Exploring the Shocking 1883 Gold Mining Accident at the Duke Company Mine

[@Rsvmick1]

Excellent work Michelle. Best mining history channel in the world.

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks so much 🙂⚒

[@ProspectorswithParkinsons]

Wow, a step back in time I wasn't expecting. A well informed and researched story, narrated with such empathy and care, this is also a reminder of the sacrifices made by previous miners which have set the safety standards in workplaces that we experience today. In my own family history, a report from the Prince of Wales mine (Wehla) in 1877 details the workplace death of my great, grandfather's brother in a mining accident near Dunolly.

[@robmacdonald5349]

I just started to watch your videos and was just nodding off to sleep in bed when this video started playing, and you said the grand duke mine. I haven't heard that name since my primary school days, in the late 80s and for a short time I'd get the school bus that would run from Dunolly to Maryborough primary school and the bus stop was across the road from the grand duke and every morning and every arvo there'd be a flock of the biggest geese guarding the old wooden entry gate to the property you couldn't even cross the road towards the gate without them giving you one hell of a warning , I remember the bus driver said something tragic happened there and the geese were the guardians of the lost souls to warn off noisy people from the mine, me and my school mates never got a chance to explore the old mine the geese made sure of that, but good to finally know what happened there thank you for your informative videos, oh and one question was the geese still there on guard when you went there 😅

[@markfryer9880]

Great job Michelle! Tragic story that you have handled very well. I like that you put the word of caution in before going into detail about the accident. I was out at Maryborough Railway Station before Christmas, when the Melbourne Grammar School Orchestra performed a Lunchtime Concert on the Station platform as a part of their 2023 Bluestone Express Tour. Short tour with only performances at the School on the Friday night, Saturday night at Wycheproof Town Hall and then Sunday Lunchtime at Maryborough, with me driving the support truck trying to keep up with the schedule. The previous year they had me bouncing all over Victoria and Southern New South Wales. Keep up with the good work! Mark from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺

[@tonywalton2333]

Absolutely brilliant remake Michelle, well done…

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thank you 🙂

[@stewartcorkill8144]

Another fantastic instalment Michelle. Thank you for all your effort in producing such great videos.

[@michaeloneill5961]

Great remake Michelle much better pace and more informative well done again😊❤

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thank you, I’ve been working hard to improve at these videos 🙂

[@michaeloneill5961]

@@goldfieldsguide you're doing a great job

[@michaelwilson8243]

Another quality production, superb effort, Michelle.

[@brendangrray8017]

Well done & a great presentation, your research is A1. A gold star for you 😂 thank you

[@Thespiansewist]

Immersive brilliant research beautifully presented by you

[@LeoSoden]

Literally went there today! Incredible history. Great video!

[@goldfieldsguide]

Oh awesome 🙂 it’s a very interesting place

[@shineyrocks390]

In America they refer to that type of ore as caliche and the mine they were operating as a Paleo Placer mine. Sometimes drilling through several layers of false bedrock or caliche to find the ancient river gravel beneath the surface. These types of ore bodies can and are some of the richest deposits on earth. Nevada is where I am from and there are tons of these types of mines scattered throughout my state and neighboring states. Most were never documented or reported. So information on them is non existent. It still amazes me the lengths that the old timers would go to get the Shiney Rocks extracted from the deposits. Usually but not always,the bigher the tailing pile or waste rock pile is the richer the deposits were in that mine. When WWII hit. Gold mines were deemed non essential and every one of the gold mines were shut down and of you were lucky enough to own a silver or copper mine during this time you just become priority job 1. To support the war efforts many many many gold mines were abandoned and silver and copper and tungsten were the priority. Sadly a lot of gold mining young men who went off to war never came home again. After the war was over. Those same gold mines were still sitting there waiting for them to return and get back to work. Those mines can still be found to this day and are still rich with gold silver copper and other precision gemstones. Order L-208 shit them down. Johhny went to war and nver came home. Those kinds mines are still open for business and waiting for a new Johnny to come back and start digging.

[@120downunder]

Wow, that was insane, great work 👍

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks! 🙂

[@SteveMack]

You always make such high quality videos Michelle! I subscribed a while back, but watch on my big TV, and always forget to comment. Keep up the FANTASTIC work! Steve 👍❤️

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks so much Steve 🙂⚒📸

[@SteveMack]

@@goldfieldsguide My absolute pleasure!

[@shanedoyle3444]

Hi , another great video ! Did you hear about the miner's who drowned at the 400 ft level and are still there as today , apparently they were left there and never retrieved, the tailing's pile can be seen on the corner of Old Eddington road and Bet Bet -Betley road . Cheers .

[@itsheyvj]

Once again, another great video. Well done.

