Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Thursday 16 December 1926, page 7

National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54334955

RAINBOW TRAIL

CALLIDE COALFIELD.

IMMENSE DEPOSIT.

100 SQ MILES OF BURIEDWEALTH.

(By "Seagee.")

Jteceiit articles in the daily sud weekly Press heve announced the continuelcommercial success of the Bergius method-a German process-of liquefyini

coal to obtain artificial oil products emthal a huge plant ior the commerciaexploitation of this process ia beimerected in Germany with a daily ea

pacify of 1000 tons of motor fuel, elsi

that shortly this Bergius motor luewould be on the markets of the worldThe Bergius process, which has long sine

passed the experimental stage, has foi

some years been turning out artificia

petrol and each year doing an increase!

remunerative business. On the top o

the announcement of the erection o

these immense works came the new«

as given in the cable columns of a rc

cent "Morning Bulletin," that a grouiof British coal firms had bought ironDr. Bergius, of Germany, the Britisl

rights of this synthetic petrol processMr. Bruce, our Prime Minister, in t

speech delivered in London in the earlj

part of this' month at the Auglo-Persiat

Oil Company's luncheon, laid it dowithat "there ia no greater essential tharsupplies of petrol, both for defence anc

industries," and added that there ii

"

no greater achievement than to ensure

the British Empire's independence ol

foreign oil supplies." The success ol

this remarkable process and tbe pur

chase by British coal owners of thc

British rights should now make thia

much-desired independence attainable.

Tb the maa on the land in Australia,

with his tin Linie, hit motor truck

hit oil-burning tractor, or hit farm oil

engine, it would bs a great thing to

have cheap petrol and, in tact, every-

body tt. interested in seeing to it that

the motor-driven wheels of industry goround. Oil, of course, may eventually

be found in Australia, Kew Guinea, or

Papua, hat feflnig that, Australia, with

her abundance of coal of all kinds, ia

assured of an inexhaustible supply oi

motor fuel.

In view of ile foregoing facts, some

account of the accidental discovery and

the history of -the immense Callide coal

measures, first estimated at four squaremiles, afterwards, aa a result of fur-

ther prospecting, at 64 square miles,

and since ascertained by a survey to be

over 100 square miles in extent.

For information aa to the discovery

I am indebted to .one of the original

prospectors, myfriend, Hr. Harry Ot

ty, sn old-time gold-miner, now and for

many years a highly respected business

man and resident of Calliope, on the

Boyne Valley railway. A study of some

old" Hansards

" has given me some in-

sight into the later history of this coal-

field and Government reports as appear-

ing in the/Queensland Government Min-

ing Journal and kindly placed at my

disposal by the Mines Department, fur-

nished me with authentic data at to the

great extent of this wonderful coal-

field, the work that -has been done to

prove the extent of the several seams

of coal, one of which is 64 ft. in thloiM

ness, and the various tests to whick

this coal has been subjected in order to

determine its quality and usefulness.

When away back in 1686, within

about three miles of the eld Callide cat-

tle station homestead, and just about

113 miles from Rockhampton, Messrs.

Otty, Peterson, and Dunne, a Govern-

ment-aided prospecting party, search-

ing for gold and following up colours

ing for upof that precious metal, discovered coal

at the shallow depth of 2 ft. They had

no idea at the time of the potential

.wealth that their adventurous picks

had brought to light or the tremendous

significance of such an important find

to the Callide Valley in particular and

the State in general. The prospectors

sinking further went through a seam

of coal 10 it. in thickness. Not being

in a position to take up a mineral pros-

pecting area and work it, they filled

up tbe shaft that they had sunk, hid

all tracee of their discovery, and con-

tinued prospecting for gold. Their ef-

forts were rhortly afterwards rewarded

by the finding and opening up in the

same neighbourhood of the Mount Rain-

bow goldfield, which brought into the

funds of the party about £2000.

Experienced miners though they were,

they did not recognise the possibilities

of a big coalfield and preferred to stick

to the more exciting life of gold miners.

