Do Not Read This Title

A sequel to my Maldon post earlier today :)


Founded in the late 1850s, all the early work was carried out in an open cutting, between where the main shaft and the engine house stood. Miners were granted claims 30 feet square, and out of these claims much gold must have been taken, but the amount will never be known. ... The method of hauling dirt and stone was by means of a windlass. This was slow and hard work so it was decided to call a meeting of the claim holders to pool resources.

The outcome of the meeting was to form a company and to purchase a winding machine. A new shaft was sunk while the engine, engine house and poppet legs were being erected. With installation of the machinery, the ground was worked, with varying returns for about 3 years. Then at the 300 feet level a heavy flow of water was met. The plant was not capable of dealing with it so another meeting was held to form a more powerful company. This was called the "New Beehive Company" and comprised 30,000 shares. New engines, boilers, large pumping plant and quartz crushing battery were purchased.

Extract from "The New Beehive Mine, based on a brief history of the Beehive Mine by Garnet Pearce of Maldon", a leaflet I picked up. The mine closed in 1918.

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A story of gold, and what people will do to get it. Mostly though, it's a story of numbers.

In writing this, I've relied on extracts from two books: Town With A History, by Coultman Smith, first published 1978 and Beaconsfield Gold, by Janet Kerrison, first published in 1963. (From now on, I'll refer to these as TWH & BG)


Boiler house
Early attempts at mining in the district were for iron, in the 1870s there were a number of small companies extracting iron. The quality wasn't sufficient to make it a viable long term proposition though. It's still there of course, and with modern methods, probably profitable but it doesn't have the same allure as that other metal.

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