gold mining./nNetwork values: Sites 8.0 to 8.5
Recorded by: David Bannear. Date Recorded: 1998
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ADAMS FREEHOLD ENGINE SHAFTVictorian Heritage Inventory
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