A processing business dubbed ‘the giant that never sleeps’ celebrates 50 years of operation in 2017. Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) opened in Gladstone in 1967, with the first shipment of alumina sailing from the wharf on June 9. An international consortium of Alcan Aluminium, Conzinc Rio Tinto (CRA), Pechiney and Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Corporation was behind its establishment. The QAL ...
Blair Athol coal mine is poised to enter a new chapter under its latest owners, TerraCom subsidiary Orion Mining. But its story has some age and the operation has a claim to fame as the first mine in Australia to adopt open-cut methods. The region’s coal was discovered by accident in 1864 on Robert McMaster’s grazing run, Blair Athol, says Clermont Historical Centre co-ordinator Deb Alvoen of Isaa...
The sacrifices made by Queensland’s miners and their contribution to the State’s economy will be permanently honoured at new memorial in Redbank. Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said construction of Miners Memorial Monument would get under way in the new year. “I’m proud to announce the Palaszczuk Government will soon honour both metalliferous and coal mine workers who have ...
Miners Memorial Day has been commemorated in Moranbah on the anniversary of Queensland’s worst mine disaster. More than 1500 people have lost their lives working in Queensland’s coal and metalliferous mines since the 19th century. The Mount Mulligan mine disaster occurred on September 19 1921 in Mount Mulligan, in Far North Queensland. A series of explosions in the local coal mine, audible a...
Near the town of Ewan in Queensland there is a cluster of old mines named after fish. Sardine, Groper, Tinfish Trevally, Barramundi, and Mackerel are just a few examples. The ironic thing about this is that Oakey Creek (the river that runs through the centre of this cluster) is not known for its good fishing, in fact it runs dry for most of the year. Mechanical engineer and Townsville-based histo...
In 1867 one man’s search for personal fortune made the history books when he discovered 75 ounces of gold in the place that later became known as ‘the town that saved Queensland’. English prospector James Nash was travelling the bankrupt state of Queensland when he arrived at Gympie, 150km north of central Brisbane, and struck gold. Nash’s gold find sparked a gold rush which in turn saved Queensla...
It was a flash of lightning on Christmas Eve 1871 that led to a young aboriginal boy named Jupiter discovering gold in Charters Towers. Jupiter was prospecting for gold with a group of men when a thunderstorm scared off the group’s horses. While searching for the startled animals Jupiter spotted a specimen of quartz studded with gold. The gold find was then reported to the mining warden of the tim...
A German-born woman turned into a ‘crazy cat lady’ when she followed her lover from England to the Aussie outback only to find that he had fallen in love with someone else. In the 1880’s Annie ‘Bags’ Ferdinand scrimped and saved so that she could travel to Australia in search of her lost love who had moved to the country in search of gold. Without money or mode of transportation Annie walked thro...
When the Ipswich suburb of Booval lost its beloved Mills Cup to a rival mines rescue team from Collinsville, nobody realised it would be the beginning of a new competition that is now in its 45th year. Years ago a trophy named the Mills Cup was presented to the Booval mines rescue station by the local Mills family. Local mines rescue teams competed among themselves for the prize and as the competi...
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