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks 🙂⚒

[@bennyssen5671]

very well narrated, good to learn about industrial history

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks 🙂

[@bono1961]

Really interesting 👌 well done 👍

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks 🙂

[@myhificloud]

Captivating.

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks 🙂

[@xr6lad]

I’m surprised they didn’t attack the engine driver in this instance.

[@scottwarren2981]

What happened to the Cornish pump once the mine shut down? Scrapped for the iron or moved elsewhere?

[@xr6lad]

Often everything from machinery to even the buildings were auctioned upon closure and simply moved to other mines or even farmers properties (building or old boilers which became water tanks - I’ve seen many of those over the years.

[@goldfieldsguide]

Hi Scott, I am not sure if the beam pump was moved to another mine after this one, but yes eventually it would have been scrapped ⚒ it’s a shame there are none of these huge beam pumps still intact in this area, would be amazing to see

[@goldfieldsguide]

@xr6lad yes almost everything was sold, scrapped or repurposed

[@scottwarren2981]

That would be an interesting video. Finding repurposed mining machinery and the innovative uses they have been put to. @@xr6lad

[@pkgoldopalhunting]

great history but sad about the 4 miners

[@shaydenismat7786]

Been meaning to visit this one for a long time

[@goldfieldsguide]

Definitely worth a visit! 🙂

[@davidbarton575]

Great video as usual. PS: that rock 'stuff' you refer to (at 3.02) is called conglomerate. :-)

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thanks 🙂 yes, or cement, or the miners sometimes called conglomerate “made ground”. There’s a very interesting sample in the maldon museum and from memory that was called “maldon pudding”. Fascinating stuff.

[@joecolvin3617]

Is there mining is Ballarat still

[@goldfieldsguide]

Yes 🙂⚒

[@solanaceae2069]

The stone work on the Cornish pump base rivals that of the Romans. A fitting monument to those lives lost. - R.I.P., brave souls.

[@paulpurcell5658]

Maybe that was the beginning of the awu ,or I wonder if it was the shearers Paul.

[@paulpurcell5658]

Just a question about the poppet head on a previous video, I know those old engines that run them can misfire and run backwards, i know this because they used to run shearing gear and when this happened it would undo all the cogs and finish up at your feet, maybe the engine operator was responsible. Paul

[@michaelchristie5038]

That was the best

[@goldfieldsguide]

Glad you liked the video 🙂 thanks

[@michaeljoshualewis538]

Have you ever seen the the 1860 or 1870s pictures of the VIC mines showing a couple of massive 150 tonne obeliskd?, cause I have,and I know the mine owners didnt pay 1 million to build them, definitely Egyptian \annunaki🆗👍👽

[@craigparry5648]

Excellent tape, such a tragic death for those miners, all due to the incompetent of one man. The bloody Winder driver! Years ago while gearing the cages in I notice that the grippers on the man riding cage didn't move when the weight was taken up on the rope(cable). Got the winder driver to lower cage back on gates, in my inspection three out of the four grippers were completely seized. Not properly maintained by Winder driver, after his lame ass excuses stating all seem okay during the last drop test, which was not recorded in the winder drivers book? I fixed the grippers and continue in the works in hand, in hindsight I should have fired him on the spot, but winder drivers are a dieing breed and hard to come by and there was work to be done. I also had another winder driver drive the cage through the Jack catches with in inches of the detaching bell, panicked and stop hard, coursing the grippers to come in. I had to take over as he wasn't capable, and drive the cage up into the bells with the detaching hook just touching the bell before the grippers disengaged. Once again Bloody Winder drivers.

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thank you, wow that’s unreal! 😅😣

[@rocdoc6969]

Awesome. Where was this at?

[@GenericPulse]

You are absolutly gorgeous and should be in these brilliant informative videos more often, I would be all giddy if I met you out in the field 😅 keep up the good work.😊

[@goldfieldsguide]

@wanderer397Hi, yep this one is a repeat, it’s an improved version as the original was far too fast-paced. I have been meaning to fix the timing and re-upload for some time. And thanks guys, you’re very kind 🙂

[@GenericPulse]

Do you dabble in any other social media to post content to that I could follow you on?

[@keithdrower9120]

You do such a good job of explaining the circumstances of some mining tragedies. Maybe, you should come to the Illawarra, where 35,000 miners were employed in over one hundred different mines. Many of which have a history of tragedy and disaster. 4 of them in my very own family at different times.

[@goldfieldsguide]

Thank you! Sounds very interesting 🙂 cheers

[@TheCominghome]

What's this? repeats!!!

[@goldfieldsguide]

Yes, this is an improved version of an earlier video. The original was far too fast paced, and I have meaning to fix it for some time. This version has been re-recorded along with some other improvements. Cheers 🙂

[@TheCominghome]

@@goldfieldsguide Lol that's ok I enjoy watching them over and over again so keep them coming, you get a like either way!