Miners at the pithead of a coal mine at Walloon, 1890
Photo: Rosewood Scrub Historical Society

Rosewood History

Coal Mines in the Rosewood District

© Jane Schy 2024
Published 11/02/24

Links

Queensland Twenty Chain Series Rosewood Mine Map  – Geological Survey of Queensland

Ipswich & Rosewood Coalminers Memorial | Monument Australia

The minimum wage rates for employees in coal mining industry – 10th January 1955

 

Pit Ponies were used to pull coal wagons where height permitted in the local coal mines.
The photo above was taken in 1920 in Q.C. Gauchalland Mine. (Maryborough Fraser Coast Regional Council)

 

Map of coalfield – Queensland Department of Mines 1960

LIST OF COAL MINES

If you can assist with information about this list, please contact me.   hello@rosewoodpasttimes.com

Amberfield 1948 -1955  Proprietors: Amberley  Rylance Group

Ardath  1930- July 1935  Lanefield   Proprietors: Alexander Lawrie and D. S. Anderson

Snippets about Ardath Colliery

Caledonian  1888  Walloon  John Rea’s Shaft (Rea Seam) 1.5 metres thick, and in three sections.  By 1900 it was in the hands of John Wright and his partner William Robert Black and the manager was Charles Williams. In 1903 Arthur Boughen was the manager.
Caledonian No 1  1925 -1928  Thagoona
Caledonian No 2  1925-1947
Caledonian No 3  1931-1951
Caledonian No 4  1943-1950
Caledonian No 5  1940-1966
Caledonian No 6  1960-1966
Caledonian No 7  1960-1966

Snippets about the Caledonian Colliery
Photos from Picture Ipswich Caledonian Colliery

Clarefield Colliery  1924-1928 Thagoona/Walloon  Proprietor: Thomas Burnside Clark snr.
Situated half a kilometre west of where Moorlands mine had operated briefly in 1877, on the south side of the Ipswich to Rosewood railway line. It was opened by Thomas Burnside Clark and closed due to new ventilation rules.
Clarefield Colliery No 2  1937-1930
Clarefield Colliery No 3  1946-1950

Snippets about Clarefield Colliery

Clydebank  1925  Walloon   Clydebank Colliery Proprietary Ltd (H. Walker, T. Walker, V. Walker)
The colliery, formerly known as Walloon, in the Walloon district, has changed ownership, and has been renamed “Clydebank Colliery.” (February 1925).
Clydebank No 2, No 3, No 4
Clydebank No 5  Lanefield

Snippets about Clydebank Colliery

Commonwealth Colliery Limited  Rosewood 1903
In January 1903 coal was discovered in Rosewood on William James Hodge’s (local butcher) land. The land was about a mile (1.6km) or so on the Ipswich side of the township along the railway line, which he used for a slaughter-yard. The intention was to work the same seam as at Mooreland’s but on the northern side of the railway line. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt and the venture was short-lived.

Snippets about the Commonwealth Colliery

Duckenfield  1926-1928  200 meters west of Westvale Colliery No 2,  Lanefield.

Snippets about the Duckenfield Colliery

Edenbank  1920  John Hardie opened a small tunnel mine on a low spur of Perry’s Nob east of Rosewood – abandoned in 1925

Excelsior  1907 – 1913 North Rosewood (alongside the Marburg Railway line) – opened by the Bedworth Colliery Syndicate
1910 – Henry Harris sank a shaft to the Butler Seam for the Ipswich and Rosewood Coal and Coke Company Limited, and laid a tramway to bunkers which he built by the railway line 600 metres away. He took on nine hands and the company circulated optimistic reports about the prospects for their Excelsior Mine. Then Harris suddenly announced that coal production could not commence until a siding had been laid to the railway line. A fortuitous fire destroyed the engine-house and some of the machinery. Harris dismantled the other structures, and the company quietly abandoned the project.

Snippets about the Excelsior Colliery

Glencoe No 1  1905 North Rosewood – Leased by John F. Hall (Halls Limited) on William Domrow’s property. (1.2 to 1.5 metres thick, and in three sections). Six members of the Potts family took a sub-lease for the mining rights.

