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

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1850s+ [1910: April 26]: The White Hills - Cemented alluvial deposits. The somewhat unpretentious chain of hills extending almost from the city to the hamlet of White Hills has been described by geologists as an ancient river bed. ... The early day diggers were not slow to recognise the hidden wealth contained in the different hills, and with the primitive appliances then in use directed their energies to working the richest of the deposits. Some idea of the magnitude of the deposits in these hills is afforded by the cemented alluvium extending in places to a height of 50ft. above the matrix. The thickness of the deposits gradually diminishes on the outer fringes of the hills, where owing to the removal of the surface gravels the Silurian rocks are exposed. In the early stages of operations attention was concentrated upon the removal of the alluvial substance immediately overlying the matrix. The wash was highly auriferous in the bed of the ancient watercourse, which according to data available was in places 300ft. in width. The methods adopted in working the wash was by sinking shafts, and where opportunity presented itself access to the main gutter or bed was gained by tunnelling from the hillside. The extent of the operations is evidenced by the innumerable shafts sunk along the course of the range of hills and the old tunnels exposed to view. At intervals there has been extensive subsidence of the overburden, and in many places the crests of the hills have settled down. In later years the surface deposits provided profitable employment for sluicers, and at the present time there are some old identities who still eke out a living in the locality. One of the few surviving pioneers of the locality is Mr. Sanneman, who, notwithstanding his advanced years, is still engaged working the deposits. When a visit was paid to the locality yesterday the old man was seen collecting material for sluicing at what is known as the fourth White Hill. In conservation with the old aged prospector he grew reminiscent, and recounted his experience, extending over a period of 55 years. The hills nearer the city, he said because of the friable nature of the deposits, had almost entirely been removed. Of the seven hills comprised in the section of the fourth hill contained most extensive deposits. There appeared to be a greater concentration of the cemented at that particular section, and as it was harder the material was not so easy of treatment. The ordinary process of treatment was by sluicing and puddling but in the early period crushing batteries were in operation. About thirty years ago (1880) a co-operative syndicate of Chinamen, working from an open cut on the western slope of the fourth hill carried on sluicing operations. They worked in relays, and sluiced continuously night and day. At that period, Mr. Sannerman states water for sluicing cost £4 per week. The syndicate, it was reported at the time, obtained an average of 60oz. gold per month, and worked there close on two years. 1 August 1852: Despite its size and richness, the field ...[Bendigo Creek Diggings]... could be as fickle as any other. Also, there was a limit to surface riches and the field become greatly over-crowded, so that by August 1852, the Argus correspondent could report that ‘these hitherto wonderful diggings are now disappointing thousands. Eaglehawk, Spring, American, Sailors, Pegleg have turned out wonderful yields but now the neighbourhood appears to have given up its treasures. He believed that of a diggings population of 50,000 then on the field, not more than one in fifty was making enough to pay for provisions ... Spring brought news of discoveries in other parts of the colony and the less successful or more restless shouldered swags and headed off ...[to]... the Ovens and Creswick Creek. However, those who remained were doing well, particularly on Bendigo, where the flat opposite the main camp had been opened up with ‘remarkable success’ and some of the old ground at Spring Gully and the Back Creek was being reworked with excellent results. The most adventurous were roaming further afield and probing the forbidding wildness of scrub at the northern edge of the field known as The Whipstick. 2 Oct 1852: During the first week of October 1852, Captain Bull arrived on Bendigo Creek to replace Gilbert, and on Wright’s appointment as Chief Commissioner of the Goldfields Administration and his removal to Melbourne, Bull was appointed first Resident Commissioner. His stay was brief and in early 1853 he returned to Mount Alexander ... and Joseph Anderson Panton was promoted to the rank of Senior Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Bendigo District and of the Sandhurst Camp ... Panton remained in charge of the Bendigo field throughout its days as an alluvial diggings, and after the sweeping changes following Eureka, was one of the few commissioners retained under the new administration. [appointed Warden of the field] 3 end of 1852: By the close of year, the Bendigo Creek Diggings had produced 475,857 ounces during its first full year as a goldfield. Most considered it nearing exhaustion, yet such was the 1 Bendigo Advertiser [DMID records]26/4/1910 2 Cusack, 1973, p45 3 Cusack, 1973, p65
