Post by rob52 on Jan 3, 2017 3:07:02 GMT -5
2016_12_30 travelled to see friends, stopped off and walked into the site of Wallarah U/G where I worked in 1997-98. The Wallarah Colliery Buildings, drift haulage and substations are all now removed/bulldozed/levelled with the shafts capped.
926511 Mine Seal L/Wgt & 440899 Mine Seal Ashblock signs plus a very rusty compressed air hose coupling, a couple of rails, the Powder Magazine Hut Concrete Slabs, a few "Voitaulio Couplings" and sections of water pipe, a small section of "Cable Belt" with joining clips, some winder wire rope and a couple of old signs and some sections of the storage yard & lot boundary fences .....thats all that is left of the entire U/G Mining Operation.....sad really, hard work & good times were had there.
The trail bike riders & 4WD's were doing circle work on the the site while I was walking down so its obviously readily accessible by other 4WD trails in the area.
***************
Some detail on the U/G operation below:
The coal mines of Newcastle, NSW : their rise and progress \ by George H Kingswell, 1890 - call number RB GRAY 622.33/46 C c.3
Scanned Extract on Wallarah Coal Company
www.flickr.com/photos/uon/7647102102/
Pg62
Pg63
Pg64
Pg65
NSW Govt Mining Maps
Flickr Album For Wallarah Colliery
Wallarah Pit Top in 1975 - The Crangan Entry was established 1956 (western side of the Pacific Hway ), coal transported by road to E Tunnel & later to Washing Plant at Catherine Hill Bay
J&A Brown & Abermain Seaham Collieries Limited took over "The Wallarah Coal Company" in 1955, they commenced the "Modernisation Program" that included Crangan Entry Drift and construction of the Wash Plant at Catherine Hill Bay.
Note that Wallarah Colliery had a few different locations for entry into coal seams for workings.
Wallarah Colliery worked A Pit (production from August 1888), B Pit (8ft thick seam, worked from March 1889-1925 opposite side of valley from A Pit), C Pit (worked from February 1890-1897) were tunnels into the coal seam on the side of a hill. D Pit was a shaft mine (intended to mine the Great Northern Seam worked from April 1897 to December 1898) .
E Tunnel opened 1901 & shut 1963.
A, B, C, D & E were all on the eastern side of the Pacific Highway. Per above The Crangan Entry was on the western side of the Pacific HWay above Crangan Bay Lake Macquarie.
Wallarah Pit Top Colliery E Tunnel Pit Top about 1905
Catherine Hill Bay Jetty Coal Load out
Some missed him Some did not
*******************
Heritage Assessment
2005_07 EJE Heritage - Wallarah & Moonee Collieries - Conservation Management Plan
“the former mining operations of the Wallarah and Moonee Collieries and the Catherine Hill Bay Coal Preparation Plant. “
Wallarah Colliery - Last Mining operator was Coal Operations Australia Limited.
LIST OF SUBSIDIARIES OF BHP BILLITON LIMITED AND BHP BILLITON PLC
BHP BILLITON PLC GROUP STRUCTURE
Entity
Coal Operations Australia Pty Limited—Australia
Wallarah Colliery was located on the eastern shore of Crangan Bay in Lake Macquarie
The site is now (2005) majority owned by Rosecorp P/L. (previously owned by the Mining Operator)
With the cessation of mining within the site, these terms “Moonee and Wallarah Collieries” now are useful only as historical terms of reference, and are likely to serve no ongoing operational meaning into the future.
This document represents a report of the visible condition of the fabric and dilapidation evident to the authors at the time of publication only.
Social aspects of twentieth century industrial towns could be subject to future research questions with a focus on the development and subsequent decline of coal mining at Catherine Hill Bay and the effect on the community.
