Snowy Mountains Day 2

From Tumut Ponds Dam is was onwards and upwards - to Cabramurra, Australia's highest town. Originally built for construction workers on the upper Tumut part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, my recollection was pre-fabricated buildings atop a hill. Well, fortunately, Cabramurra is still atop the hill, but the old buildings have gone, and much more permanent (and I suspect much better insulated) buildings have taken their place. The town is now home to maintenance and operations employees and the support needed for them. A toasted ham and tomato sandwich in the general store was in order to fuel me up for the rest of the journey.

Kiandra

There is still a service depot for road clearing. And for many years it used to feature regularly in winter weather forecasts as the coldest part of New South Wales, often competing with Spencers Creek, just below Charlotte Pass.

Just before reaching the Snowy Mountains Highway is an area with some historical artifacts from the gold rush days. This is New Chum Hill, described thus:-

Early in the rush, some new chums arrived at the field. Asking other miners about good spots to try, they were jokingly directed to a most unlikely location. Their tunnel soon struck rich deposits and 'New Chum Hill' became the site of intensive mining.

The gold, deposited in a thick clay shale matrix by an ancient river, was best removed by sluicing. To provide water for the operations several groups of miners built a network of races.

In 1878 some of the group amalgamated to form the Kiandra Gold Mining Company, and in 1882 built the Three Mile Dam, commencing large scale hydraulic sluicing for the first time in Australia.

This is a hydraulic sluice, used to extract gold from the mud and rocks displaced from the hillside. The information board says:-

A strong jet of water was used to undermine the hillside and wash the loose clay and gravel into wooden tail races, up to 500 metres long. Stones paving these races trapped the gold bearing sediment. A removable bottom on the race allowed this material to be collected easily and further processed.

Before the Kiandra Gold Mining Company ceased operations in the 1890s, good returns were obtained. In three months alone, gold valued at £15,000 was won.

Most of the gold collected at Kiandra was alluvial and despite considerable efforts to find rich reef gold, none of economic importance was discovered.

The ore was removed by digging a shaft along the steeply dipping rock strata. It was then taken to a stamp battery where it was crushed into a fine powder. Further processing separated the gold.

This stamp battery bas been removed from its original location and reconstructed here by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The working end of the stamp battery, where the ore was crushed by the rod being moved up and down, typically by power from a steam engine.

The top of the battery. The wheel would be driven via a belt from the steam engine, and as it turns, the shaft running along the top would move the battery's hammers up and down, crushing the ore. The wheel, being well over 100 years old, is surviing well, although it has a certain amount of growth on it now!