Click on images to enlarge
1904
20 July 1904
1 2 3 4
1953
17 December 1953
Discovery of the Cumbandry Gold Leads Near Gulgong in 1904 Save Employment to 100 Men
(Tenth instalment of a series of articles by the Mines Department on the Magnetic Prospecting of the Gulgong Deep Leads for gold).
In 1904 the Cumbandry Leads were discovered, and gave employment to over 100 men for a period of nearly two years. These leads - the Cumbandry and the Little Cumbandry - proved to be the leads of the Dog and Cat and the Red Leads, worked in the early days of the field to Cooyal Creek. Their extension into private ground was not followed in those days owing to the high royalties and charges demanded by the owners of the land.
In 1916 a further attempt was made to test the deep alluvial ground. The site chosen for this venture was on the Stubbo Lead, about 65 miles north-north-easterly from Gulgong. Preliminary boring was reported to have disclosed payable wash. Winding and pumping machinery were installed and a shaft bottomed at 125 feet. As no values were found in the wash, operations were abandoned.
Towards the end of 1916 the Red Hill Gold Mining Company erected plant and machinery valued at £3,259, and it was thought that the Red Hill formation was about to be given a thorough trial. In the following year a battery was erected at the crest of the hill; the necessary water for use in the battery was to be obtained from a "divined" supply by boring. This subsequently proved inadequate, and a little later, before a bulk crushing had been put through, the plant and machinery were dismantled and sold.
In 1923 two companies, the Digger Prince and the Gulgong Gold and Diamonds Company, were formed with the object of testing the deep leads in the Woolshed Paddock (close to the junction of Wyaldra Creek with the Cudgegong River) and in the vicinity of the old "44" claim respectively.
After a considerable amount of boring had been carried out and the positions of the leads fixed, shaft sinking commenced. In the case of the Woolshed Paddock (Perseverance Lead) patches of fair value were located, but the whole run of wash proved too poor for economic handling.
In the venture near "44" considerable difficulty was experienced while sinking the shaft in the drift below the basalt. Funds evidently ran out before bottom was reached, and operations ceased.
Of recent years, Mr. J. Foster has done considerable work testing the continuation of the deep lead on his property at Cullengoral, between the Digger Prince workings and the old Tammany Lead.
In 1931 Mr. Foster, with Government Aid, sank a shaft in portion 29, Parish Biraganbil a depth of 112 feet, and drove 100 feet in wash across the lead, but the results were not remunerative.
Later in the year Dawson, Foster and party did a good deal of prospecting work on the Caledonian Lead without payable results.
In 1932, Dawson and party discovered a rich patch of high-level wash on the edge of the old Caledonian Lead, and 500 ounces of gold were won.
In 1934 Mr. McNeir and party commenced sinking through basalt in portion 280, Parish Guntawang. Two shafts, 126 and 132 feet deep respectively, were sunk, and a considerable amount of driving was done, but the wash proved too poor to work.
The basalt covered leads in the vicinity of the Digger Prince have recently been taken up by the Cullengoral Alluvial Gold Sluicing N.L. Company, and good values are being obtained. This company has carefully tested the alluvial flats along the Cudgegong River, close to Reedy Creek junction, and are now constructing a dredge - estimated to cost £35,000 - to work the area5
.