Mining Heritage of the Australian Alps - Australian Alps National Parks

Mining of metals other than gold has been carried out within the study area. While undoubtedly some
of the best expressions in the State of the various types lie here (eg wolfram at Mt Murphy, primary
tin lodes at Mt Wills), base metals mining is a very minor historical theme in Victoria, in sharp
contrast to New South Wales. For example, total recorded Victorian copper production to 1993 was
only 1925 tonnes 9 .
There are no mining fields within the Victorian section of the study area that have outstanding cultural
heritage value at a State level.
New South Wales:
State significance for the Kiandra field is indicated in the following areas:
• It best represents one extreme of conditions under which mining was carried out in New
South Wales, and carries in its landscape and Alpine climate strong evidence of living
and working conditions. The other extreme is probably best-represented by the Mt
Browne goldfield, near Tibooburra in far-western New South Wales.
NSW Heritage Office Criteria:
* The place possesses rare aspects of NSW's cultural history;
* The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of NSW's cultural places and
cultural environments.
• It has significant historical themes relating to the importance attached to the discovery by
the government of New South Wales, and the hopes and infrastructure invested in the
field as a potential solution to the State's economic woes and to ending the dominance of
the Victorian goldfields. This infrastructure included police stations, lock-ups and stables
at regular intervals along major routes to the diggings, government infrastructure in
Kiandra, and the Willis customs post on the NSW-Vic border to the south. While
Kiandra itself proved a failure, it nonetheless heralded a gold-led recovery of the NSW
economy, that was then carried on by subsequent larger discoveries.
NSW Heritage Office Criteria:
* The place is important in the course of NSW's cultural history;
* The place has the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of NSW's cultural
history.
The Kiandra goldfield is the only mineral field within the New South Wales section of the study area
with any production of note. However, its estimated 180,000 ounce aggregate production is small in
State terms, and is relatively small even in terms of regional goldfields. To the north-west of the
Kosciusko National Park, the Adelong field has produced just under 700,000 ounces, while to the
east, the Araluen field produced almost 500,000 ounces and Braidwood over 650,000 ounces 10 . Even
in Kiandra's first and peak year (1860), it only produced 17.6% of New South Wales' gold, and
approximately 2.5% of Australian gold production. New South Wales and Victoria were the only
significant gold producers in that year, with Victoria dominating. In 1861, this dropped dramatically
to 3.6% and 0.6% respectively. These figures in turn plummetted further in following years 11 .
4.5.2 STATE SIGNIFICANT SITES
Victoria
Nine mining sites within the study area have been assessed as of State cultural heritage significance
during the Victorian Goldfields Project, and been included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR).
These sites have legislative protection under Part 4 of the Heritage Act 1995 (Vic). They are:
9 "Mineral Notes, Copper", Roger Buckley, May 2000 (EMV, Note Series No MNM0006, ISSN 1443-3583).
10 Figures taken from MinFact sheets No 54, 55 & 56, NSW Department of Mineral Resources, 1996.
11 Percentages calculated from official production figures of New South Wales & Victoria, quoted in "Select Documents in Australian
History", Manning Clark, 1955 (pp48-50 in 1977 paperback edition).
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