Later in the same year, however, the

party brought thc matter of their dis-

covery under thc notice of Mr. Spier,

of Rockhampton, who was at that time

a director of thc Rockhampton Gas and

Electric Light Company, and a Mr. Nye,

also of Rockhampton. These two gen-

tlemen arranged with the party to re-

open the coal shaft, Bink it deeper, and

take out some big Mocks of eosl. Ac-

cordingly the fhaft was put down

through the sandstone another 6 ft.,

when a further seam of coal was struck

and preved to be 7 ft. in thickness.

From tliCFc scams two immense blocks

of roui, of lim full unUl, of each

were afterwards hewn out «nd rtcsp

ed to Rockhampton, where they

o" tAi,iMlion. Ali. ¡Spier also hud

further prospecting work done, pu

donn mure shafts, in nil of which

cept one, which was not. bottomed, s

nf cual were struck. Three shafts

eluding thal of Hie prospectors,

nil lim une sunk in ur on thc linn

une ur

creek-.

In the late Mr, W. II. H,

thou Government Geologist for

.State, visited this ne» ly-discoi

coiillicld, and in bis published n

stated that the work done up io

time nf Iiis visit showed that there

un average thickness of 21 ft. of

in thc several shafts opened up

allowing for only one half of tin.- I

available, he estimated the total wi

of the coal at 50,000,000 lons,suflii

to lact lliO years, with an annual

pul equal to the whole of Quecnsl

which was then less than 380,000 t

In 1898 Mr. Spier, who had Uk«

four square miles (2660 acres) of

ecol country, with a currency ol

years, went to landon, taking'

him tho 10 ft block of roal. By s

n.ystorious means the 7 ft. block

pushed over the sido of the wharf

passed away out of the picture for

purpose of interesting British ca)

in the venture. There he was succ

full in forming a syndicate ol e

standing to take up the spéculât

The syndicate comprised Williamc'|

director of the Rockhampton Gas

Electric Light Company; General

1!. Sankey, ¡Royal engineers; Mr.

Coleridge Jupp, ex-Accountant Gen

cf India; Sir Curtis Pontifex, ret

Judge; Hon. Allen Cadell, Dep

Governor of an Indian province;

Mr. D. Avignar Goldsmid, finant

Having got hie syndicate formed,

next thing waa to get authority to c

struct a railway and this, too, waa i

cessfully accomplished, for, after

hard fight, on December 6th, 1900,

Act to authorise the Callide Creek <

syndicate to construct a line of r

way from Gladstone to Callide Cre

a distance of 68 miles, was passed

the State Parliament, a condition

ing that a deposit of ££500 should

lodged as a guarantee of the due f

fornuv&ce of the work by the syndic«

The deposit waa soon paid and

railway survey waa commenced early

tho following year and two more la

year

shafts were stalled as a prelimini

to opening up the deposits of «

There was at this time no railway

Calliope, and the railways to the Ba

son Valley and the Callide Volley wi

both then also in the womb of time

Tho syndicate railway was to pi

through Calliope and over thc Callie

and Callide mountain ranges and r

within 16 miles of the Kroombit cc

per mine. The Opposition of tar day

the State Parliament, of which the Ii

ex-Premier -William Kidston, represei

ing Rockhampton, was a promine

member, although not the acte

leader, bitterly opposed the project, ai

it was he who moved aa amendment i

the Bill "That thia House is of t

opinion that before any private ia

way measure, becomes law a referendi

should be taken to decide whether t

settled policy of the* State-owned ra

ways should be departed from." Tl

amendment was, however, defeated i

a purely party vote.

The coal tnins was to have been

revenue producer so far aa the fita*

was concerned, as an Act passed ir

posed a royalty of 3d. per toa for tl

first 10 years on all coal raised at

6d. per ton thereafter. However,tl

railway waa never even started at

when the two years within which tl

line was to have been completed aa

pied a further abort Act was posit

in 1602 extending the time for tho an

structlon to December 31st, 1905.

