Underground Mines - Victoria

[chris11330]

Hi Dean, Great pics as usual is this the one up at Yandoit? It's surely come a long way since i saw it last! Chris

 

[drystone]

fantastic photos Dean!!
the workings (at Walhalla?) look to be in great nick: pretty solid ground and not too wet?
great to see the old wooden tram tracks and heavy timbers.
In one photo you can see where they have followed the dipping QV in the hanging wall for a short distance: I'm guessing they were just sampling.
thanks again,
Drystone

 

[AKA_RedRimmed_Desert]

Yes, underground mines can be dangerous, but it sure is nice to see photos, of what they look like inside.

 

[dean65]

"Situated between Geelong and Ballarat, Steiglitz is almost a ghost town today but in the 1860s and 1890s it was a busy goldmining township with hotels, shops, churches and a population of over 1000. Now most of the town and its surroundings are included in the Steiglitz Historic Park. Enjoy a pleasant bushwalk, relax with a picnic or pan for gold."

 

[Mackka]

Fantastic Dean, great photos.
Mackka :Y: :Y:

 

[dean65]

"Alluvial gold was mined in the Percydale area originally called Fiddlers Creek from 1854 onwards. A fresh find and a rush in 1869 brought a population of over 2000 people."

 

[Darien]

Hi All,

Just stumbled on these pages from an interest in these old mines - amazing to see these pics and get a sense of the conditions the old miners worked under. Quite unbelievable.
Just a note on the symbols on page 2 - I think they may be some form of old alchemy symbols.
The half circle type shape looks like some form of the 'amalgamation' type symbol, perhaps some form of the arsenic symbol
The eye type shape could be some form of the 'gold' symbol which seems to be the circle with a dot
I could be wrong but seems very similar but I can't find an exact match anywhere, apparently they weren't exactly uniform and varied a bit. Definitely look to be in that style though.
If anyone knows more about this, please comment!

 

[dean65]

"In the second half of the nineteenth century industrial activity at Lal Lal included gold mining; iron mining; clay mining for the manufacture of bricks, pottery, china and paper; charcoal burning; timber felling; coal mining (the first briquettes were made here); and excavating for sandstone, copper and feldspar."

 

[dean65]

Managed to score an invite to a working mine over at Daylesford.

 

[dean65]

This is another of Daylesford's working mines.

 

[Gravy81]

Unless you're discovering an abandoned mine that has remained undiscovered, out of the records and out of local knowledge for half a century or more, you can almost guarantee it'd be on the net somewhere.

 

[jethro]

yeh................... nah. :|

 

[Hunting the yellow]

Unless you're discovering an abandoned mine that has remained undiscovered, out of the records and out of local knowledge for half a century or more, you can almost guarantee it'd be on the net somewhere.

like this one I dug out by hand haha

after getting inside

 

[Hunting the yellow]

last weeks exploring near Drummond Victoria

 

[Hunting the yellow]

Here's some before and after pictures of flagstone slate quarry at specimen gully Castlemaine Victoria. The slate was used for roofs as tiles and for buildings in and around the Castlemaine township. You can still see where the beams wore notched into the wall in the older image still today. But some of it has collapsed on the opposite side. The more recent ones wore taken by me in 2017. the depth of the quarry was 67 meters deep length of quarry worked was almost 500 meters. Width of quarry approximately 8 meters most of it has now caved in but its amazing what they did back then.

The older image is around 1880? From the state library of Victoria

this one was taken later in 1903

 

[Hunting the yellow]

Exploring a multileveled mine at Castlemaine Victoria.

 

[dean65]

This abandoned mine near Blackwood is difficult to find but well worth a visit. It used to go much further but has collapsed in recents years part of the way in. Does anyone know if the drive went much further and was there a shaft ( winze ) connecting a lower level ?

 

[magneticsand]

This abandoned mine near Blackwood is difficult to find but well worth a visit. It used to go much further but has collapsed in recents years part of the way in. Does anyone know if the drive went much further and was there a shaft ( winze ) connecting a lower level ?

Trove and such have records about it going a fair bit further in and having a raise. Possibly connected to the shaft on the hill above?
Also it looks like someone has been digging out the collapse in the last 6-8months? A bunch of the timbers moved between my last visits.

Have you been past the collapse? It looks possible but too sketchy for me.

 

[dean65]

Was on my own so it was far too dangerous to attempt climbing over the collapse.

 

[dean65]

Abandoned mine in Blackwood with indications of modern features