Hall closed the mine about 1908 until such time as the Rosewood-Marburg branch line would be finished, using the intervening time for driving a second (or No.2) tunnel to the seam and building coal bunkers ready for a siding.

Glencoe No 2  1911 – The mine reopened in 1911 with Alexander McLean as manager.
Glencoe No 3  1915-1920
Glencoe No 4  1921
Glencoe No 5
Glencoe No 6
Glencoe Extended  1960-1963
Glencoe Extended No 2  1962-1969

Snippets about the Glencoe Colliery
Photos at Picture Ipswich  – Glencoe Mine

Gowrie Fern Mine  1923-1925   200 metres south of Clydebank.

Haigmoor Colliery (Tivoli) joined with three Rosewood Collieries and operated until 26 May 1979.

Idemitsu Colliery – Ebenezer Mining Company Pty Ltd, 350 Coopers Road Willowbank Owners: Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd (Closed 1997)

Jeebropilly Mine  1982-2019  Amberley – Proprietors: New Hope Group (open cut)
Jeebropilly Mine was the last in the Walloon Series to close in December 2019.

Lanefield No 1  1918-1927 Proprietor: John Mitchell Bruce.  Situated on Mr. Daniel Crane’s property.
Worked by John Wright and Co. (Elizabeth A. Wright, John Wright, and Andrew Wright)
Lanefield No 2  1921
Lanefield No 3
Lanefield No 4
Lanefield No 5  Lanefield
Lanefield Extended  Lanefield
Lanefield Extended No 2  Mt Walker Rd, Rosewood
Lanefield Extended No 3  1945-1954  Ebenezer

Snippets about the Lanefield Colliery

Little Jim  1918 – John Mitchell Bruce sank a shaft east of Rosewood for James Boughen. Closed after six years. Reopened as Rosewood Colliery  in 1929. (1.5 metres thick in two sections)

Lowfield No 1  1925-1948  Lanefield – Wass Brothers (W. G. F. and H. N. Wass)
Lowfield No 2  1938-1951  North Rosewood

Snippets about the Lowfield Colliery

Malabar  1928  Marburg  Just north of Roughrigg Collieries, near Mountain Ash No 2.  Proprietors: A. and R. Lawrie
Malabar Nos 1-10
New Malabar No 1, No 2   All closed 1955

Snippets about the Malabar Colliery

Mooreland Coal Pits  1876  Rosewood – Messrs J. & J. Moore   Abandoned in 1878.

Moorefield No 1 1933 Walloon
Moorefield No 2 Walloon
Moorefield No 3  Amberley

5th November 1934 – New Coal Mine. About 12 months ago a bore was put down on Mr. C. P. Hertweck’s property for the purpose of finding coal, with the result that a good seam was struck. A shaft and tunnel were then put down, and now several miners are working, and good coal is being sold from what is known as the Moorefleld Colliery.

Mountain Ash No 1  1924-1928  Malabar near Marburg – Mountain Ash Collieries Limited
Mountain Ash No 2  1929-1932   North face of Perry’s Knob.

Snippets about Mountain Ash Colliery

Mountain View No 1, No 2  Tallegalla
New Mountain View  1945-1954  Tallegalla  Proprietor: Mr. E. Petie  Manager: Mr. J. Wood

The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld), Friday, 3 December 1954 page 6
Twenty-two miners at the New Mountain View Colliery, Rosewood, have received dismissal notices and will cease work after next Monday’s shift. It is believed that the mine, which has been in production for about three years, is to be closed because it is uneconomical to operate at present.

Mt Elliott No 1  1929 Amberley – situated on William Elliott’s property – Mt. Elliott Coal Company. William Elliott became associated with the company in 1938. He died in 1943.
Mt Elliott No 2
Mt Elliott Extended No 1   Amberley
On 29th May 1950, Edgar Dolmon Stubbersfield, Reginald Alwyn Brooker, Cecil Frederick Bunter, Roy Wass, Philip Bernard Fallu (trading as Mt. Elliott Coal Company) applied for the lease of an unnamed road containing seven acres two roods thirty-two perches, being the road separating Portion 178 Parish of Jeebropilly to the East from Portions 179, 184, 185, and 186 Parish of Jeebropilly. Bounded on the North by the main Ipswich-Rosewood Road and on the South by a further unnamed road. 

