Ballarat - Black Hill Reserve
Black Hill Reserve has remnants of open cut and shaft mining as well as recreational facilities such as a mountain bike park, walking tracks and picnic facilities. There is a parking area and lookout.
Black Hill forms part of the auriferous quartz ranges in the Ballarat region. The history of Black Hill was characterised by gold mining over three different eras. Shallow alluvial mining occurred in 1851 - 1852, followed by the working of deep alluvial lead form 1853 - 1875 and finally the development and working of quartz reefs in the underlying bedrock in 1854-1918.
Black Hill was a difficult area to mine, as the area had no water supply to wash dirt and remove the gold. Miners had to bag the dirt, roll the bags down the hill and wash it in the Yarrowee Creek. By 1853/54 a windmill was erected to supply power to drive a four-head battery. In 1855 the battery was relocated to the bottom of the hill and converted to run on steam power. It is thought that this battery was the first to be erected in Australia.
Changes in technology also wrought changes to the landscape. From the late 1850's to early 1900's the landscape was pitted with shafts, mullock heaps, debris, tramway trestle bridges over the Yarrowee Creek and almost bare of vegetation. South of the Yarrowee Creek contained water reservoirs and mullock heaps on land now bounded by Princes, Morres and Newman Streets. Six companies were working the area by 1860.
Open cut mining commenced in earnest in the late 1850's by the Black Hill Quartz Crushing Company, later became the Black Hill Company Limited Open cut mining became the sole method of mining until 1864. In 1861, a new sixty-head battery was installed and the Black Hill Company was processing 100 tons of quartz per week. The company purchased the surrounding claims and held about 40 acres, encompassing much of the hill and land to the south of Yarrowee Creek.
Open cut mining continued with tunnels extended more than half a mile long and the distinctive cliff began appearing from about 1863. Between 1862 and 1870, the company produced 1019 kg of gold, the processing site included a large steam driven battery which would have been located opposite the present Newman Street
footbridge, a transport railway and foundry.
By 1907 mining operations decreased and the area became popular as a public recreation facility. Reservation of land to form the reserve began in 1907 and the last reservation occurred in 1983. A brickworks and the Davey's Paint Factory also co-located on the Hill and as the ceased operations, became incorporated into the public reserve.
Revegetation activities occurred at various sites in the reserve. On Arbor Day in 1913, boys from state schools planted trees to make the hill 'a more sheltered and attractive lookout'. The Black Hill Progress Association was formed in 1917 with the aim of the beautification of the locality. On Arbor Day 1917, boys from Humffray Street, Black Hill and Queen Street State Schools planted over 1,000 pines in avenues. A lookout was also erected and paths formed from the streets to the reserve and lookout. Further tree planting occurred to the 1980's by various community groups and the Council.
Location
746 Chisholm Street, Black Hill 3350 Map
Web Links
→ Black Hill Heritage Precinct (Victorian Heritage Database)
