“ MINES AND MINING. Westward in General and the Copper Mines in Particular, (BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.)

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The Western mines may be said to commence at Locke's Platform on the line of railway. Locke's Platform is an euphonious and agreeable rendering of Dirty Swamp, the proper name of the place. It is 130 miles from Sydney, and the first station west of Tarana. The guide books give the elevation at 1643 feet above the level of the sea, but, from appearances, I should say it was a few inches more than that. A passenger suddenly alighting from the train on the platform might wonder why it was ever erected, and reasonably have some doubt whether the Commissioner for Railways, Chief Engineer, or Minister for Works had not ordered a stage to be erected in a howling wilderness, after a very convivial Ministerial picnic. But Locke's is not such a snare as all that. Behind a hillock, up a few hundred feet of rusty looking road, is the hostelry which rescued the station from the ignominy of being called Dirty Swamp. Locke's Hotel nestles behind the hill, with a colossal store of about ten by nine, that serves for a post-office, reading-room, and public library, not to say theatre, and Government buildings. The two places nestle together as if to keep themselves from being carried away by the wind which blows at Locke's, often like an M.L.A., on moving the adjournment of the House to point out the enormity of appointing a policeman, or not giving a sick prisoner his half-pint of porter. We had business at Locke's, and with Locke, but he was not at home. By the way, whoever found a bush landlord at home ? He is invariably doing a bit of ploughing a mile away, breaking in horses, buying cattle at the nearest township or collecting subscriptions for a church. The bar is always occupied by a woman or child, who seems perfectly astounded at the idea of being asked for a drink. Such an occurrence seems never to have entered into her calculations, and she is painfully be-wildered. The truth is, I had been led to believe that we were to be met at the station by horses. My guide, philosopher, and friend, on starting said, "We will go to Locke's-horses will meet us there -we ride on to Fitzpatrick's, then to O'Connell ; wait till the moon is up, start for the mine, and in the morning, &c, &c." Everybody who has travelled in Australia knows the programme, which is never carried out, because of the obdurate nature of the Australian horse. Of all animals, deceitfully and desperately wicked, in this desperately wicked world, the Australian horse carries off the palm for what can only be termed " cussedness" ; while, for utter unreliability, and never being there when he is wanted, he knocks the police into the Robertsonian cooked-hat. For jumping paddocks, getting "duffed," hiding in gullies, and planting in scrubs, he has no living equal; and as to incurring diseases just as he is required, and being totally unfit to ride at inopportune times, he pales the ineffectual fires of any beast in the known world-not excepting the Jerusalem pony. Not but what he has his good qualities, and can be ridden for days without anything more nourishing than sand and gum leaves, and come up smiling his great horse laugh ; but that is when he is on his good behaviour ; generally, he is as unreliable and as fractious as a J.P. on the bench for the first time. My guide, philosopher, and friend, was more taken aback than I was at the non-appearance of the Australian horse. He is a naval officer and has not yet acquired the distrust of the animal that hundreds of instances of his perversity have inspired me with. "We would only have to walk to Fitzpatrick's where we should find the nags whinnying at the paddock fence, begging someone to put the saddles on. Before we started I took the opportunity to take a look round the place. We are in the midst of a mineral country ; to the north of the line is a copper mine, on the side of the hill, at full work. A shaft is down forty feet, and the party are driving to cut the lode. The mine belongs to Fitzpatrick, Armstrong, and another, and is being worked by private enterprise. It was discovered two years ago, and the lode is from 2 feet 6, to 2 foot 8, and even 3 foot wide. It is only one mile and three chains from the station, and will on that account be a very cheap and profitable one to work, especially as a tramway can be constructed at little cost. A report that has reached me since my visit tells me that the prospects of the mine are brighter than over, and some recent discoveries made in the course of sinking lead the proprietors to believe that their property is destined to become one of the most valuable in the country. Upon the south side gold is met with, and the banks of the Fish River that runs past Locke's are being sluiced with success. Nuggets are frequently got in the boxes, and the party have been earning good wages since they commenced. From Locke's we go to Fitzpatrick's, distant about a mile and a quarter. The hills we go over are auriferous, and a " prospect" can be obtained in a dishful of stuff anywhere. Parts of