Summary

This photograph depicts a group of miners (six men and two children) posing around a shaft mine most likely for gold (or perhaps tin). The miners appear to be dressed in collared shirts, moleskin trousers, leather boots and felt hats. This photograph was taken at one of the reef mining claims, possibly leased to a Mr. Thompson and Mr. Wilkiss, on Wise's Knob, Oaks Goldfield, Queensland. The wood structures in the photograph were most likely constructed on-site from locally sourced timber. Three of the miners can be seen on the top platform, posing with the windlass, which would have been used to raise the ore mined underground. The dirt and debris raised from the shaft (known as "mullock") can be seen on the left behind the timber retaining wall. Mullock from underground was often saved so that it could be processed using alluvial mining techniques such as dry-blowing, sluicing, cradling or panning, in order to extract as much gold as possible.

The ore they were mining would have been bound in a vein of quartz, which needed to be extracted underground and then carted to a local battery for crushing and condensing. The crushed ore and tailings from the condensing process would then be carted to a plant for treatment, most commonly cyanide extraction. While many batteries would crush ore from independent mining claims, in addition to ore from the mine the battery was affiliated with, many mines would only treat crushings and tailings taken from the mine's own land. Batteries and mines that would accept ore from independent and small cooperative claims often charged heavy fees for their services. These practices, combined with a lack of railways and roads, meant transporting mined ore could be outrageously expensive, making it very difficult for independent or small cooperative claims to be mined successfully.

The Oaks Goldfield encompassed roughly 1500 km2 and was located about 48 kms south of Einasleigh, Queensland along the Copperfield River. It was completely surrounded by the Etheridge Goldfield and was only designated as a separate goldfield for administrative purposes. While the Oaks diggings, known as "The Knobs," was only 5 km2, the mining population peaked at 1,500 individuals, which is roughly three times the number it could support. The reported output of alluvial gold from December 1907 to December 1909 is 19,000 oz.

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.