Mount Shamrock: A Symbiosis of Mine and Settlement

Mount Shamrock: A Symbiosis of Mine and Settlement

Geraldine Mate

Published online: 4 June 2013# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract Mount Shamrock township was one of the earliest gold mining towns inthe Upper Burnett district of Queensland, Australia. A study of the township andassociated industrial area demonstrates the integration of town and mine in the latenineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This paper examines the relative perma-nence of the mining settlement and reveals a multifaceted landscape influenced notonly by miners but by the women, children and other non-mining residents operatingwithin distinct social and administrative frameworks.

Keywords Gold mining . Landscape . Social identity . Queensland . Australia

Introduction

Gold mining is part of the narrative of the past in Queensland and the larger gold fieldssuch as the Palmer River and Charters Towers are well known. However it was not justthe major centers that followed the gold path in the second half of the nineteenth century;many smaller townswere established to support mining, although their stories have beenovershadowed by grand narratives of gold rushes and capitalist ventures. MountShamrock was a gold mining town broadly typical of the many small towns inQueensland at that time which sprang up and later disappeared. Archaeological in-vestigations across the landscape of Mount Shamrock have revealed the presence ofremnants from both the township and the associated mining and processing area.Analysis of these physical remnants illuminates the role of small towns in informingour understanding of the story of gold mining.

Int J Histor Archaeol (2013) 17:465–486DOI 10.1007/s10761-013-0229-y

G. MateThe Workshops Rail Museum, Queensland Museum, North Ipswich QLD 4305, Australia

G. Mate (*)Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, School of Artsand Social Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns QLD 4870, Australiae-mail: [email protected]

Examination of the remnants at Mount Shamrock using a landscape approachshowed that the town and mine were part of an integrated landscape. The history ofthe settlement demonstrates the relative permanence of some towns in what istraditionally regarded as a comparatively transient mode of settlement. Further,combined archaeological and documentary evidence reveal that residents operatedwithin social and administrative frameworks which affected their approaches toeveryday life in the town. Being populated by people in a range of occupations overan extended period, with the presence of women and children, and despite variablefortunes, Mount Shamrock challenges traditional narratives which paint miningtowns as rough, male-dominated places and illuminates life in a mining town in latenineteenth- and early twentieth- century Queensland.

Approaches to the Archaeological Investigation of Mining in Australia

A number of investigations of historical gold mining complexes in Australia havebeen undertaken, including work by Bell (1984, 1987, 1998) on the Palmer inQueensland, Mayne (2003) at Hill End in New South Wales, Lawrence (1995) atDolly’s Creek in Victoria and McGowan (1992, 1996, 2001) in New South Wales.Investigations focused particularly on landscapes of industries in Australia have beencarried out by researchers such as McGowan (1992), Gibbs (1997), Jackman (1995)and Piddock (2007). Lawrence (2004) and Casella (2006) have also provided over-views of investigations into landscapes of industries, identifying landscape ap-proaches as being well represented in the context of historical archaeologicalresearch in Australia. However whilst on the surface providing a reasonable bodyof work, many of these landscape-based studies have emphasized settlement distri-bution and environmental change, rather than considering landscapes as engagedentities using more socially-based frameworks.

Other frameworks of investigation have included examinations of community andtechnology. Several authors including Bell (1987), Wegner (1995a, 1995b) andMenghetti (2005) have looked particularly at the technology of the goldfields ofQueensland, although emphasis on technology has at times been at the expense ofmore humanly based accounts of mining (see Lawrence 1998; Mate 2010; andWegner 1995a, 1995b for a discussion). Lawrence (2004, p. 58) in particular hasargued that “continued emphasis on technology to the exclusion of its social dimen-sion results in an impoverished understanding of the nature of industry and itsassociated human culture.” Lawrence (2000, 2001, 2005), Prangnell et al. (2005)and Quirk (2007, 2008) in their work on gold mining settlements have led the way inreversing this trend, presenting considered analyses of the social fabric of miningcommunities in Victoria and Queensland respectively. Communities associated withgold mining in Queensland have also been explored by Bell (1998), and McGowan(1992) has highlighted the networks of community connections at Shoalhaven inNew South Wales. The integration of mining landscapes across settlement andindustry has however had limited attention, with many researchers continuing tofocus on either townships or industrial remnants.

At the same time as this move towards recognition of the sociality of gold miningsettlements, a number of researchers examining the archaeology of ‘contact’ in

466 Int J Histor Archaeol (2013) 17:465–486

Australia have engaged with concepts of humanly constructed cultural landscapesthat are meaningful and actively encountered (Byrne 2003; Godwin and L’OsteBrown 2002; Harrison 2002, 2004; Head 2000; Paterson 2005a, 2005b, 2006;Strang 1999). The investigation of cultural landscapes of mining towns provides anavenue to explore deeper engagement with place. This approach has had somecurrency with researchers in North America and Britain (e.g., Alfrey and Clark1993; Casella 2005; Delle 1998; Hardesty 1998; Johnson 2007; Lightfoot et al.1998; Metheny 2002) although there is still potential to address the concepts oflandscape in historical archaeology with deeper considerations of social constitution,engagement and meaningful encounters. This is a view that sees landscapes as multi-vocal, mutually constituted, transformative and operating over varying scales.

