Gilgunnia Gold
by John ‘Nugget’ Campbell
The former gold mining town of Gilgunnia, NSW, is 110km south of Cobar and 146km north of Hillston, but not much exists there today. There’s a rest area with a small historical mining display and some local history information on the rest stop sign, and that’s about it. Most likely because it was at the intersection of three major roads and on a travelling stock route, the Gilgunnia Hotel was established there in 1873 by Mr and Mrs Kruge, and things moved along at a typical outback pace until small amounts of alluvial gold were found in the area around 1887. This didn’t cause too much excitement but the discovery was enough to fire the imaginations of a few serious prospectors and eventually the first payable reef gold was discovered by John “Jackey” Owen in 1895. He went on to discover other notable mineral fields. By June 1895 there were about 450 men on the field with 17 claims on payable gold. There was good gold showing in the reefs and by October there were a number of mines operating including the No.1 North; No.2 West; the Hand in Hand; The Off Chance; Riley’s; the Mount Allen Syndicate; the Rising Sun; The Dream (later to become Her Dream); the FourMile; Keep It Dark; Australian Natives; Tarcombe; The Welcome, White Reef; and Talbot and Cranes. No.1 North and Australian Natives were the deepest at 100 feet and still showing good gold.
Above: John ‘Jackey’ Owen, discoverer of the first payable reef at Gilgunnia
By November 1895 the miners were calling for a battery to be erected and some of the ore was extremely rich, with one mine sending six tons of ore to the Clyde works in Sydney for a yield of seven ounces per ton. A report in June 1896 noted that the lack of water had held up mining but rains had recently filled the tanks; it also noted that the much-needed battery was being constructed and that there were at least 1,000 tons of stone waiting to be crushed. In the same month, one troubled miner suicided by putting a stick of Rackarock (explosive consisting of potassium chlorate and nitrobenzene) with a slow fuse and detonator into his mouth and lighting it. The papers noted that this wasn’t uncommon on mining fields. On the 28th of July the first battery was officially declared open with Mr Maschwitz being the proprietor, and a celebratory ball was held in the evening. Most crushings ended up yielding about an ounce of gold per ton but in 1897 the Her Dream Mine was an exception when, in December, it treated 51 tons for just over 106oz of gold. It had produced 666oz of gold from its last five crushings and paid a dividend of five guineas per share, there being some 80 shares in the venture. The town of Gilgunnia was declared in 1897 and this pretty much coincided with its peak population of 1,000 residents who were serviced by a court house, police station, school, several general stores, three pubs, a billiards hall, a dance hall and various other retail establishments. There was no mention of a church. By 1898 the newspapers had lost a lot of interest in the field but reported that crushings of an ounce per ton were still the average, with the Her Dream Mine usually producing a slightly better yield. Water was still a problem – either a lack of it or too much courtesy of torrential rain.
The Royal Hotel closed in 1898 leaving thirst-quenching duties to Tattersalls and The Commercial. In September of that year another miner became deranged, first threatening his family and then cutting his own throat. It was not clear if he passed away but it was noted that he was the son of the miner who had suicided in 1896. The total gold yield for the field in 1898 was just over 628oz with Her Dream (sometimes called The Dream) accounting for more than 375oz. At the other end of the scale the Hidden Treasure lived up to the negative connotations of its name and produced one solitary ounce of gold for the entire year. By the middle of 1899 the battery was out of commission waiting for the arrival of new shoes and dies. Some mines were now down to the 180-foot level without rich ore being discovered. On April 6th, Ah Clun, one of the Chinese market gardeners who supplied the town with vegetables grown at Boggy Tank, was found almost dead with multiple cuts, bruises and broken bones. It was claimed his mate, Ah Pling, had tried to murder him with an axe, rod and slasher. Ah Clun was conveyed to the pub then on to Nymagee Hospital. Constable Macpherson covered a lot of ground and eventually tracked down the culprit and arrested him on the road to Nymagee. In December 1899, Her Dream crushed 85 tons for a fabulous return of 603oz of gold.
