Joadja, New South Wales facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joadja New South Wales
Joadja Location in New South Wales
Established	1870
Postcode(s)	2575
Elevation	711 m (2,333 ft)
Location	137 km (85 mi) SW of Sydney 23 km (14 mi) W of Mittagong 89 km (55 mi) NE of Goulburn
LGA(s)	Wingecarribee Shire
Region	Southern Highlands
County	Camden
Parish	Joadja
State electorate(s)	Goulburn
Federal Division(s)	Hume
Localities around Joadja: Bullio High Range Mandemar Canyonleigh Joadja Berrima Canyonleigh Belanglo Medway

Joadja (pronounced "joe-ad-ja") is a historic town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Today, it is mostly in ruins, but it was once a busy mining town. The remains of Joadja are so important that they were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register in 1999.

From 1870 to 1911, Joadja was a thriving place. About 1,200 people lived there, many of them skilled workers from Scotland. The town's main purpose was to mine oil shale. This rock was heated to extract kerosene, a type of oil used for lamps and fuel.

At first, workers used bullock teams to transport the shale. Later, a special narrow gauge railway was built. It connected Joadja to the nearby town of Mittagong. However, new ways of making kerosene from crude oil made shale mining too expensive. By 1911, Joadja became a ghost town as people left to find new jobs.

Joadja is in a deep valley, which made it hard to reach by road. The shale was moved out of the valley using a steep railway called an "incline." Today, the gravel road into Joadja is much better. Even though the town is in ruins, you can still see many of its old buildings. The old sandstone school, the School of Arts, mines, houses, and even the cemetery show what life was like there over a century ago.

A Look Back: Joadja's History

The first European people to explore the Joadja area were stockmen. In the early 1850s, Edward Carter noticed a shiny black mineral on the cliffs. This was oil shale. Later, in the 1870s, Carter bought land in the valley where the best shale was found.

In 1874, Carter hired Robert Longmore to start mining the shale. Other people, like George Larkin and John de Villiers Lamb, also began mining nearby. At first, everyone depended on each other to move the shale out of the valley.

Early Transport and Mining

In 1874-1875, teams of fourteen bullocks pulled carts of shale across the valley floor. They went up a steep, winding path to the plateau leading to Mittagong. To make things easier, Carter built an "incline" at his mine. This was like a small railway where full carts went up as empty ones came down.

Later, a horse-powered incline was built on the southern side of the valley. Two horses walked in a circle to power it. In 1876, about 400 to 650 tonnes of shale were mined.

The Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company

In 1877-1878, John de Villiers Lamb teamed up with Parbury to form a company. They built a big incline on the north side of the valley. It was powered by a 40-horsepower steam engine. This railway crossed Joadja Creek on a stone bridge and led to the main mining areas.

Experts from Scotland, James Walter Fell and his uncle Alexander Morrison Fell, came to Joadja to help. They knew a lot about oil shale mining. In 1878, their group formed the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company (AKO Co.). This company bought up all the mining land in Joadja. The AKO Co. controlled Joadja until 1911.

Life in the Mining Town

At its busiest, Joadja had over 1,200 people. The AKO Co. brought many skilled miners and their families from Scotland. The company built houses for them in a special part of the valley. Workers paid a small rent for their neat brick cottages. One street of houses was called Carrington Row, named after the Governor of New South Wales, Lord Carrington.

Joadja was a very self-sufficient community. It had a general store, post office, bakery, school, and a School of Arts. Farms on the hills above Joadja Creek provided fresh food. This food was sent down to the valley using the same incline that carried shale and coal.

The post office opened in 1878 but burned down in a bushfire in 1904. A temporary school was built in 1879 for about 50 children. In 1882, a much nicer stone school was built for 90 children.

After a fire in 1882, new safety measures were put in place. The company also improved its buildings and machinery. They even started making their own sulphuric acid for the refinery. They also packaged kerosene in tins and made candles. In 1886, the School of Arts was built and used for church services.

