Bendigo General History - Department of Planning and Community ...

Eaglehawk Division ... mining in this division continues quiet. There is nothing special to
chronicle. Mentions The Pearl Company ... intend purchasing air compressor and drills to more
effectually work the mine; Great Extended Victoria Company; Dixon’s Tribute Company; New
Victoria Catherine Company; Duke of Edinburgh Company; New St. Mungo Company; Sadowa
Company; United Devonshire Company; Princess Alexandra Company; Extended St. Mungo
Company; Phoenix Company; Unicorn Company; South St. Mungo Company; Lady Barkly
Company; St. Mungo Company; Belmont and Saxby United Company; La Belle Company; South
Devonshire Company; Duchess of Edinburgh Company; Hopewell Company. 1
1880s: The Cornishman, Thomas Edwards, who in 1876 had successfully introduced the chlorination
process of gold extraction at Clunes, had moved to Bendigo in the seventies and there developed
extensive pyrites treatment works, receiving parcels of ore from all over Australia. Several other
operators, including Spargo and Co., Liddell Bros., the United Pyrites Company and Cook and Co.,
also set up roasting works in the northern part of the field.
1880s: Whilst mining continued to be the city’s mainstay, by the eighties a range of secondary industry,
mostly concerned with supplying the needs of the mines, had arisen. The mines were employing a
work-force of 4,000; a thousand more men found employment in local foundries supplying mining
equipment or maintenance services. 2
May 1887: Sandhurst Division - Mining during the quarter has not caused much stir in this division, and,
though two companies have made excellent profits (both worked at or below 1,500 feet), the
dividends generally have not been so numerous as might be desired. The New Chum line
continues to hold the premier position for activity and payable results. The Eureka Extended has
been getting fair yields from the reef at 1,280 feet, and is also cross-cutting at 1,470 feet. The New
Chum Railway Company, finding it impossible to make any profit from the 1,400 foot reef, have
put on a number of tributers, who, with their more searching operations, have managed to obtain
payable returns to both themselves and the company The Shenandoah and North Shenandoah have
each derived a slight profit from their operations on the 1,492 feet reef, but have not reached the
dividend paying stage. ... The Shamrock Company is working the same reef as the Shenandoah,
and has likewise made a slight profit. The Young Chum Company is sinking their shaft slowly, and
in Craven’s New Chum the work is almost entirely by tributers. The Garibaldi have been crushing
rather extensively from the 1,270 foot level, but the returns are poor ... New Chum United have
been prospecting ... The Lazarus and Lazarus No. 1 Companies are getting well opened up on the
reef at 1,750 feet; but the returns though fair have not so far come up to expectations. The Old
Chum Company’s reef at 1,500 feet has yielded excellently, but latterly the returns have fallen off.
The New Chum and Victoria and the North Old Chum are cross-cutting at 1,850 and 1,950 feet
respectively ... The Victoria Quartz Company have been working the reef at 1,760 and 1,890 feet ...
The Great Central Victoria, Victoria Consols, and Ironbark Companies have been mainly sinking
their shafts, ranging from 1,500 feet to 1,660 feet deep. The yields from the Hercules and Energetic
have been very poor; but latterly the returns have improved greatly, and the last crushing gave a
profit of £700 on the fortnight’s work. On the Garden Gully line matters have been very quiet ...
mentions ... Great Southern Company; Londonderry; Garden Gully United; Victory and Pandora
Company; Unity Company; and Koch’s Pioneer. On the Hustler’s line most of the mines are
prospecting ...mentions... Great Extended Hustler’s Tribute; Great Extended Hustler’s; Hustler’s
Reef Company; United Hustler’s and Redan. The outside mines such as the G.G. Consolidated,
Whip and Jersey, Empire Amalgamated, Tambour Major, and others are courageously prospecting
without any change. Britt’s Freehold (alluvial), at Bagshot, have not yet succeeded in getting
opened up on the gutter. A plant for the treatment of pyrites, by the Mewbery-Vautin process, has
been erected here, and the results will be awaited with interest. Eaglehawk ... The dividends for the
quarter amount to £19,020, compared with the £21,250 for the December quarter. The difference is
more than accounted for by the fact that the Frederick the Great Company and it tributes at
Sebastian have been doing scarcely any work, pending the settlement of the question as to the
renewal of their lease under the Mining on Private Property Act. Work is proceeding with vigour
in all parts of the division, and it may be confidently expected that in one particular portion - the
southern end of the Devonshire line - important results will in the immediate future attend upon the
work done in several years of steady prospecting. Here the Pearl Company have during the quarter
been vigorously opening up a large body of stone in the 1,000 and 1,060 foot levels, and the
extensive crushings they have had show the reef to be payable. This will furnish a guide to the
several adjoining properties, which have spent a large amount of money in endeavouring to find the
connecting link between the Devonshire and New Chum lines of reef.
1 Mining Surveyors’ Reports, December 1886
2 Cusack, 1973, p.175