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MOUNT TARRENGOWER TUNNELLING COMPANY GOLD MINE
ANZAC HILL ROAD MALDON, MOUNT ALEXANDER SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Register
MOUNT TARRENGOWER TUNNELLING COMPANY GOLD MINE SOHE 2008
MOUNT TARRENGOWER TUNNELLING COMPANY GOLD MINE SOHE 2008
MOUNT TARRENGOWER TUNNELLING COMPANY GOLD MINE SOHE 2008
1 mt tarrangower tunnelling company gold mine anzac hill track maldon tunnel entrance
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Statement of Significance

The Maldon quartz reefing field, although relatively small compared to others in the State, was extraordinary rich in gold. The hardness and heavy mineralisation of the rock mined put the field's mining companies in the vanguard for the use of new technology.

This site contains the tunnel or adit excavated by the Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company. This company was the first in Australia to use compressed air-driven rock drilling technology. The subsequent widespread adoption of this technology was a milestone in Australian underground mining. The Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company commenced mining operations at Maldon in 1865. Their tunnel was designed to cut reefs at a greater depth than any workings in the colony. That ambitious objective was hampered by the hardness of the rock, which made progress by tap and hammer very slow. In 1866, a Low's rock drill, manufactured at St Peter's Iron Works in Ipswich, was introduced. The company nonetheless failed to find payable gold and was wound up in 1870. The fate of the rock-drill is not known.

The Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company Gold Mine is of historical, archaeological and scientific importance to the State of Victoria.

The Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company Gold Mine 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, quartz mining, with its intensive reliance on machinery, played an important role in the development of Victorian manufacturing industry. The Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company's Gold Mine is important as a manifestation of this aspect of gold mining.

The Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company Gold Mine is a significant historic location where the first compressed air-driven rock drill in Australia was used. Although the technology did not prove successful in that instance, a decade or so later the rock drill revolutionised underground mining in Australia and, in doing so, reversed the fortunes of many a declining goldfield. The rock drill also brought a social cost in the form of the deadly lung disease, phthisis, known euphemistically as 'miners? complaint'.

The Mount Tarrengower Tunnelling Company Gold Mine is scientifically significant for its potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to provide significant information about the technological history of gold mining.

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    • Permit Exemptions

      MOUNT TARRENGOWER TUNNELLING COMPANY GOLD MINE - Permit Exemptions

      General Exemptions:

      General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.

      Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.

      Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.

      Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions.

      Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.

      Specific Exemptions:

      EXEMPTIONS FROM PERMITS:
      (Classes of works or activities which may be undertaken without a permit under
      Part 4 of the Heritage Act 1995)

      No permits are required for the following classes of works provided they are
      carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Conservation Plan For
      Historic Mining Sites prepared by David Bannear in 1996.

      Mineral Exploration
      Fire suppression duties
      Timber production
      Weed and vermin control
      Public safety
      Rehabilitation

Public contributions

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