It was a good day in Bendigo.
First was our Underground Adventure tour of the Central Deborah Mine. It was a real working mine at closed in 1954. We got there early and looked at the old mine buildings and structures and learned a little about the history. Then Laurie, our guide, took us in hand. First we had to have coveralls, then steel-toed rubber boots and finally a helmet with a working light.
He gave us the history of the mine and Bendigo's gold rush. In Dec. 1851, 2 women found gold in the river while they were washing clothes. Within a year, Bendigo had a population of 20,000 and 5,600 gold mines. It was the biggest gold strike ever. (Two and a half times bigger than the California gold rush and three times bigger than the Klondike). The alluvial gold lasted until the 1870's then they discovered gold rich quartz reefs underneath the rock. They're places where the rock has been under pressure and the quartz veins arch up, sometimes thick veins, sometimes thin lines. These covered an area of 12km x 22m. Gold here is only found in quartz.
The Central Deborah miners dug out the veins and sent the quartz to the surface to be processed. It yielded about 1 ton of gold. Altogether the mines of Bendigo produced 700,000 kg of gold.
So back to the tour. We walked into the mine and down to an elevator which took us to the first level, 30m (about 97 feet), then we climbed down 6 sets of ladders to the third level, 85m (280 feet). It was dark and damp, water seeps through the mine all the time. (There is a tour that goes down to level 9 of the 17 levels and they guarantee you will get wet and dirty there.)
We learned about the miners work. When he came to work he had to change into old clothes, "no jocks, socks or singlets" - no underwear. The bosses were afraid of the miners stealing the gold. It was an 8 hour day, most of the miners shoveled quartz and debris into ore cars, one car every 15 minutes, with a 10 minute lunch break.
The mine owners hired miners from Cornwall in England because they knew how to dig out the hard rock in Bendigo's mines. They brought Cornish pasties for lunch. They were huge pieces of dough, thick on the bottom, filled with meat and vegetables on one side and something sweet on the other - fruit or jam. Because mine work was dirty and there were no washing facilities, they held onto the pasties at the bottom and didn't eat that part.
They had lifts to take them up and down in the mine, but if the cable broke and the lift couldn't work, they had to climb up ladders to get out. It could take as long as 4 hours, depending on which level he was on. And he didn't get paid for that extra time, only for the 8 hours.
In the early days they mined by candlelight. Each miner got 2 candles at the beginning of the day. When payday came, the cost of those candles was deducted. And they only earned $6 a day.
Carbide lamps provided 15 times more light than the candles, but the bosses hated the lamps because then the miners could see the gold better. At the end of his shift a miner took off his old clothes and gave them to the "rag man" who searched through them for any gold that the miner might have brought up. He also searched the miners - in their ears, mouths, belly buttons, etc. Anyone caught with gold got an immediate 2 year jail sentence and was banned for life from working in mines.
Miners only had a life expectancy of 30 years, often dying from silicosis from the quartz dust.
After we came up from level 3 to 2 we had lunch. The others had pasties, we had comparable vegetarian pasties. It was like a calzone filled with chopped vegetables; carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, I think.
Laurie was a terrific guide, he really got into the story and made it come alive. The tour took two and a half hours.
Afterward we hopped onto the tram and went to the Joss House. It was a temple built by Chinese miners in 1860 and is one of the few remaining in Australia. There was a caretakers residence; now the reception area, the main temple and an ancestral hall. Pat was a lovely woman gave us a tour and really explained the Joss House and its uses to us. It is still used as a place of worship, mostly by Vietnamese and Malaysians and there were several offerings in both the temple and ancestral hall.
The tram took us back into town and we did a quick tour of the Golden Dragon Museum. There were several dragons inside. Loong is the world's oldest Imperial Dragon - a five clawed dragon. Only the emperor could wear robes decorated with dragons with with five claws. He was bought in China in 1892 and was paraded in Bendigo's Easter Fair Festival until 1970.
His replacement, Sun Loong, is the world's longest Imperial Dragon and is now in the Easter parade. On the day before Easter, Sun Loong is stored in a basket and needs to be awaken. There are drums, dancers, fireworks, lots of noise to wake him up for the parade.
A word about Easter here. It is a really big deal. It seems as if every town and village has an Easter celebration. A horse race, or a foot race, or a tractor pull, rodeo, Easter market, fashion show, yacht race, car show, surfing championships, motocross races. And we've been warned that everyone will be on holiday from Thursday through Monday and a lot of them will be camping.
We went into St Kilian's Catholic Church, one of the largest wooden churches in the world. And then to Sacred Heart Cathedral, huge gothic structure started in 1897, but not finished until 1970.
Pictures-Central Deborah mine, Jeanne in mine outfit (looking like she's in a funhouse mirror), Samson with helmet and lamp, Pat in Joss house, St Kilian's, Sacred Heart
Those miners had some great working conditions. Interesting. I like how Sam accessorized his jump suit with the red belt.
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