43-515: Canbelego is a village in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. It is now virtually a ghost town but was once a much larger settlement associated with the Mount Boppy Gold Mine . The name (pronounced can-bell-ee-go) also refers to the surrounding rural locality identified for postal and statistical purposes. At the 2021 census, the population of Canbelego, including its surrounding area,
86-471: A baker, blacksmith, billiard saloon, cool drink shops, many boarding houses, a post office, and a court house under construction. There was also a local doctor. The first of its church buildings, the Presbyterian Church, built in 1901, was shared when necessary with other denominations, pending the other churches being built. All the houses in the town were neat houses of weatherboard construction, not
129-480: A day of quiet, with the mine not working on the day of rest and religious observance. Hard-rock mining was a dangerous occupation; the accident rate for Cobar district miners, in 1912, was 109.3 accidents per 1,000 workers. Over the years of its operation, up to 1922, at least ten men died as a result of accidents at the Mount Boppy mine. Orana (New South Wales) Too Many Requests If you report this error to
172-434: A ground known as Canbelego Park. There was also a football club, also playing at Canbelego Park. Initially, the football code played was Rugby Union but, by around 1916, it had changed to Rugby League . The Canbelego Town Band, performed at a second annual fancy dress and masquerade ball, in 1907. It competed in music competitions against other towns. A travelling cinema 'Phelan's electric biograph' visited and entertained
215-478: A house suited to a family was 7s 6d per week, whereas a better house, with a bathroom, could cost 10s 6d. In nearby Cobar, miners contributed 9d each per week to retain a medical practitioner. Evidence given, in December 1905, was that wages for mine workers were typically between 7 and 9 shillings per eight-hour shift , and that workers mainly worked six shifts per week—although at least some were working seven—becoming
258-517: A little drapery ", £2 12s 7¼d, and for fruit and vegetables 10s 10¼d. The distance from the coast and larger settlements, and rail freight cost, resulted in a premium on the price of food and household items at Canbelego, relative to Sydney prices. Evidence given in December 1905, showed that this premium was between 6% for clothing and 23% for eggs. Kerosene cost 33% to 50% more at Canbelego. Some fruits and vegetables were grown locally, at Cobar, in market gardens that were tended by ethnic Chinese, and
301-415: A place that he called "Canbelego" but that was not the later site of the village; it was a location—on Bogan River , near to the modern-day locality of Grahweed—about 30 km from Nyngan . As Mitchell tried to use local language names whenever possible, it is likely that the name Canbelego is derived from the local aboriginal dialect. Grahweed and the later site of Canbelego lie at opposite ends of area of
344-523: A skeptical reporter opined in early 1916 that, " Fires seem to be quite fashionable in Canbelego at present ". Arson was involved in some fires, but in others, including the destructive fire of February 1915, it was not possible to reach a conclusion on whether there had been arson or not. The fire risk at Canbelego, in general, was such that insurance cover had become harder to obtain by 1912. Canbelego did not have local government , before 1958, and lay within
387-418: A typical fortnightly wage of £4 4s to £5 8s. The fortnightly wage of a miner was roughly equivalent to the price of an ounce of gold. In June 1911, the Mount Boppy company agreed to give preference to union members, when employing new workers, which had been an objective of the unionists. Wages for mine workers had increased to between 9s and 11s 6d, per shift, depending upon their classification and, for some,
430-576: The County of Canbelego , and it is likely that the village took its name from the county. After settler colonisation, the area of the village was partly within Robinson County (Parish of Cohn) and partly within Canbelego County (Parish of Florida). Settlers grazed sheep in the area from, at latest, the 1870s, but the productivity of wool-growing was dramatically impacted, when feral rabbits arrived in
473-487: The Unincorporated Western Division ; it was in many ways a company town. That had advantages; the mine employed a doctor, who was also allowed to have a private practice in the village; the company provided a small hospital, in 1908, and a library, in 1907; and the village's electricity supply originally came from the mine. The surface employees of the mine also fought fires in the village. However, not just
SECTION 10
