Summary

This photograph depicts an section of a battery with three Berdan pans operating and, to far right, a partially obscured mill worker. Berdan pans were used in the mining process for fine grinding. Originally a California design, locally modified versions were very popular on North Queensland goldfields. The round iron pans were about three and a half feet wide and fitted with two iron drags connected to a central axle. The drags were usually blocks of cast iron, each weighing about 280 pounds. The pans were set at an angle and would revolve about thirty times a minute forcing the ore to pass under the stationary drags. Being set at an angle allowed lighter material to be slopped over the side while any gold remained in the pan to amalgamate with mercury.

The photographs in this collection were taken by the Reverend Frederic Charles Hall (1878-1926) during the period 1902-1909 when he was the Anglican Curate appointed to Georgetown in North Queensland. Hall's foremost hobby was photography. He used both a half-plate camera with tripod made by J. Lancaster & Son, Birmingham and a quarter-plate Austral No. 3 made by the Australian company, Baker & Rouse. Glass negatives from Ilford and Austral were used; developing was done by the photographer himself and printing by exposure to sunlight.