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CATHERINE REEF UNITED COMPANY GOLD MINE

Location

LODDON VALLEY HIGHWAY EAGLEHAWK, GREATER BENDIGO CITY

File Number

607532

Level

Registered

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Statement of Significance

The Catherine Reef United Company Gold Mine remains consist of sets of engine and battery foundations. These are remnants of quartz mining carried on at the site between 1861 and 1913. In its early period this mine was considered the second most important in Victoria behind the Port Phillip Company at Clunes. The engines and battery were intimately connected with the technology of quartz mining which required steam power to pound the quartz to sand in order to extract the gold.

The Catherine Reef United Company Gold Mine is of historical, archaeological and scientific importance to the State of Victoria.

The Catherine Reef United Company Gold Mine is historically and scientifically important as a characteristic example of an important form of gold mining. Gold mining sites are of crucial importance for the pivotal role they have played since 1851 in the development of Victoria. As well as being a significant producer of Victoria's nineteenth century wealth, quartz mining, with its intensive use of machinery, played an important role in the development of Victorian manufacturing industry. The Catherine Reef United Company Gold Mine is important for its manifestation of this facet of gold mining.

The Catherine Reef United Company Gold Mine is archaeologically important for its potential to yield artefacts and evidence which will be able to provide significant information about the technological history of gold mining.

Group