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Lightning Hill Historic Area
CA 196N Hill Street, EAGLEHAWK VIC 3556 - Property No 197928

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Greater Bendigo City

Lightning Hill Mines, Dams and Alluvial Workings

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

[Lightning Hill Mines, Dams & Alluvial Workings]

The site is representative of a sequence of uses or functions over time from the very earliest to the last period of mining: from shallow open cutting to mediumlevel shaft mining and eventually hudraulic sluicing, and is part of a group or network of sites, the totality of which is considered to be significant (criterion D).

[King of Prussia Mine]

The site is representative of a sequence of uses or functions over time: open cutting and shaft mining and is part of a group or network of sites, the totality of which is considered to be significant (criterion D). This is a well-preserved mining site which has the ability to answer timely and specific archaeological research questions, because of the possibility of buried remains (criterion C).

[Black Forest Mine]

The site displays a representative sequence of open cutting and shaft mining and is part of a group or network of sites, the totality of which is considered to be significant (criterion D).

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- Physical Description 1
  
  Lightning Hill Historic Area - Physical Description 1
  
  [Lightning Hill Mines, Dams and Alluvial Workings]
  
  Lightning Hill Company
  
  On flat ground at the northern end of Lightning Hill there are two pairs of winding engine foundations. One pair is of hand-made bricks in concrete mortar, each foundation measuring 14 by 4 feet and 6 feet high, and modified or repaired with concrete. 1¼ inch mounting bolts protrude from the upper face of this foundation. Between the two foundations, at their southern end, is a small concrete foundation, measuring 5 by 2½ feet and 6 feet high. It has ¾-inch mounting bolts. The other pair of foundations run parallel to the brick pair, but are constructed of concrete. Each measures 3¼ feet wide and 7 feet high, but the two differ in length. One is 28 feet long, the other 21 feet. At the north end of the concrete foundations are the remains of a concrete boiler setting. 23 metres north of the machinery site is a filled shaft surrounded by three 4 foot-square concrete poppet-leg pads, 39 feet apart. Associated with the pads is a U-shaped concrete stand, with walls 5½ feet high and 1½ feet thick. There is a dry dam 30 metres south of the machinery site, with two others to the north. The mullock has been removed from the site.
  
  Surface workings
  
  Running north and south from the crown of Lightning Hill and generally on the eastern slopes, is a line of open-cuts, mullock heaps and shafts, partially filled with mullock. These workings extend northwards almost as far as the Lightning Hill Company's machinery site and southwards at least as far as Hodgson Street. Just north of this street there is a large mullock heap 8-10 metres high. The northern end of the hill appears to have been hydraulically sluiced.
  
  [King of Prussia Mine]
  
  Intact mullock heap with two dumping lines. On the east side of the heap, close to the road, is a filled shaft. 16 metres south west of the shaft is a rectangular stone structure measuring 32 by 22 feet. The stone walls are largely buried, with the stone set in mud mortar.
  
  [Black Forest Mine]
  
  Line of reef workings, consisting of a partially filled open-cut and two small but intact mullock heaps.
  
  Physical Description 2
  
  Lightning Hill Historic Area - Physical Description 2
  
  [Lightning Hill Mines, Dams and Alluvial Workings]
  
  The Lightning Hill Mining Heritage Area is bounded on the south by Hodgson Street, on the east by the Raywood Channel as far as the junction between Whipstick Road and Rifle Range Road, on the north-west by a line 150 metres west of Whipstick Road (between Rifle Range Road and Mill Street and excluding all private property) and on the west by a line joining a point at the junction of Whipstick Road and the western access track to Lightning Hill and a point at the junction of Hodgson Street and the southern access street to Lightning Hill.
  
  [King of Prussia Mine]
  
  The Lightning Hill Mining Heritage Area is bounded on the south by Hodgson Street, on the east by the Raywood Channel as far as the junction between Whipstick Road and Rifle Range Road, on the north-west by a line 150 metres west of Whipstick Road (between Rifle Range Road and Mill Street and excluding all private property) and on the west by a line joining a point at the location junction of Whipstick Road and the western access track to Lightning Hill and a point at the junction of Hodgson Street and the southern access street to Lightning Hill.
  
  [Black Forest Mine]
  
  The Lightning Hill Mining Heritage Area is bounded on the south by Hodgson Street, on the east by the Raywood Channel as far as the junction between Whipstick Road and Rifle Range Road, on the north-west by a line 150 metres west of Whipstick Road (between Rifle Range Road and Mill Street and excluding all private property) and on the west by a line joining a point at the junction of Whipstick Road and the western access track to Lightning Hill and a point at the junction of Hodgson Street and the southern access street to Lightning Hill.
  
  Physical Description 3
  
  Lightning Hill Historic Area - Physical Description 3
  
  [Lightning Hill Mines, Dams and Alluvial Workings]
  
  Although sluicing began on Bendigo in 1874, when a secure supply of water became available from the Coliban system, it is quite unlikely that such operations began in this area before the construction of the Eaglehawk syphon and Blue Jacket Reservoir in 1885/1886. As there is little re-growth over the sluiced area, however, it seems more likely that the sluicing was undertaken in the period 1931-1936, when there were over a thousand alluvial miners reported to be at work in the Bendigo district, and there were reports of fossickers in the area.
  
  [King of Prussia Mine]
  The ground was originally worked by three companies: the King of Prussia (1871-1883), the Imperial King of Prussia ((1881-1883) and the Rose/North King of Prussia (1878-1881). The last company was not particularly successful. In 1883 the first two merged as the New King of Prussia (1883-1885) and this was amalgamated with other companies working the northern slope of Lightning Hill to form the general Gordon (1885-1896).
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Greater Bendigo - Marong Heritage Study 1999
  
  Author: Andrew Ward and Associates
  Year: 1999
  Grading: Local
- Show:
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