History of mining in Australia.

What have been the 10 (or so) most recent mining towns in Australia?

I don’t feel like cooking anything, think I’ll just browse for tea.

mollwollfumble said:

History of mining in Australia.

What have been the 10 (or so) most recent mining towns in Australia?

(Strokes beard)

I would need a ruling. Is a large settlement made entirely of temporary buildings a “town”?

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

History of mining in Australia.

What have been the 10 (or so) most recent mining towns in Australia?

(Strokes beard)

I would need a ruling. Is a large settlement made entirely of temporary buildings a “town”?

Yes. For a certain period of time. Temporary town, I guess.

I guess you would need to define what a town is. I wouldn’t call a mining camp a town because it is workers only, no families. Well, there might be people related to each other in the same camp but no children under 18 and the people who live there rarely put it down as their place of residence. And then you would need to define mining town. Is it a town that developed due to a nearby mining operation or a town that already existed but is now supported mostly by nearby mining operation?

buffy said:

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

History of mining in Australia.

What have been the 10 (or so) most recent mining towns in Australia?

(Strokes beard)

I would need a ruling. Is a large settlement made entirely of temporary buildings a “town”?

Yes. For a certain period of time. Temporary town, I guess.

Did the Argyle mine (1985) have a township associated with it? The mine is expected to close in 2020.

The uranium mines are fairly recent. I know Olympic Dam (1988) has an associated town.

What about the other uranium mines, Jabiluka, Ranger (1980)?

Before Uranium and Diamonds, it would have been Iron ore? Or Bauxite?

Iron Knob in SA (1915) might have been the first of the iron ore towns. It has since closed and reopened.

So many iron ore mines in WA.
Tom Price (1966)
Newman (1966)
are the two biggest Pilbara towns.
Dampier on the coast, is that new? Yes, 1965. Both iron ore and NW Shelf natural gas.

Big bauxite mines are at Boddington, Gove, Huntly, Willowdale, Weipa.
Nhulunbuy (late 1960s) is associated with the Gove mine.
Alyangula (1960s) is on Groote Eylandt.
Weipa (1961)

Not sure about Boddington (WA), it is a mining town servicing the Boddington Gold mine, Worsley, Kwinana and Wagerup, but it actually dates back to the 1920s, as a railway town.
Worsley is similar, now a mining town it originally dates back to 1909 as a railway town.
Ditto Wagerup, originally railway, now bauxite.
Pinjarra township, now mining, dates back to 1831.
Kwinana (1954)

At least 200 towns across Australia began as mining towns. I’ve been wondering if they account for perhaps as high a percentage as 50% of all non-coastal Australian Towns?

So that’s 2 new mining towns from the 1980s, six new mining towns in the 1960s, and Kwinana in 1954.

What have I missed?

• The uranium mines are fairly recent. I know Olympic Dam (1988) has an associated town.

Roxby Downs (1986) was the newest one I could think of…

• So that’s 2 new mining towns from the 1980s, six new mining towns in the 1960s, and Kwinana in 1954.
  
  What have I missed?

The 1970’s e.g. Pannawonica (1970)

furious said:

• The uranium mines are fairly recent. I know Olympic Dam (1988) has an associated town.

Roxby Downs (1986) was the newest one I could think of…

• So that’s 2 new mining towns from the 1980s, six new mining towns in the 1960s, and Kwinana in 1954.
  
  What have I missed?

The 1970’s e.g. Pannawonica (1970)

Lots of info here. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/history-of-uranium-mining-in-australia/6607212

Tamb said:

furious said:

• The uranium mines are fairly recent. I know Olympic Dam (1988) has an associated town.

Roxby Downs (1986) was the newest one I could think of…

• So that’s 2 new mining towns from the 1980s, six new mining towns in the 1960s, and Kwinana in 1954.
  
  What have I missed?

The 1970’s e.g. Pannawonica (1970)

Lots of info here. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/history-of-uranium-mining-in-australia/6607212

Thanks furious and Tamb.

Uranium mining stopped being a political issue extremely abruptly, when the indigenous owners wanted mining to continue. Showing that their real reason for opposing the mine was because they wanted a cut of the profits, rather than for any sacredness of the land. Sensible thinking.

I hadn’t heard of Pannawonica, “it reportedly had the highest median weekly income of any town in Western Australia and most likely Australia, due to the high income of its mine workers.” Nice.

mollwollfumble said:

Tamb said:

furious said:

• The uranium mines are fairly recent. I know Olympic Dam (1988) has an associated town.

Roxby Downs (1986) was the newest one I could think of…

• So that’s 2 new mining towns from the 1980s, six new mining towns in the 1960s, and Kwinana in 1954.
  
  What have I missed?

The 1970’s e.g. Pannawonica (1970)

Lots of info here. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/history-of-uranium-mining-in-australia/6607212

Thanks furious and Tamb.

Uranium mining stopped being a political issue extremely abruptly, when the indigenous owners wanted mining to continue. Showing that their real reason for opposing the mine was because they wanted a cut of the profits, rather than for any sacredness of the land. Sensible thinking.

I hadn’t heard of Pannawonica, “it reportedly had the highest median weekly income of any town in Western Australia and most likely Australia, due to the high income of its mine workers.” Nice.

Another out of the way mining town from the 70’s you might not have heard of is Leinster (1976). In fact, you would need to make a full list of all mining towns and then date them to be able to get an accurate list of the ten most recent otherwise you will most likely miss a lot of the small out of the way places you have possibly never heard of e.g. Savage River (1965).

furious said:

mollwollfumble said:

Tamb said:

Lots of info here. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/history-of-uranium-mining-in-australia/6607212

Thanks furious and Tamb.

Uranium mining stopped being a political issue extremely abruptly, when the indigenous owners wanted mining to continue. Showing that their real reason for opposing the mine was because they wanted a cut of the profits, rather than for any sacredness of the land. Sensible thinking.

I hadn’t heard of Pannawonica, “it reportedly had the highest median weekly income of any town in Western Australia and most likely Australia, due to the high income of its mine workers.” Nice.

Another out of the way mining town from the 70’s you might not have heard of is Leinster (1976). In fact, you would need to make a full list of all mining towns and then date them to be able to get an accurate list of the ten most recent otherwise you will most likely miss a lot of the small out of the way places you have possibly never heard of e.g. Savage River (1965).

Cool. Had not heard of those.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-18/life-in-unique-bhp-town-of-leinster-in-wa-northern-goldfields/9643986
“Welcome to Leinster: WA’s unique mining town with no mortgages and almost no crime. Around 1,000 kilometres north-east of Perth, in the northern Goldfields, lies the unique town of Leinster — where everyone has a job, free housing, and free access to the gym and local swimming pool. With next to no crime, no mortgages, leafy tree-lined streets and a thriving community, Leinster is truly an oddity of the outback.”

Sign me up.

http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/savage-river-tas
“Iron ore mining township on the Tasmanian West Coast. … You can’t get much more isolated in Tasmania than Corinna. This historic mining town, which once had a population of 2,500, is now little more than a ghost town with an ecotourism component. It is located at the southern end of the Tarkine, the largest temperate rainforest in Australia.”

Sign me up here, too.