Pg51thru to Pg77
Pg51 600HP 36” Cable Belt Winder House, similar to the one at Chain Valley
Wallarah Installation was the First "Cable Belt" installed in Australia
The new drift, begun in 1957 near the eastern shore of Crangan Bay, met up with a set of existing headings underground. This drift, 1250 ft. long and on a grade of 1 in 3 ½, was driven both from the surface and underground. Production from the new drive commenced on 30 April 1958, and
in February 1959 two panels, about ¼ mile apart, were being worked with two units in each panel.
Each unit comprised a Joy 11-BU loader and A.B. Dreadnought Arcwall coal cutter, two Joy 10-SC shuttle cars and Homac electric coal drills.
The Colliery operations incorporated a drift approximately 750m in length and two vertical shafts. The down cast, or men and materials shaft, was approximately 170m in depth, servicing the Wallarah (70m deep), Great Northern (128m deep) and Fassifern (166m deep) seams. The upcast shaft extended from the Great Northern seam through the Wallarah seam to the surface.
The Wallarah fan was manufactured by Aerex (Aust) Coy, fan engineers, Waterloo, Sydney. Mounted on the fan was a nameplate which designated the fan as a Type 2GJ-72, Serial No.2103.
Pg66 Noted that the Powder Magazine Concrete Slabs are still there detailed as WC6 & WC7, that is about it.
Inrush/Inundation Risk Assessment
Pg7 shows 15 April 1999 extent of Wallarah Colliery & Moonee Colliery 90m Minwall Workings
Pg 12 shows Wallarah Colliery workings in the 3.2m thick GNS using Marietta & Jeffrey CM’s plus FCT taking out 100m wide panels with help of Breaker Line Supports, the welsh pillars left in the Wallarah Seam 35m-40m above stayed stable it dropped the surface 1.1m
FCT Performance
Once the site was bulldozed it got a bit toasted
A Few Pics of the Fire & digging it out.
I'll post some stuff regarding the U/G operations out of
"Shaping the Hunter" ISBN 0858150255 YOP 1983
*************
Soon to be houses?
Pg118 - 122
Pg120 Shows proposed housing developments over the old Wallarah Seam workings
Pg121 Shows proposed housing developments over the old GNS workings
Rob
926511 Mine Seal L/Wgt & 440899 Mine Seal Ashblock signs plus a very rusty compressed air hose coupling, a couple of rails, the Powder Magazine Hut Concrete Slabs, a few "Voitaulio Couplings" and sections of water pipe, a small section of "Cable Belt" with joining clips, some winder wire rope and a couple of old signs and some sections of the storage yard & lot boundary fences .....thats all that is left of the entire U/G Mining Operation.....sad really, hard work & good times were had there.
The trail bike riders & 4WD's were doing circle work on the the site while I was walking down so its obviously readily accessible by other 4WD trails in the area.
***************
Some detail on the U/G operation below:
The coal mines of Newcastle, NSW : their rise and progress \ by George H Kingswell, 1890 - call number RB GRAY 622.33/46 C c.3
Scanned Extract on Wallarah Coal Company
www.flickr.com/photos/uon/7647102102/
Pg62
Pg63
Pg64
Pg65
NSW Govt Mining Maps
Flickr Album For Wallarah Colliery
Wallarah Pit Top in 1975 - The Crangan Entry was established 1956 (western side of the Pacific Hway ), coal transported by road to E Tunnel & later to Washing Plant at Catherine Hill Bay
J&A Brown & Abermain Seaham Collieries Limited took over "The Wallarah Coal Company" in 1955, they commenced the "Modernisation Program" that included Crangan Entry Drift and construction of the Wash Plant at Catherine Hill Bay.
Note that Wallarah Colliery had a few different locations for entry into coal seams for workings.
Wallarah Colliery worked A Pit (production from August 1888), B Pit (8ft thick seam, worked from March 1889-1925 opposite side of valley from A Pit), C Pit (worked from February 1890-1897) were tunnels into the coal seam on the side of a hill. D Pit was a shaft mine (intended to mine the Great Northern Seam worked from April 1897 to December 1898) .