The study of the township and industrial complex of Mount Shamrock, undertakenas doctoral research, aims to provide such a consideration of social interpretations ofthe archaeology of mining towns, including landscape and technology. While aspectsof the engaged landscape of Mount Shamrock are explored elsewhere (e.g., Mate2010; Prangnell and Mate 2011), this paper explores one element of theseinterpretations—the recognition of the integration of town and industry.Acknowledgement of the diversity of mining settlements (Bell 2010, p. 85; Quirk2010, p. 88) further allows recognition of both the complex landscapes that encom-pass industry and the community, and the underlying influences on the socialconstruction of settlements. These affect outcomes such as longevity, demographyand the historical progress or narrative of townships, ideas explored in this paper.

A Brief History of Mount Shamrock

Mount Shamrock was situated in the Upper Burnett region, south west of Bundaberg(Fig. 1).

The first European settlers arrived in the Upper Burnett district in 1846 bringing insheep and establishing pastoral leases. After the introduction of pastoralism, settle-ment in the region gradually intensified through a number of mechanisms includingthe selection of smaller land parcels for agriculture, the advent of mining and thegradual progress of the railway line over time. Gold mining in particular resulted in aflurry of settlement between 1870 and 1900. Within a ten mile radius around MountShamrock there were six mining hamlets and towns, all owing their existence to gold.Mount Shamrock was the first of these townships and outlasted all of the communi-ties with the exception of nearby Biggenden.

Gold was discovered on Degilbo Station, east of Gayndah, in July 1886 by a groupof men from Maryborough and Gympie including Fred Simpson, Grovenor Simpson,John Roberts, John Lidgard and John Woodyatt (Maryborough Chronicle 1886a;Mining Warden Biggenden 1886–1907). The same week another group pegged out aclaim known as Kent’s Knob in the same area (Maryborough Chronicle 1886b;Mining Warden Biggenden 1886). Within days sufficient ore had been mined to sendto Gympie for trial crushing and a rush to the new township of Mount Shamrock wasunderway. Miners from across the district immediately began pegging out leases,including syndicates from Maryborough, Gympie, and Gayndah (MaryboroughChronicle 1886b).

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The mining warden from Gayndah arrived on July 14, 1886. The warden allowed acertain amount of land to be claimed and then declared all other ground to havereverted to Crown Land and made it available for the first claimants. This resulted in ascrum of miners trying to peg the available land. Several parties were in dispute butagreement was soon reached (Maryborough Chronicle 1886a). This was clearly anevent of note—by July 17, 1886, advertisements had been placed in theMaryboroughChronicle, auctioning horses for “the New Rush to Mount Shamrock” and more than150 miners were suggested to have descended on the field within three weeks of thediscovery (Maryborough Chronicle 1886c).

The discovery was seen as beneficial even if the amount of gold found was lessthan anticipated, as it was felt that the “mild rush” initiated exploration around thedistrict: “and this is just what the district wants. The value of a permanent miningtown in that direction to Maryborough would be inestimable and we can only hopethat the busy search around Degilbo will end in Maryborough suffering anotherstinging salvation” (Maryborough Chronicle 1886d, emphasis added).

The discovery of minerals prompted a visit by the government geologist (Rands1886), which in turn gave residents of the district grounds to increase pressure for theprogress of the railway from Maryborough and to press for the improvement of roadsand coach routes in the district (Maryborough, Wide Bay and Burnett HistoricalSociety 1976, p. 21). Furthermore, by 1893 a large smelter for the treatment of arange of minerals had been built at Aldershot, just outside Maryborough (Charlton1902, p. 71; Maryborough, Wide Bay and Burnett Historical Society 1976, p. 21)servicing a number of mines in the district.

Fig. 1 Mining towns situated in the Upper Burnett region, southwest of Bundaberg. Mount Shamrock waslocated close to several contemporary mining settlements


People came quickly to the new mine at Mount Shamrock, including storekeeperssuch as James Mortlemann from Gayndah, who arrived with his family, bringingsupplies and tools and setting up business within two weeks of the discovery of gold(Maryborough Chronicle 1886e, 1886f). A police station was opened in September1886, at which time it was estimated that there were over 200 people in MountShamrock (Police Department 1891). By August the following year, police wererequesting permission to rent a house for 5 shillings a week, a “suitable buildingbeing available and preferable to current accommodations in a tent” (PoliceDepartment, 1891), indicating that permanent dwellings were erected by this time.The town grew through time, although for the first few years it remained somewhatrough and ready with “houses, tents and humpies on the flat,” as Elsie Bilbrough (ayoung English woman who was the first government teacher at the school) describedwhen she arrived in town in 1890 (Bilbrough, An Extract from the Diary of ElsieBilbrough: First Teacher at Mount Shamrock, 1890–1892, unpublished). By thattime, the town had two stores, owned by Mrs. Burns and another early arrival, Mr.Richards, who came with his wife and children, a butcher (Mr Korn with his family),the Post Office, run by James Mortlemann, and a pub—the Jubilee Hotel—owned byHugh Cairns.

