Charters Towers, Queensland
Encyclopedia
Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland
, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland (south-west) from Townsville on the Flinders Highway
. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under the city were developed. After becoming uneconomic in the 20th century, profitable mining operations have commenced once again.
The town
was founded in the 1870s when gold was discovered by chance at Towers Hill on Christmas Eve 1871 by 12-year-old Aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mossman. Jupiter was with a small group of prospectors including Hugh Mosman, James Fraser and George Clarke. Their horses bolted after a flash of lightning. While he was searching Jupiter found both the horses and a nugget of gold in a creek at the base of Towers Hill. Charters originated from the Gold Commissioner, W.S.E.M. Charters. A total of ten major gold reefs were eventually mined.
Such were the boom years, between 1872 and 1899, that Charters Towers hosted its own Stock Exchange
. A railway between Charters Towers and the coastal port of Townsville was completed in December 1882. During this period, the population was approximately 30,000, making Charters Towers Queensland's largest city outside of Brisbane
. The city was also affectionately known as 'The World', as it was said that anything one might desire could be had in the 'Towers', leaving no reason to travel elsewhere. The town was officially declared in 1877 with John McDonald being elected the town's first mayor.
By 1917 gold mining became uneconomic. During World War I
labour was hard to find, and as the mines drove deeper, ventilation and water problems arose. This production decline was similar across Australian gold mines, with rising costs and a fixed gold price eroding profitability. The town entered a long period of relative stagnation and little further development has occurred since.
The Charters Towers gold field produced over 200 tonnes (6.6 million troy ounce
s) of gold from 1871-1917. The gold is concentrated into veins and was Australia's richest major field with an average grade of 34 grams per tonne. The grade was almost double that of Victorian
mines and almost 75% higher than the grades of Western Australia
n (Kalgoorlie) gold fields of that time.
. Hundreds of separate mining leases covering an area of 200 square kilometres were consolidated by James Lynch in the 1970s and 1980s and the company Citigold listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993. After 89 years the goldfields were reopened and gold was produced again from the Warrior Mine 4 km southeast of the town in November 2006 by Citigold Corporation Limited. Gold is mined from two deposits which are accessed by sloping tunnels. The extracted gold ore is trucked about 10 km south west of the city for processing into gold Doré bar
s. Citigold has announced plans to open three mines directly under the city to extract gold at a rate of 250,000 ounces per year.
Charters Towers has four secondary schools: Columba Catholic College, Blackheath and Thornburgh College, All Souls St Gabriels School and Charters Towers State High School
. The nearest university is the James Cook University
, in Townsville. Charters Towers is well known as a boarding school town, with families from all over western Queensland, N.T. and W.A. sending their children to school in the district because the education is very good and in not too big a town like Townsville or Cairns. The Alliance of Charters Towers State Schools represents the five State schools in the area that are funded by the Queensland Government.
.
, a mining publication in Canada) was first published in August 1872, just eight months after the discovery of gold. Such was its strength in those gold mining days of the late 1880s that The Northern Miner installed a then revolutionary linotype slug casting machine
before Brisbane's The Courier Mail. It was the only newspaper (of five published during the boom gold years) that survives today. In 2000, The Northern Miner was linked for the first time to the North Queensland Newspaper Company and therefore News Limited’s electronic layout system and website.
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland (south-west) from Townsville on the Flinders Highway
Flinders Highway, Queensland
Flinders Highway is a highway that crosses Queensland from east to west, from Townsville on the Pacific coast to Cloncurry . Flinders Highway and passes a number of small outback towns. Typical outback landscape predominates towards the inland...
. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold deposits under the city were developed. After becoming uneconomic in the 20th century, profitable mining operations have commenced once again.
History and gold mining
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
was founded in the 1870s when gold was discovered by chance at Towers Hill on Christmas Eve 1871 by 12-year-old Aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mossman. Jupiter was with a small group of prospectors including Hugh Mosman, James Fraser and George Clarke. Their horses bolted after a flash of lightning. While he was searching Jupiter found both the horses and a nugget of gold in a creek at the base of Towers Hill. Charters originated from the Gold Commissioner, W.S.E.M. Charters. A total of ten major gold reefs were eventually mined.
Such were the boom years, between 1872 and 1899, that Charters Towers hosted its own Stock Exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
. A railway between Charters Towers and the coastal port of Townsville was completed in December 1882. During this period, the population was approximately 30,000, making Charters Towers Queensland's largest city outside of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The city was also affectionately known as 'The World', as it was said that anything one might desire could be had in the 'Towers', leaving no reason to travel elsewhere. The town was officially declared in 1877 with John McDonald being elected the town's first mayor.
By 1917 gold mining became uneconomic. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
labour was hard to find, and as the mines drove deeper, ventilation and water problems arose. This production decline was similar across Australian gold mines, with rising costs and a fixed gold price eroding profitability. The town entered a long period of relative stagnation and little further development has occurred since.
The Charters Towers gold field produced over 200 tonnes (6.6 million troy ounce
Troy ounce
The troy ounce is a unit of imperial measure. In the present day it is most commonly used to gauge the weight of precious metals. One troy ounce is nowadays defined as exactly 0.0311034768 kg = 31.1034768 g. There are approximately 32.1507466 troy oz in 1 kg...
s) of gold from 1871-1917. The gold is concentrated into veins and was Australia's richest major field with an average grade of 34 grams per tonne. The grade was almost double that of Victorian
Victorian gold rush
The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. In 10 years the Australian population nearly tripled.- Overview :During this era Victoria dominated the world's gold output...
mines and almost 75% higher than the grades of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n (Kalgoorlie) gold fields of that time.
