Gold in Melbourne and Suburbs

[Deepseeker]

I came across this webpage tonight while surfing. I'm sure that in among the Charlatans, Duffers, and fanciful tales that came out of wine glasses and whiskey bottles, there were probably a few genuine discoveries back in the day. Either way, it makes for interesting reading!

http://www.egold.net.au/biogs/EG00201b.htm

 

[hippyhunter]

I have always wondered about the mouth of the yarra. Im pretty sure that area gets dredged as a shipping lane. Always wondered if they have tested the ground for gold during any port phillip councul dredging operation. I reckon it would be loaded like bering sea

 

[JD3]

I came across this webpage tonight while surfing. I'm sure that in among the Charlatans, Duffers, and fanciful tales that came out of wine glasses and whiskey bottles, there were probably a few genuine discoveries back in the day. Either way, it makes for interesting reading!

http://www.egold.net.au/biogs/EG00201b.htm

When I started detecting back in 1990 I searched a lot of stuff at the mines dept on microfiche, spent hundreds of hours there. And saw what I believed very credible reports of nuggets from Mount Alexander road between Moonee Ponds and Essendon found by early road workers as well as reports of reefs and nuggets from much of the Melb metropolitan areas. Them being very early were dismissed as silly "gold was not to be found in that type of country" as were many early gold reports from country Vic at the time. History tells the true tale that gold did in fact exist. Unfortunately in Melb, by the time it was fully realised the true extent of Australia's, Victoria at least, wealth in potential gold, they had built on it. Who knows what crazy rich finds lay beneath the Melbourne and surrounds city scape!? Personally, I think a fortune.

 

[CreviceSucker]

Many towns began as tents set up on top of the diggings , some of those tents were replaced by timber shacks and streets that began as rough cart tracks through the bush to transport supplies in and gold out.

 

[rickyraccoon1970]

The was a gold and antimony mine in Ringwood close to the current site of the Maroondah Shire offices. Also I believe there was some gold found around Balwyn and Templestowe areas.

 

[user 4386]

The article is written by Robyn Annear who wrote the excellent "Bearbrass" (a history of Melbourne prior to the goldrushes). She was the partner of Bannear (forgot first name) who was the historical geologist for the department of mines (collected all the mining histories of Victorian goldfields and compiled them). It is very accurate.

When I was a geology student I learnt foundation work - gold in quartz veins was being found there in the Melbourne CBD (e.g. in foundations of a building then being built at the now tube station opposite RMIT where I studied). I suddenly feel old - I saw a building being built that predated the present building above the station - I seem to remember a shot tower. When I was about 6 a young girl fell down a gold mine shaft that opened in the middle of Hill St, North Balwyn (I have the cutting from the Sun newspaper). I used to collect gold and stibnite specimens off the mine dumps at the Ringwood gold and antimony mine (the main shaft location is now under the municipal offices there - they have a photo of the headframe in the foyer). The Diamond Creek Gold Mine (produced 1.6 tonne gold, 960 feet deep main shaft) was briefly re-opened by a mate's father when I was a child or young teenager. Warrandyte was the site of one of the first two Victorian goldfields discovered officially. Five miners died when water inundated the mine of the Borondoora Gold and Antimony Mining Company in Templestowe (it was on the local rifle range there when I was a child). When I was a teenager they discovered gold in the gully draining north from there, while doing freeway work. The remains of the Borondoora treatment plant wall can still be seen in a park next to the Yarra River there. Also when a teenager I used to flash the power switch to let the miners (Bill Wallace and Stan Bone) know I was climbing down the shaft of their working gold mine (Golden Crown?) at Yarrambat - Bill Clayton worked the Golden King and Golden Stairs mines to its immediate south on the Greensborough road. Gold had recently been worked in a lead under the basalt on the west side of the Plenty River in the now Park - the lead started near Arthurs Creek on the east side and flowed (when the lead existed( towards South Morang. I still have a specimen of wire gold that I collected on the 300 foot level at Wallace's mine. He also worked the Black Cameron Mine near St Andrews, and gold was mined at Panton Hills and Kangaroo Grounds. I also have a specimen of gold collected underground as a teenager in a mine at Wattletree Road, Hurstbridge, on a day my mate nearly accidentally shot me with a 0.22. Later I used to go underground with Bill at their working mine at Christmas Hills (One Tree Hill) - Stan was still working there up until the 2009 fires. We drilled a gold-antimony mine at Steele's Creek near Yarra Glen - I think Blackwood was the manager. I used to ride my bike up to where a father and son were gold and sapphire mining at Menzies Creek (have the cutting from the Sun). There were minor gold shows in Heidelberg, Whittlesea, Kinglake. I could bore you with Melbourne mine stories for hours but won't......

 

[Jaros]

Bugger, I lived a stones throw from Diamond Creek Tel. Exch. and up the hill was the mine--If only I had the urge, but my main urge involved a Honey blonde lady in Wattle Glen at the time---ooohh!! Memories.

 

[deepblue]

Hi Goldierocks,
David Bannear is the name of the author that you are referring to.
cheers db

 

[Deepseeker]

Bugger, I lived a stones throw from Diamond Creek Tel. Exch. and up the hill was the mine--If only I had the urge, but my main urge involved a Honey blonde lady in Wattle Glen at the time---ooohh!! Memories.

