Kuridala Township site facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kuridala Township site |
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Hampden Smelter at Kuridala, 2003
|
|
| Location | In the locality of Kuridala, Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1900 - 1914 (early 20th century) |
| Built | 1880s-1920s |
| Official name: Kuridala Township, Hampden Smelter and Mining Complex, Hampden Township, Kuridala Smelter, Friezeland Township | |
| Type | archaeological (landscape) |
| Designated | 12 June 2009 |
| Reference no. | 645604 |
| Significant period | 1890s-1940s |
| Significant components | well, artefact field, tank stand, building foundations/ruins, bore, mullock heap, shaft, machinery/plant/equipment - mining/mineral processing, building foundations/ruins, pump, chimney/chimney stack, boiler room/boiler house, headframe, cemetery, grave marker, burial/grave, grave surrounds/railings, artefact field, engine/generator shed/room / power supply, building foundations/ruins, slag pile/slag heap, chimney/chimney stack, mounting block/stand, furnace, cutting - railway, embankment - railway, artefact field, building foundations/ruins, railway station, formation - railway |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
The Kuridala Township site is an old mining town in Queensland, Australia. It is now a protected heritage site. This area was a busy copper mining town from the 1880s to the 1920s. It was also known by other names like Hampden Township, Hampden Smelter, Kuridala Smelter, and Friezeland Township. The site was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on June 12, 2009.
Contents
History of Kuridala
Copper was first found at Kuridala in 1884. The Hampden mine started working in the 1890s. In 1897, a group of business people from Melbourne took over the mine. As the mine grew, a new company called Hampden Cloncurry Limited was formed in 1906.
The town was officially mapped out in 1910 and was first called Hampden. Later, it was renamed Friezland. In October 1916, its name was changed again to Kuridala. This was done to avoid confusion with another town and because German names like Friezland were not popular during World War I.
The Hampden Smelter, which processed the copper ore, operated from 1911 to 1920. World War I was a very good time for the company because copper was in high demand. After the war, the mining slowed down, and the town became smaller. The Hampden Cloncurry company closed in 1928. However, some miners continued to work the mines on their own, a practice called "tribute mining," from 1932 onwards.
The Kuridala Township and Hampden Smelter are about 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Cloncurry. They are located on a flat plain with hills in the background.
Early Discoveries and Growth
The copper fields in the Cloncurry area were found by Ernest Henry in 1867. But it was hard to develop them because there wasn't enough money or good ways to transport the copper. Also, copper prices were low.
Later, copper prices went up, and new discoveries were made. A railway was also planned, which helped bring in money from Britain. Business people from Melbourne were also keen to find another big metal mine like Broken Hill. This led to more interest in the Hampden mines.
William McPhail and Robert Johnson found the copper deposits at Kuridala in January 1884. Fred Gibson owned the Hampden mine in the 1890s. In 1897, a group of wealthy business people from Melbourne bought it. They started a company called Hampden Copper Mines N. L. They began looking for more copper and testing the ore.
In 1905, the world price of copper increased. Also, the government decided in 1906 to extend the Great Northern railway to Cloncurry. This encouraged more development. The Hampden Cloncurry Copper Mines Limited was started in 1906 to take over the old company's mines.
Town Life and Industry
The railway reached Kuridala by 1910. In 1911, a new sanitation system was put in place after many people got sick with typhoid. A hospital was built by 1913 and was known as the best and most modern hospital in the area.
At its busiest, the town had about 1,500 people in 1913, growing to 2,000 by 1920. It had six hotels, five stores, four billiard halls, three dance halls, and a cinema. There were also two ice factories and a soft drink factory. Chinese gardens grew fresh food along the creek. The town also had clothing shops, a fruit shop, a butcher, a baker, a timber shop, a garage, four churches, a police station, a courthouse, a post office, banks, and a school with up to 280 students.
In December 1918, a cyclone hit the town. It damaged many buildings, including parts of the power station and the smelter.
How the Smelter Worked
The Kuridala Hampden mines and smelters were described in detail in 1912. Ore from other mines owned by the company was brought in by a short railway line. The main Hampden mines separated their ore into different types. This ore was then sent to large storage bins near the smelter.
A central power plant provided electricity for the mines and smelter. It used gas engines and generators. The fuel for these engines was coal, coke, or charcoal, which was made locally.
The smelter had two large furnaces and tall steel chimneys. It also had two electric machines called converter vessels. Hot, melted copper flowed into a large pot, and the waste material, called slag, was taken away in special pots and dumped. The copper was then poured into moulds to make "blister copper" cakes, which were then shipped out by train.
Decline and Legacy
The war brought four years of good times for the Cloncurry area. The Hampden Cloncurry Company made a lot of money between 1915 and 1918. They built small railways to their other mines to get ore more easily and cheaply. In 1917, they added a plant to improve how they processed the ore.
However, after 1918, the price of copper dropped. The company faced difficulties and had to stop operations in 1920. They had to rely on ore from only one mine. The Commonwealth Bank also stopped giving them money for copper waiting to be shipped.
In 1926, Hampden Cloncurry sold its assets. Another company, Mount Elliott, bought most of them. The Hampden Cloncurry company was officially closed in 1928.