The Tattersalls Hotel, Gilgunnia, 1922. It later became the post office but by then Gilgunnia was more of a reference point on a map than an actual town
A year later several mines had closed and some were on tribute but Her Dream was still the standout mine and was now down to 200 feet. In early December 1900 it crushed 50 tons for 107oz and later that same month, 141 tons for 262oz of gold. The entire gold output for the field in 1901 was 927oz from 431 tons however 273 ounces of that came from Her Dream’s December crushing of 150 tons. An earlier crushing in August had yielded more than 8oz to the ton so it is clear that most of the other mines still operating were on their last legs. During the year the Gilgunnia Battery Company had erected two 60-ton cyanide vats to treat the tailings and it was hoped that this plant would help the profitability of existing mines. By now the town had shrunk to one pub, a post office, the police station, two small general stores, a butcher, a few scattered mostly empty houses and the battery. The battery and cyaniding plant were eventually sold to Her Dream in August 1902. Most mines, including Her Dream, were still averaging about one ounce to the ton but in October, Seigal and Sons at the Last Chance, produced nearly 69oz from 17 tons. In July 1905, Mr Helm, the much admired school headmaster who had started the school in January 1896, was promoted and posted to Blayney. Although there were still 18 pupils attending the school, a new teacher, Mr F. Bisley, wasn’t appointed until July 1907 but he didn’t accept the posting and the school closed the same month. Mining struggled along until 1907 when the Her Dream Mine and also the battery and cyaniding plant it owned, went into liquidation. The mine hadn’t been profitable for two years and was down to the 260-foot level. In 1913 Mr Wallace obtained the Her Dream mine with high hopes of making his fortune but water in the mine proved his undoing.
In 1915 a Cobar syndicate tried to dewater Her Dream. This was the only work being carried out on the field and it ultimately proved unsuccessful. In 1917 another local syndicate tried to get Her Dream back up and running and struggled with the water problem into 1918, to no avail. As for the town, the only decent building still standing was Tattersalls Hotel, the police station having been “abolished” in December 1915. The years rolled by until Mr A. Hodge, with more hope than good sense, assumed ownership of Her Dream in 1936 and had two men install 200 feet of ladders. Fortune did not favour him. In 1939, Her Dream’s charms managed to attract the Seigal Brothers who laboured through until the end of 1940 for little or no result. Since the Second World War the only activity on the field was an open cut operation that started back in the early 1990s but it came to nothing. The town of Gilgunnia and the mines that feasted on its reefs fended off droughts, fires, the Spanish Flu epidemic, heatwaves, duststorms, frost and grasshopper plagues but couldn’t survive when water was struck at depth and gold at depth was too expensive to mine.
MINER BLOWS HIS HEAD OFF
Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal Friday, 12th June, 1896
At the Four Mile, near Gilgunnia goldfield, on Wednesday morning, a miner named McLaughlin committed suicide in a most determined manner. About 7.30am, a miner named Talbott, whose camp is distant some 30 yards from that of McLaughlin, was aroused by a loud report, but owing to the dense fog prevailing at the time could not locate the direction. About half-an-hour later, however, he went to McLaughlin’s tent and was horrified to find the deceased lying on bis back on his bed with the whole of his face and front portion of his head blown away, and the brain exposed. Portions of the brain and parts of the skull, teeth, and beard were lying scattered around the bed, floor, and side of the tent. Pieces of bone and beard were also scattered outside the tent from the force of the explosion. Rackarock was evidently the means employed to effect his purpose. Half a plug of the explosive was missing from the Moonlight claim on which McLaughlin’s claim was situated, and also a short piece of fuse which he must have secured on Tuesday night or very early on Wednesday morning. The explosive he evidently placed in his mouth with the detonator and fuse attached. The facts at present disclose no reason for the rash act. At 8 o’clock on Tuesday evening McLaughlin appeared to be in his usual spirits, and was conversing rationally and cheerfully. He was at one time proprietor of an hotel in Bourke, and was well liked and respected. It is thought that his financial troubles may have affected his reason. The body has been brought into town. An inquest will be held.