Mining Museum

 

The Herberton Mining Museum and Visitor Information Centre is situated in Herberton , the oldest town on the Tropical Tablelands. The town sits on a hilly landscape with streets dotted with jacaranda trees.

Herberton's main claim to fame was Tin Mining.


Tin had been reported in the district by James Venture Mulligan in 1875 but Jack's follow-up prospecting party in 1879 could not find commercial quantities. On their second trip, Willie Jack and John Newell found tin in payable amounts in Prospectors Gully, where the town of Herberton now stands, and smelted some in a tree stump to prove it actually was tin. This was in April, 1880.

John Newell rode overland to Thornborough to register the discovery. Further finds came rapidly, resulting in the founding of new towns such as Watsonville, Irvinebank, Montalbion, and many more. The tin boom also sparked closer settlement and paved the way for the modern towns of Atherton, Mareeba, Malanda, Ravenshoe and confirmed Cairns as the major port in far north Queensland.

The Herberton Mining Museum and Visitor Information Centre seeks to interpret the mining history, and to showcase the present town and its beautiful surroundings.

The Mining Museum

The  Herberton  Mining Museum and Visitor Information Centre  is built on a part  of  the  original  Reward  Claim  purchased by the men who discovered payable tin mineralisation on this site 19th April, 1880.

It was fortuitous for Herberton, Cairns and North Queensland, that this discovery occurred just as the gold fields further north were petering out, leaving a struggling  economy and destitute miners in their wake. Herberton was a Godsend.

The  Great Northern Mine, as it was named, developed rapidly. First, the surface and easily worked outcrops were stripped of tin ore. Then  shafts  were  sunk to  work  deeper deposits.

The first was the Gully Shaft which at one stage was powered by a horse whim. The Eastern Shaft followed quickly and ultimately reached a depth of 600 feet (200 metres). The No. 3 Shaft began in 1907.  However, the whole claim is pock-marked by smaller shafts driven to follow tin wherever it occurred.

Much of the original haulage machinery is still here at the shaft heads. Some items are the only known examples of their kind in  Australia. All can be seen on a short  interpreted walk on the site.

The Herberton Mining Museum seeks to present and interpret to visitors information about the Great Northern site, the history of tin mining in the district and how the town of Herberton developed.

Inside the Museum

Information:
The reception area has a range of brochures, maps and souvenirs for the visitor. Helpful volunteers give that friendly touch.

Metals Room:
Tells a story of how the age of metals began, leading up to the timeline for the discovery  of  tin  at  Herberton.

The Mining Room:
Some information about alluvial and hard rock mining. Larger mining equipment can be visited on a walk outside the Centre

The Herberton Room:
Vignettes of information about Herberton, the mining town that grew up to service the tinfields.

The Minerals Room:
A Mining Centre must have a mineral display!  The Centre has several collections for your inspection.

Theatrette:
The Centre also has a small theatrette where multi-media presentations can be shown. It is also used for informative  lectures  thus  keeping  alive  an old miners'  tradition of learning.
There is also a Documents and Research Room aimed at collecting, preserving, and making available for study, documents about Herberton and tin mining. Many of these have been donated to the Centre.

Outside the Museum

The mine site:
A short walk along formed tracks outside the Museum takes you past the relics of the mines that made up the Great Northern Claim - one of the richest on the tinfield. The surface winding plant is described as ‘the most intact in North Queensland'. The whole of the site is heritage listed.

Gully Shaft:
The first shaft and the reason Cairns exists today. At one time it was powered by a horse whim.

The Eastern Shaft:
Begun in 1886, it is over 600 feet (200 metres) deep. At one stage it employed 50 men. Some of the machines are the only  examples left in Australia.

The New Gully (No 3) Shaft
Sadly without its headframe, but with most of its surface machinery still present, from the small winding wheels and boilers right through to the bigger gear needed as the shaft went deeper.
   

Open 7 Days
9.00am to 4.00pm.
Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day

Contact Us


Herberton Mining Museum and Visitor Information Centre
1 Jacks Road,
Herberton, Queensland, Australia, 4887
PHONE: (07)4096 3474
FAX:   (07)4096 3474

E-mail: info@herbertonvisitorcentre.com.au