DETAILS / SIGNIFICANCE
The company operated two shafts on their property. The most significant extant remains are at No. 1 shaft and consist of a substantial mullock dump, chiefly made up of water-washed quartz pebbles and stones, and the beam wall of a brick Cornish engine house. The beam engine used here was the second largest such engine to be made locally in Victoria. It was identical to that installed at the Berry No. 1 mine down the road. Classified: 22/08/1988
Mullock heap - Large mullock heap with single dumping line.Pump arch - On the northern end of the mullock heap is a brick pump arch which measures 26ft x 24ft and stands approximately 20 to 25ft. The adjoining cockpit is full of rubble. The top of the pump arch is capped with basalt blocks.Cylinder bed - 10ft diameter with 3 inch mounting bolts. Majority of the bed is brick, capped with basalt blocks. Near the cylinder bed is another brick bed, 11ft x 7ft, standing 5ft.Boiler house site - Basalt rubble, glimpses of foundations, and depressions. Shaft - Filled with agricultural rubbish. Pebble dump - West side of mullock heap, largely quarried. Sand heap - Only partly quarried./n
Heritage Inventory Significance: The site has: Historical significance - the company possessed some of the most extensive plant on the lead Scientific significance - intactness of the foundations Archaeological potential Network values - part of the Berry network of significant sites SIGNIFICANCE RANKING: National Estate
Recorded by: J. Harrington & David Bannear Date Recorded: 00SEP1994
HISTORY
History Heritage Inventory History of Site: The following history was extracted from The Berry Deep Leads: an historical assessment, CF&L, October 1986, Charles Fahey. Located on the farm of the Anderson brothers - millers at Smeaton - the Hepburn Leasehold was floated in June 1881. In December 1881 the first bores were sunk. The company's initial shaft sinking operations were frustrated by water. Machinery In 1884 the company's plant consisted of one 24 inch cylinder winding engine (used for pumping); one Cornish pumping engine - 70 inch cylinder, 9 feet stroke - capable of working two sets of pumps - 14 inch and 17¾ inch; four Cornish flue boilers; four puddling machines and one 16-inch cylinder engine to drive same. Additional plant was to be installed to this due to the large volumes of water encountered.
Significance The Hepburn Estate mine indicates many of the problems faced by mines on the northern end of the Berry leads. Although the eighth producer of gold this mine was less profitable than the 16th producer. To deal with the water problems the company possessed some of the most extensive plant on the lead, particularly its 70 inch cylinder, Cornish beam pump and brick engine house.