Education and religion played a part at Mount Shamrock. Initially school wastaught informally in a tent by the Lalonde sisters, and families contributed a shillingper week. A provisional school was established by the Department of PublicInstruction after a petition signed by local residents (including miners, carters,shopkeepers and hoteliers, both with children and without) was presented to thecolonial government in June 1889 (Public Instruction Department, 1896–1935). Aschool house was constructed and school formally commenced in 1890 when ElsieBilbrough arrived. Elsie Bilbrough was a devout Christian who lamented the lack of aplace for regular worship and instituted Sunday School for her charges (Bilbrough,An Extract from the Diary of Elsie Bilbrough: First Teacher at Mount Shamrock,1890–1892, unpublished). Although there was no church at Mount Shamrock,visiting ministers held occasional services. Father Fouhey, a Catholic priest hadreportedly visited twice in the first three weeks of the “rush,” apparently namingthe field Mount Shamrock (Maryborough Chronicle 1886f). In the 1890s, there werevisits from nearby ministers who held services in the school, including Mr Doylefrom Gayndah, ministers of the church from Paradise, and Reverend Brown, aWesleyan minister from Bundaberg (Bilbrough, An Extract from the Diary of ElsieBilbrough: First Teacher at Mount Shamrock, 1890–1892, unpublished).

Elsie Bilbrough’s diary gives accounts of the social activities at Mount Shamrock:visits, walks, hymn singing, and evenings decorating bonnets were typical pastimesfor her. She was also instrumental in initiating a temperance league in the town.However, it is apparent that it was not all cups of tea and religious meetings at MountShamrock. There was some dissolute behavior, criticized by Elsie, who commentedseveral times in her diary on people drunk in the morning, people drunk at the danceand drunken brawling in the street; and in 1891, while she was still in residence at thetown, a new public house was opened (Bilbrough, An Extract from the Diary of ElsieBilbrough: First Teacher at Mount Shamrock, 1890–1892, unpublished). All in all, amining town may not have been the ideal first teaching post for a 20-year old, teetotalEnglish girl who had arrived in Australia only months earlier. Nevertheless, she


continued at the school for eighteen months, making a number of friends and takingpart in community life, which included socializing with miners and their families, themine manager and his wife and daughters, and local store owners, visiting the mine,and attending the local dances (Bilbrough, An Extract from the Diary of ElsieBilbrough: First Teacher at Mount Shamrock, 1890–1892, unpublished). The picturepainted in her diary suggests permanence and a degree of social structure differentfrom the traditional view of rough, tough mining towns.

Mining, having first started with people working individual leases, was quicklytransformed by the amalgamation of claims and eventually these amalgamated claimsbecame two specific leases worked mainly by the Mount Shamrock Gold Mining Co.which, at times, employed up to 50 miners. The richest part of the deposit was in theform of a pipe rather than a lode, and the mine yielded gold, silver and bismuth(Charlton 1902, p. 77). Although mining started in 1886, processing equipment wasnot actually installed until 1887—a large investment, in total valued at £5000—whena three shift operation commenced (Maryborough, Wide Bay and Burnett HistoricalSociety 1976, p. 56). Three thousand ounces of gold were shipped in a six monthperiod in 1887 (today, this would have been worth more than $3 million for sixmonths work). Two years later, in 1889, the Mount Shamrock Gold Mining Co.installed an “expensive” chlorination tank system on the hillside, together with afurnace for roasting the ore and an assay office (Hill 1890, p.73). The chlorinationplant only worked for two years before it was shut down. Although the minecontinued to operate over the next few years, a number of external factors influencedproduction.

The discovery of gold at nearby Paradise in 1889 induced many people to move,resulting in a decline in the population of Mount Shamrock. Families such as theBayntuns, Denzlers, Allens, Higgins and Bodens, many of them miners, moved tothe new town of Paradise and took up Miners Homestead Leases there. The policestation was closed in 1891 as the Paradise police station was by then in operationand was “only eight miles away” (Police Department 1891). Although some peopledid remain, the school was closed in 1894 (reopening again in April 1896) and nogold was produced at Mount Shamrock for two years. The Mount Shamrock GoldMining Co. remained closed for several years in the 1890s due to both financialdifficulties and the absence of the British owner (Ball 1901, p. 4; MaryboroughChronicle 1897). However, over this time the mine continued to be worked off andon, sometimes on tribute (Towner 1896, p. 85), sometimes on “dead work” (Loyau1897, p. 136) and the ore was generally sent to Aldershot for treatment in thisperiod. Despite variable production, more than 20,000 ounces of gold were pro-duced at Mount Shamrock in the first 15 years of its life (Ball 1901, p. 7), almosttwice the amount produced over the entire life of the township of Paradise(Prangnell et al. 2005, p. 70).