one of the hills have been stripped, but there is not sufficient gold to pay the cost of carting to the river. If a tramway were erected loading down to it, or water were raised to sluice the surface, handsome profits would no doubt be realised, Arrived at Fitzpatrick's, I find that place to be a settler's selection of about 120 acres, with grazing right over 200 more. Mr. Fitzpatrick cultivates a quantity of land and grows oats ; he also owns a team of working bullocks on his land, and is an amateur butcher. My anticipations respecting the Australian horse are fully realised. Our horses are in a pad-dock of about 200 acres, and if the only two at our disposal haven't got out, or incurred some incurable disease since breakfast time, and the boys can find and catch them, and they don't get over the fence, or go lame, or roll down and break their necks, we can start at once. I have my doubts about the start at once. It is 5 p.m. and threatening to rain, and no doubt the horses have got scent of our intentions, and are getting maimed or stowing out of the way, so I resign myself to my fate, and get inside. The interior of the honest Australian farmer's residence is, generally speaking, not enticing, and this is no exception to the rule. Mr. Fitzpatrick ls rearing a family up with a reckless disregard to anything like comfort. There is a big fire, but to counter-act its effects every slab in the hut has a space of an inch between it and the next, and this with the mercury (in the thermometer huddled down at the bottom ignominiously. There is a faint show of resistance to the wind, and that is, Mr. Editor, by means of some illustrated sheets of your inestimable Town and Country pasted on the walls. But the frigidity of the place is only equalled by the warmth of the welcome and the excellence of the hearty bush fare spread before us. My friend looks anxiously outside over and anon, and slaps his riding boots with his whip. He hasn't lost all faith in the Australian horse, and does not till the boys come in without them and think they must have gone down the creek, or got the other side of the Bald Hill without they've been led away by a vagabond horse named Billy, and made for a station twenty miles away, from which Billy was originally reluctantly brought. A nice prospect for your special, who affects the theatres, and has got to be critical about beds, and already feels a twinge of rheumatics. For amusement a young retainer of the family, a juvenile being brought up by Mr. Fitzpatrick, is introduced as a vocalist and instructed to sing, and he does with a wonderful and life-like imitation of the "high kicking salamanders," and "hurrah boys" of the music halls. He sings a pastoral ditty, in which he implores a maiden not to "hie," but to " hike away to the clover fields.'.' I am not surprised to learn that he has been brought up near Sydney, and has attended the Cafe Chantant in its palmy days. A drop of brandy, brought from Locke's, helps out the evening, together with a yarn about the district, and so, as old Pepy's says, "to bed." 'Daylight brings little comfort -a heavy rain down the wide mouthed chimney sets the live coals sputtering and hissing, but the hunt for horses is continued, with success, and 8 o'clock sees us, after a hearty breakfast, mounted, and on the road towards O'Connell distant five miles away. I think my guide makes it six by taking a short cut, but he prides himself on his bush experience, and I don't like to say anything, for he fell in the trenches before the Redoubt, and was sent home to die comfortably-besides he wears the legion of honour, and the Medjidjee cross. O'Connell is a small township, the capital of the plains bearing that name. It boasts of two stores, two hotels, an Episcopalian and Roman Catholic Church, a public school without a teacher, a private school, and a score or two of houses. Altogether it is a snug prosperous looking township, and picturesque enough with the Fish River purling through it, and willows fringing the banks. The mines are seven miles from here ; and by the time we reach them we are amongst the ranges through which Wiseman's and the Essington, or Native Dog Creeks, run. The first intimation that we have of the actual presence of mining, is the sight of the store and buildings round Morgan and West's adit. This mine has been worked for some time by Bathurst people, with splendid results, and is improving greatly every week. The South Wiseman's Creek mine whither I am bound, is on the other side of the creek, and is in the left portion of the view given above. It was first dis-covered by Mr. Wilson, some two years ago. The first thing that strikes the eye on coming to the adit is a huge heap of blue stuff, which looks as if some Brobdignagian washerwoman had prepared for a gigantic wash. This is copper ore or blue carbonate, with which green carbonate is freely mixed. There are several heaps, some ready for bagging, and others awaiting cleansing or sorting. The best heap will average 30 per cent, of copper, and there are in the heaps about 150 tons of ore altogether, awaiting transport to the Macquarie Plains railway station, from which place it is taken by