Published in March 2005 Australian Longwall Magazine
Australia’s oldest coal mine lies buried under concrete and asphalt in Newcastle, New South Wales. Discovering the southern hemisphere’s oldest mine has been the work of the Coal River Working Party (CRWP), formed in 2003. The interdisciplinary research group includes university and community members with an interest in Newcastle’s colonial heritage, particularly around the Coal River Precinct.
The search, funded by the University of Newcastle, and Newcastle City Council, has been aided by Coffey Geosciences principal engineer Arthur Love, Monteath and Powys director and surveyor Peter Sherlock, and Colmine Consulting’s Colin Donegan.
Historical background
In September 1797 a group of convicts escaped from Sydney in the Governor’s whaleboat. Lieutenant Shortland pursued them north to Port Stephens without success. Later, Shortland described his discovery “of a very fine coal river”, just south of Port Stephens, which “in a little time, will be a great acquisition to this settlement”.
Before long the presence of coal at Coal River was common knowledge throughout Sydney. Private traders collected coal from the seam outcrops at Coal Island (now Nobby’s Head and connected to the mainland by the Newcastle breakwater), and Braithwaite’s Point (later known variously as Collier’s Point, Signal Hill and Allan’s Hill), now Fort Scratchley.
In 1801, an expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel William Patterson entered Coal River. A subsequent convict outpost was withdrawn in 1802. After the convict rebellion at Vinegar Hill in early March 1804, Governor King resolved to reopen the settlement. Lt Charles Menzies took charge of the settlement, now named Newcastle (though the name Coal River persisted).
All coal and timber in the area became crown property, the movement of private vessels was regulated, and alcohol banned. Trade and communication were strictly controlled to reduce the risk of escape and preserve the isolated and punishing nature of the outpost. Menzies, six privates, and 34 convicts, arrived in three vessels at midday on 30 March 1804.
After only twenty days Lt Menzies wrote to Governor King stating that “an excellent mine has been opened, the strata of which continues a yard six inches thick”. From geological records and later descriptions, we know this seam to be an upper split of the Dudley seam, outcropping below what is now Fort Scratchley.
From March 1805 to early August 1806, government and private vessels shipped 320 tons of coal, all produced by convict labour. A small amount of coal was also used to stoke a nearby saltpan and a coal-fired navigation beacon on top of Signal Hill.
By 1812, the white population rose to 134. Coal production increased from 800t in 1808 to 1400t in 1811. Requests for steam engines, tools, and more barrows, were rarely successful. Water was a constant problem and convicts struggled to dam seeping water or drain it down declined tunnels.
Underground transport of coal was by barrows wheeled directly out of the tunnel and onto a rough track that ran the length of Signal Hill to what is now the remains of the convict lumberyard.
After 1830, government mine works ended, and mining moved west and south, eventually reaching the upper Hunter Valley in the form of the opencuts apparent today. By 1831, convicts and free labour were working for the Australian Agricultural Company which had a monopoly until 1847.
The area worked between 1801 and 1824 under Fort Scratchley and south-west to the future Watt Street and Newcastle Bowling Green site was abandoned as dangerous, flooded, and worked-out. With the construction of the Fort Scratchley military complex on Signal Hill, the hillside was covered with concrete and the old tunnels sealed off in 1885.
Identifying the minesite location
Existing written records did not provide enough information to locate the mine entrances accurately. In February 2004, the CRWP uncovered an 1856 map of a proposed tramway that was to run along what is now Fort Drive to the Newcastle Breakwater. Importantly, this map marked three mine entrances.
Surveyors Monteath and Powys conducted an analysis of the 1856 map. Through GPS measurements and the correlation of consistent elements across the 1856 plan and the present day survey, they were able to mark the three minesite locations. Three mine entrances were painted using chalk-based paint. Ground penetrating radar analysis conducted by Coffey Geosciences in March 2004 revealed unusual densities below two locations, evidence, perhaps, of a mine opening covered with fill. At another location there was a large cement cap that jutted out from the concrete facade.
Engineering experts surmised that a void behind the original wall had promoted cracking and that the cap had been placed over the top. CRWP believe the third location was the harbour-side opening of the mine, named New Discovery by Lt Menzies in 1804.
Negotiating government permissions has slowed the project, but the next phase will proceed soon and involves a pinhole camera being inserted into 125mm diameter holes drilled at the three locations. Once the voids are located, the CRWP believe the site’s historical importance needs to be adequately protected and interpreted. These coal mines are the spiritual home of the Australian coal industry: recent research by the CRWP indicates they are the first coal mines in the southern hemisphere and need to be recognised and funded appropriately by the coal mining industry.
*Dr Erik Eklund is chairman of the Coal River Working Party (www.newcastle.edu.au/coalriver).
