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Bogolong iron mine and blast furnace

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The Bogolong blast furnace and iron mine is an abandoned iron mining and smelting site, near Bookham, New South Wales, Australia. Located in an area known best for sheep grazing and wool, it has been called Australia’s ‘forgotten furnace.[1]

The blast furnace produced a small amount of pig iron—sufficient to allow its testing—that was smelted [2] from iron ore mined nearby. Plans to operate commercially did not eventuate.[3] It is significant as one of the only three remaining ruins of 19th-Century iron-smelting blast furnaces in Australia, and the only one in New South Wales.[4]

Location

The abandoned iron mine and the ruin of the blast furnace is located alongside a part of Jugiong Creek—a part that was considered part of Bogolong Creek in the 19th-Century—approximately 3 km north of the small settlement of Bookham. [2][5] The site is on the first of two 180-degree bends in Jugiong Creek, where the stream changes direction from north to south before resuming its generally northward flow. [2][5]

Historical Context

In the early 1870s there was a sharp increase in the price of iron. This encouraged several iron-smelting ventures in Australia, as locally-smelted iron became cost competitive. The high-prices were short-lived; by the late 1870s, imported pig-iron—shipped as ballast in sailing ships—became relatively cheap once again.[6]

During the 19th-century, a name for the entire area around Bookham was Bogolong.[7]

History

In late 1873, the newly established Bogolong Iron Mining Company (with 4,800 shares and a paid up capital of £1200)[8] took a lease over 200-acres (80-hectares) of land alongside what was then known as Bogolong Creek [1], now the upstream portion of Jugiong Creek.[9] The owners of the company were two local men from Bookham (Robert Stacey and George Rees), four investors from Albury (Richard Thomas Blackwell, Andrew Edward Heath, Thomas Affleck, and John Charles Gray), and the company’s manager, Thomas Blackwell, from Daylesford.[10][8]

From July 1873, seven workers were employed in mining iron ore at the site.[11] A blast furnace was constructed adjacent to the mine. Five pigs of iron were cast on 31 March 1874. There were immediate problems caused by the fire-brick lining failing under the intense heat of the furnace.[12] Operations ceased, while repairs were made. Four more pigs were cast on 20 May 1874. All nine of the iron pigs that had been made were sent to Melbourne to ascertain product quality, but there was no further iron smelting at the site. Plans for a larger company—the Bogolong Charcoal Ironworks Company[13]—to operate commercially, never eventuated[2]and the furnace and mine were abandoned.[14]

In August 1875, it was reported that English capitalists, after testing a sample of Bogolong ore, were interested in buying the mine,[15][16] but nothing came of those plans.[14]

Technology

Process and equipment

The blast furnace stood 6m high, a very small furnace even by the standards of its time. It had a square base, three tuyeres and an arched hearth (on the southern side) through which iron and slag were tapped onto an adjacent casting floor. The outer shell of the furnace was made of local stone. The inner lining was of locally-made fire bricks. The space between the outer shell and the inner lining was packed with clay.[2] The fire bricks proved completely unsuitable and failed rapidly once smelting began; that being a reason that so little iron was produced.[12]

The furnace was a cold-blast furnace with the air-blast being provided by a 10 h.p. steam engine driving an ‘American blower’[11] There was a level timber trestle bridge from the top of the slope to the top of the furnace, over which the raw materials were moved by wheelbarrow before being added to the furnace.[9][4]

The fuel used was charcoal made from locally available hardwood.[3][9] Limestone—used as a smelting flux—was mined locally, reportedly from within the company's lease, [17]although its precise source is unknown today.[9]

Product quality

A 19th-Century analysis of the iron ore gave a result of 52% metallic iron ore.[9] The ore was hematite.[4] It was reported that the ore was superior to that of the Fitzroy Iron Works.[15] The iron pigs produced in March and May of 1874 were examined and found to be of high-quality, reportedly superior to pig iron made from Northern Tasmanian ore around the same time.[11]

Remnants

The mine site—an open quarry—extends to the top of a slope. Piles of iron ore and limestone, mined during 1873-1874, remain midway between the mine and the blast furnace site.[4]

The blast furnace ruin, casting floor and some other remnants are nearby on a piece of flat land—a man-made terrace—that is part way down a southward-facing slope that ends at a wide sandy stretch of Jugiong Creek.[2] By 1993, there was nothing remaining of the blowing equipment or other machinery.[2] The outer shell of the furnace ruin was still complete in 1993, but the fire bricks of the inner lining largely had been pilfered over the years.[2] However, since 1993, the ruined structure has become partially overgrown by blackberry bush and some structurally important timber lintels have rotted.[5] By 2010, robbing of stonework from the top of the structure had weakened it structurally, leaving it under threat of collapse.[4]

The remnants are on private property and not accessible to the public, but they are partially visible from adjoining public land on Illalong Road, the road between Bookham and Illalong[1]

As one of only three remaining ruins of 19th-Century iron-smelting blast furnace structures in Australia and the only one in New South Wales, the site has heritage recognition,[4] but is not being conserved or managed as a heritage site. It remains the 'forgotten furnace’.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Jack, Ian, 1935- (1994). Australia's age of iron : history and archaeology. Cremin, Aedeen. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 89. ISBN 0424001586. OCLC 30791353.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Jack, Ian, 1935- (1994). Australia's age of iron : history and archaeology. Cremin, Aedeen. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 95. ISBN 0424001586. OCLC 30791353.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Southern, J. L. N. "The History of Iron Smelting in Australia". Illawarra Historical Society. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Bogolong Iron Smelter Blast Furnace | NSW Environment & Heritage". www.environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  5. ^ a b c Geocaching. "Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site". www.geocaching.com. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  6. ^ McKillop, Robert F. (2006). Furnace, fire & forge : Lithgow's iron and steel industry, 1874-1932. Light Railway Research Society of Australia. Melbourne, Australia: Light Railway Research Society of Australia. p. 14. ISBN 0909340447. OCLC 156757606.
  7. ^ "A Tour in the Southern Districts". Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907). 1878-02-16. p. 23. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  8. ^ a b "Bogolong Iron Mining Company". New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 - 1900). 1873-12-12. p. 3487. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  9. ^ a b c d e Jack, Ian, 1935- (1994). Australia's age of iron : history and archaeology. Cremin, Aedeen. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 91. ISBN 0424001586. OCLC 30791353.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Jack, Ian, 1935- (1994). Australia's age of iron : history and archaeology. Cremin, Aedeen. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. 89, 90. ISBN 0424001586. OCLC 30791353.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ a b c "MINING". Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875). 1874-05-08. p. 2. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  12. ^ a b Jack, Ian, 1935- (1994). Australia's age of iron : history and archaeology. Cremin, Aedeen. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 94. ISBN 0424001586. OCLC 30791353.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "The Metal Markets". Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939). 1874-07-18. p. 7. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  14. ^ a b "A Tour in the Southern Districts". Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907). 1878-02-16. p. 23. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  15. ^ a b "ITEMS OF NEWS". Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW : 1875 - 1910). 1875-08-18. p. 2. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  16. ^ "Tuesday". Burrangong Argus (NSW : 1865 - 1913). 1875-09-29. p. 2. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  17. ^ "MINING INTELLIGENCE". Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924). 1874-12-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
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