Ravenswood Mining Landscape and Chinese Settlement Area facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ravenswood Mining Landscape and Chinese Settlement Area |
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View across Ravenswood Mining Landscape towards former Sunset No 2 and Grand Junction Mines, from south, 2015
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| Location | Reserve bounded by School Street, Cemetery Road, Railway Street and Burdekin Falls Dam Road, Ravenswood, Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Design period | 1840s–1860s (mid-19th century) |
| Official name: Ravenswood Mining Landscape and Chinese Settlement Area | |
| Type | state heritage |
| Designated | 14 October 2016 |
| Reference no. | 650038 |
| Type | Archaeological: Archaeological potential; Farming-agriculture/dairying/grazing/horticulture: Market garden; Mining and Mineral Processing: Mill/stamper battery; Mining and Mineral Processing: Mine site; Mining and Mineral Processing: Other – Mining and Mineral Processing; Mining and mineral processing: Mine; Mining and mineral processing: Mining camp/settlement; Mining and mineral processing: Plant-metallurgical/electrolytic; Religion/worship: Temple |
| Theme | Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Exploiting natural resources; Exploiting, utilising and transforming the land: Experimenting, developing technologies and innovation; Building settlements, towns, cities and dwellings: Establishing settlements and towns |
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The Ravenswood Mining Landscape and Chinese Settlement Area is a special heritage site in Ravenswood, Australia. It's a former mining town and an archaeological area. This place shows us how gold mining changed over time. It also tells the story of the Chinese community who lived and worked here. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 2016.
Contents
Discovering Gold in Ravenswood
Ravenswood is about 85 kilometres south of Townsville. It was once a very important gold mining area. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was Queensland's fifth largest gold producer.
Gold was first found here in 1868. Miners found alluvial gold, which means gold mixed with sand and gravel in creeks. Soon after, they found gold in reefs. Reefs are veins of quartz rock deep underground.
The first gold discoveries were in creeks like Tucker's and Hungry Gullies. Later, richer finds were made in Nolan's, Jessop's, and Buchanan's gullies. Many miners came to the area, and by 1869, there were about 700 people.
Early Mining and Town Life
To get gold from the quartz reefs, miners needed machines to crush the rock. The first crushing machine, called a stamp battery, started working in 1870. This machine used heavy stamps to smash the quartz. Its success brought even more miners to Ravenswood.
The town of Ravenswood was officially created in 1871. By then, it had many hotels, though they were often just simple shacks. The population grew quickly.
Chinese miners also came to Ravenswood. They were important to the town. They looked for alluvial gold and also ran businesses. They had hotels, stores, and even market gardens. These gardens provided fresh vegetables for everyone in the town.
The "Mundic Problem" and New Technology
Around 1872, miners faced a big problem. The gold reefs went deeper underground, below the water level. The gold there was mixed with other minerals, especially sulphide ores (also called "mundic"). This made it very hard to get the gold out using old methods.
Many miners left for other goldfields like Charters Towers. But Ravenswood still grew. People kept trying to find new ways to extract the gold.
Chinese Community Life
The Chinese community in Ravenswood was very important. They lived mainly along Deighton Street. They had market gardens near Elphinstone Creek. These gardens were vital for feeding the town.
The Chinese community also built a temple around 1874. This is the earliest known Chinese temple in Queensland. Temples were not just for worship. They were also meeting places and centres for community events. Near the temple, there was a pig roasting oven. This was used for big community feasts. These ovens are very rare and show how Chinese migrant communities lived in Australia.
New Ways to Get Gold
In the 1880s, people experimented with new technologies. Ravenswood was one of the first places in Queensland to use chlorination and Wilfley tables. Chlorination used chlorine gas to get gold from the ore. Wilfley tables shook the crushed ore to separate different minerals.
Ravenswood was also likely the first place in Australia to use the cyanide process. This method uses a cyanide solution to dissolve fine gold particles. These new methods helped keep mining going, even with the difficult ores.
The town's economy also got a boost from silver mining nearby at Totley. A railway line was built to Ravenswood in 1884. This made it easier to transport ore for treatment elsewhere.
The New Ravenswood Company Boom
Ravenswood's biggest gold boom happened from about 1900 to 1908. This was thanks to a man named Archibald Laurence Wilson. He brought new money and modern machines to the goldfield. His company, the New Ravenswood Company, became the biggest mining operation in Ravenswood.
Wilson improved how gold was extracted. He used new machines and methods at the Mabel Mill. He also brought the first Wilfley tables to Queensland. The Mabel Mill was expanded to crush more ore. A large raff wheel was built to lift waste material (tailings) to a new cyanide plant.
The company's efforts led to a big increase in gold production. The town's population grew rapidly, reaching over 4,700 people in 1903. This led to a building boom, with new brick hotels and shops being built.
Deep Mines and Challenges
Wilson also tried to find more gold by sinking a very deep shaft called the Deep Mine. It went down 512 metres, making it the deepest on the goldfield. However, it didn't find much gold and was eventually abandoned.
Another mine, the Grand Junction, also tried to find deep gold but wasn't very successful. The Grant and Sunset Extended mine, however, produced a good amount of gold.
After 1905, the boom started to slow down. Costs increased, and the mines produced less gold. World War I also made things harder. In 1917, the New Ravenswood Company stopped its large-scale operations. This ended the big mining era in Ravenswood for many years.