train to Lloyd's Smelting Works, at Bowenfels. In three months eight men working on tribute have taken L1200 worth of ore from the mine, besides doing the dead work, i.e., the timbering, &c. Above the adit, which is in 150 feet, there is a shaft sunk perpendicularly 80 foot, carrying, the manager reports, carbonates of copper and grey copper ore, the whole distance. I cannot do better than give the report of the manager and the directors, merely mentioning that Mr. Wilson holds no interest himself in the mine, and is merely working from tribute :- In the first place, a shaft, has been sunk 80 foot per perpendicularly, and closely timbered, carrying carbonates of copper and some grey copper ore the whole distance, with no indication whatever of running out. A drive (dead trial work) was then put into the westward 38 feet. 16 feet of which distance was occupied by a belt of eruptive rock (in mining parlance, termed an elvan) having intersected which, a wide but poor lode where it was Intersected; but quite distinct, thing from the lode in which the shaft is situated. Upwards of twenty tons of dressed ore were obtained from the shaft. Two men were employed, and very occasionally three. A drive, or adit, was afterwards commenced, at a distance of 140 feet, north, from the shaft to enter the latter at 5O feet deep. For some distance from the shaft, along the course of the adit, ore was obtained in quantity and very good quality, and the lode averaging eight or nine feet from wall to wall. The adit was timbered, and, when stoping commenced, eight hands were employed. About 100 tons of ore are dressed for market, 60 tons of which will range 20 to 25 per cent;., the balance will go about half that. By the end of next month it is calculated that £1200 worth of ore will be obtained; the great bulk of which will have been obtained in about three months, working with two shifts-two men each, -and four men dressing ore and fitting any timber required. The expenses are roughly estimated at £300, the profits at £900. About 140 feet of dead driving has been done, timber put into the mine, an open working and ore shed, 18 x 20 feet built, two roadways cut, and also two large floors for dressed ore. Were the mine worked on a more extensive scale, with all necessary, appliances, the profit would be proportionately greater than it has been under the cautions system of working which was felt absolutely necessary to pursue. The reasons for that conviction are based upon the fact that the more the mine has been opened the better has been the yield. The nearer the surface is approached, the poorer it has been ; but the deeper it has been worked the better it has yielded in both quality and quantity. Under-foot, there are magnificent and gigantic veins of blue carbonate and red oxide of copper. The extent of the property is 100 acres, leased from the Government, and it appears to be literally striped with veins or lodes of mineral and metallic ores, the development of which will, no doubt, be accomplished sooner or later if the property should fall into the hands of a strong company. Though the results have been satisfactory so far, we are quite certain if the mine is worked by an able and experienced manager, under a strong company, they will be infinitely more so. If smelting works were erected on the spot a great deal of the stuff raised that has now to be thrown away or cleansed at the creek in consequence of the cost of cartage and train freight, could be treated at once with a handsome profit. In addition to the South Creek and Morgan's mines there is to the south, and adjoining the former a block of 160 acres upon which a party of men are at work upon contract. This land was taken up for an English company, and promises to be as profitable an investment as the others. The mine is under the supervision of Captain Armstrong R..N., and a number of his brother officers who served with him in the Crimea are shareholders with him. Wiseman's Creek is about twenty miles from Bathurst. From reports and predictions of experienced miners, and the results already attained, the Wiseman's Creek mines promise to turn out as rich as any that have been developed in this colony, and add materially to the importance to that part of the Western district.[1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Locke referred to in this article is Edward Locke[2] (1838-1903). “Born in New South Wales or possibly Tasmania, Edward Locke was an early settler in what was then known as Dirty Swamp, a location near O’Connell on the eastern side of Bathurst Region. In 1865, he took over the licence of the local hotel, The Crispin Arms. With the arrival of railway construction in 1868, Locke opened a butcher shop and bakery to meet the needs of the many railway workers and their families living in temporary camps. To provide for the education of the locality’s children, Locke as a community leader was instrumental in securing a public school at Dirty Swamp. In 1872, his role in the community was honoured with the settlement’s railway station being named Locke’s Platform. In 1879, both the station and Dirty Swamp itself were renamed Locksley, again in his honour.”

