SLUM DUMP, CASEY'S BRIDGE, EAST ROKEWOOD CO.

MAIN STREET CORINDHAP, GOLDEN PLAINS SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

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  • History

    SLUM DUMP, CASEY'S BRIDGE, EAST ROKEWOOD CO. - History

    Contextual History:History of Place:
    Heritage Inventory History of Site:
    Break-o'-Day Gully, Rokewood, No. 4 or Southern Division, Ballarat.
    C1858: first opened, and found to be patchy.
    11.1859: several old ground grants have been taken out under by-law 10 in this gully which is about 2 miles from the township, and some intend to erect machinery of sufficient power to work this ground.
    07.1860: athough patchy a several handsome nuggets have been found over the years; found to be rich at the junction with Frenchman's gully; the auriferous drift is only 4 inches thick and not very profitable.
    04.1861: a party of 4 men have obtained £400 each within the last 4 months; wash-dirt is 4 or 5 feet thick and only 15 to 20 feet deep.
    05.1861: one company making £8 per man per week, most only making £2.
    06.1861: some very good finds, Hall and Co. got a 6 lb, and a 1 lb nugget and 1 lb of fine gold from a load of stuff; 14 companies are getting gold.
    07.1861: still worked as vigorously as ever; has been a godsend to the Rokewood district.
    08.1861: small rush has occured; 10 companies of about 40 men are making good wages, some as much as £10 per man per week, sinking is 70 feet through hard clay, cement and gravel across a hill.
    09.1861: did not turn out as well as expected; Hall and Company were the most successful by far, realising £1200; the lead runs through Mr. Elder's property.
    Mr. Elder charged a royalty of 30% on any nuggets over 20 ozs and 20% on fine gold; these rates were changed after strong opposition from the miners, who operated from 12 foot square claims; water to wash the gold was brought by a race along Corindhap Creek from Mr. Laffin’s dam to where the slum dump now stands just upstream of Casey’s Bridge; puddling machines owned by Mr. Elders Company were used to process the wash dirt which miners brought to this site from the Break-o’-Day lead on Mr. Elders property; inspectors were employed to check the gold, charge and collect the royalty; the puddlers worked in shifts and the operation was guarded; when the lead had been exhausted nealy 8 tons ? of gold had been won.
    10.1861: still causing excitement; 7 or 8 companies are making £4 per man per week; prospectors have obtained £2400 or £600 per man in 10 months, they got 112 ozs in one week including a 45 oz nugget; depth varies from 8 to 60 feet; 80 men are at work.
    11.1861: yields and mining activity have dome to a stand still because the lead crosses private land.
    03.1862: quite a lot of miners are prospecting in this area.
    05.1862: most companies are earning good wages.
    07.1862: company have found a 40 oz nugget.
    05.1863: several companies are still prospecting; one company obtained 30 ozs of course from 15 loads of stuff in addition to several nuggets; another found nuggets of 90 and 3 ozs; another found 30 ozs of shotty gold from a few loads plus nuggets of 79, 5, and 2.5 ozs.
    06.1863: shallow and old ground workings are almost excusively in the hands of the Chinese.
    03.1864: continues to yield fair wages.
    06.1866: principally occupied by the Chinese.
    09.1866: good prospects and plenty of activity.
    03.1868: prospecting stimulated by the yields from the Break-o'-Day Co.
    12.1870: notes that at Break-o'-Day (not the gully) that the mines are yielding better than for some time past.
    03.1871: discovery of a 94 oz nugget has stimulated prospecting in the Rokewood area.
    03.1872: seems to be worked out.
    27.05.1895: It is estimated that the owner of the paddock containing the Break o'Day gutter and its reef washes so far as those rich drifts are proved, has received upwards of £100,000; some of the ground has been paid for by successive miners and even the tailings will yield a 5% revenue again - an agreement has been made with a man from Allendale who will sluice the refuse.
    06.1896: the East Rokewood Co. erected machinery for the treatment of the sludge deposits of the old Estate Co. in Elders paddock. These deposits covered an area 200 m by 200 m and were 3 m deep. The machinery consisted of a Tangye pump and patent battery plates manufactured by Wynne and Tregurtha.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    SLUM DUMP, CASEY'S BRIDGE, EAST ROKEWOOD CO. - Heritage Inventory Description

    The lead at Rokewood was exposed on the surface and most of the workings have been buried, and flattened out. This large mound is where the wash was taken to be treated. The northern half of this heap, 180m by 70m, is quartz wash a considerable proportion of which has been removed. There is one peak witin this area which is 15m in diameter and 3.5m high. This area is covered with gorse and hedge acacia. The southern side of the heap is slum which covers an area approximately 100m by 150m and is 2m high. There is no sign of any of the horse puddlers that were reported to have been used at this site. The dam north of the site was the town water supply but is now used to supply water to the swimming pool./nAlthough there is no evidence of the treatment process, the size of the heaps is useful in understanding the way in which the Break-o'-Day Lead was mined.

    Heritage Inventory Significance: Local

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