Neath No 1, No 2  1949-1956  Langtons Road

Normanton Colliery No 1  1922-1974  Rosewood
Two local families, the Boughens and the Trewicks, opened a little mine a few hundred metres east of Edenbank in 1922.

Normanton Colliery No 2  1947-1954   Mt Marrow
Snippets about the Normanton Colliery
Syd Trewick 1949

Oakleigh  Perrys Knob – absorbed the Glencoe, Perry’s Nob and Mountain Ash mines.
Oakleigh No 1  1928-1948
Oakleigh No 3  1948-1999 – The Oakleigh Colliery Company began business in 1948 when the Rule family acquired the operation. In November 1973 an open cut mine opened.
Oakleigh No 4  1961-1967
Oakleigh No 5  1984-1999

Snippets about Oakleigh Colliery

The New Oakleigh Open Cut  Rosewood 1999-25/01/2013
Owned by New Hope. New Hope acquired New Oakleigh from Sumitomo Coal in 1999. The mine closed down all mining activities at the site to focus on rehabilitation work. The reason for the closure was that the mine ran out of coal.

Rosemount Colliery No 1  1931-1934   Perry’s Knob
Rosemount No 2  1934-1940  In May 1934 a new tunnel was being driven north of Glencoe Colliery at North Rosewood. Rosemount Colliery Pty. Ltd. Proprietors:- E. W. Richardson, C. W. J. Richardson, F. Yarrow and D. A. Berlin.
Rosemount No 3
Rosemount No 4 1951-1969   Mt Walker Road.     Payslip

The Minutes of Rosemount Colliery 1937-1940 – Courtesy of Spencer Yarrow

Snippets about Rosemount Colliery

Rosewood Collieries, Limited  January 1903 – Launched by William Andrews, Thomas Murray and Will Haenke.
A company was formed with Martin William Haenke, an Ipswich architect, as Managing Director. Matthew Patterson was Manager. The company was registered in Ipswich and traded as Rosewood Collieries, Limited. About 1600 shares were allotted and fully paid up. Some of the shares were held by friends of Will Haenke in Melbourne. The company financed the sinking of a shaft south of the railway line some 200 metres east of Rosewood railway station.

On 30th May 1903, the company entered into a contract with Henry Steele to take out coal at 5s per ton. According to Will Haenke, on 9th July, an agreement between himself, Steel and Patterson was made whereby Steel and Patterson formed a partnership and Haenke, as Managing Director, would receive one third of the profits without being responsible for any debts. However, Steele and Patterson maintained that Haenke was also a partner.

In August 1904, the Melbourne shareholders thought that a deeper shaft would improve the quality of the coal, so in October Haenke authorised the sinking. Thomas N. Smith, William Cook, and James Simmonds were employed to do the labour. In October, when it came time to pay the men’s wages, Haenke said the company was not liable to pay their wages as they had been employed by Steele and Patterson. The matter ended up in the Ipswich Court in December when the three employees sued the company for unpaid wages. The men were awarded their claim by the Court in February 1905, by which time the company was in liquidation.

Rosewood Colliery No 1  1929-1951  (Hardie Seam 1.2 to 1.5 metres thick, and in two sections).
Rosewood Colliery No 2  1940-1971  (John Seam 1.5 metres thick, and in two sections) Closed 1971 and joined with Normanton and United No 8 as one company.

Snippets about Rosewood Colliery
Ponies’ Feeding Time Big Colliery Issue         New Coal Loader

Roughrigg No 1, 2, 3 1926-1958  Tallegalla. Partnership: Charles Cochrane, Agnes Cochrane, Thomas Bennett. The partnership was dissolved 22nd September 1930 and the business was carried on by Charles and Agnes Cochrane as Roughrigg Colliery.
Roughrigg No 4  1939-1949
Roughrigg  No 5  1955-1969
Roughrigg No 6  1948–1950
Roughrigg  No 7  1949-1966

In July 1926, Charles Cochrane successfully applied to the Rosewood Shire Council for the use of the reserve in front of C. Bundrock’s (Portion 537) at Tallegalla for coal mining purposes. The reserve was actually a road used only by one person so there were no objections. (Now Cochrane’s Road, Tallegalla) Here Charles opened the Roughrigg Colliery, so named after the mine he worked in back in Scotland.