By the last years of the 1890s, the mine was again working five shifts although thiswas by no means consistent, the mine often “compelled to close” (Anonymous 1900,p. 48) as a result of lack of capital or even lack of water. In 1901, cyanide tanks wereinstalled for the treatment of tailings (Morey 1901, p. 100), set up by tribute miners(rather than a company). Shortly after this, in 1902, there was another investment ofcapital with machinery and a cyanide plant being erected (Vaughan 1902, p. 96).Around this time the Berrie family moved (literally) the Pioneer Hotel from Paradise


to Mount Shamrock (R. Berrie, pers. comm.). A number of original families alsoreturned to Mount Shamrock from Paradise, including the Denzlers and the Bayntuns.Herbert Bayntun had moved to the mines in Paradise in the early 1890s, taking overthe lease of Paradise Great Eastern (Mining Warden Biggenden 1886–1907) but by1902 the family had returned to Mount Shamrock (Public Instruction Department1896–1939). At that time, Miners Homestead Leases were being claimed in MountShamrock “by miners and business people” (Vaughan 1902, p. 96) (Fig. 2). After thefinal decline of Paradise, the Paradise school building was also moved to MountShamrock, replacing the original school building which was in a poor state (PublicInstruction Department 1896–1939), and school enrolments returned to more than 50children (Public Instruction Department 1896–1935).

However, Mount Shamrock remained a provisional goldfield. In comparison,nearby Paradise had been declared a township and goldfield within months of itsestablishment, yet lasted less than 15 years (Prangnell et al. 2005). After beingoverlooked due to the “unproven” nature of the deposit, and having been minedmuch longer than many other local deposits, Mount Shamrock Goldfield was finallygazetted in 1905 (Dunstan 1913). The township itself was not gazetted until after1914 (Mines Department 1914), despite its relative longevity and the provision of aschool reserve and water reserve in the early days of the town.

By the end of 1926, many homesteads had been forfeited (Lands Department 1890–1933) and enrolments in the school had fallen to 17 (Public Instruction Department1896–1935). The mine remained inactive from the mid 1920s until the end of 1933. Atthat time, new plant equipment was installed and cyanide tanks were refitted on thebanks of Didcot Creek for the treatment of tailings (Murray 1933, p. 104). This eventoccurred at a time when money was being granted by the government for mineral

Fig. 2 Mount Shamrock Township 1908, John Oxley Library, Neg No. 101260


exploration to alleviate depression conditions. However, it was the last gasp for the mineand the town. Mining ceased in the first half of 1935 (Murray 1935, p. 110) and theschool finally closed in 1935, marking the end of the township (Public InstructionDepartment 1896–1935). By then there were only 11 children in attendance, mostcoming from local farms and nearby communities, rather than Mount Shamrock itself(R. Berrie, pers. comm.). As the town waned, occupants moved with their houses toagricultural leases around the area or to nearby settlements, and the school was phys-ically relocated to Biggenden. A blacksmith shop and a cattle dip, established in thelatter part of the town’s life, continued in use into the 1950s but the site graduallyreturned to use as pastoral land.

The mine and town of Mount Shamrock were in existence for almost 50 years,from 1886 to 1935. Over time the town had variable fortunes linked to the ebb andflow of mining operations, which sometimes employed 30–50 people and at othertimes supported only two or three miners on tribute. The nature of the township isreflected in the archaeological record distributed across the landscape.

The Mount Shamrock Site

The township of Mount Shamrock was positioned on the river flat near ChoweyCreek above the confluence with Didcot Creek. The main street of the town containedboth business and residential lots. The mine shafts and associated processing areasbegan adjacent to the town with the main workings approximately 500 m away on thehill above the township. Regrowth after past clearing and planting has produced amixture of native vegetation and imported plants. Although land lots still exist in theDepartment of Environment and Resource Management titles register, much of theremnant material in the township has been cleared over the last 30 years. The areaidentified as the main settlement stretches north along Mount Shamrock Road into anadjacent paddock and west either side of Paradise Road (Fig. 3).

The site is composed of artifact scatters and remnant structural features distributedacross the town flat and across two adjacent hills. Two sections of the town in thesouth have been extensively disturbed by plowing however the northern area hasbeen left for grazing and archaeological remnants are more substantively in evidence.In the industrial area, most equipment was removed with the end of mining, althoughboilers and tanks were largely left in place. Recent mining activities have causeddamage to foundations, and destruction of some parts of the former processing areashas occurred as a result of earthworks. Over the entire site, post-depositional pro-cesses including flooding, clearing, bottle collecting and collection of scrap metalhave further reduced archaeological remnants.

Pearson (1994) conducted a brief, targeted survey of the mining remnants aspart of the Mining Heritage Places Study for the Queensland EnvironmentalProtection Agency however the area as a whole had never previously been subjectto intensive archaeological work. In 2006, the township, mining areas and sur-rounding landscape were the focus of a detailed archaeological survey aimed atrecording remnant artifacts and features. The research project drew on historicaldocumentation, archaeological remnants, and oral testimony in order to examinethe cultural landscape.