#1732859459374516-507: The 'Bio-megaphone' was a Chronophone that had been improved by using a later model film projector, then rebranded, for marketing purposes, to compete with the more modern Chronomegaphone (both the 'Bio-megaphone' and Chronomegaphone began showing, on the same day, in two different Melbourne theatres). Phonoscènes were typically the duration of one gramophone record , including only one song, but longer sound-on-disc films were made of operas . The rapid growth in population soon exposed
559-602: The Cobar region, around 1890. The original Mount Boppy Gold Mine operated from 1901 to 1922. It was, at the time, regarded as being the largest gold producer in New South Wales. Over that period, the mine produced 13.5 tons (433,000 ounces) of gold. By the end of 1912, shareholders had received a return of 356% on their capital investment, rising to 500% over the entire 21 years of operation. After reef mining ceased in September 1921,
602-681: The Commercial Hotel, the Miner's Arms, the Federal Hotel, and the Royal Hotel. By 1908, there were four hotels, to slake the thirst of miners, but there were also other recreation choices. From around 1906, the village had its own horse racing course and race meetings were held there on New Year's Day until the racing club was wound up in 1912. A 'patriotic meeting' of the Canbelego Race Club
645-589: The Good Shepherd) began in late 1908, and it was consecrated in mid 1909. Anglican church services were conducted by visiting priests of the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd . By 1908, the village had a Catholic church (St Phillip's). In 1908, a second school, a Catholic Convent School, was opened, with four Sisters of St. Joseph and 70 pupils, and by 1916 it had 135. In 1910, the village's new Methodist church
688-790: The Mount Boppy mine was the Mount Boppy South mine, which was worked in conjunction with the main Mount Boppy Gold Mine. Other nearby mines included the Canbelego Copper Mining Co. (also known as 'the Burra', located 5 miles south of the village, which was operating as early as 1886), the North Mount Boppy Gold Mining Co., and the Restdown Copper Mining Co. (15 miles south-east of Canbelego). Nearer to
731-489: The area are ephemeral. Enormous amounts of water were needed for the gold processing operations. The mine drew its water from a vast 'tank'. Despite the mine tank's 12-million imperial gallon capacity—enough for eight months operation if full—and very careful water management at the mine, lack of water was a cause of interruptions to production and employment, during droughts. Paradoxically, infrequent but heavy rain could also interrupt mine operations, if water found its way into
774-420: The band. With little water and no fire brigade, fire was a constant threat to a village built mainly of wood and corrugated iron sheets. There were serious fires that destroyed multiple commercial buildings, in 1904, 1906, January 1911, October 1911, November 1911, 1913, and 1915, as well as house fires that destroyed individual residences. In 1915, a fire at the hospital was extinguished before it could destroy
817-488: The building. The most destructive fire was the fire of February 1915; it destroyed two of the village's hotels and seven shops, all in Edward Street. Only with great effort, by surface staff from the mine, was the fire prevented from spreading to the other side of the street. The fire of November 1911 had been nearly as destructive; it consumed eight buildings, mostly shops. After more fires affecting hotels and businesses,
860-515: The conditions where they were working. At the time, union members paid to their union 2s 9d, on joining, and 9d per fortnight for the union's working expenses. There were no rock-drilling machines at the Mount Boppy Mine, with all mining, including blast hole drilling, by hand, other than rock blasting . Manual work included the manhandling of mine trucks (or mine skips )—containing 8 to 9 cwt (around 400 to 460 kg) of rock—into and out of
903-549: The lift cage, with trucks arriving at the surface at a rate of around 40 per hour. The mine was relatively well ventilated and capacious; although the lode being mined could be as narrow as three feet, in other places, it could be 80 feet wide. Workers who were in proximity to the cyanide used in the gold recovery process or to tailings sand—the waste product of that process—complained of fumes and that they developed skin rashes, known as 'cyanide rash'. Miners working underground complained that there were no sanitation arrangements in
SECTION 20
#1732859459374946-409: The mine, and of the risk of lung damage due to quartz rock dust ( silicosis ). The core of the mine's surface operations was its huge stamper battery , used to pulverise gold-bearing rock. It had 40 stamper heads—each weighing 950 pounds , and impacting 88 times per minute—in 1904, and 60 heads in 1905. Inside the building, the noise that it made was deafening. In the village, to the immediate east of