In 1903, Mr. L. C. Ball, Assistât

Government Geologist, vialtod this co»

field and in his report described tl

field, the extent of which1 bad bes

proved by shafts put dowe, - to rn

from east to west 8 and sy-half mite

and north to south a'

mile an

a-quartcr, but he gave his estimate a

fit square miles. At the time of bi

visit seven shafts had bean put dowt

all, except one, No. 4, being ea th

banks of creeks. The No. 1, or pros

peetors abaft, bad been timbered to

ft. and was down 2« ft., with »IT fi

of No. about a quarto

seam of coal; No. 2, about a quarto

of a-milc north east of No. 1., depth 3

St., 12 ft. seam; No. 3, three-quarter

et a mlle aoutb-weet rf Mt. L_ ¿tpth

70 ft-, scam 64 ft; No. 4, a quarte

of a milo south-east of No, 3. dept1

TO ft, seam 17 ft.; No. S had bsei

down to the cos!, bot not through it

No. 6, a mile and a-halt north-east ci

No. 6, In a dense scrub amongst th<

ranges, depth 40 ft-, seam 21 ft.; Ko. 7

depth 178 ft, coal struck et 38 ft, sean

4 ft 4 in., and 38 ft seam proved at

131 ft. below the surface. Tho coa

struck in Nos. I, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 7 was

he believed, a continuation of the sam«

scam and probably 6 also. Just slam!

this time tests of the coal from thc

54 ft. scam in Ko. 3 shaft wet» made

by the HJkf.S. Torch with 88 tons ol

coal, 30 tons of which were taken out

at a depth of 85 ft.-and 25 tons at

a depth of 45 ft, and Mr. Ball incor-

porates the result in his report-"Coal

proved to be good stc_rtl;^, ceri (.'tam

being raised without difficulty fn thc

usual time and no trouble in main-

taining constant supply at full power.

Coal burnt readily, clearly and quickly.

Coal ls of a peaty and woody nature,

no swelling or sticking together in

burning, each piece burning independ-

ently to the end. Ashes of fine nature,

slight clinker formed after 24 horns,

easily removed. Nothing detrimental

occurred to smoke boxes, uptakes, or

funnels. No undue temperature record-

ed In stokehold or backs of boilers.

Consumption 30 per cent more than or-

dinary Australian coal doin? similar

duty. Cost also was tried in the steam

cutter with good results ns regards

steaming, etc., but the consumption

was also found to bc 30 per cent

gTcatcr." Mr. Boll points out that the

coal u«ed for the purposes of this test

was taVen from No. 3 shaft, whichi1»

on thc bank of n creek, mid at such

shnllow depth that in his opinion, it

would he affected by the periodic waters

and, therefore, would bc in inferior con-

dition when raised, mid added that, il

tlic toft «implo was taken from a swift,

sunk some Hiatus dii-tunt from n ru ck,

much netter results would bc nlilaiii.nl

on tostinjr.

Mr. Bull paid nnotlicr vh-il to Hil"

field, witli n view to furl lier holing and

testing1, und in lils report published in

Dec ember, ltWÏ, stated thatI

bree

liHherlo unnotlecd mirfn"e outdoes ot

mal bad been loented. Kelly's Uiil'y.iaa

j

the centre nf the field, lind been in

ispected. mid, Inslly, thc mensure? on

tbs Cullilla Hange, where the ])iiin;rice

to Killiurnie road croises were seen. Ile

found that, the dip of (be cnn] was in-

considerable, seldom exceeding 11 de-

crees.

In hi? opinion, ll might hr tnl.cn

that,, in tho rnnpes north of thc work-ing!-, the seam or seams lie a'- depths

of severn1

Vîrdrcd f*t, tInrf« p.

I

I'orli.m nf lin» inver heilig IIHSIIM, ulnl

.that itwas piobnlue «¡int tile " "I

niiii-urex lillan old valley or ile; , v

i.ion. Ile nilviscd boring on II lUt-to. pe".I

samldnn,. ridge, 12 chains nor)li ol Vu.I

-hilft. vli< il Kellin« expuse,) In III"

Limit ««mill lie eui under fair rnvi."'

