Corinthian columns on an old bank in Charters Towers Queensland. Gold made this a wealthy town.
Overview of Charters Towers History.
Until around 1900 this was the second largest city in QLD! It called itself “The World” and with good reason. The gold finds here lasted a good 40 years. The town had a long period of wealth and growth. And the town took itself to the world which was a first for any mining centre in Australia and for any city apart from the state capital cities. Because of the wealth in the town share brokers started businesses there in the early 1880s. They agreed in 1885 to form a group and establish a stock exchange – the only one in Australia that has ever existed outside of a capital city. Then in 1886 they took the city to the world- at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. The set up a display of mining and ore crushing and they accepted £1 shares in various mining companies that operated in the town. It was a great success. One company is an example- Day Dawn Block and Wyndham- they received almost £500,000 in paid up shares to finance their future mining work! This exhibition put Charters Towers on the world map and was the first time London investors invested directly in Australian mines rather than through a London based share broking company or finance company. Some of the companies were duds but most were not. The peak gold yields from Charters Towers did not come until 1899 but these yields would not have occurred without the London finance for the deep shafts that were needed to reach to gold. The influx of money into the town transformed the place. The wooden structures, many dating from 1872 the time of the original gold finds were replaced with lavish and imposing stone and brick structures. The main street was rebuilt. Grand houses were built by the successful miners and the period from 1886-1893 was a boom building period. Prosperity was assisted by the development of the new cyanide gold processing works which produced even more gold for the miners and investors. The new cyanide works opened in Charters Towers in 1892. Fortunately we can still see some of this faded glory in Charters Towers today. But in the 1890s it was the best place to live in QLD outside of Brisbane. Thus it was not surprising that the Northern Mining Register newspaper wrote in 1897 that:
Most mining in Charters Towers ceased around 1912.
Discovery and Early Establishment of Charters Towers.
Hugh Mosman, whom we have heard of before on this tour, George Clarke, John Fraser and their Aboriginal horse boy called Jupiter Mosman were prospecting near Ravenswood in December 1871 when they found the first gold in the region. They registered their find as Charters Towers after Mr Charters the Gold Commissioner of the day and Towers because of the conical shaped stone hills (tors) near the site which looked like towers. A gold rushed quickly followed in 1872 with the birth of the town. Mosman and his mates discovered 10 gold reefs. Early finds were of alluvial gold but soon deep shafts were needed to extract the ore and companies were formed with money and capital to undertake this work. British investment led to the transformation of the canvas and wooden town into a fine stone metropolis occurred after 1886 as explained above. The gold at Charters Towers was the major find in QLD and an important find for Australia. By the end of 1878 there were 12 mills processing ore in the town. The Venus Battery works which started operations in 1872 operated right through until 1972. For most of the period from the mid 1870s up to 1906 gold exports from QLD exceeded those of the other major QLD export - wool. QLD certainly had much more gold than NSW but much less than Victoria although not all QLD gold came from Charters Towers. During its peak years over 200,000 ounces of gold a year were mined in Charters Towers. Although the mining companies closed down operations in 1912 individual miners continued working the field right up to World War Two and the old cyanide ore dumps from the battery works have been reworked since then.
Corinthian columns on an old bank in Charters Towers Queensland. Gold made this a wealthy town.
Overview of Charters Towers History.
Until around 1900 this was the second largest city in QLD! It called itself “The World” and with good reason. The gold finds here lasted a good 40 years. The town had a long period of wealth and growth. And the town took itself to the world which was a first for any mining centre in Australia and for any city apart from the state capital cities. Because of the wealth in the town share brokers started businesses there in the early 1880s. They agreed in 1885 to form a group and establish a stock exchange – the only one in Australia that has ever existed outside of a capital city. Then in 1886 they took the city to the world- at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. The set up a display of mining and ore crushing and they accepted £1 shares in various mining companies that operated in the town. It was a great success. One company is an example- Day Dawn Block and Wyndham- they received almost £500,000 in paid up shares to finance their future mining work! This exhibition put Charters Towers on the world map and was the first time London investors invested directly in Australian mines rather than through a London based share broking company or finance company. Some of the companies were duds but most were not. The peak gold yields from Charters Towers did not come until 1899 but these yields would not have occurred without the London finance for the deep shafts that were needed to reach to gold. The influx of money into the town transformed the place. The wooden structures, many dating from 1872 the time of the original gold finds were replaced with lavish and imposing stone and brick structures. The main street was rebuilt. Grand houses were built by the successful miners and the period from 1886-1893 was a boom building period. Prosperity was assisted by the development of the new cyanide gold processing works which produced even more gold for the miners and investors. The new cyanide works opened in Charters Towers in 1892. Fortunately we can still see some of this faded glory in Charters Towers today. But in the 1890s it was the best place to live in QLD outside of Brisbane. Thus it was not surprising that the Northern Mining Register newspaper wrote in 1897 that:
Most mining in Charters Towers ceased around 1912.
Discovery and Early Establishment of Charters Towers.
Hugh Mosman, whom we have heard of before on this tour, George Clarke, John Fraser and their Aboriginal horse boy called Jupiter Mosman were prospecting near Ravenswood in December 1871 when they found the first gold in the region. They registered their find as Charters Towers after Mr Charters the Gold Commissioner of the day and Towers because of the conical shaped stone hills (tors) near the site which looked like towers. A gold rushed quickly followed in 1872 with the birth of the town. Mosman and his mates discovered 10 gold reefs. Early finds were of alluvial gold but soon deep shafts were needed to extract the ore and companies were formed with money and capital to undertake this work. British investment led to the transformation of the canvas and wooden town into a fine stone metropolis occurred after 1886 as explained above. The gold at Charters Towers was the major find in QLD and an important find for Australia. By the end of 1878 there were 12 mills processing ore in the town. The Venus Battery works which started operations in 1872 operated right through until 1972. For most of the period from the mid 1870s up to 1906 gold exports from QLD exceeded those of the other major QLD export - wool. QLD certainly had much more gold than NSW but much less than Victoria although not all QLD gold came from Charters Towers. During its peak years over 200,000 ounces of gold a year were mined in Charters Towers. Although the mining companies closed down operations in 1912 individual miners continued working the field right up to World War Two and the old cyanide ore dumps from the battery works have been reworked since then.