Goldrush era tools and machinery

Thought it might be a good topic to post photos of old goldrush era tools and equipment we find in our travels

Most of the basic picks and shovels would have been brought by ship from Britain / Canada / china etc until blacksmiths and foundries began to be established here but I am interested to compare the tools used by the various nationalities in the diggings.

First two photos are just a sledgehammer head I dug up from a deep hole (fugget) but I can't pick its age , the mines at this location began to be worked in 1871 through to the 1950's but it looks like it was used to break up hard rock judging by the preened over edges , at a guess it could be 1930's but someone here might have a better idea.

Before and after a dunking in 50% hydrochloric acid





Remains of a relatively new stamper near moruya , I say relatively modern because it has pillow block bearings instead of hardwood greased with lard that some had in the poorer camps , its drive gears are a more modern cut and it has bronze hard facing on the lift cams so it was either upgraded after 1900 or installed after that time

To clean up old tools soak in molaise and water for a couple weeks,really good results.

The Digger

Interesting topic ..... anyone able to find a pic of what this would have looked like back in the 1860's.
Assume a hammer/chisel combo, guess a wooden handle would have been attached at the centre 'prongs'.
A nice Chinese coin was found in the same area so guessing it may have been used by them, have since found some broken crockery in the area as well.
Cheers T.

1840's style canadian pick

dunno what they were thinking to come up with the bolt on handle . maybe some of the blacksmith forums would know the evolution of design history there

Looks almost like a slate pick to me. 8)

Teemore said:

Interesting topic ..... anyone able to find a pic of what this would have looked like back in the 1860's.
Assume a hammer/chisel combo, guess a wooden handle would have been attached at the centre 'prongs'.
A nice Chinese coin was found in the same area so guessing it may have been used by them, have since found some broken crockery in the area as well.
Cheers T.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1375/1413529558_img_1115.jpeg

Click to expand...

Tathradj said:

a slate pick to me. 8)

Click to expand...

A slate pick ?????? Lots of big quartz yonnies laying about BUT also a quite a bit of slate reef (?) type material.
The Chinese coin that came from there was way down in pipe clay (or at least very pale clay).
Cheers Tom.

here ya go theres the link to what it is

http://www.ozwrenches.com/tank-lids-london.htm

Hunting the yellow said:

http://i1155.photobucket.com/albums/p560/simeon44/P1020938_zpsf767c24c.jpg

here ya go theres the link to what it is

http://www.ozwrenches.com/tank-lids-london.htm

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yup . back then it was a big technology jump to go from wooden barrels to steel tanks . LOL

you got yourself a quarter turn tank cap

"materials science and high tech steel fabrication" circa 1808

and some more
the old water tank what's left of it that go's with the lid above



old gold cart wheel

old pick head

another old gold cart wheel and some 1880s bottle


old coin 1865 penny and button



another old coin/token 1855 it was used as a baring on a windlass note the small hole at the top of the coin and how its bent and warn on the back



and a old sign nailed on the inside of a old mine

That old water tank probably only rusted due to getting caught in a bushfire (which burns off the galvanising) , otherwise it could have sat there for 500 + years

yeah your probably right the heat changes the metal composition

hey nugget could you make this topic a sticky i think a lot of forum members will post there old mining relics in this topic

Excellent topic, I will upload a few photos of my finds here of the rusty's I have found. Cheers for the HCl acid tip there for the rust, it looks like it does a great job on the more bubbly rusty objects. Is it just HCl acid & water 50% mix? I have many finds at home, I better go take photos!

Povery Reef, Tarnagulla Vic

Discovered in 1854 by 2 New Zealanders, the gold was found in large blocks of quartz and was allegedly the richest pocket of reef gold ever found.

More than 13.5 tonnes (430,000 ozt) of gold was recovered in 13 months from an area 3 metres wide and 120 metres deep.

electric bucket wheel dredge with trommel





bucyrus dragline Maldon

Metamorphic said:

Povery Reef, Tarnagulla Vic

Discovered in 1854 by 2 New Zealanders, the gold was found in large blocks of quartz and was allegedly the richest pocket of reef gold ever found.

More than 13.5 tonnes (430,000 ozt) of gold was recovered in 13 months from an area 3 metres wide and 120 metres deep.

http://i62.tinypic.com/vh6a9e.jpg

http://i62.tinypic.com/2vuwqkl.jpg

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430,000 ounces ?

big WOW did they leave a note to show where my piece is ? 8.(

They did, I waypointed the location and then swallowed the evidence

Owe you one mate!

Haha I was having a Tony moment earlier in the year when I was down near Maldon looking at these. Photos do not do them justice, especially that excavator. The sheer brilliance that's shown in the build is something only seeing it up close can truly be imparted. I'll dig out a pic with scale, a person in the foreground I took. After that weekend I went back Monday and jumped on the 20t and felt pretty damn lucky.
Mrs GT in front.

lol . imagine trying to operate that old beast compared to a modern excavator with their "intellimind" hydraulics , computerised everything , hybrid drives , self diagnosing systems , laser guided trim functions . blah blah blah.

that bucyrus probably had a staff of 3 , one bloke hanging off the track drive lever , another on the bucket control and a bloke down the back topping up the leaking oils @ 44 gallons a day.

:8

This is what my missus found in my highbanker looking for gems. It was the last trip to Eldorado with Prospecting Australia. We had a hole waist deep and this was at the bottom.