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EAGLEHAWK GULLY PUDDLER NO. 2
OFF GRAVES TRACKS ADELAIDE LEAD, CENTRAL GOLDFIELDS SHIRE
EAGLEHAWK GULLY PUDDLER NO. 2
OFF GRAVES TRACKS ADELAIDE LEAD, CENTRAL GOLDFIELDS SHIRE
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EAGLEHAWK GULLY PUDDLER NO. 2 - History
Eaglehawk Gully would have been opened during the mid 1850s. As miners traced the leads through new ground, they left behind a wildness of shafts, uprooted and burnt trees and mounds of clay and gravel. This ‘worked-out’ ground was taken over by puddlers. Whereas the first miners had been content to deal with the washdirt from only the very bottom of the gutter, the puddlers often treating everything from the surface to a depth of twenty feet with their horse-powered washing machine. The history of alluvial mining in Eaglehawk Gully is not well documented and only one newspaper reference to the gully was found in TROVE - The death of a puddler named Thomas Brown, who was working a claim In Eaglehawk Gully. Mr O'Leary, Inspector for Mines for the Maryborough Division, who had examined the mine produced a portion of the rope, which was used In the shaft, and declared to the jury It was quite rotten, and wholly unfitted for the use In a shaft of the depth of this one, viz. 168 feet. [MAM 20/3/1874, P.2]. This report suggest those involved in operating puddling machines were probably quartz prospecting/mining when there was no water available for their machines. Due to the poor preservation of Eaglehawk Gully, these two site were dealt with separately rather than lumped together with other recorded sites.EAGLEHAWK GULLY PUDDLER NO. 2 - Interpretation of Site
Poorly preserved puddling machine. Nearby is adit that has been bulldozed. Both have poor archaeological value.
Heritage Inventory Description
EAGLEHAWK GULLY PUDDLER NO. 2 - Heritage Inventory Description
Puddler - weathered puddler/massive bank of wash associated with extensive surfacing.
Heritage Inventory Significance: Regional
SiteCard data copied on 04/07/2024: As part of the inspection the two sites were combined as H7623-0132. It is reasonable to think that the puddling machine belongs to the first phase of mining and the prospecting adit came later. The new extent is smaller than the original which makes it more easily located and thus protected by the land managers. 300 metres to the south of Western Dam the gully joins with the main course of Eaglehawk Gully. A 100 metres south of this junction a line of prospecting shafts/ mullock heaps crosses the gully. On the north side of the gully, associated with the largest of the heaps, is an open adit. This adit has now collapsed and/or been filled. On the opposite side of the gully to the adit is a very weathered puddler. The puddler is located on the south side of a breached embankment and appears to be of an unusually large size (26ft diameter). It is only just possible to distinguish the puddling machines inner mound from the puddling trench. There is one large bank of wash which is some 20 metres long and 3 metres high. The surrounding country is very scrubby
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