Intensive surveying carried out across approximately 3 ha in the northern part ofthe township yielded information particularly related to the residential and commer-cial areas of the settlement. The area was surveyed in transects designed to aid in theidentification of potential structural features and individually significant items ofmaterial culture in a highly disturbed environment. Artifacts were recorded using astandardized classification table and features identified within transects were recordedat the same time. Features across the broader landscape, including the area surround-ing the town lots and the industrial area on the mine hillside, were identified bypedestrian survey. All features were recorded using tachiometric surveying and/orGPS and standardised feature recording forms.

Fig. 3 Lot drawing of Mount Shamrock


Township Area

The artifacts primarily consist of structural (concrete, bricks, timber stumps, metalsheeting, sawn timber and alignments of stone) and domestic (ceramic and glass)components although many of the artifacts are degraded and very fragmented. Thereare also clear indications of roadways and ditches, together with some evidence ofimported vegetation. Analysis of these various components has allowed identificationof the distribution, location and size of some of the dwellings across the town flat,with block boundaries delineated by remnant fence lines (Figs. 4 and 5).

Analysis of documentary and photographic evidence has allowed the linking of theremnant structural components to specific residences and businesses. The most evidentwere the Berrie’s Hotel, the residence of William Parry (mine manager in 1906),Fredrick Korn’s butcher shop, and the location of the “assembly rooms” constructedaround the early 1900s (see Fig. 4). There are a range of identifiable artifacts includingceramics, glassware, a sewing machine component, clock workings, pieces of harmon-ica, tools, furnishings, and pieces of writing slates and slate pencils. The ceramics foundinclude identifiable pieces of tableware, some with transfer-printed patterns and bonechina with overglaze gilding. There are also a range of personal artifacts includingbuttons, beads, a thimble and fragments of clay smoking pipes. As a result of siteformation processes, the domestic evidence appears to be less clearly linked to particularplaces than the structural evidence.

Interestingly, tools related to construction and agricultural activity were foundrelatively intact and reasonably abundantly within the survey area and these includedcarpentry tools, ploughshares, rakes, and even evidence of carting. Together with

Fig. 4 Features distributed across the township of Mount Shamrock


documentary evidence of the subsequent use of the land and the dispersal of peoplelocally into agriculture, these artifacts point to a crossover in labor, with activities atMount Shamrock not solely mine-related but also including a number of land-relatedlabors. This aligns with Lawrence’s (1998, p. 48) suggestion that at Dolly’s Creek inVictoria miners supplemented their income with farming activities.

Across the broader town landscape, larger features have been identified includ-ing fence lines, drains and roads. The school reserve, situated on the hill on thewestern side of the southern portion of the township, contains corner posts of theschool building, together with evidence of an outhouse and extensive remnantfence line (presumably that erected in 1910) (Public Instruction Department 1896–1939). Limited artifactual material has been found in this area although evidenceof a dump was found in the gully on the northwestern edge of the school reserve.Although the remainder of the southern part of the town is now under cultivation,inspection indicated that farm tracks and fence lines follow the original lines ofroadways.

A number of other artifacts including rails, boiler plates, industrial-styled fixingbrackets, and a number of pieces of heavy gauge plate metal, all probably sourcedfrom the industrial area, were also found across the township area, suggestingutilization of materials from the mines to supplement requirements in the town.This included the presence of at least 20 furnace bricks clearly taken from theindustrial area. A number of features relating to mining were also visible from thetown flat, including mine shafts, mullock heaps, and trackways. These features and

Fig. 5 Survey of township remnants at Mount Shamrock identified vegetation, structural components,remnant fence lines and domestic artefacts, view looking south. Photo courtesy Nick Burrell


artifacts are a clear manifestation of an integrated landscape where the mine and townare inextricably linked.

Industrial Area

There was better preservation of features in the industrial area with a range offoundations, earthworks and building remnants being identified. Industrial arti-facts were primarily found on the hillside north of the township and weredistributed unevenly across the industrial survey area (approximately 12 ha).The archaeological context shows the spatial and temporal extent of mining andprocessing, with traces of different phases of operation identifiable, and supportedby documentation such as plans, extending from the 1890s through to the 1930s(Mate 2010).

Mining remnants include the presence of an adit at Kent’s Knob, and the originalopen cut “glory hole,” main shaft, and haul adit for the Mount Shamrock mine. In all,ten shafts and adits have been identified, spread over the hillside, serving to demon-strate the proximity and relative distribution of the mines (Fig. 6). The archaeologicalremnants of processing areas are also spread across the hillside with the mostprominent features being a stone chimney and associated flue, substantial equipmentfoundations and several tanks.

At the creek crossing at the base of the hill, a number of features related to thefirst machine area (established in 1887) were located. These included the prom-inent stone chimney of a furnace (Fig. 7), a rectangular cutting and associatedstructural remnants interpreted as the site of the first stamper battery, and a highlydisturbed area with broken concrete and metal artifacts believed to be the rem-nants of associated processing equipment foundations. The structural remnants ofthe Assay Office were also identified; with key indicators including a paved floor,two small furnaces, the bases of assay crucibles, and glass from chemical storagecontainers. The brick-paved floor of a second building adjacent to the AssayOffice was also recorded in detail. Closer inspection revealed that this floor isnot paved entirely but is intermingled with drains and bare patches of earth. Thestructure was labeled as a store on a later plan of the mining lease, but the patternof paving suggests it may previously have been used as the working floor of achlorination or precipitation plant. Evidence of the presence of chlorination vatswas found adjacent to this area in 1994 by Michael Pearson, but these appear tohave been destroyed by recent earthworks for a large dam.