unpredictable nature of gold digging the year ahead saw that amount considerably exceeded. 1 Dec 1852: As early as December 1852 a slab church was erected near Golden Point and by the following March, additional chapels had been opened at Golden Gully and the Commissioner’s Camp. 2 Dec 1852: Growing civic pretension extended even to nomenclature. On 2 December 1852 the area about Bendigo Flat and including the Government Camp, was officially designated Castleton ... on 18n January 1853 La Trobe rescinded the decision, insisting that henceforth the township should be called Sandhurst. 3 1852-1909: Bendigo districts nugget finds. 1852 5730zs White Horse Gully 1852 384 White Horse Gully 1861 377 Robinson Crusoe Gully 1865 350 Whipstick 1852 340 White Horse Gully 1854 338 Bendigo 1852 332 White Horse Gully 1852 288 Bendigo 1862 243 Kangaroo Gully 1858 242 Kangaroo Gully 1865 190 Whipstick - 180 New Argus mine 1863 176 Red Jacket, Whipstick 1852 172 Ironbark Gully 1909 157 Catherine Reef United 1903 112 Marong Lead 1852 108 Pegleg Gully 1867 100 Kangaroo Flat 1866 64 Sailor’s Gully 1875 60 Ironstone Hill 1873 52 Spring Gully. 4 By 1853: at least occasional diggers were casting a wondering eye on ... [reefs] ... In the beginning of that year, two storekeepers from Van Dieman’s Land, Amos and Cave, opened up a quartz reef on Specimen Hill and were said to have taken £2-3,000 worth of gold from it. By September the reef was being extensively worked by reefing parties. The quartz was crudely crushed with hammers ... In the same year Jonathan Harries, usually described as an American Negro, secured gold from the reef that subsequently became one of the most famous on the field - the Hustlers ... Certain factors militated against an earlier development of quartz mining on Bendigo. Not least was the small size of the claims. Suitable equipment was at a premium and even the most primitive implement for quartz crushing, a heavy hammer, an unwelcome encumbrance to the nomadic digger. Undoubtedly, however, nothing so discouraged an earlier exploration of the reefs as popular scientific theory that scoffed at the likelihood of rich returns at lower depths - ‘even the most learned savants give it as their ipse that gold would not be got in quartz below the depth of 300 feet’ 5 1 Cusack, 1973, p46 2 Cusack, 1973, p53 3 Cusack, 1973, p67 4 Bendigo Advertiser [DMID records] 16/12/1912 5 Cusack, 1973, p122
Page 1 and 2: Bendigo General History 1851: The o
Page 3 and 4: Jan 1852: Though less than twelve m
Page 5: 1852: Three quarters of a mile nort
Page 9 and 10: 1853: Bendigo Reefs ... In April 18
Page 11 and 12: 1854: The old year died miserably -
Page 13 and 14: 1855/57: The Whipstick Diggings wer
Page 15 and 16: 1856: Most of the small gullies wer
Page 17 and 18: August 1857, a Bendigo newspaper Th
Page 19 and 20: April 1858: In April 1858 the local
Page 21 and 22: Aug 1859: No 1, or Kangaroo Flat Di
Page 23 and 24: 1850s: The most easterly of the thr
Page 25 and 26: No improvement in alluvial mining i
Page 27 and 28: Alluvial mining remains much in the
Page 29 and 30: Paddy’s Gully Reef: the entire li
Page 31 and 32: 1860: Whipstick - In 1860 gold was
Page 33 and 34: The Huntly and Epsom Crushing and P
Page 35 and 36: All the claims in the vicinity of t
Page 37 and 38: Nov 1860: Kangaroo Flat Division Th
Page 39 and 40: Jan 1861: April 1861: obtained some
Page 41 and 42: March 1861: April 1861: Eaglehawk D
Page 43 and 44: May 1861: Eaglehawk and Huntly Divi
Page 45 and 46: Whipstick gullies The lead at Sebas
Page 47 and 48: operation, and proved most satisfac
Page 49 and 50: feet square along the line of the r
Page 51 and 52: June 1864. June 1864: In consequenc
Page 53 and 54: Sept 1864: I have the honour to inf
Page 55 and 56: Dec 1864: During the last quarter t
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1865+: Coliban system: scheme to ta
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June 1865: Kangaroo Flat Subdivisio
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Sept 1865: Dec 1865: contracted for
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1865 : Despite the Whipstick rushes
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The stampers are again at work, and
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The total number of miners is as fo
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March 1867: Sandhurst Division. [N
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June 1867: Raywood Division [E P Vi
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1868: The Old House at Home Hotel w
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1868: Snowball Gully Rush to Snowba
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1870: a depth of 1,873 feet, the mi
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Referring to this subject, Mr Koch,
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Mar 1871: It would be difficult to
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abandoned, and shares in the older
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great importance. The events most w
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Above all, Thureau was impressed by
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It is to be regretted that the Hust
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At the White Hills a considerable a
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1880s: In 1861 the Cornishman, Abra
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Dec 1880: Mining operations have be
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Dec 1881: Sandhurst Division [N G S
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The central group on this line, hav
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Sept 1883: Eaglehawk Subdivision (F
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The Old Chum Company is opening out
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The Lady Barkly Company -…Main sh
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Early in the present quarter, the V
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Duchess Tribute Company - The 684-f
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Eaglehawk Division ... mining in th
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June 1887: Sandhurst Division - The
Page 115:
late 1880s: In 1874 slightly more t
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