Snippets about Roughrigg Colliery

Smithfield No 1  1940-1942
Smithfield No 2  1944-1956 Ebenezer  Messrs T. Purnell & Son
Smithfield No 3   ? -1965 Ebenezer

Snippets about Smithfield Colliery

United No 7  1944-1966   United Collieries Pty. Ltd – Mr Arnold Lambert Binnie
United No 8  194? -1972   It was situated where the Adrian Kratz family farm was at the foot of Evans Hill.

Snippets about United Collieries

Walloon Colliery  1877-1887   Smith and Levinge – Half a mile from the Walloon Railway Station. In 1879 the owners were Scott Smith and A. Meston, M. L. A until July 1880 when they dissolved their partnership. Sold to Messrs. Callaghan and Co., of Brisbane. Messrs. T. and J. Johnson leased it.

In December 1879 they discovered a beautiful, rare and valuable fossil specimen in their mine. Karl Staiger, a well-known analyst and assayer, identified it as Araucaria, a conifer tree from the Jurassic period. It was lying on a fragment of bituminous shale, the interstices filled up with sand and dotted with mica scales, and it was lying as naturally and as perfect as when it was deposited there millions of years ago. They presented it to the Queensland Museum.

Walloon Coal Mine – Report from the “Week” – 1879

Westfalen 1932-1948  Thagoona
Westfalen Colliery Company: August Kathage (senior), Wilhelm Kathage, August Kathage (junior) and Arthur Kathage (Booval); Adolf Carl George Spann (Goodna); Frederick Domrow (Mount Marrow, via Thagoona)

Snippets about Westfalen Colliery

Westvale No 1  1913 Perry’s Knob – Frank Gunthorpe and William Pearn
Westvale No 2  1918-1924 Closed at Perry’s Knob then opened at Lanefield.
Westvale No 3  1924-1930  Lanefield
Westvale No 4  1933-1938  Lanefield
Westvale No 5  1943-1959
Westvale No 6  1941-1953  Lanefield
Westvale No 7 1951-1954   Lanefield

Proprietors of Westvale Collieries (1940): Willis Lynn Haenke and Sibyl Maida Dixon

Snippets about Westvale Colliery

Chase at Bottom of Coal Mine 1938                  Incident in Mine. Accused Acquitted 1939

New Diesel Loco at Westvale Colliery’s 1951                  Reduce Hand Wheeling 1952

11th July 1945 – MINES RESCUE SUB-STATION AT ROSEWOOD
Following representations from the Queensland Colliery Employees’ Union and the Queensland Mines Rescue Station, the Mines Department has decided to establish a rescue sub-station at Rosewood. Advice to this effect has been received by the Secretary of the Q.C.E.U. (Mr. Jim Donald) from the Minister for Mines (Mr V. C. Gair).
The establishment of a subcentre was mooted early in the year, and the movement received an impetus following the Woodend disaster on February 1. Late in the same month representatives of the Q.C.E.U. District Executive, the Rosewood miners, and the Committee of Management of the Queensland Mines Rescue Station waited on the Minister for Mines and asked that a centre be ealablished at Rosewood, and that the Bundamba station should be modernised.
The Minister for Mines now has advised Mr. Donald: “I desire to inform you that it would appear that the establishment of a rescue sub-station at Rosewood would meet your requirements. It is proposed to make financial provision on the estimates for the financial year 1945-46 for 
(a) The establishment of an auxiliary sub-station at Rosewood, where trainees could be accommodated and partly trained, involving the provision of a building and equipment, expenditure in fees and transport for trainees, and purchase of stores.
(b) A new utility truck to facilitate transport, especially in the direction of training at the Rosewood auxiliary centre.
(c) A new service truck for the Ipswich station.
In the meantime reference is being made to the Committee of Management at Ipswich station as to the provision of the building equipment and motor vehicles, as well as the operating cost at Rosewood after that period. At the same time the committee is being asked for its further view on the matter of telephones at coIlieries and for some definite proposal in that regard.”

 

This was how coal was loaded at Lanefield Station when coal mines were operating there. Horses were used to pull the small trucks up along rails on the ramp.