PRINCE OF WALES REEF INCORPORATING PERSERVERENCE CO.
OFF BLACKSMITHS TRACK DAISY HILL, CENTRAL GOLDFIELDS SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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PRINCE OF WALES REEF INCORPORATING PERSERVERENCE CO. - History
Contextual History:History of Place:
Heritage Inventory History of Site:
May 1857: The next important gold discovery was on a series of hills ranged along the south side of the Craigie-Amherst Road. The discoverers caused what was known as the notorious Emu Rush, so called from the Emu Inn that was on the cross-roads just below the first workings
1860's: First worked in 1860's - yields now unavailable
June 1874: Prince of Wales lode gives good wages, men are now down to water level, when pumping engine, which is now being erected on lease No. 1765, is in working condition, yields should improve.
September 1874: Claim holders on the reef have sunk a shaft to 130 feet, a permanent plant of 20 hp is in the course of erection.
December 1875: The Prince of Wales Company have completed a battery of eight stamps, but the first and only crushing did not come up to their expectations.
1876: Lubie and party worked claim in 1876. ½ oz to the ton, up to 1 oz per ton. Perseverance United Co. held 10 acre lease, just north of Lubie's. Main shaft 225 ft deep
1877: Lubie claim purchased by Perseverance United Co.
July 1878: Perseverance United Co. yielding up to 10 dwt per ton .
1879: Dehnert & party had tribute on Perseverance mine. Worked just south of Perseverance shaft, for 10 - 15 dwt per ton. Last crushing 4 dwt per ton. .
May 1880: Perseverance Co. closed down. New company Talbot Quartz Mining Co. formed. Stated in prospectus that 1,600 oz had been obtained from Prince of Wales Reef. .
1881: Talbot Co. unwatered shaft. Poor prospects. Last work on main portion of reef lune was carried out in 1881. .
1883: An attempt was made to float the Talbot Co. mine as Mt Emu Gold Mining Coll Unsuccessful. .
June 1887: The 'Providential Spur' prospecting claim, near Prince of Wales Reef, held by one of the Dunstones, had a nice patch - 2 tons yielded 13 oz 5 dwt, besides a small patch (only a pound) which yielded 6 oz. This quartz was obtained close to the surface, and was traced from an old wheel track.
1909:From the Prince of Wales engine shaft north to the Perseverance shaft (10 chains), there is a continuous line of old workings: Prince of Wales main shaft, Busch & Party's rich claim, Fentel's rich claim, Lubie's claim, Perseverance United Co. workings. Other workings to 60 ft deep on places. Main Prince of Wales shaft is 240 ft deep, 9 ft 6 in. x 4 ft 6 in. Mine had own battery for some time, earlier crushings at Cosstick's Battery, two miles distant and Craigie battery, four miles away. North and just across the gully from the main engine shaft, are old workings of Busch & party. Mined highly payable shoot to 130 ft by whim shaft. North again, Fentel and party worked to 130 ft. North again, Lubie and party worked claim in 1876. (reference to The Mineral Resources of Amherst and Talbot, G.D.Reid) (Records of Geological Survey, Vol III, part 2, 1912)Heritage Inventory Description
PRINCE OF WALES REEF INCORPORATING PERSERVERENCE CO. - Heritage Inventory Description
The Prince of Wales Reef was first worked in the 1860s and a highly payable shoot of gold was worked by whim to a depth of 130 feet. It was not until the mid 1870s when the first steam-powered machinery was erected on the site by the Prince of Wales Company. This company installed a 20h.p. pumping engine in 1874 and by the following year had a 8-head stamping mill on the site. The first crushing did not come up to expectations and the company was wound up. The mine, in 1877, was then acquired by the adjoining claimholders, the Perseverance United Company, who were equally unsuccessful. The Perseverance United Company closed down in 1880 and its claim was taken over by the Talbot Quartz Mining Company. In the latter company's prospectus, it was stated that 1,600 ounces had been obtained from the Prince of Wales Reef by previous owners. The Talbot Quartz Mining Company unwatered the shaft but ceased work in 1881. Prince of Wales Reef workings have been extensively bulldozed. The most notable features are: Site 4.0: Prince of Wales engine shaft (This company worked during the mid 1870s)/nMullock heap - Remnant of mullock heap and filled shaft/nBattery site - Flattened foundations, spread of brick, stone and mortar rubble. Rubble covers some basalt foundations./nWater dam - in the gully below the battery site is a small silted dam./nTailings - In the gully below the battery site, above the small dam, are some partly quarried (untreated) tailings./nSite 4.1: Puddler/nPuddler - Well preserved 22ft diameter puddler with pronounced inner mound and deep trench with sheer sides. Well pronounced outlet channel, little wash and no pivot post or trench slabbing. Puddler and gully obscured by thick Regrowth (post 1985 bushfire). Howitt's 1909 mine plan of the lease shows a puddler on the north side of the dam. /nSite 4.2: Whim shaft /nWhim platform - Between Prince of Wales and Perseverance mine sites , on the south side of the reef, is the remains of a circular whim platform/nSite 4.3: Perseverance shaft (Company probably contemporary to Prince of Wales, mid 1870s)/nMullock - Remnant of mullock heap/nMachinery site - Near the north end of the mullock heap are some flattened machinery foundations (spread of red brick and stone rubble)/nDam - Small dry dam on the opposite side of the track./nEXTANT REMAINS:/nCurrently the attributes of the site include several deep open shafts, mullock heaps, a battery site (with broken bricks and dressed basalt), outcropping quartz of the reef and a large dam (wall breached). From the alluvial gully a puddling circle is also located adjacent to the dam with a very clear overflow channel. Vegetation is growing very rapidly after the 1985 bushfires and this tends to obscure some of the relics in the vicinity of the dam and puddler. Reworking of this area is also in progress and has already downgraded the significance of the site. (p.176)
Heritage Inventory Significance: Regional. Precinct (Sites 4.0 to 4.3) to be protected [Mullock heaps, whim platform, dam/puddler, battery site and tailings pond] Historical significance: Puddling machine technology is particularly important in the history of Victorian gold mining as the only technology developed entirely on Victorian goldfields. The precinct contains a well preserved puddling machine site. Scientific significance: Contains a range of relics documenting quartz and alluvial gold mining operations carried out on the site. Archaeological significance: 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. EXISTING HERITAGE LISTING: This gold mining site is significant for the intactness of its physical remains, the extent of documentation and the ease of interpretation it offers the visitor, demonstrating both shallow alluvial and quartz reef mining techniques. (p. 177); Recommended for Schedule Three: Buildings and Sites recommended for inclusion or retention on the Register of the National Estate (p. 50) INTERPRETATION: Prince of Wales Reef and Gully. This is one of the best documented small reefs in the Shire and many of the nineteenth century features identified in Howitt's 1909 'record' (in Records of the Geological Survey of Victoria, 111, part 2, 1909, p155-158)
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PRINCE OF WALES REEF INCORPORATING PERSERVERENCE CO.Victorian Heritage Inventory
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