Page:History of West Australia.djvu/361

 Rh

want of capital. Several rich bodies of ore were treated, and yielded good returns, but not commensurate with the excellent prospects. There is every probability that the south-west contains valuable tin lodes. The annual export of tin has been: —In 1889, 5 tons, valued at £300; in 1890, 67½ tons, £5,400; in 1891, 204 tons, £10,200; and 1892, 265½ tons, valued at £13,843.

In 1846-9 the fathers of the present generation of Western Australians had great hopes of establishing coal mines on the Irwin, Murray, and Fitzgerald Rivers. The discovery made by Captain Roe on the Fitzgerald was pronounced by Mr. Woodward and Mr. H. L. Y. Brown, F.G.S., of South Australia, to be nothing more than a brown carbonaceous substance, containing a certain amount of asphaltum. The "Murray Coalfield" raised the hopes of its supporters, but was soon proved to be valueless. The value of the coal discovered by the Gregorys in 1846 still remained in doubt. In 1879 the Government voted the sum of £100 to test the coal in the bed of the north branch of the Irwin. A shaft was sunk fifty feet, and the indications were considered good. The Rev. C. G. Nicolay then inspected the seams for the Government, and pronounced the coal of poor quality. So much water was met with in sinking that the field was abandoned. In 1888, Messrs. Bell and Eliot found better specimens of coal in another branch of the Irwin. After prospecting, they discovered in a cliff a seam four feet thick, and dipping to the north. Six other seams of smutty coal were also found, and ten tons were raised. Several seams at the site of Gregory's discovery were opened up, but the coal was proved to have no commercial value. Mr. Woodward, in December, 1888, pronounced the best coal discovered by Messrs. Bell and Eliot to be true coal measure fossils, and from the simplicity of working the seams, as well as their number and size, he hoped, when the colony had more uses for coal, that the property would prove very valuable. A long drive was put in, and the Fremantle Irwin Coal Mining Company was floated. Several tons of coal were raised, and in October, 1889, the s.s. Rob Boy steamed from Geraldton to Fremantle with Irwin River coal. A trial was also made on a small Swan River steamer with fair success. A shaft was sunk by the company, but the results were not satisfactory, and the district was practically abandoned. Two assays of the coal were made in London in 1889, and one gave 17.04 parts water, 28.61 parts volatile matter, 41.29 parts fixed carbon, and 13.06 parts ash. The other assay gave 12.4 parts water, 32.2 parts volatile matter, 43.5 parts fixed carbon, and 11.9 parts ash.

It was believed for many years that coal existed at Fly Brook, a branch of the Donnelly River, which disembogues into the Southern Ocean, about thirty miles from Cape Leeuwin. In 1888 several coal leases were taken out, and bores were put down. Owing to various circumstances, boring was not successfully carried out, and the coal seams were not thoroughly tested. The average of three samples of Fly Brook coal, assayed in Melbourne and Adelaide in 1889, gave 16.40 parts water, 38.23 parts volatile matter, 43.52 parts fixed carbon, and 1.85 parts ash.

The most promising coalfield yet prospected in the colony is that situated on the Collie River, at a point about twenty-five miles due east of Bunbury, and at an elevation of between 500 and 600 feet above sea level. In previous years coal was reported to exist at this place, but it was not until 1889 that any serious attempt was made to prove the truth of its existence. In that year Mr. David Hay, a resident of Bunbury, prospected the river bed. He and his party discovered fragments of coal, and sank a shaft on the east bank of the river to a depth of 18 feet. At 11 feet from the surface they struck a 3-ft, seam of good coal. Mr. Hay next tried to sink a shaft in a swamp a few chains away, but had to abandon it owing to an influx of water and quicksand. The river bank was examined to the eastward, and an outcrop of shale was found, a shaft was sunk, and small seams were struck. Another outcrop of coal was discovered a little distance away, and in sinking a third shaft a large seam, 11 feet 3 inches thick, was found. At this juncture Mr. Hay formed a syndicate in Bunbury to test the last-mentioned seam in solid ground. A new shaft was sunk thirty-five feet, a little to the south-west of the outcrop, and as no sign of coal was found, the work was reluctantly abandoned.

In 1891 a South Australian syndicate obtained a concession from the Gcvernment, upon the condition that they were to test the property, situated to the north of the main coal area, in a certain manner. The syndicate sank two small shafts, and in one granite was struck, and in the other work was stopped by the inflow of water. This company also abandoned the field. Late in 1891, Dr. Robertson, F.G.S., who was largely connected with coal mining in New South Wales, was visiting the colony, and the Government engaged him to report upon the Collie coalfield. The shafts were full of water, and the expert could not make a thorough examination. But he obtained samples of coal, and unhesitatingly pronounced them to be true coal, and advised the Government to test the area by boring. The Government asked Dr. Robertson to select a party and boring apparatus for this purpose, and in April, 1892, Mr. Pendleton, a colliery manager of English and Australian experience, in charge of six men, began boring with a 4-in. hand-drill. The first bore was stopped by granite, at a depth of 50 feet, after two inches of coal were passed through. In the second bore ten chains off, two seams, one 2 feet 11 inches, and one 1 inch were cut within twenty feet. The third bore was put down five miles away, near where Mr Hay sank his third shaft, but this was soon abandoned. The fourth bore was placed in the Bunbury Company's 35-ft. shaft, and six feet lower a coal seam 18 feet thick was discovered. A depth of 200 feet was reached, and several small seams varying from two inches to four feet in thickness were cut. In all, eighteen bores were put down, with more or less success. The eleventh bore, seven chains from the fourth, was continued to thirty feet, and struck a 12-ft. seam. It is estimated that the Collie coalfield has an area of 100 miles, and reckoning on the basis that one seam a yard thick extends over the whole area, would give 250,000,000 tons of coal. The coal itself is clean to handle, solid, and has a high heating power when burnt in a sharp draught. Four samples, obtained over an area of five miles, gave under assay:—

The copper and lead mines were not worked with much zest. A copper lode, situated about fifty miles east of Roebourne, was worked in 1890 by four men, and the ore was so rich that the syndicate was able to pay expenses. In following years the lode, which was named the Whim Well, was more systematically worked, and in 1891 produced 262 tons, and in 1892, 412 tons of high grade ore. Copper was now known to exist in the