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DART RIVER BATTERY
SIPTHORPES TRACK AND LITTLE DART RIVER CORRYONG, TOWONG SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Inventory
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Statement of Significance

The Dart River Gold Battery Site consists of a multi-tubular steam boiler, horizontal engine and a collapsed five head timber framed stamping battery in a rugged and remote bush setting. The battery, boiler and engine are remnants of a handful of ore crushing sites which originally served the quartz mine workings of the Dart River.

The Dart River Gold Battery Site is of historical, scientific and archaeological importance to the State of Victoria.

The Dart River Gold Battery Site is historically and scientifically important as a characteristic example of an important form of gold mining. Gold mining sites are of crucial importance for the pivotal role they have played since 1851 in the development of Victoria. As well as being a significant producer of Victoria's nineteenth century wealth, with its intensive use of machinery, played an important role in the development of Victorian manufacturing industry. The abandoned mining machinery at the Dart River is historically important for its evocation of the adventurousness, hardship and isolation that was part of mining life in the high country areas of the State.

The Dart River Gold Battery Site is archaeologically important for its potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to provide significant information about the technological history of gold mining.

[Source: Victorian Heritage Register]

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    • History

      DART RIVER BATTERY - History

      Heritage Inventory History of Site:
      The Dart River GMC's battery was erected in 1884, to crush for its own and many other other mines in the vicinity. The company gave up its leases in 1886 and the plant was put up for sale. To the relief of the local miners, the purchasers kept the battery on its existing site and took up the old Dark River leases. Sparks and son (tributers) worked the Dark River mine until at least the end of the 1880s, and the battery enabled a number of other small claims in the vicinity to keep working.

      Heritage Inventory Description

      DART RIVER BATTERY - Heritage Inventory Description

      Features of the Dart River battery site are a boiler, steam engine, and battery, with mine workings nearby.

      Heritage Inventory Significance: National Estate. The site is of scientific significance because of its rarity and intactness.

      Heritage Inventory Key Components: Boiler - Intact stone boiler setting with underfired multi-tubular boiler. According to its manufacturer's plate, the boiler was made by 'Langlands Foundry, Limited, Engineers, Melbourne, 1884'. It has a diameter of 5 ft and is 10¢ ft long. A pressure pipe runs from the rear of the boiler. Horizontal engine - The wooden foundations have decayed and the engine has toppled onto its side. It is a single cylinder engine and measures 11¢ ft in length. The cylinder is 16 inches in diameter, and 2¥ ft long. The engine has a 13-ft diameter fly wheel. Battery - 5-head wooden-framed (collapsed) battery which has been partly scavenged - e.g., cam shaft and one stem gone. The battery box rests on a large cog wheel. No manufacturing mark is evident on the box. The surviving stems are all of the screw-tappet type. Mine workings - At least one adit level near the battery.

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