Monkey Gully
Star (Ballarat, Vic.: 1855 - 1864), Saturday 14 June 1862, page 2
MONKEY GULLY. (From our own Correspondent.) 12th June.
QUARTZ MINING. -The Lancashire Reef, situated between the head of Budgeon's and Monkey Gullies, which was first brought into public notice by Dr Griffiths some 15 months ago, has now become one of the most popular, and is likely to prove one of the most profitable mining investments in the Woady Yaloak district. The want of capital in some instances, and a hankering for the distant goldfields of Tuapeka and Lachlan, caused many of the working miners and their sleeping partners to abandon the speculation. The Energetic Gold Mining Company's numerical strength became reduced to nine; but these nine being mostly members of the Great Western Company on Warren's Lead, and men possessing that combination of capital, skill, endurance, and perseverance which are the indispensable adjuncts of successful deep sinking, still carried on the work by wages men and contractors. The first batch of quartz raised was taken from a depth of 75 feet, - from a seam or lode about two feet in width and was crushed at Monkey Gully, and yielded from 15 to 17 dwt per ton; I forget the exact number of tons, but the gold obtained yielded about £200, and left a dividend of £11 per share after paying £100 for raising, carting and crushing the stone, or, in other words it took just half the stone to pay the expenses, and left £100 for interest and profit on the money and labour expended after the shaft was sunk to the depth mentioned. The material for the next crashing came from a still greater depth. The yield this time ranged from 12 to 13 dwts per ton; but the seam was getting thicker, the stone was raised in six weeks, and the company
netted £58. The party was then reorganized, and now consists of sixty shares, twenty of which are workers, I am in-formed that the company includes several of those miners who were formerly embarked in those unfortunate companies, the Victoria and British Queen, in which about £1300 were sunk. The manager, too, is a local man, and if my memory serves me, once held a similar position in the British Workman or Success Quartz Mining Company at Browns. The site of this, the prospect claim, is the edge of a blind gully leading into Monkey Gully, from which it is distant about one mile, two miles from Browns, and three miles from Warren's Lead. The miles are Irish miles just now, on account of the badness of the roads. There is a reservoir in the gully and a shaft has been sunk, and a wooden aqueduct constructed for conveying the indispensable fluid to the tank which is to supply the crushing engine and stamps. A small engine of about 10-inch cylinder has I been erected for winding alone. The new engine intended for crushing purposes started yesterday; it is 16 horsepower, and has 6 heads of stamps attached, with space to erect and power to drive at least 4 heads more, if required. Yesterday a number of gentlemen were on the ground at two o'clock, by invitation of the share-, holders; amongst whom I observed L. Saenger, MD., and T. Ulick Burke, J.P., from Smythesdale, several commercial men from Brown's, and the Secretary and other shareholders from the Great Western Company. The Press was also duly represented. About 4 p.m. several ladies arrived, and Mrs Manners (the Manager's wife) proceeded at the company's request to
christen the engine, which she named the Energetic, and she performed the ceremony with such vigour as to cut the bottle fairly in-half on the flywheel and send the heel of it across the engine house, where it struck the representative of the local journal about the region of the heart. The visitors who crowded the engine room had scarcely ceased cheering when it became apparent that the rod which connects the king-beam with the pumping gear was loose; and the heyday of successful mining enterprise was interrupted by the breakage of a bit of bad iron. The clatter of the stamps ceased, and the ladies and gentlemen descended to the lower part of the engine room, where refreshments were provided, and drank success to the "energetic" engine and company. The ladies having retired, and most of the commerial and other visitors, the manager called in the contractors and other work-men, who now joined the working shareholders; and, Mr Joshua Cowell having taken the chair, the toasts of "The Company," " The Furnisher," " The Manager" (Mr Manners), "Engineer" (Mr Wooton), "Workmen, and Contractor," haring been drunk, the hilarity of the meeting culminated in the toast of "The Star Correspondent, and a Free Press," with musical honours; Mr Gutch responded, and, it being sundown, the meeting terminated after a long speech from Mr Cowell on quartz reefing and a free press.
Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854 - 1954), Friday 6 November 1863, page 6
Fatal Mining Accident. — On Tuesday, at the Cherry Tree Hotel, Monkey Gully, Mr T. Hopper, district coroner, hold an inquest on the body of John Jenkins, whose death, from the evidence and the verdict of the jury, took place on the previous day, from injuries accidentally received from the machinery of the Working Miners claim at Monkey Gully. Morgan Jones, engine driver for the claim, deposed that on Monday morning, about nine o'clock, I10 saw the deceased coming down from the machine.
to the engine house. In crossing a board leading from the machine to the engine house, his foot slipped, and he fell. The engine was going at the time. One of the arms of the winding gear caught the deceased on the right arm, and he was dragged in between the frame and the winding gear. Wit ness immediately stopped the engine, and, with assistance, got the deceased out. He was then taken home and Dr Griffiths sent for. Deceased lingered till seven o'clock is the evening, when he died. Deceased was a native of Glamorganshire, South Wales, and was thirty years of age; was married, and had two children. Dr Griffiths tendered the medical evidence and stated that on examination he found that the deceased had sustained a fracture of the sixth, seventh and eighth ribs of the right side. His opinion was that the cause of death was asphyxia, induced by the injuries received, — Ballaarat Star, November 5.
Mount Alexander Mail (Vic.: 1854 - 1917), Saturday 7 October 1865, page 2
On Wednesday 4th October, Mr Thomas Hopper, district coroner, held an inquest at the Cherry Tree, Hotel, Monkey Gully, on the body of Rosa Carroll, who had died suddenly on the previous day. It appeared that the deceased has been ailing for some time, and been under the care of Dr Griffiths, of Monkey Gully, who had last visited her on Sunday, 1st October. The deceased, who lived with Thomas Wilson, was, it appeared, sitting by the fire on Tuesday when Wilson went in. She mentioned that someone had just been in and stated that Dr Saenger was shot. The news seemed to affect her greatly, and she shortly afterwards expired. Wilson communicated the intelligence to Dr Griffiths, who gave the usual certificate as to death from natural causes. From what the coroner heard; however, he determined on holding an inquest, proceeded to the place on Wednesday evening, and summoned Dr Griffiths to attend at six o'clock to give evidence. The doctor came there, apparently reluctantly, and having waited till the appointed time or thereabouts, went away. The coroner then issued a warrant for him, which was executed by con stable Monckton, who brought the doctor back. The doctor was opposed to an inquest being held at all as unnecessary, and as a reflection on his qualifications, and also on the character of Wil son. The disagreement that took place on the matter led to the coroner committing the doctor for contempt. He was, however, eventually discharged to give evidence. The post-mortem examination was made by Dr Bangay, and it appeared that the cause of death was the rupture of a large blood vessel near the heart. The jury gave a verdict accordingly but wished to append a rider to state that they considered the inquest unnecessary. The coroner refused to take a verdict of that kind but expressed a willingness to forward to the Minister of Justice any memo rial on subject they might desire to present. A portion of the jury were very obstinate on the matter, and thereby protracting the hearing for a length of time. It was eventually agreed not to proceed with the memorial. It was accordingly withdrawn, and a verdict returned that the de-ceased died from the rupture of a large blood vessel near the heart. The deceased was a native of Somersetshire, England, and about, forty-three years of age.
Monkey Gully was originally in the Borough of ‘Browns and Scarsdale’
Browns and Scarsdale was a borough (1862-1915) about 25 km south-west of Ballarat.
The borough was created on 25 July 1862, and had an area of about 23 sq km. It adjoined Smythesdale borough’s southern border and extended south about 6 km. The main town was Scarsdale, and the mining villages of Browns Diggings and Italians were included. When the inhabitants petitioned for creation of the borough, they said that it had over 5000 inhabitants engaged in mining commerce and agriculture. There were 15 hotels, and the weekly gold production was 1500 ounces. The gold was found in gullies and tributaries of the Woady Yaloak Creek. There were also several equally rich gold fields and villages to the west in Grenville Shire.
Brown’s Diggings were named after John Browne, the licensee-holder of the Moppianamum pastoral run (1844), which he acquired in 1848 in a partnership.
The first official census for the borough recorded a population of about 2000 people in 1871, and there were fewer than 1100 in 1881. The borough’s best gold years had passed. On 1 October 1915, Browns and Scarsdale borough and Smythesdale borough were united with Grenville Shire. Browns and Scarsdale’s census populations were:
CENSUS DATE | POPULATION |
1871 | 2121 |
1881 | 1087 |
1911 | 1101 |
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