Research Guides: Gold miners and mining: Mining techniques & machinery

Mining techniques & machinery

The eGold: electronic encyclopedia of gold in Australia website

explains and illustrates mining techniques from the 1850s and 1860s.

Gold! Gold! Gold! The language of the nineteenth-century Australian gold rushes.

the names of many types of mining techniques and machines are listed and defined in the book

The gold fields and mineral districts of Victoria (available online)

Robert Brough Smyth's 1869 book includes detailed descriptions and diagrams of mining processes and machinery.

Life on the Australian goldfields

includes a chapter on early gold mining techniques from across Australia, and includes a wide range of images showing mining technologies from the 1850s onwards.

Life cycle of a goldmine

an account of the gold mining process that includes information of current gold mining across the world

The following articles may also be of interest. They are both available online:

Davey, C 1996, 'The origins of Victorian mining technology, 1851-1900', The Artefact, vol. 19, p.52-62. Available online and in print.
Davey, C & Mc Carthy, P 2002, The development of Victorian gold mining technology, Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 73, no. 1, April, p. 64-92.

Research guide to patents

many inventions relating to mining were patented in Victoria.explains how to find descriptions and illustrations of these devices and machinery.
the book The mining machinery & processes patented in Australasia. Part 1, January to June, 1899 may also be useful.

Images from the Library's collections

Drawing, iewed from rear, two men digging at wall in square cut tunnel, one man standing with a pick, other other kneeling at his feet, space lit by candle, shadows on wall.

Tunnelling in White Hill H87.63/1/22B

Photograph, Looking across earth works with miners using a gold washing cradle in foreground, man standing beside horse-drawn whim and crushing battery and conveyor in background.

Mining scene showing horse-drawn whim and crushing battery H2009.84/36

Watercolour, two miners standing beside water, one handling a wooden cradle used for sifting the sand and gravel from the gold, the other holding a bucket on a long handle.

Cradling / S.T.Gill H86.7/8

Lithograph, print, The Black Hill Quartz Mining Comany's claim, Ballarat: elevated view of buildings with brick chimney, tracks with rail trucks up hill in background

The Black Hill Quartz Mining Company's claim, Ballarat H. Deutsch. [Detail] H26049

Lithograph, print, The Black Hill Company's Quartz crushing machinery: view of interior of building showing revolving stamps, man with rail truck in foreground.

The Black Hill Quartz Mining Company's claim, Ballarat H. Deutsch. [Detail] H26049

Images of mining techniques & machinery

Detail from [Group of miners cradling for gold], H37604

To find digitised drawings, etchings, paintings and photographs of mining techniques and machinery, search our catalogue using combinations of words like:

State Library Victoria

LIBRARY UPDATE

The Library is closed from December 25 to January 3. From January 4 2021 we will be partially open to pre-booked and walk-up visitors and our Ask A Librarian service will resume for assistance with your research inquiries online and over the phone.