Summary

This item is one of our 50 Treasures: Celebrating 50 years of James Cook University.

Dr. Jacqueline Stockdale answers the question 'Why is this significant?'

At first glance the cover of the 1890 Charters Towers Stock Exchange Minute Book, with its peeling layers, water damage, and half-eaten label, little reveals the treasure within. But, leafing through to the page upon which is written, 'Minutes of the First Meeting for The Formation of The Charters Towers Stock Exchange', reveals the record of a lively episode in Australia's history.

The Stock Exchange story began when Hugh Mosman, George Clarke, John Fraser and young Aboriginal boy Jupiter Mosman, discovered gold in January 1872. By February, as newspapers reported the discovery of a vast, very rich reef near Townsville, a rush to the newly-named Charters Towers goldfield was anticipated. Prospectors flocked in such numbers that Charters Towers soon became Queensland's second-largest city, and Queensland the largest gold-producer of all Australasian colonies. The phenomenal growth led to a public meeting being called in July 1885 to establish the first Charters Towers Stock Exchange.

By 1890, however, the majority of brokers were dissatisfied with the Exchange's practice of private-chamber calls. So, at 11am on Thursday 22 May 1890, nine men held a meeting at which elected Chair, Mr WL Davies, moved 'that a new Stock Exchange be formed, to be named The Charters Towers Stock Exchange.' The new Exchange was registered on 27 May 1890 with capital of £1000, being a thousand £1 shares. Now free calls would be conducted every evening, with the public admitted.

The Exchange became such a major business, for both Charters Towers and Queensland, that it needed larger, more central premises. Leasing Malcolm's Royal Arcade in the town centre meant the Exchange was close to banks, mining surveyors, and brokers, with whom brisk business was conducted daily. The Exchange and its premises became so synonymous that the arcade became known as the Charters Towers Stock Exchange building.

Having repeatedly produced Australia's largest outputs, by 1901, Charters Towers was 'the premier goldfield of Australia'. By 1906, it was eclipsed only by Mount Morgan. By 1917, Mount Morgan and Gympie outstripped Charters Towers. By 1920, however, Charters Towers' gold production and population had dwindled markedly, while unemployment rose. The Stock Exchange minute books reflect this decline, with entries dwindling and thinning. The last brief entry, penned in 1924, confirms the minutes of the final meeting, held in 1922.

Though the minute book's recordings have long-ceased, Charters Towers' golden history lives on in the treasure of Special Collections Archives.