Conference Paper

Author

Hardy, A.

Title

Australian coal mining industry (1797-1820s): Beginnings, history and the vanished industrial heritage of early Newcastle.

In

From the Past to the Future: 18th Australian Engineering Heritage Conference 2015 [Newcastle]

Imprint

Engineers Australia, Barton, Australian Capital Territory, 2015, pp. 1-8

ISBN/ISSN

9781922107435

Url

https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.695628846398112

Abstract

This paper discusses mining technologies imported from Britain during the early convict period in Newcastle, NSW. Newcastle's two government coal mining precincts are the main focus of the paper, firstly, the coal adits at the Coal River Precinct, (Nobbys Headland and Fort Scratchley area), secondly, the coal shafts at the Newcastle Government Domain (King Edward Park & James Fletcher Hospital). Although not well documented we can start to piece together the history of these coal mines from the scarce extant records that exist. Newcastle (known as Coal River) was permanently settled in 1804, mines were worked there as early as 1801 using convict labour and with the limited resources available at the time. This paper contributes new knowledge about Australia's earliest coal mines and engineering technology organised by colonial and imperial authorities. These early government mines set the foundations of an industry that soon became owned and managed by private Enterprise. It is critical that the origins of coal mining in Australia are well established and written into the nation's industrial history because its heritage is seldom acknowledged.

Related Published resources

isPartOf

• From the Past to the Future: 18th Australian Engineering Heritage Conference 2015 [Newcastle] (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Engineers Australia, 2015), 230 pp, https://search.informit.org/doi/book/10.3316/informit.9781922107435. Details