:-inlm\:iv fruin Hie inllucine ul ¡my

? reel;."

I'C In .laiiiinry, IMIKI.thingIna-I

been «lune by the syndicate in the »nyof starting (he cnm-tuiction of (lie rmi

wny, so liv a proclumulioii in the "tin

Minimini lia/ctle"il

«an liol.th il timi

the Callide eonl s.viidii-iitc, III«vii ii

fni!c«l to I'oiuplv nilli (lie provision» <><

the t.hi.Ntone to ( ullide Jlailwar .««'l=.

thc deposit «.f fcî.iOll lind bernt.'.i

!'??:(. I

to His Mnjisly.

No ilniabl the const nu t inn of mi ' *

pensive line of railway, aero*» two li;;

inoiinlnin ranges, had H good deal to>!«.

villi (lie failure of Hie HVnilicnlc ("

Coat a company and obtain (he iv

ijii'sitcmoney to open up (his big v«inl

(¡cid, milled (0 which other conl-beaiinp; «rea» bad been discovered in i en-

trai Queensland closer to the wabnar.l.nud where thc costa of transporta «on

«on

were considerably lesa, lt was hardfor (he syndicate to lot,? it gooii T.I

Cold, but ejaculation has itu "down1'as well as "ups," es we all find ont

sooner or later. However, "nothing ven-

ture nothing win."

In a still further report, dated No\ ember, 1911, Mr. h. C. Uall, in a

memorandum to (he Under-secretaryfor Mines, states that he visited thefield at thc end of thc previous month»nd Mr. Lymburner waa then makin?a feature survey. Mr. Ball then goeson to «ny

"The coal measures, as wa"

suspected, from the Callide Range on

tbe north and Rainbow Creek on (hecant, to Callide Creek on the south, andbeyond Kilburnie Station on thc wet,the area covered being rather norv

than 100 square miles. Thc eastern partis mountainous, and (!e low-lyingcountry to tho west is covered by densebrigalow scrub. Should the C*lli«ie

bituminous coal br suitable for mixingwith the Dawson semi-anthracite, thcextension of" the field to the north-west

may be of some importance to thcpeople of Mount Morgan and Rock-hampton, as the Dawson Valley rail-

way approaches to within 30 mile* or

Kilburnie Station." Mr. Ball winds uphis report by stating-" Should thcCallide coal be strong enough for bun-kering purposes the advantages of di-

rect railway connection between thcpresent leases snd the port of Glad-stone are obvious. It has been <asti

wated that the total rast of the con-

struction of a line from Calliope onthe Boyne Valley would not exceed£¿00,0(10, and that the freight of, «say,50,000 tons per annum would suffice lo

cover working expenses and payin-

terest on the capital expended."In addition to the test of the Callide

coal made by H.M.S. Torch incorporated

by Mr. h. C. Ball in his report of 1903,assays were made in 1601 by the late

Mr. W. H. Dunstan, then QueenslandGovernment Geologist, and Mr. J. Cos-mo Newbery, of Melbourne, the pub-lished reports of which I have before

reports of which I have beforeme. These two gentlemen found th»amount of fixed carbon in this coalvaried from 41 to 67 per cent and in onsinstance it went up to over 50 per centof fixed carbon. The coal analysed hythem came from Noa I, 3, and 3 shafts,all on the banks of crocks, so that it

waa not surprising that they found themoisture was high, averaging ninepoints.

In 1812 tests of Callida coal were

made tn Brisbane by the Harbours andRivers Department, but did not proveas satisfactory as that used on theH.M.S. Torch. Testa were also made bythe Railway Department, Brisbane,about the same time, but the coal testedwaa found to be unsuitable for locorno,tive work. In this latter ca ea it was

pointed out that tbe proportion of mois-ture was found to be too high and low

evaporative efficienry obtaineJ, both bjboiler and calorimeter tests, were mainlydue to this factor. Tbe advice was also

given that the mine workings shouldbe well drained.

