Alexandra Mine and Battery facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alexandra Mine and Battery |
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Boiler and equipment, 2009
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| Location | Palmerville Station, Maytown, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | c. 1878 - 1898 |
| Official name: Alexandra Mine and Battery, Alexandra PC | |
| Type | state heritage (built, archaeological) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600429 |
| Significant period | c. 1878-1898 (fabric, historical) |
| Significant components | terracing, chimney/chimney stack, flue, shaft, mullock heap, battery/crusher/stamper/jaw breaker, adit, road/roadway, machinery/plant/equipment - mining/mineral processing |
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The Alexandra Mine and Battery is an old gold mining site in Queensland, Australia. It's located at Palmerville Station, near Maytown. This place is special because it shows us how gold mining used to happen a long time ago, between about 1878 and 1898. It's also known as Alexandra PC and is protected as a heritage site.
A Look Back at the Alexandra Mine
Mining for gold started in the Palmer River area in 1876. The Alexandra mine, which was one of the first places to be explored, began producing gold in 1878. In the 1870s, this mine was very successful. It produced a lot of gold, about eight ounces of gold for every ton of rock dug out.
By 1880, the Alexandra mine had processed about 183 tons of rock. This yielded a huge 1,262 ounces of gold! This was worth over A£5,000 at the time. However, it was expensive to transport the rock and crush it. The ore had to be carried about 16 kilometres to a crushing machine. Because of these high costs, miners needed to find at least two or three ounces of gold per ton to make a profit.
Small-scale mining continued on and off until 1895. That year, a man named Edwin Field brought in new equipment. He installed a steam pump and winding gear from other mines. He also built a crushing machine, called a battery, at the Alexandra site.
Field started working on the mine, pumping out water and fixing the timber supports. He began crushing ore in 1897. But even with the new equipment, the mine only produced a bit more than one ounce of gold per ton. Operations continued for almost two years, but the mine closed at the end of 1898.
Over twenty years, the Alexandra mine produced 1,810 ounces of gold from 499 tons of ore. This was an average of 3.6 ounces per ton. After 1898, the mine was never worked again. The frame of the crushing battery was removed in 1940.
What You Can See at the Site
The Alexandra Mine and Battery is located on a ridge, about 500 metres south of the Palmer River. The mine workings and the battery are close together on a flat, terraced area. You can still see where the manager's house once stood, next to the road on top of the ridge. There's a broken cement surface there.
The mine workings follow the path of the gold vein. On the terrace, you can see a main shaft that has caved in, and an older shaft. An adit (a horizontal tunnel) was dug from the gully to meet the main shaft. There's also a single-cylinder portable steam engine near the main shaft. A mullock heap (a pile of waste rock) was dumped into the gully, forming a dam.
The battery plant includes a Cornish boiler set in bricks. A flue (a pipe for smoke) leads from the boiler to a tall, nine-metre-high metal chimney, which is still standing. Right next to the boiler is the main part of a single-cylinder horizontal engine.
Next to the engine are two mortar boxes. These are where the ore was crushed. They seem to be in their original spot, even though the main stamper frame (the part that held the crushing rods) has been removed. Seven of the ten stamper rods (heavy rods that crushed the ore) are still standing in the mortar boxes. The camshaft, which made the stampers move, is also nearby.
Some of the old machinery that still survives at the site includes:
- Cornish boiler - made by J.W.Sutton & Co in Brisbane
- One-cylinder portable steam engine - the brand is not clear (possibly Clayton & Shuttleworth)
- One-cylinder horizontal steam engine - no brand
- Boiler casing (now used as a water tank) - no brand
- Pump arm (not in its original place)
- Two five-stamp mortar boxes - no brands
- Grinding pan (found at the manager's house site, not part of the battery)
- Langlands Foundry (another piece of equipment)
Why This Place is Important
The Alexandra Mine and Battery was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. This means it's a special place that needs to be protected.
- It shows how Queensland's history developed.
The Alexandra mine and battery are important because they show how gold mining grew in North Queensland from 1876 to 1898. The fact that a tin battery (a type of crushing machine usually used for tin) was used at a gold mine shows how miners adapted and used whatever equipment they could find on the Palmer goldfield.
- It has rare features.
It's very rare to find a mine and battery site like this that is still so complete. The Cornish boiler is still in its brick setting, and the steel chimney is still standing. This is uncommon in Queensland and even in Australia. The single-cylinder horizontal steam engine is also very old and rare.
- It can teach us more about history.
The site has unusual technology, like a mortar box with three outlets, which was usually used for tin mining. This place could help us learn more about how mining and crushing techniques worked in the 1800s.
- It's a great example of a mining site.
The Alexandra battery is located on a narrow hillside terrace right next to the mine workings. The machinery and the nine-metre-high chimney are all close together, making it easy to understand how the site worked. It is one of the best-preserved and most complete mining sites on the Palmer goldfield.
