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

1859: The Government had voted a grant of £50,000 for the provision of water on the
colony’s goldfields. Sandhurst decided to spend its share of the vote on a reservoir ... Not
until the beginning of 1861 was a start made ...[on a reservoir]...at Grassy Flat.
1859: Quartz mining - Elysian Flat Goldfield. During Jan 1859, a party of miners sinking
a shaft on Elysian Flat struck a rich quartz reef at a depth of 50 feet. The party was known as
Oates & Co. [named Sir Henry Barkly Reef] ... Another reef on Elysian Flat, the Nuggetty
Reef, which ran parallel to the Sir Henry Barkly Reef, was opened up in August 1859 ...
Other reefs worked on and in the vicinity of Elysian Flat was Moore’s Reef, Stringer’s Reef,
Kannobian Reef and Uncle Sam Reef. The Sir Henry Barkly Reef proved the best, and mines
on this line worked for many years. The first record of a crushing machine on Elysian Flat
was that of Whisker and Co. By the close of 1858, this company had installed their boiler, a
dam was under construction and the installation of machinery to operate a steam puddling
machine and a quartz crusher, was almost completed. A Mr. McPhail commenced erection
of a crushing plant on the flat during April 1859. This was driven by a 12hp steam engine. 1
1859: Whipstick ... A rush began in January when Alexis Luichard got gold near
Gilchrist’s, and Patchy Flat was discovered and caused a rush of 100 men. This was followed
by another rush to Myer’s Flat when Vincent Pyke re-discovered the lost lead there. 2
1859: Ironically enough, the boom in mining which Sandhurst was about to experience
stemmed indirectly from the very absence of water so essential to mining. Tentative efforts
over the years to provide Sandhurst with a water-supply had come to nothing. The Coliban-
Campaspe country had been surveyed from levels in 1854 and in 1855 Emmett had attempted
to initiate a scheme to provide Sandhurst with water. Interest was lacking but Emmett was
persistent. At a public meeting in Melbourne on 19 April 1858 he announced plans entered
into with the Municipality of Sandhurst for providing a permanent water supply. A reservoir
holding 86,259,000 gallons was to be built at Golden Square. Company promotion was in the
air and Emmett envisaged a realisation of his scheme through the formation of a company
incorporated by Act of Parliament, and possessing capital of £60,000, subscribed in 12,000
£5 shares. So it was that on 11 August 1859, the Bendigo Waterworks Company ... was
launched. The company was concerned with more than water. Gold won from the
excavations for the bank of its first reservoir would, it was anticipated, pay for the reservoir’s
construction. Seven subsidiary reservoirs were planned. In effect, the Waterworks Company
was a fully-fledged mining company. It shares quickly soared to £13 and attention focussed
upon Sandhurst and its reefs. Speculators descended on the field. Elated by his success with
the Hercules, Butters launched the Johnson’s Reef Company and so great was the rush to
invest in the venture, the Company had to close its doors at 3 pm. on the day of its launching
and refuse to accept further moneys. Sandhurst found itself in the throes of its first great
investment spree. By the end of 1859 a hundred-odd mining companies had been floated.
Their number doubled over the ensuing twelve months. At the height of the boom 391
applications for leases were lodged within a fortnight, involving 2,280 acres of alluvial
ground and 27,000 yards of quartz reef. Much of the activity represented a ‘take-over’ of
existing claims. During 1859 only three mining leases had been issued in the Mining District
of Sandhurst. In 1860 the figure rocketed to 214, most of them on Sandhurst itself and
representing more than half of the total number of leases granted in the colony that year.
Such, however, was the deceptively ephemeral nature of the boom that by 1861 the figure
had dropped to 59, and as early as January of that year, no more than fourteen of the hundred
or so surviving companies were paying their way. The rest had mostly ceased operations, if,
in fact, they had ever started. Some £1,000,000 in capital investment, or approximately
$30,000,000 in today’s currency, had disappeared. Many of the companies got no further
than the broker’s office and were never intended to do so. Others ‘put in an appearance’ on
the field and folded overnight. A very few prospered. Mostly, these were companies
operating on proven ground and controlled by mining men who served an apprenticeship on
the field. 3
1 Perry, 1975, pp62-64
2 Flett, 1979, p248
3 Cusack, 1973, p130