The History of Blackwood – Mining in Blackwood.

The Easter Monday Mine C. 1908.  Joseph Allen Skinner Jnr. with beret top right, and his son Bert Skinner on second level right of wheel.  Others miners are sons, in-laws and cousin. (Photo courtesy of Don Grogan) ©

PHOTOS ON THIS SITE ARE COPYRIGHT TO MARGOT HITCHCOCK and the Blackwood & District Historical Society. – PLEASE DO NOT USE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. ©

 SOME EARLY HISTORY OF THE EASTER MONDAY MINE,  BLACKWOOD.

The Skinner family are probably best known for being the founders of the Easter Monday Mine in Blackwood. Two brothers Joseph and Alfred Skinner worked the mine, which was discovered by them on Easter Monday in 1907, two miles south-west of Blackwood, in the Simmons Reef area.  Joseph and Alfred Skinner were sons of Edwin and Elizabeth Skinner of Blackwood.  Edwin Snr. was born in 1830 in St. Blazey Cornwall, England, and married 1851 in Karinga, South Australia to Elizabeth Wicks of St. Gluvious, Cornwall, England.

Edwin and Elizabeth Skinner (nee Wicks) had 9 children – Two of their sons founded the Easter Monday mine.  – John (Joseph) Allen Skinner, born 1860 Ballarat, married Julia Gribble (born Blackwood) 1881 and Alfred Skinner, born 1868, Kyneton, married Louisa Alcron 1890. (Info. from Robyn Marx)

Information below from Mining and Geological Journal, Volume 2, No.3, September, 1940. By J.P.L.Kenny B.C.E. Reprinted by Mr Hocking, Victorian Mines Department for Margot Hitchcock, Official Historian, Blackwood and District Historical Society, 23rd of February 1977.

The Easter Monday reef, was worked from shafts to a depth of about 60 ft. and carried rich stone. 137 tons of stone crushed in 1907 yielded 558 oz. of gold.  An adit, No. 1, was driven westerly to cut the reef at a depth of 155 ft. below the outcrop.  In driving this adit, this new reef (No. 1) – 1 to 2 feet wide and carrying payable values, was cut at 310 feet , from the portal. The adit was continued west, and the second reef (No.2) also payable, was intersected 40 ft. west of No. 1 reef.  The crosscut was extended west to 240 feet from No. 1 reef cutting the Easter Monday reef with 4 inches of quartz at 180 feet, and a fourth reef, 3 inches wide at 240 ft.  Good stone went underfoot below No. 1 adit and No. 2 adit was driven 100 ft. below No. 1. It intersected a lava dyke at 280 feet, and followed its course to the No. 1 reef at 645 feet. and No. 2 reef 20 ft. to the west.  The No. 1 and No. 2 reefs where were worked to No. 2 adit level, and whinzes below showed good values on No. 1 reef. To this time (1911) the reef was worked by the finders who had won 2,656 oz. of gold from 2,475 tons of ore.

The Easter Monday Goldmining Company was formed, and a main shaft sunk, was still being worked 255 ft. above the No. 2 adit level.  A connection was made with No. 2 adit. and a level driven 100 feet below at a depth of 375 feet.  In 1914 it was reported that the company had found on sinking to greater depths that the shoots were shorter and values poorer, but work was continued until 1918.  The company crushed 2,681 tons for 2,475 oz. of gold.

In 1934 a syndicate was formed to prospect than mine. A drive north on No. 1 reef at No. 1 adit level revealed payable stone 18 inches wide 50 ft. north of the old shoot.  A six head battery with an oil engine and a cyanide plant were erected and the shoot which was 50 ft. long was stoped to 40 ft. above the level and from a winze to the same depth below.  The No. 2 adit was cleaned out and the drive extended north. The reef was stoped to a height of 35 ft. for a length 50 ft. beyond the old stopes, values here being about seven dwt (pennyweight).  Between 1934  and 1938 the syndicate crushed 769 tons for 668 oz.  An average of 17.4 dwt per ton.  It was then decided to extend the drive north on No. 1 reef at No. 1 adit level.  With the assistance of a government advance the drive was extended to about 370 ft. from the adit crosscut. Near the face, a reef one foot wide was found, but it carried no values.  The party transferred to No. 2 adit, where the old drive was closed at 270 ft. north of the crosscut.  The No. 1 and No. 2 reefs here were 10 feet apart, and the walls continue north without meeting.

The accompanying plans had been compiled from a survey of the accessible workings, and the plans by Messrs. H.Foster and F.N. Horsfall.  Wherever it was worked the Easter Monday reef strikes north 25° east and was nearly vertical. The surface workings extend for 210 ft., with a right-hand cross-course displacing the reef for 20 feet.  North of the workings, near the main shaft, the reef turns to a north and south strike with a dip of 85 deg. East.  At a point 40 feet south of the shaft, a rich patch was struck and a shaft sunk to 20 feet.  A yield of 86½ oz. from 9 tons recorded in 1908 probably came from this shaft.  ©

A copy of  the plan for the Easter Monday Mine, Simmons Reef, Blackwood from the ‘Mining and Geological Journal’, September 1940 courtesy of Mr. Hocking, Victorian Mines Department, February 1977. ©

PHOTOS ON THIS SITE ARE COPYRIGHT TO MARGOT HITCHCOCK and the Blackwood & District Historical Society – PLEASE DO NOT USE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. ©

Shift Workers at Skinner and Hansford’s Easter Monday Mine. circa. 1908.

Left to right, back row.  B. Stringer, W. Fincher, H.H.Cann, W. Stirret, W.Skinner, J.Matthews, T.Duncan, J.Broad, Jim Shaw, Moe Downing.

Middle row – Charlie Hill, G.Williams, T.Armstrong, Ern Hansford, Joe Skinner, Alf Skinner, W Alcon.   Front row- Bert Skinner, Bob Sargent and Crongy the dog. ©

Photo courtesy of Don Grogan. (his great grandparents were Joseph Allen Skinner and Julia Gribble)

Photos above of the Battery, Easter Monday Mine, Simmons Reef, Blackwood. (Courtesy of the Blackwood Historical Society.) ©

The Easter Monday mine and miners working in the mine.  Photos courtesy of Marjorie Atkinson, whose father was Tom Duncan, the man with the pipe in his mouth.©

The Easter Monday mine and miners workers outside the mine.  Photos courtesy of Marjorie Atkinson, whose father was Tom Duncan, the man with the pipe in his mouth.©

The Easter Monday mine and miners working in the mine.  Photos courtesy of Marjorie Atkinson, whose father was Tom Duncan, the man with the pipe in his mouth. ©

PHOTOS ON THIS SITE ARE COPYRIGHT TO MARGOT HITCHCOCK and the Blackwood & District Historical Society. – PLEASE DO NOT USE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. ©