OPEN CUT KURAC A RUC CREEK OR LAIDLER & PARTY OR LAIDLER'S FREEHOLD CO. OR THE WET GROUND PARTY

114 BOYLES ROAD CORINDHAP, GOLDEN PLAINS SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

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  • History

    OPEN CUT KURAC A RUC CREEK OR LAIDLER & PARTY OR LAIDLER'S FREEHOLD CO. OR THE WET GROUND PARTY - History

    Contextual History:History of Place:
    Heritage Inventory History of Site:
    ESTATE COMPANY LIMITED
    LAIDLER AND PARTY (9 shareholders), Elder’s Estate, Rokewood, No. 4 or Southern Division, Ballarat.
    09.1889: the most important alluvial mining operation in the division on ground formerly worked by the Estate Company Limited and leased from W. & N. G. Elder; it was rich and paid good dividends but the lead turned from the course being followed by the company and ran into wet ground, so operations were suspended and the plant was sold; 2 or 3 tribute parties worked the ground with varying results, and one of these parties erected a windmill to pump the water but at a depth of 20 feet it was too difficult to stop the ground from settling and they eventually abandoned the claim; Laidler and party leased the ground from N. G. Elder Esq. and decided to work the ground by paddocking or open cutting to do away with the cost of timber; a shaft was sunk below the level of the workings and a one horse whim is used for baling water which is emptied into 2 large tanks from which it is used for 2 puddling machines and sluicing purposes; large deep drains keep the workings dry; they continue to be well rewarded; there are 9 shareholders and 10 employees; many believe that this is one of the best claims out of Ballarat.
    26.04.1895: erecting new puddling machine and replacing baling tanks with pump to be worked by horse.
    03.05.1895: finished erecting puddler and have fixed pump in shaft.
    27.05.1895: party of nine shareholders employ 22 men using horses drays and two puddlers; in nine years of work have paid £20,000 in wages and £4000 in royalty to the owner of the land; have been paying 15% to 12.5% for annual lease of a certain area and have just obtained a 3 year lease of 10% of all gold obtained; a great part of this area is not virgin ground and it mostly consists of a thin layer of wash dirt on an uneven layer of bedrock covered by 20 to 30 feet of clay, pug and sand; have worked 10 acres and the party that worked in the normal fashion it would not have not paid nearly as well; deep paddock such as this unaided by machinery needs to be recorded as a reference.
    07.06.1895: new machinery including puddler in operation.
    01.01.1897: paddocking out the ground and returns are good; this is the first No Liability company at Rokewood to pay a dividend which was 6d per share.
    the excavation was taken out to a depth of 9 m over an area 200 m by 40 m; it was dug by hand with the tailings being removed and dumped outside the cutting using horses and drays; 20 men were emloyed working this site for 20 years; the ground was and liable to cave-in.
    1898 to 1908: recorded production of 6394 ozs 1 dwt (or 214.434 kg).
    N.D.: a Mr. Empke, a German migrant, ran an operation that reprocessed the tailings from the cutting; large metal bowls were used to apply a centrifugal force to bring the fine particles of gold to the outside of the bowl where they could be collected; the tailings and slum from this reprocessing were put back into the open cut.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    OPEN CUT KURAC A RUC CREEK OR LAIDLER & PARTY OR LAIDLER'S FREEHOLD CO. OR THE WET GROUND PARTY - Heritage Inventory Description

    The open cut is full of water and is partially surrounded by mullock and gravel heaps, although much of this material has been removed or disturbed and there is not much sense of how it was deposited. Some of the heaps are up to 3.5 m high and some have been planted with pines. There two irregular shaped areas filled with water, each covering approximately 200 m by 100 m.

    Heritage Inventory Significance: Regional

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