E Tunnel opened 1901 & shut 1963.
A, B, C, D & E were all on the eastern side of the Pacific Highway. Per above The Crangan Entry was on the western side of the Pacific HWay above Crangan Bay Lake Macquarie.
Wallarah Pit Top Colliery E Tunnel Pit Top about 1905
Catherine Hill Bay Jetty Coal Load out
Some missed him Some did not
*******************
Heritage Assessment
2005_07 EJE Heritage - Wallarah & Moonee Collieries - Conservation Management Plan
“the former mining operations of the Wallarah and Moonee Collieries and the Catherine Hill Bay Coal Preparation Plant. “
Wallarah Colliery - Last Mining operator was Coal Operations Australia Limited.
LIST OF SUBSIDIARIES OF BHP BILLITON LIMITED AND BHP BILLITON PLC
BHP BILLITON PLC GROUP STRUCTURE
Entity
Coal Operations Australia Pty Limited—Australia
Wallarah Colliery was located on the eastern shore of Crangan Bay in Lake Macquarie
The site is now (2005) majority owned by Rosecorp P/L. (previously owned by the Mining Operator)
With the cessation of mining within the site, these terms “Moonee and Wallarah Collieries” now are useful only as historical terms of reference, and are likely to serve no ongoing operational meaning into the future.
This document represents a report of the visible condition of the fabric and dilapidation evident to the authors at the time of publication only.
Social aspects of twentieth century industrial towns could be subject to future research questions with a focus on the development and subsequent decline of coal mining at Catherine Hill Bay and the effect on the community.
Pg51thru to Pg77
Pg51 600HP 36” Cable Belt Winder House, similar to the one at Chain Valley
Wallarah Installation was the First "Cable Belt" installed in Australia
The new drift, begun in 1957 near the eastern shore of Crangan Bay, met up with a set of existing headings underground. This drift, 1250 ft. long and on a grade of 1 in 3 ½, was driven both from the surface and underground. Production from the new drive commenced on 30 April 1958, and
in February 1959 two panels, about ¼ mile apart, were being worked with two units in each panel.
Each unit comprised a Joy 11-BU loader and A.B. Dreadnought Arcwall coal cutter, two Joy 10-SC shuttle cars and Homac electric coal drills.
The Colliery operations incorporated a drift approximately 750m in length and two vertical shafts. The down cast, or men and materials shaft, was approximately 170m in depth, servicing the Wallarah (70m deep), Great Northern (128m deep) and Fassifern (166m deep) seams. The upcast shaft extended from the Great Northern seam through the Wallarah seam to the surface.
The Wallarah fan was manufactured by Aerex (Aust) Coy, fan engineers, Waterloo, Sydney. Mounted on the fan was a nameplate which designated the fan as a Type 2GJ-72, Serial No.2103.
Pg66 Noted that the Powder Magazine Concrete Slabs are still there detailed as WC6 & WC7, that is about it.
Inrush/Inundation Risk Assessment
Pg7 shows 15 April 1999 extent of Wallarah Colliery & Moonee Colliery 90m Minwall Workings
Pg 12 shows Wallarah Colliery workings in the 3.2m thick GNS using Marietta & Jeffrey CM’s plus FCT taking out 100m wide panels with help of Breaker Line Supports, the welsh pillars left in the Wallarah Seam 35m-40m above stayed stable it dropped the surface 1.1m
FCT Performance
Once the site was bulldozed it got a bit toasted
A Few Pics of the Fire & digging it out.
I'll post some stuff regarding the U/G operations out of
"Shaping the Hunter" ISBN 0858150255 YOP 1983
*************
Soon to be houses?
Pg118 - 122
Pg120 Shows proposed housing developments over the old Wallarah Seam workings
Pg121 Shows proposed housing developments over the old GNS workings
Rob