By 1917, the Ravenswood goldfield had produced over 850,000 ounces of gold. This made it one of Queensland's most important gold producers.
Smaller Scale Mining and Re-treatment
After 1917, mining in Ravenswood became much smaller. The town's population dropped a lot. Many timber buildings were even moved away by train.
However, some gold was still found. In the 1930s, with gold prices rising, people tried to re-work old mines. They also treated old waste piles (mullock heaps) and tailings dumps using improved cyanide processes.
New companies and local miners tried to extract gold. For example, the Little Grand Junction mine was worked by local miners. Judge's Mill was set up to treat mullock dumps. Partridge and Ralston Mill also re-treated old tailings. These efforts helped keep some mining activity going until the 1960s.
Ravenswood's New Life
By the 1960s, Ravenswood's population was very small. But people started to see the town's old mining structures as important history. They realized that preserving these old buildings and ruins could attract tourists.
The town's unique look, with its old chimneys and mining remains, became an attraction. The tall brick chimneys are especially famous. This led to a new industry for Ravenswood: tourism.
Modern Mining
In the 1980s, gold mining started again in Ravenswood. This was because gold prices went up and new open-cut mining methods made it easier. Open-cut mining involves digging large pits from the surface. Modern cyanide processes also made gold extraction more efficient.
While modern mining helped the town's economy, it didn't bring back the old building boom. The heritage of Ravenswood's mining past is now protected and valued.
What You Can See Today
The Ravenswood Mining Landscape and Chinese Settlement Area covers about 50 hectares. It's a hilly area with old mine sites, tall brick chimneys, and other ruins. You can also find remnants of the Chinese settlement.
Mining Landscape Features
Most of the mining structures you see today are from the New Ravenswood Company era (1899-1917) or later small-scale mining.
- Grant and Sunset Extended Mine: Here you can see a tall, square brick chimney and the foundations of a winding engine. A winding engine was used to pull ore and miners up and down the mine shaft.
- General Grant Mine: This site also has a tall, square brick chimney and winding engine foundations. You can see where a shaft once was.
- Duke of Edinburgh Mine: This mine has two old Cornish boilers. Boilers made steam to power the mining machinery.
- Sunset No 1 Mine: You can see a caved shaft and a small brick building that was likely an explosives magazine.
- Sunset No 2 Mine: This site has an octagonal brick chimney and concrete foundations for a headframe. A headframe is a structure built over a mine shaft to support the winding machinery.
- Grand Junction Mine: Look for a tall, square brick chimney and concrete foundations of a winding engine.
- Little Grand Junction Mine: This site has a caved shaft and concrete winding engine mounts.
- Deep Mine and Mill: This area has a round brick chimney, winding plant foundations, and a large mullock heap (waste rock). The mill site has concrete foundations for a stamp battery and Wilfley tables, plus concentrate settling tanks with colourful sediments.
- Mabel Mill Tailings Treatment Plant: This area has concrete foundations from the mill and cyanide works. You can also see a large area of pale yellow, grey, and orange sediments, which are the tailings (waste from processing ore).
- Partridge and Ralston Mill: This site has two large round metal cyanide tanks and foundations for Wilfley tables. You might see old machinery like a diesel engine.
- Judge's Mill: Here you can find concrete and brick foundations for stamp batteries and a concentrating mill. There's also a brick strongroom and an old boiler house.
Chinese Settlement Area
The Chinese Settlement Area is south of Deighton Street. It shows where the Chinese community lived and worked.
- Former Temple: You can see the stone and concrete foundations of the old temple. It was built around 1874 and is the earliest known Chinese temple in Queensland.
- Former Pig Roasting Oven: Near the temple, you'll find the remains of a brick and stone oven. This was used for roasting pigs during community feasts.
Landscape and Views
The area is crisscrossed by unsealed roads and walking tracks. It's mostly cleared land with some trees like chinee apple and rubber vine. The tall brick chimneys are a very noticeable feature. From higher points, you can get great views of the mining landscape and the town.
Archaeological Finds
Around the mine and mill sites, you can find old items like glass bottles, ceramics, bricks, and metal pieces. These are artefacts that tell us about the past.
In the Chinese settlement area, there are many artefacts, including Chinese ceramics. You can also see flattened metal sheets from old kerosene tins and buckets. These show where people lived. There's even a brick-lined shaft that might have been a well.
Why This Place is Important
The Ravenswood Mining Landscape and Chinese Settlement Area is important for many reasons:
- Queensland's History: It shows how gold mining developed in Queensland. Ravenswood was a leader in new ways to get gold from difficult ores.
- Rare Heritage: The remains of the Chinese temple and pig roasting oven are very rare. They show an important part of Queensland's Chinese history.
- Hidden Information: The site has the potential to reveal more about old mining practices and the daily lives of people who lived there.
- Mining Characteristics: It's a great example of a historical goldfield. You can see the main parts of old mines and mills, like shafts, winding engines, stamp batteries, and cyanide plants. The Chinese settlement also shows how these communities were set up.
- Aesthetic Significance: The landscape, with its chimneys and ruins, is a powerful reminder of the exciting but sometimes difficult mining booms. It's a very picturesque place.
- Special Association: The site is strongly linked to Archibald Lawrence Wilson. He was a key person who brought modern mining to Ravenswood and helped the town grow.