Economy
Charters Towers is a regional centre for the mining industry, the beef industry and education, specifically boarding schools catering for remote rural families.Mining
It has been estimated that there exists more gold underground than the total removed in the gold rushGold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
. Hundreds of separate mining leases covering an area of 200 square kilometres were consolidated by James Lynch in the 1970s and 1980s and the company Citigold listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993. After 89 years the goldfields were reopened and gold was produced again from the Warrior Mine 4 km southeast of the town in November 2006 by Citigold Corporation Limited. Gold is mined from two deposits which are accessed by sloping tunnels. The extracted gold ore is trucked about 10 km south west of the city for processing into gold Doré bar
Dore bar
A doré bar is a semi-pure alloy of gold and silver, usually created at the site of a mine. It is then transported to a refinery for further purification.The proportions of silver and gold can vary widely...
s. Citigold has announced plans to open three mines directly under the city to extract gold at a rate of 250,000 ounces per year.
Education
Charters Towers State High School
Charters Towers State High School is a high school in Charters Towers in northern Queensland, Australia.Charters Towers State High School is a high school in Charters Towers in northern Queensland, Australia....
. The nearest university is the James Cook University
James Cook University
James Cook University is a public university based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The university has two Australian campuses, located in Townsville and Cairns respectively, and an international campus in Singapore. JCU is the second oldest university in Queensland—proclaimed in 1970—and the...
, in Townsville. Charters Towers is well known as a boarding school town, with families from all over western Queensland, N.T. and W.A. sending their children to school in the district because the education is very good and in not too big a town like Townsville or Cairns. The Alliance of Charters Towers State Schools represents the five State schools in the area that are funded by the Queensland Government.
Geography and climate
Charters Towers township is mildly elevated at 300 metres above sea-level, but this has a noticeable effect, with lower humidity and bigger temperature variations than nearby Townsville. Charters Towers obtains its water supply from the nearby Burdekin RiverBurdekin River
The Burdekin River in Queensland, Australia rises on the western slope of the Seaview Range and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Upstart Bay over 200 km to the southeast of the source. The river was first encountered by Europeans during the expedition led by Ludwig Leichhardt in 1845 and named...
.
Media and communications: The Northern Miner
The Northern Miner newspaper (not to be confused with The Northern MinerThe Northern Miner
The Northern Miner is a weekly trade journal that reports on the mining industry. The Northern Miner began publication Cobalt, Ontario Canada in 1915, and has since moved publication to Toronto....
, a mining publication in Canada) was first published in August 1872, just eight months after the discovery of gold. Such was its strength in those gold mining days of the late 1880s that The Northern Miner installed a then revolutionary linotype slug casting machine
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
before Brisbane's The Courier Mail. It was the only newspaper (of five published during the boom gold years) that survives today. In 2000, The Northern Miner was linked for the first time to the North Queensland Newspaper Company and therefore News Limited’s electronic layout system and website.
The Goldfield Ashes
The Charters Towers Goldfield Ashes has been an amateur cricket carnival conducted over the long week-end in January since 1948 by the Charters Towers Cricket Association Incorporated (CTCA), and it is now the largest in the southern hemisphere. Players ranging from regional and the country to play. Numbers in recent years have reached just shy of 200 teams. The event is of massive benefit for the town bringing in business for the entire region, especially the town's pubs and clubs. While the higher grades take it very seriously with awards and prizes given, the lower grades take to a more social view. Games involving drinking penalties and costume wearing are all part of the antics. In 2010, more teams were involved than ever. However, the competition did not reach the magic two hundred team only because of the lack of fields in the region. Many of the fields are concrete pitches on the properties of local families in the region.Notable people
- William Edward HarneyWilliam Edward HarneyWilliam Edward Harney , also well-known as Bill Harney, was a largely self-educated Australian writer. Most of his early life was an itinerant one of poverty and hardship, punctuated by tragedy, spent mainly in the outback...
, Australian writer - Cecil AynsleyCecil AynsleyCecil "The Red Flyer" Aynsley was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1920s and 30s. A Queensland state and Australian representative winger, and talented goal-kicker he scored a try in each of his four national representative appearances....
, member of the Queensland Rugby League team of the century - Andrew SymondsAndrew SymondsAndrew Symonds is a former Australian cricket team all-rounder. A two-time World Cup winner, Symonds is a right-handed middle order batsman and alternates between medium pace and off-spin bowling....
, Australian Test cricketer, spent much of his early childhood in Charters Towers - Wilhelm IwanWilhelm IwanWilhelm Iwan, author, historian, and theologian lived from 1871 until 1958. As a historian, he documented the 19th century exodus from Germany to America and Australia by a group who sought religious freedom...
(1871–1958), author, historian, and theologian (lived in Charters Towers for nine years and authored a book describing his experiences)
External links
- University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Charters Towers
- Charters Towers City Council website
- Citigold Corporation
- Mining settlement near Charters Towers, ca. 1890 Photo held by John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Photo courtesy Visitor Information Centre.