The End of an Era

By 1896, Joadja faced tough competition from cheaper kerosene imported from America. The refinery and retorts (the ovens for heating shale) closed. Although there might have been a short period of mining around 1901-1902, Joadja stopped producing shale in 1904. The company went out of business in 1911, and the property was sold.

In 2004-2005, the Australian government provided money to help protect the historic retorts at Joadja.

Timeline of Joadja

• 1876 - Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company formed.
• c. 1877 - Manager's homestead built.
• 1878 - Post Office opened.
• 1878 to 1883 - D-shaped retorts (ovens) installed.
• 1880 - Boarding house built.
• 1882 - Carrington Row houses built.
• 1886 - School of Arts built.
• 1903 - Mining stopped and Joadja works closed.
• 1905 - Bushfire swept through Joadja.
• 1911 - Property sold to private owner.

Surviving Ruins Today

Joadja is an abandoned site where you can still see the remains of the shale oil mining and refining operations. The complex includes:

• Carrington Row
• School of Arts
• School
• Boarding House
• Stringybark Row
• Cemetery
• Refinery
• Retorts
• Experimental Retort
• Inclines and Railways
• Post Office
• Managers Homestead
• Orchard

What You Can See

• Carrington Row: Six brick houses are still standing (there were 14 originally). They have corrugated iron roofs, but the doors, floors, and windows are gone.
• School of Arts: A rectangular building with brick walls.
• School: The remains of a stone building with an outdoor toilet.
• Boarding House: A large brick building with a standing chimney.
• Stringybark Row: You can see stone marks where fireplaces and chimneys once stood.
• Cemetery: Over 124 burials are known here, with about 30 visible graves. Some have sandstone markers, and a few have beautiful cast or wrought iron fences.
• Refinery, Retorts, Inclines and Railways: The benches of retorts, which are D-shaped ovens, run for 100 metres. Thirty-five retorts are still in place.
• Post Office: The standing walls of a rectangular brick building with a chimney.
• Homestead and Orchard: The manager's one-story house with a verandah. The orchard, which once had 6,700 fruit trees, is now a grassy area.

Even though it's in ruins, Joadja is largely complete. You can still see how the village and industrial areas were connected.

Joadja Today

The Joadja site is privately owned by Southern Frontier Pty Ltd. They offer Joadja Creek Heritage Tours, and also run the Joadja Distillery and Joadja Cafe. The site is usually open only a few times a year for special events or for private groups.

Population

According to the 2016 census, 118 people lived at Joadja. By the 2021 census, the population had grown slightly to 139 people.

Why Joadja is Important: Heritage Listing

Joadja is very important for its history in both New South Wales and Australia. It is one of the most significant 19th-century industrial and archaeological sites in the country. It's especially rare because it's so well-preserved. You can still see how the factories and homes were connected, with very few modern changes.

Joadja shows strong connections to Scotland through its technology, managers, and workers. Even though it's in ruins, experts can learn a lot about early mining towns and how kerosene shale was refined.

The Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Company used unique D-shaped iron "retorts" to heat shale. From the 1870s to 1911, they produced kerosene, candles, wax, and oil.

Joadja was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 5 November 1999 because it meets several important criteria:

• It shows the history of New South Wales: Joadja is a rare example of a major shale mining project from the late 1800s. It shows a complete picture of a self-contained mining and processing community.
• It shows creative or technical achievement: Joadja is visually striking. It's rare to find an industrial and home landscape so intact, with almost no modern changes.
• It has a special connection with a community: Joadja has a rare social importance because it was home to a group of Scottish immigrant workers. They were brought to Australia specifically to work in the Joadja mines.
• It can teach us about history: Enough of Joadja remains for archaeologists to learn a lot about early mining towns and kerosene shale refining technology. It's a great example of an industry that was completely abandoned due to financial reasons.
• It is rare or endangered: Joadja is the only surviving oil-shale site in Australia. It is preserved in a way that is unique in the world. It clearly shows all parts of a major industry and the homes connected to it, using horizontal retorts to get oil from rich oil-shale deposits.