The remnants of a later phase of operation (ca.1902) are the most substantialstill extant at Mount Shamrock. These are located further up the hillside from theearly battery site. Remains include a boiler (Fig. 8), foundations for a steampowered engine, substantial foundations for crushing and milling including theconcrete foundations of a stamper battery, and wooden foundations of equipmentfor gravity separation and concentration, together with remnants of the buildingitself (Fig. 9). There are also two large round concrete cyanide tanks, together withan associated feed tank and a smaller boiler. Additional cyanide tanks establishedin the early 1900s, and likely to have been for the treatment of tailings, werefound on the banks of the nearby creek. The remnants here include the tanks


themselves, cyanide tailings, and earthworks and structural remnants indicatingthe location of the charge ramp and boiler.

A number of additional features were identified across the entire industrial area,including several cuttings for auxiliary buildings, a small limestone kiln, and exten-sive tracks between features (see Fig. 6). In particular the haul-way from the main aditto the original battery site is still intact; however the haul-way from the main shaft tothe upper stamper battery site has been obscured by recent earthworks. These remnantfeatures present a mining landscape that highlights the importance of considering theentirety of a site, not just the prominent features such as mine shafts and stamperbatteries. The landscape and the wide range of features allow investigation of the waymining and processing areas worked together, demonstrating the proximity andrelationships between components. Further, the richness of the record demonstratesthe possibility of considerations that extend from these features into the broaderlandscape. For example, the presence of the assay office leads to consideration ofthe movement of gold; and the stores and lime kilns link to transport and supply ofchemicals and other consumables. These types of analyses can provide a more

Fig. 6 Distribution of industrial remnants at Mount Shamrock


textured picture of work at a mine and prompt consideration of the leviathan thatmining was—consuming wood, ore, chemicals, and people, with a hive of activityand movement that occupied the entire landscape and extended to the township.

A Symbiosis of Town and Mine

Mount Shamrock was a gold mining town that continued in existence for 50 years. Inthat time, many people moved to Mount Shamrock. Mostly they were locals trying to

Fig. 8 In situ boiler, with traces of foundations, brickwork and flues visible

Fig. 7 Remnants of a stone furnace located in the industrial area of Mount Shamrock


make a living on the goldfield either by mining or by supplying miners with goods orservices. However, Mount Shamrock did not clearly conform to the narrative of agold rush town with miners moving from deposit to deposit. Instead there were arange of different stories highlighting the more intricate networks and personalarrangements of the residents that extended over half a century.

Compliance with social requirements influenced decisions about the township—theneed for education, law enforcement, religious observance, and adherence to legislationrelated to mining and land were all acted upon by the residents. Women working in thecommunity (for example as store keepers and midwives), the attendance at school bychildren, social networks within the community that encompassed miners, teachers,store owners and managers, and even marriages between families, all contributed to thecultural landscape and made up the context of Mount Shamrock.

Permanence

The relative permanence of mining settlements has long been attributed to the typeof mine and the size of the deposit; however there are often other factors at play. Inhis examination of the Mountain Street site in Sydney, Sneddon (2006, p. 1) arguedagainst a revisionist approach to slums “that reflects the ‘brighter side’ of living inabject poverty.” In particular he suggests that in trying to avoid one stereotype (thatof a life of unremitting poverty), alternative interpretations of the archaeologicalevidence as suggesting a life with “a degree of comfort” still serve to mask the

Fig. 9 Building and foundation remnants for grinding mills, a steam engine and feeder tanks from majormineral processing area of Mount Shamrock


complexities of life in nineteenth century urban slums (Sneddon 2006, p. 5). Thesame desire to emphasize the economic drive of gold mining has led to an emphasison the transience of alluvial mining towns and the permanence of towns associatedwith hard-rock mining. Yet a straight correlation between type of deposit andrelative longevity of a settlement fails to take into account other factors thatinfluence the permanency of a place. At one time a proportion of the populationof Mount Shamrock moved to other mining communities, although there was still aviable “hard-rock” deposit at Mount Shamrock. Conversely, in later years peoplecontinued to live at Mount Shamrock in the face of variable income and a distinctlack of continuity of employment from the mine. This suggests two things: that theywere able to make a living other than through mining alone, and that the establish-ment and continuity of the settlement was based on more than just the presence of along term payable ore body.