That is actually quite funny Jaros. When I met my ex-wife, she had just moved from Wattle Glen. She shared a Mudbrick house there with her ex, who was an ex Telstra Tech. And yep, she was a Blonde too. That is just too spooky :skull:

Maybe we all should have just gone prospecting in the gold mine instead! :lol:

Great memories of the Diamond Creek fish and chip shop, and weekends at the St Andrews market :Y:

 

[MegsyB007]

That's a great read! Thanks for posting Deepseeker. Not sure how I missed it back in February...
I love reading the old newspaper articles - their comments makes me laugh.

I know that my great, great, uncle's family had a farm out Melton way, and he panned some gold on the creek there, back in the day too.

And reading about that "bluish clay" made me remember my family's home when a bungalow was built in the early 70's - there was bluish clay dug out for the foundations! Might have to do some "gardening" there when I can eventually go to visit them again! layful:

Cheers,
Megsy

 

[lindamum]

Just realised I was a member here! But wondering if anyone has any info on Geelong region, there was mine there, but apparently nothing found.

Yes I know about Stieglitz, but was wondering more towards the coast. Some have speculated the Barwon river, heard the pond near Geelong high is from an old gold bearing creek.

My mother seems to think historically the Yarra came out near Queenscliff. And that the Scotsmans near Drysdale, was likely the original volcano for the region, there was an old bluestone mine in the region.

But would love some local areas to have a look in. Finding working all week and investing 3 1/2 hours travel for a day trip pretty full on.

 

[user 4386]

No gold found around Geelong itself. And yes, the Yarra used to flow out of the Heads - Port Phillip Bay was a swampy flood plain until less than 10,000 years ago. Geological evidence confirms aboriginal history on this.

 

[lindamum]

Thanks for the reply, mum is a bit of a local history buff, and if there was gold from the Yarra Im sure its now way too deep. Makes me a little more suspicious of that dredging that was done out there now....

Would be nice to have a goldfield further south, but regardless, still worth the drive to get some! Thanks for the reply.

 

[user 4386]

Thanks for the reply, mum is a bit of a local history buff, and if there was gold from the Yarra Im sure its now way too deep. Makes me a little more suspicious of that dredging that was done out there now....

Would be nice to have a goldfield further south, but regardless, still worth the drive to get some! Thanks for the reply.

There is no doubt gold in the Yarra (since we see gold-bearing quartz veins in the foundations of Melbourne buildings). But the ancestral flood plain under Port Phillip Bay would not have been a good place for gold to be deposited.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/04/14/3191726.htm

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08120099.2011.546429

 

[CreviceSucker]

what are the details of dredging carried out there in the past ?

Where was the spoil pumped to ?

 

[Nirvanadirt]

Where's the spoil of the Westgate tunnel and other tunnel boring machines that have recently been ravaging Melbourne been heading to?!

 

[Swinging & digging]

Maddingly Coal Mine, out near Bacchus Marsh.

 

[RM Outback]

Maddingly Coal Mine, out near Bacchus Marsh.

Pretty sure that ploy by Dodgy got canned due to the locals telling him to shove it where it fits.

 

[user 4386]

Hilarious given that the heavy metal content of coal (lignite) is probably comparably high. Although most of the contaminated material of concern is reportedly PFAS. "PFAS, or per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, according to a Health Department factsheet are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used since the 1950s in a range of common household products. They are considered useful because they are heat, water and oil resistant and have been used products such as nonstick cookware, stain protection applications and food packaging".

https://www.docklandsnews.com.au/editions/article/new-soil-disposal-rules-for-tunnel-project_16619/

A sign of the times that people used to eat off chemicals that the present generation think will jump out of a coal mine and bite them on the bum (one has to seal such disposal sites so that they cannot migrate into groundwater of course). Groundwater was freely circulating through the contaminated material prior to it being extracted (people used to pump waste chemicals down boreholes in those days, and thought they "disappeared". It will be safer in a landfill site, although it is probably a miniscule amount compared to what is still in the ground unremoved.

And yet our life spans have got far longer without a break since long before our parents times, nearly doubled since the gold rushes (we sensibly set far lower minimum limits even in soil than in our parents days). Responsible disposal yes, but nonsense to think that safe disposal is not possible - or that the material removed is more of a problem than the much greater amount of material that remains.

 

[Nirvanadirt]

There must be access to the spoils of other TBM cut projects somewhere?! I was just reading an article on here last night about how people were finding nuggets all over Melbourne in the early days of settlement and as it was illegal The authorities discouraged it and people head their findings but there is apparently quite a bit of gold just a few feet down all through Richmond south Iran and the top of Swanston Street, Lonsdale street that has all been built over. So that gold must've come from some veins somewhere and I'm wondering if one of these TBM's might have run through any grief it would be interesting to have someone swing one of their magic wands over some of the stuff that has come out of tunnels drooled under Melbourne. There have been a tonne of projects including the aquarium project that a friend of mine worked on and as they were trying to keep the water level back someone apparent found a little nug in the cuttings. CFMEU guys so the story spread (the nug prob gained .5g every Chinese whisper) but the source is reliable. I know that there is a creek that runs under the ej whiten bridge that is near a quarry (what they're quarrying I'm not sure) but the hill that goes down to the creek either side is muddy as all hell with rounded and sharp stone all through it. People 4WD through there all the time and it's steep enough to wash anything down the hill with a good rain, has anyone ever prospected around there?