North Queensland then West

Cumberland chimney and the nearby dam is all that remains of a once prosperous gold mining operation and the town that supported it. The sign at the chimney tells the boom and bust story in fair detail.

***** COPIED FROM THE INFO SIGN *******
In its day, the Cumberland Mine was the largest and most successful of the gold mines on the Etheridge field. The chimney and nearby dam are substantial remnants.

By Etheridge standards, the Cumberland Mine was a highly mechanized operation. Large steam-driven engines powered the batteries that crushed the gold-bearing stone as well as the tramway that carted it to the batteries. They also drove the winding gear that lifted the stone from 1, 000 feet underground.The imposing brick chimney, built in 1889, dispersed smoke from the engines; the dam
ensured a steady water supply.

The Cumberland Prospecting Claim was first registered on 18 December 1872 by Parks, Smith, Hardie and Steele and was sold 14 years later to the Cumberland Gold Mining Company Ltd.

The vendors did well. In addition to remaining managers of the venture, they made 100,000 pounds in cash and 60,000 pounds in fully paid one-pound shares.They were the only shareholders to make a substantial profit.

The township of Cumberland was large, and although its growth and decline followed the usual pattern of mining communities, the gold-rich Cumberland Reef ensured the residents of services far beyond the average for the field.

Under its original ownership, the Cumberland Mine was competently managed and well-developed.
The miners'camp soon grew into an energetic and populous community that rivaled Georgetown. At the time of top gold production, almost 400 people lived there: mine workers with their families and about 100 other people. Shops were numerous, and 'the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker'could make a good living in Cumberland.

1885 saw a Police Station built and a Telegraph Office set up. Confidently, the Bank of New South Wales established its Cumberland Branch in 1887.

The settlement was proclaimed as a township in 1889.

A school was opened in 1891 and four hotels were doing business in Cumberland by 1894.

Gold production reached a peak of 11,500 ouncesJust before the mine was put on the London market in 1886, and fell rapidly after that. The days of high gold production from Cumberland were over. The expensive display of workshop sheds, tram carts and steam engines with the great chimney smoking above them later used to promote the purchasing company- looked better on a prospectus than on a balance sheet. From 1887 on there was more gold to be dug from the shareholders than from the ground.

Although the yield had fallen to 7,000 ounces, the owners ofthe Company still seemed optimistic.They even paid a dividend of 12.5% at that time, when 379 mine workers and their families lived in Cumberland. But falling production from lower grade ores lifted from greater depths forced retrenchment, and by 1899
only a few hundred ounces were recovered.

By the end of 1 890 there were only 1 69 residents in the township.
The Company was restructured and again refinanced to form the Cumberland Gold Mining Company Ltd.

Under new management, rock was hauled from a 1,000 foot shaft, the deepest on the Etheridge field. Despite a brief increase in recovery rate to 4,400 ounces, the costly treatment of more and more material for less and less gold finally rendered the Cumberland Mine wholly uneconomical.

Floods washed away the dam and tailings dumps in 1893 and droughts hit in 1888 and '89, but Cumberland carried on, introducing the cyaniding process of gold recovery in 1894.

When the gold petered out andshareholders' funds dried up, Cumberland could not continue. By 1898 only one hotel was left in the township, and both the bank and the police were withdrawn.The Telegraph Office closed its doors in 1 899, but the school carried on until 1915 when there was a 'drought of pupils:

Although the Company abandoned the site in 1897, spasmodic attempts to use the battery continued until 1934.

Conclusion.

It is difficult to assess the value of Cumberland. The mine produced its wealth for Queensland during a destructive depression, not so much through its gold as through the overseas capital that its sale introduced.

Perhaps the vendors gave credence to the image of the Australian 'con man: Or perhaps, in their valiant fight to carry on, they really believed that there was still gold to be had from the Cumberland Mine.

********************************

Birds that can be seen at Cumberland Chimney area according to the signs there.

Comb-crested jakana
Grey Teal
Rainbow Bee-eater
Red-tailed cockatoo
Gouldian Finch
Great Bower-bird
Pale-headed Rosella
Black-throated Finch
Magpie Goose
Double-barred Finch
Bronze Cuckoo
Australian Bustard
Varied Lorikeet
Red-winged Parrot
Budgerigar
Galah
Cockatiel
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
Stubble Quail
Emu
Australian brush-turkey
Little Shrike-thrush
Black-faced cuckoo shrike
White bellied cuckoo-shrike
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Great-crested Grebe
Brolga
Pacific Baza
Buff-banded rail
Nankeen Kestrel
Zebra Finch
Peaceful Dove
Bush Stone-curlew
Magpie Lark
Pink-eared duck
Crested Pigeon
Royal spoonbill
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
White-faced heron
Nankeen Night-heron
Black-necked StorkLæs mere