Coal Mines Historic Site
| Australian Convict Sites | |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| Ruins at the Coal Mines Historic Site |
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| National territory: | Australia |
| Type: | World Heritage |
| Criteria : | (iv) (vi) |
| Reference No .: | 1306 |
| UNESCO region : | Asia and Pacific |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 2010 (session 34) |
The Coal Mines Historic Site (German: Historisches Kohlenbergwerk ) is a listed convict complex on the Australian island of Tasmania , where at peak times up to around 570 British convicts had to live and work from 1833 to 1848.
The approximately 350 hectare site contains the ruins of stone houses that were used to house the convicts, a bakery, kitchen, school room and houses for prison guards and officers as well as a church. The machine and track systems and streets are recognizable. On the beach at Little Norfolk Bay on the Tasman Peninsula , the historic harbor and jettys where the coal was loaded have been preserved.
The ensemble is due to its historical and cultural significance in the Australian National Heritage List and on the list of UNESCO World Heritage site since 1 August 2010, as one of eleven Australian Convict Sites entered.
Location and importance
The ruins of the Coal Mines Historic Site are located two miles from Saltwater Creek to the north on the Tasman Peninsula. They are located between Coal Mine Hill and Mount Stewart and allow conclusions to be drawn about the living and working conditions of the convicts. The buildings and their history also provide a glimpse into the politics of colonial times, how convicts were treated.
The coal mine had a certain economic importance for the development of Tasmania in the early 1800s, as previously the supply of coal from New South Wales had to be costly and time-consuming by sea to Tasmania.
Convict mine
Since the establishment of the first British settlement on Risdon Cove on Tasmania in 1803, almost all goods had to be brought from New South Wales to Tasmania, then called Van Tiemen's Land. In order to use Tasmania's large wood reserves, a central prison for convicts was built in Port Arthur in 1830 , which was responsible for all convicts in Tasmania, which was led by Charles O'Hara Booth from 1833.
The coal deposit was discovered on the coast of the Tasman Peninsula in 1833 by Woodward and Hughes. The layer thickness of the discovered deposit was about two meters and it was by no means sufficient for the supply of the colony Tasmania, but the administrators of the convicts saw in it a possibility to send rebellious convicts there. Shortly after this discovery, a small group of miners began mining there, instructed by convict Joseph Lacey, a simple miner . The broken coal was transported in wagons to two jetties on the coast and from there loaded onto ships.
The convicts lived in wooden houses with single cells and stone houses were built for the military personnel and the commanders. The connection with the main settlement to the mine, plant and coast could be made accessible by roads, paths and tracks.
Lieutenant-governor John Franklin of Tasmania sent a reporter to the mine to get an overview of the situation there with regard to the productivity of the convict operations and the efficiency of the management. The rapporteur stayed there for three months, making a geological map of the area, suggesting coal mining at greater depth and extent elsewhere and the dismissal of Lacey. The first ship transport with coal left the mine site on June 5, 1834. The coal was brought from the mine in baskets to wagons that went on rails to the jettys on the coast.
In the period from 1838 to 1841, five officers and 200 convicts were employed and extracted 10,817 tons of coal.
From 1842 to 1848 labor productivity developed through the use of steam engines and the useless rock was blasted off and cleared away. The water that ran into the pits could be removed with a steam-powered pump and ventilation shafts were made. The mine was the first mechanized mine in Tasmania, it had a workshop, a forge and a machine shop. Not only stones were used to build the buildings, but bricks were burned and built from the clay on the site.
Coal production averaged 50 tons per week, but it was halved in 1847 and this contributed to the rise in the price of coal in Tasmania. A total of 60,000 tons of coal were broken from the mine. The mine was further advanced underground and reached a depth of more than 90 meters in 1847. The work was carried out in two 8-hour shifts and each shift had the default to crush 25 tons of coal.
