The Chesney No. 1 Headframe (Cobar, Central New South Wale)
Campbell, Hartman and Gibb discovered copper in a water hole on the ridge behind where the Cobar Heritage Centre now stands in 1870. Sidwell Kruge, the Cornish wife of Henry Kruge the owner of the Gilgunnia Hotel, identified specimens of ore collected by Charles Campbell and his team of contractors from the Kubbur Waterhole as copper. As a young woman, Sidwell had worked in the Cornish copper mines and was able to accurately identify ore. Campbell and his contractors, George Gibb, and Thomas Hartman, immediately set off to secure a mining lease to the land. For the price of 20 pounds, these three men, in partnership with the local postmaster and part time financier Joseph Becker, took up a mineral conditional purchase of 40 acres (approximately 16 hectares) over the waterhole on the 6th of October 1870. The partners eagerly awaited the results of samples of the ore that were sent away for assay. They were not disappointed as the samples sent to Adelaide gave spectacular assays of 33% fine copper. Other samples assayed returned similar high percentages of copper. Copper fever struck nearby Bourke and Joseph Becker quickly secured an additional 10 acre selection north and south of the initial mineral selection in May and June of that year.
The full strike length of the Cobar copper lode extended over the three leases. The central lease, which covered the discovery waterhole, was situated on the richest portion of the lode. The workings of this lease became known as the Cobar Copper Mine. The lease was transferred to the Cobar Copper Mining Company which was formed in late 1870, with an issue of 200 shares set at 10 pounds each. Shares subsequently sold for up to 250 pounds a piece. The northern part of the lode, owned by Becker, became known as the North Cobar Mine. The southern portion of the lode, also owned by Becker, became the South Cobar Mine operating by South Cobar Mining Company. Later the two companies merged to form the Great Cobar Copper Mine in January 1876.
The Great Cobar Copper Mine opened in 1871 and at its peak it had fourteen smelters, a 64 metre chimney stack, and employed over 2000 men. Little above ground evidence of the substantial mine workings now remain. The most obvious feature is an "open cut" or "Mullock Tank" east of Lewis Street. It was not actually a mine but a quarry from which the material was used to backfill the stopes of the mine and build up the ground level so the miners could gain access to the ore bodies above them. It was dug by hand with pick and shovel. According to stories handed down by old miners who worked the open cut, at least one horse was accidentally killed every day. At its deepest, the Open Cut is 430 meters.
Between 1876 and 1919 the Great Cobar produced 114, 809 tonnes of copper, 9, 670 kilogrames of gold, and 46, 700 kilograms of silver. It was during this boom that the late Victorian, early Federation administration office was built, north of the smelting heads, in 1910.
The Cobar North Mine, where the Miners Heritage Park now stands, was the "poor relation" of the Great Cobar Mine. Nevertheless, the owners continued to have faith in the mine. During the period 1910 - 1913 the mines undertook a considerable amount of development work, perhaps stimulated by the apparent success of the nearby Great Cobar Mine. In 1911, the North Cobar shaft had reached a depth of 466ms. Crosscuts opened up across the northern extension of the Great Cobar lode showed that the lode was improving in depth. Drives on the 1500ft (457m) level found wide zones of low grade copper ore up to 30ms of 2.3% copper, although these grades were not payable. The shaft was further deepened to 519 meters in 1913 before shaft sinking was abandoned. An inclined drive was then constructed from the 1300ft (397m) level to connect with the nearby Great Cobar workings, thereby improving the quality of ventilation in both mines.
Fortunes however crashed after World War One when the demand for copper decreased and the mined ceased operations in March 1919.
The Miners Heritage Park opened in 2002 now commemorates the "Cobar Miner". From the 1870s until today underground mining has been the predominant activity in the Cobar Mining field. In the early days the mining method was "hammer and tap" - a crude physically exhausting process which was akin to chiselling out the hard sulphide ores to make the holes for explosives. Large teams of men were required working in dark, cramped and wet conditions. The 1900s saw the introduction of machine mining which utilised hand held pneumatic drills. From the 1960s, mining became more highly mechanised with the advent of mobile drilling, loading, and hauling machines.
Whilst safety in underground mines is of paramount importance in today's mining operations, historically it has often been treacherous and inherently dangerous activity. Between 1870 and 2000, over 120 men lost their lives in the underground workings in the Cobar mining field. Within the Miners Park is now displayed the "Cobar Miner" a bronze cast life-size miner portrayed with a modern air leg drilling machine. The figure was designed and cast by renowned Australian sculptor Terrance Plowright and weights over 600kg. It is a commemorative memorial by the Cobar community to the contribution of miners and their families to the area.
The Chesney No. 1 Headframe:
The Chesney No. 1 Headframe was erected by New Occidental Gold Mine No Liability (NOGM) when it reopened Chesney Mine in 1938. The Chesney Mine began producing coppergold ore in 1943 in response to a request from the Commonwealth Government to increase copper production to assist wit hthe war effort. Ore was trucked nearby New Occidental for treatment. The mine operated until 1952 when it and the New Occidental Mine closed in response to poor metal prices and rapidly increasing costs.
The Chesney No. 1 headframe, being of steel construction, differed from the other headframes in the Cobar goldfield, which were made of timber. As a result, this headframe better withstood the test of both termites and weather. The headframe was reportedly originally used at the Youanmi Gold Mine in Western Australia.
In 2000, the headframe was relocated to the Cobar Heritage Park by Peak Gold Mines as a community project. Chesney No. 3 headframe, which is still at the Chesney Mine, was brough in from Mount Isa for the No. 3 shaft sink in 1970, but the headframe and winder were originally used on thr South African Goldfields.
Source: Cobar Heritage Park & New South Wales Heritage Register.