In a recent personal letter to me from

Mr. Harry Otty, of Calliope, one of th«

original discoverers of the great coalfield, he gives it BS his opinion thatthis coal Is

some of the best in Aus-tralia, and fas informs me that the local

blacksmith and wheelwright, a man ol

many years' experience of the trade, con.

eiders the Callide coal unsurpassable foi

welding, for which purpose he finds thc

Baralaba coal useless.

During the 20 years that have passed

since the syndicate met with disastei

over this coalfield Messrs. Kessel), Wil-

son, and Friend, all enterprising busi-

ness men of Gladstone, have each ii

turn taken up the Callide coal leases

only to abandon them again. Mr. Frier«

secured them only about three yeanago. No doubt the high cost of rail-

way construction in these days ofli ¡pl

wages, expensive materials, and bea vj

transport costs were found (oo mud

of a handicap to link up thc Callidi

coal-bearing areas with Gladstone. How

of Callidi

ever, with the completion of the Callidi

Valley railway to Biloela, "a change hai

come across tbe spirit of the dream'

and brought the centre of this vast coal

field within 13 miles of that rising rail

way township, whence a light tramwai

could be inexpensively run out and .>«

make this dormant coalfield a hive o

industry.

The engineering difficulties in conncc

tion with the construction of suchi

tramway would be only slight. Mud

of the ground is level and there arc ni

big mountain range« to cross. Travel

ling out towards the coalfield fror

Biloela, about two miles out, the Wash

pooIiGully is crossed within sight of th

State farm. At four miles the Callid

Creek is crossed and a further thre

miles along, (he bank of thiti creek w

cross a small creek by means of th

Prairie Bridge, where, in thc carly aayi

a scared teamster lost his trousers nu

his loud of rations, but saved his li'

by running 10 miles barefooted. Anotlic

four miles, making in all ll, brings u

to the "Devil's Pool" right alongside th

roast and only half-a mile from where th

olí Bead, turning into the lefl, leads t

the «"»al shafts, and from that turno

a ItSJIIiey of a mile and n-balf, or 13Í

all, brings us right into Hie centre of tl

future conlopolis or Petrolopolis.

One ran visualise what will happenwith the opening up of these enormous

coal measures so closely connected hyrail with a big city like Rockhampton.There is room for scores of pits and halfa-dozen Bergins plants, manufacturingout of the coal petrol so cheap that theCallide \>lley will become a veritableSunshine Valley, where cheap petrol hasenabled thc farmer to live a life of lui'

ury compared with his present hardtimes, providing thc power at a lowcost to run his irrigation plants, milk-ing machines, cultivators, farm trac-tors, oil engines, motor trucks, andeven his Rolls-Royce. Then the workingminer and speculator, with this cheappower applied to motor-driven machinery,

power to machinery,will lie nble to open up again and bring? igorous life once more to thc old rich

raining fields,many of which lie within

easy reach of thc great petrol works to

bc c-tablislicd-Monal, where friend

Weakley, 0f thc No. 2 Lady Griffiths,

scooped in his £8000-Cania, -vlierc Stree-

ter tripped over £8000 also, in the Mt.Roso-Mt. Jacob, where poor old Jacobmissed out when The Dream panned out.?o well for thc lucky dreamer-Mt. Rain-bow, a mon-tn n of gold--Targinnie,with its rich minc, giving go,vi returnsfor seven years and still carying good

gold-Kroombit-TheFlgtreîl -Dar mun-

do»-Uoinpah and last, but not least,

(hut wonderful Norton mine, with Hs£500,0(10 from (lie Conran rbnft, andits still rich complex golden stone, of

which Captain Richards, a fortier mana-

ger ot the Mt. Morgan minc, ;>roplinsicd

"Thal thc day would come who't the Nor-

ton goldfield would carry a copulation

of 100,01)0 people."

Who will doubt thal, thc advent of

cheap mulor-driveii powerwill, ns with

a milgie wand, bring to light some of

tho hie tunnel*ry rewords of life, in

which we all feel we are entitled to have

a share.