Mount Shamrock was by no means a permanent and continuous operation bring-ing stability to the workforce. Although it was a viable hard-rock mine, in some waysthe mining operations were as transient as those of the alluvial mines on the PalmerRiver in North Queensland. The ebb and flow of operations at Mount Shamrock wasaffected by a number of factors. The discovery of gold at Paradise, the availability ofcapital, management decisions by a remote board, decisions of less experienced minemanagers, the attitude and availability of the owners, and even climate all influencedthe productivity of the mine. These factors made for fluctuations in population andemployment. It is therefore apparent that the type of ore body is not the only factorinfluencing the degree of permanence in a mining settlement.

One factor in the establishment and longevity of the town was the demographicmakeup. As the historical evidence from Mount Shamrock shows, there were not justminers in this mining town; there were people who ran stores and hotels, people whowere employed as carters and farmhands. The presence of women and children isattested to by both documentary evidence and artifacts—evidence that points to arange of occupations and family arrangements for the female residents. There were arange of single women living with their families or boarding with married couples,married women with and without their husbands, common law wives, and widows.Children ranging in age from infants to those about to reach their majority were activein the town, attending school and Sunday school, fetching water, running errands,taking piano lessons and so on. Men also lived under a variety of arrangements frommarried life and common-law relationships to boarding and bachelorhood. The rangeof domestic arrangements meant that, while not impossible, geographic mobility wasmore complex. Artifacts found across the town flat also demonstrate an establishedtown with an array of domestic facilities, and access to consumables and domesticparaphernalia typical of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Queensland—amaterial culture indicative of social awareness and showing Mount Shamrock to be asettled place.

Archaeological evidence such as agricultural tools further suggests that the minersthemselves not only took part in mining activities but carried out agricultural un-dertakings as well. In fact, many of the residents of Mount Shamrock moved intofarming at the end of the gold boom. This meant that the mine was not the only focusof the community. Mining was the context of the town and it impinged on everyone’slife, but it was not the sole occupation.


The residents of Mount Shamrock formed a community that existed longbeyond the success of the mine. Knapp (1998, p. 5) suggests that mining com-munities formed a “skilled self aware community of miners (which) persisted wellbeyond the span of any specific rush site,” specifically identifying moveablecommunities that continued from one mining settlement to the next mine site.This idea of a community beyond one specific location or body of ore could befurther enhanced by consideration of not just the context of mining but also thesocial context of the community. The community of Mount Shamrock, reflectingthis persistence, continued beyond the life of the mine, expanding to encompassthe new town of Paradise, whilst Mount Shamrock still continued in existence inreduced circumstances. The ongoing movement of people between Paradise andMount Shamrock suggests not only a continuity of community but clear attach-ments to place. This extended even further throughout the life of Mount Shamrockwith connections to the mining settlements of Chowey, Gebangle, Paradise,Biggenden, and Mount Steadman over time. The community of MountShamrock continued, even after mining finally ended, with residents staying inthe district, turning to farming and local business, and even continuing, albeitdispersed, in a form of the community today (Prangnell and Mate 2011). It istherefore possible to revisit what constitutes permanence in a mining town: topeople who remained at Mount Shamrock, changes in occupation did not neces-sarily reflect impermanence, just a shift of focus.

Administrative and Social Framework

The residents of Mount Shamrock were operating under an overarching social andadministrative framework that affected their choices. Yet at the same time they stillmade their own decisions, even when they were miles from officialdom: for examplethe location of the town itself, individual land lots, and even the size and shapes ofland lots, were all decisions made by residents of the town, often with familynetworks influencing the lots chosen. These choices are illuminated by identifyingthe influences on, and the decisions made by, people in establishing their dwellings,laying out their towns and appropriating or allocating space for activities. From thesechanges or actions we may be able to distil elements of the cultural “landscape” ofnineteenth-century mining towns.

Archaeological evidence of the boundaries of residential lots and the location ofresidences and buildings reflect the surveyed town lots, yet documentary evidencepoints to the establishment of lots well before formal surveying. In 1902, people wereclaiming Miners Homestead Leases on areas already occupied, where dwellings werelargely already in place and had been there for some time (Lands Department 1890–1933). Despite the lack of formal lease agreements and surveying (Vaughan 1902, p.96), people were obviously making decisions about size, position and orientation oftheir blocks that largely complied with legislated requirements. Residents at MountShamrock clearly operated within and had an understanding of land regulations, longbefore their leases were granted. Even in the earliest days of the mine, residents werecareful to comply with mine lease and business license requirements. The miningwarden visited irregularly but had the power to undo any lease arrangements.


Therefore it was in the best interests of the residents to comply with legislatedrequirements.

Cultural mores regarding the structuring of space also influenced the layout of thetown: the parceling of land (lots that restrict access to other than the owners); definedareas of activity (administration, mining, position of the school, residential areas, andareas for distasteful activities, such as the location of the dumps); and the influence oftopography on the situation of the town (Mate 2010) all affected the final appearance.The adherence to an accepted “pattern” or form for a mining town and investment in“infrastructure” such as schools would have further emphasized ideas of permanenceat Mount Shamrock. However other mining towns such as Paradise, while havingequivalent or better facilities had a much shorter existence.

