Mount Moran Battery facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mount Moran Battery |
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Mount Moran Battery, 2009
|
|
| Location | New Woolgar Road, Gilberton, Shire of Etheridge, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1919 - 1930s (interwar period) |
| Built | 1924 - c. 1936 |
| Official name: Mount Moran Battery | |
| Type | state heritage (archaeological) |
| Designated | 22 September 2000 |
| Reference no. | 601921 |
| Significant period | 1924-1936 (fabric, historical) |
| Significant components | pump, machinery/plant/equipment - mining/mineral processing, mine - open cut, well, battery/crusher/stamper/jaw breaker |
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
The Mount Moran Battery is an old mining site in Queensland, Australia. It's located near Gilberton, on New Woolgar Road. This site used to have a special machine called a stamper battery. This machine helped miners get gold from rocks. It was built between 1924 and about 1936. Today, it's a protected heritage site because it shows us how mining worked in Queensland's past. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 22 September 2000.
Contents
How the Mount Moran Battery Started
The Mount Moran Battery is found on a hill near Agate Creek, west of Forsayth. It was a five-head stamp battery. This means it had five heavy hammers that crushed rocks. It was set up in 1924 to crush ore from three gold mines nearby. These mines were called the Mona, Iona, and Bosker.
Gold was first found in the Georgetown Mining District in 1868. This area became known as the Etheridge Gold and Mineral Field. Gold mining was very busy in the 1890s. But it started to slow down by the time of World War I.
Later, people started looking for other metals like lead, silver, and copper. Prices for these metals went up, and mining boomed again. However, the Great Depression in the late 1920s caused prices to drop. Gold mining had a short comeback, but World War Two made it hard to find workers and materials. This eventually stopped all mining.
Gold Discoveries and Mining
Small amounts of gold were found around Mount Moran in the early days. But it wasn't until the 1920s that the area had three active gold mines. Between 1922 and 1936, the Mona, Iona, and Bosker mines produced about 1,033 ounces of gold.
At first, ore from these mines was crushed at the Ortona battery. But by 1924, Mount Moran needed its own crushing machines. So, the ten-head battery from Ortona was moved to the Mount Moran site. Ortona was about 3 miles away from Mount Moran.
In 1924, more people started looking for gold in the area. They found several new places with gold. Most of the work happened at the Finger Point mine. The owners of this mine joined together. They combined their claims into one large area. Other claims nearby included the Blue Spec, Brown Hill, Dinkum, Lucky Hit, and Peg Leg. The deepest shafts were about 22 and 27 meters deep.
The Final Years of Mining
In the 1930s, gold mining had a brief return in the Mount Moran area. In 1936, the Mount Moran Battery crushed about 157 long tons of ore. This produced about 58 ounces of gold.
However, it seems mining stopped after this date. The Mount Moran Battery likely closed down when the mines in the area stopped working.
What is Left Today?
The Mount Moran Battery site still has parts of the old five-head stamp battery. You can see the mortar box, which held the rocks. There are also stamper rods and a belt wheel. The main frame of the battery is gone.
Next to the stamp battery, you can find an old boiler and parts of a steam engine. There are also several berdan pans, which were used to process gold. Across a small valley to the west, there are remains of a collapsed iron camp. Near a well on a nearby stream, there is a small steam pump. The site also includes several old open mining pits.
Why is it Important?
The Mount Moran Battery is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. This means it's a special place that helps us understand Queensland's history. It shows how mining changed over time, especially in the Etheridge Gold and Mineral Field.
The site also helps us learn about the technology used to crush ore. It's a good example of a small battery. This type of battery was set up to crush ore for a few small mines in a very isolated area.
