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Berry No 1 Gold Mining Co Mine & Machinery Site

Location

Daylesford-Clunes Road,, SMEATON VIC 3364 - Property No B6001

File Number

B6001

Level

State

Statement of Significance

The mine worked a section of the Berry Lead north of Birch Creek.
The machinery consisted of a 70/80 inch Cornish beam engine driving 22 inch pumps, a winding engine, poppet heads and puddling plant. The beam engine was the largest steam engine made in victoria up to that time. Its manufacture marks a high point in the development of mechanical engineering in Australia; signifying that in little more than 40 years after the first foundry had been started with the simplest of equipment, some establishments had mastered the skills necessary to make economically what, at that time, were examples of high technology.
The beam engine house is substantially intact, the second most intact such structure in Victoria (next to that at the Duke of Cornwall mine, Fryerstown) and is located adjacent to an extensive mullock dump and tailings area and to other plant and machinery foundations, both of which provide a context for explaining its function and operation.
Classified: 22/08/1988

Group