The social framework of the township was another element of the context ofMount Shamrock. Although it has been suggested that miners in nineteenth centuryAustralia occupied the top tier of the working classes (Thorpe 1996, pp. 146–149),access to land and the opportunity to accrue wealth from either mining or businessmeant that there was an opportunity for some degree of social mobility for residentsof Mount Shamrock. As has been argued elsewhere (Mate 2010; Prangnell and Mate2011), relationships between different groups associated by links of family or friend-ship formed an additional social structure that appears to have occurred in thehierarchical framework. Manipulation of social identity may also have been in partthe motivator of activities such as membership of the school council, a form of self-promotion through which individuals strived by their behavior to alter their perceivedclass. Active participation in the running of the school may be seen as a form ofconformance to cultural standards, part of the rules of society for those of a higherstatus; a community had a school and one had to actively participate in that endeavor.Other elements of the conduct of residents suggest a desire to promote a civilizedappearance for the town, a desirable and settled place, through activities such as theorganization of committees for reading rooms, and temperance societies. Ideas about“proper accommodations,” such as those provided in the parlour of Hugh Cairns’hotel (Maryborough Chronicle 1887), were readily expressed and illustrate not onlythe desire of residents to put down roots and establish themselves in a particular classbut also the promotion of a settled appearance.

It is also clear from the archaeological evidence that the residents intended tosettle, rather than seeing themselves as part of an ephemeral mining town, and theirintention was one of social rather than geographic mobility. Clearance of land, theprovision of extensive fencing, stumps-and-brick instead of earth-packed floors allpoint to an intention of permanency. Some of the earliest settlers quickly establishedsubstantial dwellings, which argues further for an intention of permanence. Thepresence of artifacts such as ceramic, glass, and pieces of metal fireplace alsodemonstrate that the residents had a range of material culture that was more appro-priate for a settled existence than that of a mobile workforce (Hardesty 1998, p. 84).Lawrence (1998, 2000) has argued that residents of Dolly’s Creek took care withdecoration and furnishing, and used a range of domestic objects such as ceramics anddecorative glassware in an attempt to conform to ideals of a respectable home, despiteliving under canvas. The residents of Mount Shamrock also created a relativelystable, permanent settlement. They used material culture in the construction ofidentity, being active participants in establishing their community.


An Integrated Landscape

At Mount Shamrock, the access to town lots in the form of Miners Homestead Leasesprovides a ready point to emphasize the integration of industry and settlement. Themine permeated everything about life at Mount Shamrock—it provided money to liveand land to live on, it influenced how many children attended the school, providedconstruction material to build houses in the town and the miners themselves gave lifeto social events and activities (Bilbrough, An Extract from the Diary of ElsieBilbrough: First Teacher at Mount Shamrock, 1890–1892, unpublished; E. Bayntunpers. comm., descendant of Mount Shamrock family). The influences of industry onsocial identity were seen through the access to income and opportunities to growfinancially from tribute miners to shareholders (Mate 2008) and from miners to mineowners, allowing a degree of social mobility. The movement of people across thelandscape to other mining towns in the local district and their subsequent return toMount Shamrock, highlights not only an attachment to place but also that industry didplay a role in the social networks. The importance of the mine as the major source ofemployment at Mount Shamrock and the self-identification of residents as living in amining town all reinforce the view that industry and township were inextricablylinked.

Neither were the town and mine separated in people’s everyday interactions:material from the industrial area pervaded the town and the pathways used. Miningadded another dimension of noise, smell and activity to the environment on the townflat, a sense-scape of mining and processing that people lived in. The mine was asource of constant noise from sirens to steam engines; timber and mullock heaps werehighly visible; and even the smell of chemicals used in processing would have driftedthrough the township at times. The environment was also influenced by the industryas vegetation was stripped to make space for the settlement and mining activities andtimber was taken for buildings and to supply boilers. Supplies for the mine and itsproducts constantly moved through and around the town and parts of the landscapeoverlapped, including routeways and waterways. Even the paths to the mine meantthat miners would have walked to and from work along the main street of town. Thetown and the mine, in a symbiotic relationship across a shared landscape, cannot bedisengaged.

Conclusion

There is little doubt that the cultural landscape of Mount Shamrock was integrallybound up with the mine. This landscape however does not fit the stereotype of rough,basic and transient nineteenth-century gold mining towns. Instead archaeologicalresearch has provided a picture of relative permanence, adding to our understandingof gold mining in Queensland. This paper has emphasized three points in particular:that longevity of a mining settlement is not just related to deposit size and type but isinfluenced by a number of factors; that the landscape of mine and settlement areirrevocably integrated through space, activity, senses and material; and that people innineteenth-century gold mining settlements operated within social and administrativeframeworks that contributed to a sense of permanence in the settlement.


Acknowledgments Thanks to Dr. Jon Prangnell and Professor Ian Lilley for overview of this project, toDr Karen Murphy for comments on early versions of this paper, and to the referees for their constructivesuggestions. Thanks also to the Berrie family for all their kind assistance, for access to Mount Shamrockand their valuable personal communications, the Bayntun family for access to their family history researchincluding oral histories, and to all the fieldwork volunteers.

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Mount Shamrock: A Symbiosis of Mine and Settlement

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