old mine is now mapped and recorded :)

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Dean 65 showing us how it's done on a weekend trip to berringa
 
The entrance to an adit bearing 10 degrees has reopened, the earth that had been pushed into the opening has fallen reopening the adit. The adit drive is open for a couple of hundred metres and it is possible to climb up to the level above the main adit level walk along at this level and then climb back to the main level again. The adit is dry and sound.

















 
The Devil's Kitchen sits below the old gold mining town of Piggoreet. In September 1859 the earliest deep-lead alluvial company, the Try Again, acquired a forty-nine-acre lease in the Devils Kitchen, and drove the first tunnel into the cliffs. By this time, Patersons Crescent had become the Devils Kitchen.















 
Looks great.

So I gather this was a deep lead mine not a hard rock deposit? Must be plenty of colour still sitting on the bedrock down there :cool:
 
Gday Dean,
I bet the boys enjoyed the two level mine there in Beringa,
Did you show them where the rock face above the back filled drive has "Robert Dodds died here" carved in the rock?
Cheers Steve :D
 
Who was robert dodds ? what area is this mine in ? I will try and find some info in the newspaper archives on trove nla. just interested in the history.
 
jethro said:
Who was robert dodds ? what area is this mine in ? I will try and find some info in the newspaper archives on trove nla. just interested in the history.

Gday Jethro,
Robert Dodds was a mine worker for the Albion mining company and suffered a terrible mining accident from an exploding boiler underground, suffering horrific burns he died a very painful death in the Ballarat hospital ten days later.
He is buried in the Ballarat cemetery.
The Dodds family have a street named after them in Ballarat.
This same mine a had a visit from Prince Albert who was Queen Victoria's husband and it was said " he found some very worthy nuggets" .
A few years later Prince Edward and Prince George visited the same mine and found some gold as well.
Prince Edward was the King who abdicated the throne so he could marry Mrs Wallis who was a divorcee, and Prince George then became King.
King George is the father of Queen Elisabeth.
The mine eventually had 7 entrances and many levels.
Now there is only one entrance which is not obvious till your on top of it and two accessible levels.
This was the most modern mine in the world for its time with the use of steam power to supply fresh air to all levels.
This also means there are no air shafts.
The mine is in my top five list in the Ballarat region and needs to be treated with respect in regards to safety and heritage.
Cheers Steve :D
 
Thanks stoyve. It always amazes me why they thought it was a good idea to put a boiler underground.
We have some interesting mines / tunnels used for mining up in the north east of victoria as well. Have a look on the net for the rocky mountain mining company of beechworth and the pioneer sluicing company of Mitta Mitta as well as Maude & Yellow girl mine at glen wills. They are all engineering marvels.
 
stoyve said:
Gday Dean,
I bet the boys enjoyed the two level mine there in Beringa,
Did you show them where the rock face above the back filled drive has "Robert Dodds died here" carved in the rock?
Cheers Steve :D

Yes the boys enjoyed seeing that mine. Even managed to climb into the upper level myself. Turned out to be much easier than it looked. Not explored the top part fully and hope to get back at some stage. We saw the carving about Robert Dodds. Cheers Dean.
 
dean65 said:
stoyve said:
Gday Dean,
I bet the boys enjoyed the two level mine there in Beringa,
Did you show them where the rock face above the back filled drive has "Robert Dodds died here" carved in the rock?
Cheers Steve :D

Yes the boys enjoyed seeing that mine. Even managed to climb into the upper level myself. Turned out to be much easier than it looked. Not explored the top part fully and hope to get back at some stage. We saw the carving about Robert Dodds. Cheers Dean.

Gday Dean,
I'm glad you went into the upper level of that mine.
At the very end of that upper level there is a stope that goes goes up about another 4 or 5 metres, it's been back filled from above and I believe that's another level that's Ben closed off.
And yes I have climbed up as high as you can go.
Also I'm pretty sure there is a false floor on that second level as well.
On another subject, I was at "The Kitchen" last week and was pleased to see my ladder was still there , I did some further exploration in the upper level and found 3 more square cut tunnels and 5 shafts dropping into a tunnel below.
The last shaft had 3 tunnels running off it but I couldn't explore further due to the fact that I was buy myself in that section.
When I can go back with a couple of others I will then see where they lead to.
keep safe and cheers :)
 
jethro said:
Thanks stoyve. It always amazes me why they thought it was a good idea to put a boiler underground.
We have some interesting mines / tunnels used for mining up in the north east of victoria as well. Have a look on the net for the rocky mountain mining company of beechworth and the pioneer sluicing company of Mitta Mitta as well as Maude & Yellow girl mine at glen wills. They are all engineering marvels.

Thanks jethro for the mine references in the north east.
I will do a bit of research on those mines as well.
Glad I could help you out with some history.
Cheers Steve
 
Stoyve, if you ever need an extra person I'm happy to join you in the kitchen exploration. I wouldn't be going in too far by myself either mate. Would give me the heeby jeeby, not afraid just always good to have an extra person just in case
 
Next1m8 said:
Stoyve, if you ever need an extra person I'm happy to join you in the kitchen exploration. I wouldn't be going in too far by myself either mate. Would give me the heeby jeeby, not afraid just always good to have an extra person just in case

Gday Next1m8,
I'm quite happy to take a tough fella like yourself, so when I'm sure I'm not booked out I will pm you.
I live in Ballarat as I think you do so even if it's at night , I don't mind.
Cheers Steve :)
 
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