GOLD MINING
IN BROOKFIELD
BROOKFIELD GOLD MINES - BUTLER FAMILY PHOTO
INTRODUCTION
• As early as 1851, government and private
enterprise encouraged prospectors to look for
gold in Queensland.
• In 1853, there was a flurry of gold activity around
Brisbane. Possibly, Gold Creek received its
name at this time.
• Some gold prospecting occurred in Brookfield in
1866 and the early years of the 20th Century.
• Several mines were established.
• Reported findings were not very significant.
OVERVIEW
• Alluvial mining occurred on Gold Creek in about 1866.
• In the 1920s, several mines were established namely, the Prince of
Wales Mine (later renamed Acme), the Surprise Group, Eclipse
Reefs, Centenary Mine, Little Wonder, Dorothy Reta and
Butler’s Hope. The latter three claims were made in the 1930s, but
none recorded payable gold.
• At least two mining companies were formed –
The Brookfield Freehold Prospectors Gold Mining
Company Limited, and
The Gold Creek Gold-Mining and Prospecting
Company, Limited.
AREA WHERE GOLD WAS DISCOVERED IN
BROOKFIELD
CENTENARY MINE AT BROOKFIELD 1924
REPORTED FINDINGS
– In the early 1920s,The Surprise Group took 20-tonnes
of stone from a 20-metre shaft, producing about 9
grains of gold per tonne.
– Surprise #2 West sank several shafts from which
several rich specimens were obtained by dollying.
– Surprise Claim of Dart, Mattingley and party sank a
17-metre shaft beside the old Enoggera-Indooropillly
Road (Boscombe Road). 8-tonnes of ore was sent to
Gympie for crushing in December 1922 and yielded
8.25 ozs of gold.
REPORTED GOLD DISCOVERY
The Brisbane Courier, 20 June 1895, page 4
GEOLOGY
• The metaphoric rocks in the Brookfield area form
part of the Brisbane schist series of
undetermined age. Schist is by far the most
common rock, the predominating variety being
biscuit shade to brown in colour and very
compact.
• In addition, the scrub was very thick. Mattingly
and Lynch found prospecting easier where
Dart’s gully had been cleared of scrub and
lantana so that bananas and pawpaws could be
planted.
PROSPECTORS TRAVELLED LIGHT
However, in Brookfield many of those who made mining
claims were locals who lived near the mines or in nearby
suburbs. For example, teachers at Gold Creek State
School and Brookfield State School were on the list of
people who had mining claims in the district.
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD
• Followed creeks upstream panning for
signs of gold.
• While amounts of gold increased, they
continued moving upstream looking for
signs of gold-bearing rock on creek
banks.
• When gold panned in the creek
decreased, they would test the banks for
a clue to the source of the alluvial gold.
• They would dig shallow pits, regularly spaced along the
creek banks, sampling surrounding rock looking for the
lode (quartz bearing rock). Often the lode was visible
as a shiny quartz outcrop, but in other cases it was
covered with other rocks and soil.
• Once the lode was located, shallow trenches called
costeans were dug across the lode to determine its
width, the angle at which it dipped and the direction in
which it ran. These costeans also indicated where the
highest gold concentrations were likely to be in the lode.
• Once the prospector knew the location of the lode, he
would then apply for a miner’s right in order to stake a
claim.
A MINER’S RIGHT
A MINER WAS
REQUIRED TO HAVE
A MINER’S RIGHT
BEFORE MARKING
OUT AND WORKING A
CLAIM
STAKING A CLAIM
With the miner’s right, the prospector was then
free to stake a mining claim. This was done on
two sides of each post, indicating the direction of
the boundary line for each claim.
The miner then submitted an application form to
the local mining warden, accompanied by a
sketch plan showing the locality of the claim and
its relative distance from some well known place
or feature.
The total number of mining claims from 19211937 in Brookfield totalled 139. This number
included 23 women who either shared claims
with each other or with their husbands.
WORKING THE CLAIM
• The ore was mined from the lode by pick and
shovel and, in some cases by hammer and
chisel. Sometimes an explosive (dynamite) was
used.
• The ore was brought to the surface in buckets
lifted by a simple windlass. It was then crushed
using a small three-head stamp battery driven
by a steam or petrol engine. Water was used in
the crushing process. A 2-inch pipe was taken
from the main water source to assist with the
crushing process in Brookfield.
BATTERY IN BROOKFIELD
• A battery was erected in Brookfield which
was opened in February 1924 by the
Minister for Mines, the Hon A.J. Jones
MLA.
• Within 11 months, the mill was found to be
inadequate, with losses being abnormally
high. By October 1924, it was unfit for
service.
ECLIPSE BATTERY MINE AT BROOKFIELD
1924
THE MINERS’ LIFESTYLE
• Hard, lonely life
• Most lived and worked on their own
• Long-term miners built simple humpies
• Diet was not well balanced by today’s standards. Very
hard to keep food fresh. They relied on tinned and dried
foods and “bush tucker” such as damper and tea.
Sometimes caught bandicoots and other small bush
animals and cooked them in camp ovens.
• Bedding consisted of a camp stretcher under a
corrugated iron roof if they were lucky. Otherwise it was
a case of unrolling the swag.
BROOKFIELD MINERS
BUTLER FAMILY PHOTO
ECLIPSE NUMBER 2 MINE AT BROOKFIELD
1924
GOLD CREEK MINES
1952-53
BROOKFIELD GOLD MINES
1995
In 1929, Mr TH Pellatt, whose
father was one of the pioneers of
Brookfield, considered that gold
ran through the Brookfield Valley,
“The only trouble is that they
have not sunk deeply enough”,
he said.
Mr Pellatt showed the tangible
proof of the existence of gold in
Brookfield by way of a scarfpin
adorned with a fair-sized nugget
which had been found in
Brookfield.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Various documents and information
supplied by Libby Wager
• Queensland State Library
• Department of Mines
• Trezise, David “The History of Gold Mining
in Brisbane Forest Park, South East
Queensland” in Project Report, Land Use
and Planning Extractive Materials, 1989.