Mining History Association

The North Queensland Mining History Association recently held its first quarterly meeting for the year with a gathering of mining history enthusiast at the Herberton Mining Centre.  After a brief meeting to catch up with the belated Annual General Meeting which saw the sitting officers returned unanimously, a discussion was held to bring members up to date on the destructive 'mine capping' fiasco.  It turns out that the contractors ignored the government guide lines on the protection of project sites' heritage values which have left the area desolated and open to renewed toxic leaching.  It was also reported at the meeting that a reasonable insurance policy had been organised for the group through a membership with the History Queensland organisation.  Graham Byrnes gave a talk on his mining project on the Palmer River Goldfield in which he hopes to include a heritage venture for the growing tourist traffic on the field.  A field trip to the Palmer River for members was discussed and may be arranged for this winter.  The meeting closed with a report on the Tin Dredge Project which will include a launch of Col Robinson's study of the history of the dredges of North Queensland as well as the presentation of the scale model tin dredge.  After the meeting closed, members inspected the progress made on the construction of the model.  The next meeting of the group will be held in May.