The Chesney No. 1 Headframe (Cobar, Central New South Wale)
Campbell, Hartman and Gibb discovered copper in a water hole on the ridge behind where the Cobar Heritage Centre now stands in 1870. Sidwell Kruge, the Cornish wife of Henry Kruge the owner of the Gilgunnia Hotel, identified specimens of ore collected by Charles Campbell and his team of contractors from the Kubbur Waterhole as copper. As a young woman, Sidwell had worked in the Cornish copper mines and was able to accurately identify ore. Campbell and his contractors, George Gibb, and Thomas Hartman, immediately set off to secure a mining lease to the land. For the price of 20 pounds, these three men, in partnership with the local postmaster and part time financier Joseph Becker, took up a mineral conditional purchase of 40 acres (approximately 16 hectares) over the waterhole on the 6th of October 1870. The partners eagerly awaited the results of samples of the ore that were sent away for assay. They were not disappointed as the samples sent to Adelaide gave spectacular assays of 33% fine copper. Other samples assayed returned similar high percentages of copper. Copper fever struck nearby Bourke and Joseph Becker quickly secured an additional 10 acre selection north and south of the initial mineral selection in May and June of that year.
The full strike length of the Cobar copper lode extended over the three leases. The central lease, which covered the discovery waterhole, was situated on the richest portion of the lode. The workings of this lease became known as the Cobar Copper Mine. The lease was transferred to the Cobar Copper Mining Company which was formed in late 1870, with an issue of 200 shares set at 10 pounds each. Shares subsequently sold for up to 250 pounds a piece. The northern part of the lode, owned by Becker, became known as the North Cobar Mine. The southern portion of the lode, also owned by Becker, became the South Cobar Mine operating by South Cobar Mining Company. Later the two companies merged to form the Great Cobar Copper Mine in January 1876.
The Great Cobar Copper Mine opened in 1871 and at its peak it had fourteen smelters, a 64 metre chimney stack, and employed over 2000 men. Little above ground evidence of the substantial mine workings now remain. The most obvious feature is an "open cut" or "Mullock Tank" east of Lewis Street. It was not actually a mine but a quarry from which the material was used to backfill the stopes of the mine and build up the ground level so the miners could gain access to the ore bodies above them. It was dug by hand with pick and shovel. According to stories handed down by old miners who worked the open cut, at least one horse was accidentally killed every day. At its deepest, the Open Cut is 430 meters.
Between 1876 and 1919 the Great Cobar produced 114, 809 tonnes of copper, 9, 670 kilogrames of gold, and 46, 700 kilograms of silver. It was during this boom that the late Victorian, early Federation administration office was built, north of the smelting heads, in 1910.
The Cobar North Mine, where the Miners Heritage Park now stands, was the "poor relation" of the Great Cobar Mine. Nevertheless, the owners continued to have faith in the mine. During the period 1910 - 1913 the mines undertook a considerable amount of development work, perhaps stimulated by the apparent success of the nearby Great Cobar Mine. In 1911, the North Cobar shaft had reached a depth of 466ms. Crosscuts opened up across the northern extension of the Great Cobar lode showed that the lode was improving in depth. Drives on the 1500ft (457m) level found wide zones of low grade copper ore up to 30ms of 2.3% copper, although these grades were not payable. The shaft was further deepened to 519 meters in 1913 before shaft sinking was abandoned. An inclined drive was then constructed from the 1300ft (397m) level to connect with the nearby Great Cobar workings, thereby improving the quality of ventilation in both mines.
Fortunes however crashed after World War One when the demand for copper decreased and the mined ceased operations in March 1919.
The Miners Heritage Park opened in 2002 now commemorates the "Cobar Miner". From the 1870s until today underground mining has been the predominant activity in the Cobar Mining field. In the early days the mining method was "hammer and tap" - a crude physically exhausting process which was akin to chiselling out the hard sulphide ores to make the holes for explosives. Large teams of men were required working in dark, cramped and wet conditions. The 1900s saw the introduction of machine mining which utilised hand held pneumatic drills. From the 1960s, mining became more highly mechanised with the advent of mobile drilling, loading, and hauling machines.
Whilst safety in underground mines is of paramount importance in today's mining operations, historically it has often been treacherous and inherently dangerous activity. Between 1870 and 2000, over 120 men lost their lives in the underground workings in the Cobar mining field. Within the Miners Park is now displayed the "Cobar Miner" a bronze cast life-size miner portrayed with a modern air leg drilling machine. The figure was designed and cast by renowned Australian sculptor Terrance Plowright and weights over 600kg. It is a commemorative memorial by the Cobar community to the contribution of miners and their families to the area.
The Chesney No. 1 Headframe:
The Chesney No. 1 Headframe was erected by New Occidental Gold Mine No Liability (NOGM) when it reopened Chesney Mine in 1938. The Chesney Mine began producing coppergold ore in 1943 in response to a request from the Commonwealth Government to increase copper production to assist wit hthe war effort. Ore was trucked nearby New Occidental for treatment. The mine operated until 1952 when it and the New Occidental Mine closed in response to poor metal prices and rapidly increasing costs.
The Chesney No. 1 headframe, being of steel construction, differed from the other headframes in the Cobar goldfield, which were made of timber. As a result, this headframe better withstood the test of both termites and weather. The headframe was reportedly originally used at the Youanmi Gold Mine in Western Australia.
In 2000, the headframe was relocated to the Cobar Heritage Park by Peak Gold Mines as a community project. Chesney No. 3 headframe, which is still at the Chesney Mine, was brough in from Mount Isa for the No. 3 shaft sink in 1970, but the headframe and winder were originally used on thr South African Goldfields.
Source: Cobar Heritage Park & New South Wales Heritage Register.