The town's population dropped from 2,000 in 1920 to 800 by 1924. Many buildings were moved to other towns. For example, a bakery, the hospital, the courthouse, an ice factory, and a cinema moved to Mount Isa in 1923. The Hampden Hotel moved there in 1924. Other buildings, like the police station, were moved to Cloncurry.
Even though it only operated for nine years, Hampden Cloncurry was one of Australia's largest mining companies. It produced a lot of copper, gold, and silver. The company also helped start Metal Manufacturers Limited in 1916, which became a very large metal manufacturing company in Australia.
In 1942, Mount Isa Mines bought the Kuridala Smelters for a small amount of money. They used parts of it to build a copper furnace that started working in 1943 to help with wartime needs. The Tunny family continued to live and mine at Kuridala from 1932 until 1969. The post office stayed open until 1975, and the last resident left around 1982.
Even today, companies like Mount Isa Mines and others continue to explore and test the Kuridala area for more ore.
What Remains at Kuridala Today
Town Area
The old town site covers a large area, about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) long and 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles) wide. You can still see the foundations and other signs of where buildings once stood. These include the bakery, a hotel/store, and a butcher's shop. The hospital site is on a small hill and has a large iron water tank base.
You can find many old household items scattered around the town area. These include glass bottles, broken plates, and metal tins that once held things like kerosene, matches, or food.
Cemetery
The cemetery is located towards the southern end of the site. It was re-fenced in 1988–89. There are over 360 graves that can be seen, arranged in rows. Many graves have headstones, with 40 of them still readable and dating from 1909 to 1920. Some graves have metal railings. Many graves are marked by old cast iron beds, with smaller beds for children. Some crosses were even made from old kerosene tins!
Railway Station and Line
.jpg)
The railway station site is just north of the cemetery. You can see a cement surface and other foundations where the station office once stood. Wooden railway sleepers are still in place along parts of the old railway line. The raised earth and cut-out sections still show where the railway line from Cloncurry to Kuridala used to run. You can also find many old items related to the station and the railway.
Other Settlements
Outside the main town area, there are other places where people lived. You can find broken glass bottles, ceramic pieces, metal items, and bricks from these old homes.
Smelter Remains
The remains of the smelter include a blast furnace, concrete engine bases, and an iron chimney. A very large pile of waste material, called slag, stretches north from the smelter. Next to the furnace, there is another iron chimney, foundations of the power station, and a roasting furnace. The steel chimneys and parts of the smelter are very rusty, and the foundations have cracks.
Mine Areas
You can find foundations and parts of four early mines along the Hampden reef. The Hampden No. 2 mine in the north has an old boiler and a pump. South of this, you can see logs at the site of the old sawmill.
Further south, near the smelter, is the Hampden No.1 mine. This mine has the largest group of foundations, including those for a crusher and a winch. A large pump arm is still at the main shaft.
At the Hampden No. 3 shaft, you can see a headframe (a structure over the mine shaft), a winder house, and waste heaps. There's also a boiler on a brick base. These bricks are special because they were made from recycled slag, which was a clever and unusual way to reuse waste.
The Hampden Consol mine to the south has an iron chimney on a brick base with the year "AD 1913" carved into it. You can also see remains of the engine house, foundations, and waste heaps there. Other underground parts of the mines likely still exist, which could tell us about old tunnelling methods and how ore was moved.
Why Kuridala is a Heritage Site
The Kuridala Township, Hampden Smelter, and Mining Complex was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on June 12, 2009. This means it is an important historical site.
This site can teach us a lot about Queensland's history. It helps us understand how copper mining was done and how towns grew in North Queensland. Kuridala was one of the first important copper mining areas in the rich mineral fields near Cloncurry.
The Kuridala complex has many archaeological remains from different mining activities. The old smelter parts are some of the most complete examples of their kind in North Queensland. The Hampden Smelter has a rare, old water-jacket blast furnace, which is the only one left in Queensland. The large slag dump at the site is also very impressive. Studying the smelter can help us understand the technology and methods used in early copper processing in Queensland.
Studying the town area of Kuridala can also answer questions about the community. For example, we can learn about how the town was set up, how it grew, and how people lived there. By looking at old items found in homes, we can learn about the different groups of people who lived there and their daily lives. The remains of the town can also show us how the settlement was organized and how isolated mining communities lived.
The cemetery is one of the largest linked to mining in North Queensland. It can provide more information about the community. By looking at the types of graves, headstones, and how the cemetery is laid out, we can learn about different religions and social groups in the community. Studying the remains of those buried there can also tell us about the health and living conditions of the town's residents.
Because the community was so isolated, studying the archaeological evidence can show us how different the actual life was compared to official rules or records. For example, old town maps show neat streets, but archaeological digs show that homes were spread out in other areas too.
The Kuridala complex, with its town and industrial areas, also allows us to compare it with other copper mining sites in North Queensland. These include Mount Cuthbert and Mount Elliott. This helps us understand the bigger picture of mining history.
Archaeological studies at Kuridala can also answer important questions about workers' lives, social classes, and how capitalism affected these early mining towns.