Reverend Henry Phibbs Fry reported on the hard working life of the convicts in the mine: The convicts worked underground with hand-operated machines, the routes to work were up to five miles long, the tunnels were sometimes so low that you had to crawl. The lamps barely lit the tunnels and often went out; the air was bad. The men only worked in trousers, only 83 convicts broke coal, the others were busy transporting coal and were supervised by prison guards and constables .
Convicts
The British convicts were divided into three classes, which presented themselves in different accommodations: the third-class prisoners were housed in single cells, the two-class in rooms with 10 and the first class in huts with 20 convicts. There were 78 convict camps in Tasmania and 2000 convicts were transported there annually and from 1840 new 4000 convicts were transported there.
In 1839 there were 150 convicts and 29 officers on the mine site. In 1840 eight children from civil and military personnel went to day school. The number of convicts rose to 579 in the 1840s and from 1845 to 1847 36 single cells and 108 rooms were set up for several convicts. In 1844, 90 children lived on the site.
In the period from 1841 until the mine was closed in 1848, the mine manager in charge reported directly to Hobart and no longer to Port Arthur , although the commander there was responsible for the mine, including safety.
To build the mine and the settlement, natural stones were broken and processed on the site, bricks and lime were burned, iron forged, trees felled, agriculture and horticulture were carried out. Two quarries and a lime kiln were located on the site.
Closure of the mine
reasons
In the late 1840s, there was a debate about the transportation of convicts from England. With the colonization of Australia by voluntary immigrants, the structure of the population changed and the new immigrants felt their safety was threatened by the mass of convicts.
The economic problems, the low yield and utility of the coal deposit and the productivity of the convict employment became increasingly evident. Despite new steam-powered pumps and the construction of a railway, it was not possible to increase the coal yield significantly. The poor quality of coal from the peninsula was a problem from the start. The yield fell, in 1847 300 tons per week were broken and of the 403 prisoners only 196 worked in the coal mine.
Incidents of homosexuality among the convicts became the focus of the anti-transport debate, as documented in a correspondence between William Gladstone , Charles La Trobe and John Hampton, the chief perpetrator of the convicts. In order to prevent these sexual practices from being carried out, the mine tunnels were equipped with additional lights, viewing slits were made in doors, constables were visited without prior notice, and a building with 108 individual cells was built in 1846. Attempts were also made to separate the convicts at night. John Hampton reported in 1848 that "great care has been taken to prevent unnatural crimes among the convicts at the Coal Mines, yet from the extreme difficulty of maintaining complete surveillance over the men while at work, the Coal Mines always has been in this respect, the least satisfactory of all the stations. "
When Reverend Henry Phibbs Fry visited the mine towards the end of 1847, he reported on the conditions there: "In the habit of committing shocking crimes and that there was no means of putting a stop to their evil practices."
The conglomerate of economic problems, changes in the structure of Tasmanian society and Protestant reservations came to fruition, and John Hampton, who was primarily responsible for the convicts, decided to close the mine.
Continuation
On April 8, 1848, Hobart newspapers were looking for a private investor in the coal mine. An investor was assured that the labor of convicts would continue to be available and exploited.
From 1848 to 1877 the mine was operated privately. In 1877 the coal fields were exhausted and in 1901 all mining activities ceased, the buildings fell into disrepair. Since 1877 only firewood has been felled and road material has been extracted in the area.
The ruins were first secured for a park in 1938, and further safeguards were made in 1949 and 1966 by the Parks and Wildlife Service of Tasmania.
Web links
- Coal Mines Historic Site for more information at www.environment.gov.au
- Coal Mine on www.parks.tas.gov.au
- Brochure about Coal Historic Site at www.environment.gov.au (PDF; 652 kB)
- Tasmania's Mining Heritage at www.mininghistory.asn.au
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Australian Heritage Database. Places for decision. Class: Historic. Information on www.environment.gov.au ( Memento of March 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved January 24, 2011
Coordinates: 42 ° 59 ′ 1 ″ S , 147 ° 42 ′ 59 ″ E