 

In 1875 A. Hordern Junior and another took out gold mining leases on Native Dog Creek[3]. We know from another article in 1875 the other was Mr Piggott. F.R Williams also took out a license in this year. Gold was still a focus of mining.

 

In 1876 it is noted that William Richard Smith’s shaft is still sinking and richer as they go down. We can assume this is on his 100 acres but there is no proof of this. The papers also states “ Another shaft Is also sunk on the road to Bathurst, half a mile  from Essington, -with first-rate prospects. The gommon? on the top shows good indications of copper. They are down about 14 feet the lode is now about 2 ft wide.” [4]

 

The latter reference is unlikely to refer to William Richard but this does indicate William Richard was mining as well as grazing and we can assume he may have diversified much before this. Was he mining gold in the 1850’s and 1860’s we will never know. Grevilles Post Office Directory for Rockley in 1872 lists William Smith of Native Dog Creek as a miner. See pdf below. The only other listing in 1872 for NDC is Robert Robertson Miner. We also can assume William is mining copper and not gold on his property in 1876.  

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1876 also saw the death of Charles Cable Warby of Campbell’s River described as an old and much respected colonist who had come to area from Campbelltown 50 years prior. The obit says he leaves a widow and a large family some of whom are married.[5] It was one of his male descendants who bought out the Smith’s land in the era of Tom and Jo Smith.

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A Mr L Foucart took out a gold mining license at Native Dog Creek near Rockley in 1876.[6] “I must also state the mail line is changed to O'Connell Plains instead of to Rockley, which has caused a great disappointment to the people of Rockley, Campbell's River, and Essington, as the principal correspondence lies between those places.”[7]  This same article notes that “ Since my last we have had a very severe fall of snow, and now heavy frosts at night, with fine sunny days. The men are still sinking in W. R. Smith's shaft with good prospects, and with good looking ore ; but, at the same time, they have not come upon the bunch, which every day is expected.” Did they find copper or gold? In October 1876 the paper reported “Mr. W. R SMITH'S CLAIM.-They are still raising some splendid ore with better prospects than ever ; they have now several tons to grass.”[8]

 

This August 1876 article also records the accident of the 3 year old Lovett girl, daughter of John Lovett, who had gotten her finger caught in her father’s chaff thresher and tore off her left fore finger and crushed her hand. We do not know if she survived. This may be the John Lovett father or Lydia Ann Lovett who went on to marry John Thomas Hocking, William and MaryAnn’s grandson and Victoria Adelaide’s son.

 

Also in 1876 the Legislative Assembly allocated in its “ Estimates for the year 1876 a sum not exceeding £200 for the erection of a bridge across Campbell's River, to secure communication for the residents of Native Dog Creek, Oberon and the surrounding districts, with the towns of Rockley and Bathurst.”[9] This paper records the accident of Peter McNab at Wisemans Creek Copper Mine with ricks falling on his abdomen. Refer to the story of Mary Ann Smith to see the role of the McNabs in the Smith Story.

 

Native Dog Creek was not the isolated area it is today. It was a vibrant community in these days.

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[1] Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 20 June 1874, page 16

[2] The Pillars Of Bathurst publication page 50

[3] The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 28 January 1875, page 2

[4] Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 16 September 1876, page 10

[5] Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), Friday 1 September 1876, page 4

[6] The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 5 April 1876, page 6, 7

[7] Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 26 August 1876, page 10

[8] Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 21 October 1876, page 11

[9] Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), Saturday 8 July 1876, page 8

[10] Hubert Architects for Bathurst Regional Council, Rockley Mill Conservation Management Plan 2006