989-476: The mine, as occurred twice in 1913. The village's water came from a separate 'Government Tank'. So critical was the mine to the village's economy that, if the mine's tank fell below eight feet in depth and subject to approval, water was transferred from the Government Tank to the mine's tank. From 1914, the mine began using groundwater, from the abandoned North Mount Boppy shaft, in its boilers. The quality of
1032-444: The mine, one observer opined that, " the clash of the huge batteries and the grinding of the great machinery create a noise like that of a sou'-easterly gale breaking on Bondi beach . " Running on two shifts, the last ending at midnight, around 260 to 290 days per year, its continuous roar was labelled " Canbelego's lullaby "; it was reported that, " Canbelegolites get so used to it they can't go to sleep without it ". Sundays were always
1075-435: The most productive gold mine in New South Wales. In 2020, drilling revealed intersections of high-grade gold-bearing ore below the bottom of the existing pit. Gold was again being mined there in 2021, and that was expected to continue, until 2022, with limited mine site rehabilitation. In May 2024, Manuka Resources announced that it had raised $ 8 million in capital to commence production at the Mount Boppy mine. South-east of
1118-522: The old company reprocessed tailings and remnant ore stocks, until finally closing the site and selling off equipment, in 1923. Between 1929 and 1941, there was minor production of gold from remnant ore and attempts to process tailings. Around 500,000 tonnes of tailings —still containing an average of 3g of gold per tonne—were left on the surface. Starting in 1974, these tailings were reprocessed to recover more gold. Later mining operations included reprocessing of tailings sand that had been used to back fill
1161-474: The old underground workings. In recent years, the mine was reopened as an open-cut operation, but later placed under care and maintenance. It is estimated that over its entire life, from hard-rock mining and tailings reprocessing, the mine has produced 500,000 ounces of gold. Only with the opening of the New Occidental mine at Wrightville , near Cobar, in the 1930s, did the Mount Boppy mine lose its place as
1204-533: The population was 184. By the end of 1902, there was already a population of 300 to 400, and two hotels. By mid 1904, the rapidly growing population had reached around 900, with 180 employed at the Mt Boppy Mine. The post office opened in 1901. The public school was established in 1901, initially with around 35 children; by mid 1904, it had an enrollment of 158, and an average attendance of 120. The main street, Edward Street, had three hotels, six stores, two butchers,
1247-425: The produce was sold in Canbelego. Livestock was raised in the Cobar region, but reportedly local butchers sometimes had difficulty accessing enough animals to slaughter. A miner told how his (presumably single) board and accommodation at Canbelego was 17s 6d, per week, much higher than the 12s 6d that he had paid while working near the coast at Pambula . A local agent gave evidence that the minimum weekly rental on
1290-565: The railway station at Boppy Mountain was the Boppy Boulder Gold Mine. The deposit that was formerly associated with the Canbelego Copper Mining Co. and later Canbelego Copper Mines Limited—mined between 1906 and 1914—was once again, in 2022, the focus of exploration as a copper resource. The village of Canbelego was proclaimed in December 1902, although the emerging settlement— at first informally known as Mount Boppy Mines—had been surveyed and named Canbelego, by late 1900. In May 1901,
1333-402: The semi-arid climate, was a constant problem. Some houses and commercial premises had rainwater tanks, but these could not be relied upon in Canbelego's climate. Groundwater from the mine workings was clean, but brackish and unfit for human consumption. In times of drought, residents sometimes needed to buy water that had to be brought in by rail. In 1911, water was brought in by rail, but there
Canbelego - Misplaced Pages Continue
1376-433: The temporary structures common in mining towns of that time. On the outskirts of the village, a sawmill was busy cutting timber for building work in the growing village. In 1905, the population reached around 1,500, with around 300 of these being employees of the mine. By 1907, the population had reached around 2,000. A fourth hotel, the Federal Hotel had opened by late 1908. Construction of an Anglican church (The Church of
1419-520: The village over two nights in August 1907. The village had its own venue for motion pictures, Levy and Wall's Picture Show, where a motion picture cinema was established and operated, by a local businessman, Charles Wall, from 1914 to around 1921. On 27 October 1911, the village was entertained by a touring 'Bio-megaphone', an early form of talking motion picture show. It was powered by " huge electric generator imported from America expressly for this tour ", and
1462-470: The village to assist his brother in a general store. He later set up a bakery, then a sweets and cool drinks shop, finally establishing a permanent motion picture show in 1914. He sold up and left the village in 1921. His partner in the cinema venture was Maurice Levy, who also had business interests in Nymagee , another mining village 61 km due south of Canbelego. The main business of the village were its hotels:
1505-410: The village's economy was dependent upon the mine, but most services too. Another disadvantage was that, without local government, the village could only rely on its Progress Committee, or the management of the mine, for advocacy to the New South Wales state government and its departments. A typical miner's family bills per fortnightly pay period, in 1906, was 12 shillings for meat, for " groceries and
1548-521: The village's water supply was poor; on at least one occasion, the water from the 'Government Tank' was declared unsafe to drink, by the Government Analyst. It often contained silt, and water needed to be boiled to be safe to drink. Distribution of water to the town depended upon there being enough wind to operate the windmill-driven pump feeding a distribution tank. Keeping livestock away from the village's water supply, particularly goats that thrived in
1591-418: The vulnerable water supply—a continuing problem in a semi-arid area—overcrowding at the school, and inadequate postal and telegraph arrangements. The village would suffer an extraordinary number of building fires. Water was critical, in the semi-arid environment. Canbelego's mean annual rainfall is just under 400mm, but it can vary greatly from year to year, with drought an ever present risk. All watercourses in
1634-618: Was 54, up from 39 in 2016, but the village itself had only four residents in early 2020. Between 1907 and 1917, the population was around 2,000. It is located approximately 640 km north-west of Sydney, 50 km east of Cobar and 5 km south of the nearest point on the Barrier Highway . The area now known as Canbelego is part of the traditional lands of Wangaaypuwan dialect speakers (also known as Wangaibon) of Ngiyampaa people. The Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell and his expedition had camped and obtained water, in early 1845, at
1677-545: Was burned down, in 1911, but he bought the premises of another business and re-established his store there, January 1912. Wong Sing Wah, who operated a market garden , on the Nyngan Road, just outside Cobar, had a fruiterer and greengrocer's shop, in Edward Street. Also in Edward St, a Syrian, Joseph Shalala, operated a shop selling drapery, clothing, boots and ironmongery , for around six years before 1914. Charles Wall came to
1720-508: Was fitted with " Fire-proof guards to prevent any danger of conflagration ". Probably, it was either a Chronophone or a Chonomegaphone (an enhanced version of the Chronophone ). Both electrically powered devices were made by Lèon Gaumont , played Phonoscènes , and amplified the sound using compressed air; both kinds of device had been in use elsewhere in Australia by 1911. Most likely,
1763-464: Was held at a new race course at Canbelego, in May 1916, and the tradition of races on New Year's Day revived for 1917, with an Easter Monday race meeting in 1918. The village had a cricket club, from September 1904, playing games against Cobar and Wrightville . The games were typically limited to one innings for each side, to allow visiting sides to catch the afternoon train home. Home games were played on
Canbelego - Misplaced Pages Continue
1806-409: Was only enough to supply the village, and the mine shutdown temporarily. Drought even caused difficulty for the musicians of the town's band. During dust storms , they could not play, with their instruments needing to be carefully packed away to avoid damage. After the long drought of 1911 interrupted production at the Mount Boppy mine, ten of the 28 bandsmen left town, bringing to an end the heyday of
1849-510: Was opened. The new building was necessary because the Methodists could no longer use the building of 'a sister church' (probably the Presbyterian church) for their services. In 1908, Michael Lane, a storekeeper from Nymagee , bought land in Edward Street, for a general store that was to be a part of Canbelego until the early 1920s. His first store, located directly opposite the Commercial Hotel,
#373626