Zillmanton Village Found

At last!  After several expeditions over the years, we believe we may have finally found the site of the little village that long ago served the mines of Zillmanton.  Zillmanton deserves better than a near-forgotten footnote in the local history records as it was the first township on the Chillagoe Mineral Field and for a short time was the only settlement out beyond Koorboora.  An official town site was not surveyed until near the closure of mining so it was never accurately marked on any of the older maps or plans which made finding the site rather difficult.  And as the mines closed permanently at the end of 1911 and the town was pretty much gone by 1914, all those who may have known the pioneering township would have past from this world many decades ago and sadly taking that information with them.

Looking down on the site

While recently enjoying a lazy long weekend at Chillagoe, our intrepid trio of Duncan, Robert and myself decided to give it another try and after reviewing all the areas where we had searched in the past and failed to find the site, we chose this time to explore well past the mine sites.  So one morning, before the heat of the day got too much and with a couple of young 'whipper-snapper' in tow, we headed out to Zillmanton for yet one more try.  It shouldn't have been this hard to find as the place had the services of a proper town with a couple of bush hotels and a number of boarding houses along with a couple of shops and for a few years towards the end, a small school.  But were was it all?  We knew it was suppose to be close to the railway line and perviously we had searched the areas about the mine site, then an 'old timer' told us that he thought the town site was further out along the rail line.  So we looked out on the Mungana side which made sense to us as there was a water source in that direction.  But we didn't find anything out there so we decided this time to look in the opposite direction as we later found a copy of a Mines Department plan which showed the site of the school reserve out there.

The hidden stumps

We drove off the road where it crossed the now disused railway line and followed a track for a short way before parking in the shade of a large tree.  Our party then wandered down the railway line, back in the direction of Chillagoe and pass the old mines and through the areas we had searched in the past.  On our right was a line of low hills behind which we could hear the traffic passing by so we were still reasonablely close to the main road.  Towards the end of the hills, the country opened out onto a flat area which looked promising and we walked across to investigate and to our delight we started to come across old metal barrel rims and pieces of broken glass.  To get a better view of the area, I climbed up the side of the nearby hill and onto a small rock outcrop which was shaded by a old tree and there I found dozens of old green beer bottles along with a sortment of whisky bottles.  It seem too high on the hill slope to be a dump site and the lack of old tin cans there, suggested that men from nearby might have climbed to this place to enjoy a drink during their spare time.

Soon after coming down from the hill, one of the youngsters pointed out a row of old wooden stumps half hidden in the long grass.  We had found our first building site.  The front of the site was facing the rail line and had been built up with rock and several rows of old floor stumps were still in place giving us an idea of the dimensions of the structure.  Shards of broken crockery found about the site suggested this was a residential dwelling, maybe one of the boarding houses which provided accommodation for the miners.  With the long grass making the search difficult and the midday heat starting to take its toll, we decided to call it a day and headed back towards the car happy with the knowledge that we had found the likely area where the village once stood.  Our little party resolved to return later in the year, after the annual bush fires have cleaned up the long grass, to better investigate this area.  But for now, it was off to cool down with a cold drink and a splash in Chillagoe Creek.

The mines of Zillmanton                                                                  The mine site today

Heritage North

The first meeting of the Heritage North Association was held at the end of February at the small museum in El Arish with ten delegates in attendance representing six member groups.  The El Arish group reported on the recent break-in to their museum and their relief that little was lost.  A discussion was then held on the different projects been planned by the Societies for the coming Anzac centenary.  After the member group's quarterly reports, it was decided to plan a training workshop to be held in June to cover the subject of history researching using internet resources.  The meeting also held a brief discussion on the development of a new tourist brochure to promote the museums of the Far North Queensland region.  The next meeting will be held in Port Douglas at the end of May.

Douglas Shire Historical Society

The members of the Douglas Shire Historical Society finished off last year with their annual Christmas dinner party which was again held at Mojo's in Mossman.  They had just reported having spent two great days of interviewing local descendants of men who had served with the ANZAC's for the group's Centenary of Anzac Day project.  Research is continuing into the people of the district who had connections to the First World War.  The Society has started this new year off with their annual maintenance of the Port Douglas Court House Museum which was closed for the whole month of February while the work was carried out and was re-opened in the first week of March.  This job was finished in time for the March meeting which was held at the Mossman Community Centre with Mrs Pauline O'Keefe of the Cairns Historical Society as the guest speaker who spoke on the Cairns group's photo collection and the SS Kanowna.

Douglas Grant Book

After long years of reseach, Mr Tony Griffiths has finally published his work on the life and times of Douglas Grant.  This small book entitled 'Douglas Grant; that Black Digger from the Scottish mob', tells the life story of this indigenous man who was taken as a young toddler from the site of a local 'dispersal' and sent down to New South Wales where he was raised as a part of a white family and given a full education.  He became a qualified draughtsman and later served with the first AIF where he was promoted to the rank of sergeant.  He was taken prisoner by the Germans at the battle of Bullecourt and it was as a POW organiser in the camp where he earned much of his wartime reputation.  After the war, Douglas spent many years at Lithgow and wrote extensively about the plight of the Aborigines making him one of the earliest activist but he also suffered badly from depression in his later life.  The Eacham Historical Society was able to help Mr Griffiths with reseach concerning how Douglas Grant came to be 'fostered' by the Grant family and their efforts are acknowledged by the author.  This study is an important addition to our aboriginal history and copies can be obtained from the Malanda Vistors Centre.

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.  

Mulgrave Shire Historical Society

The Mulgrave Shire Historical Society ended the last year on a positive note with the two main events of the year, the John Gordon plaque and the Tea Cosy competition, been very successful.  Sadly, one dark note for the group over the year was the passing of many of the Society's old long-time members who had contributed greatly through their volunteering work or historical material donations.  Acquisitions of a local historical nature is still enriching their museum and it was reported at the end of the year that the group had recorded on the computer a total of some 1400 artefacts.  They also reported that the group had done well with their publicity over the year which was helped along with the popularity of the Facebook page which has grown immensely and now have some 134 'likes'.  The first project for this year was the annual clean-up of the museum and members were busy with working-bees so that the museum would be ready for the re-opening at the end of January along with a new central display to commemorate the 100 years of Anzac Day.  Although the rain kept down the numbers of members in attendance, the Society has just held its first meeting for the new year and is looking forward to another successful year.

Innisfail Historical Society

Towards the end of the year, the Innisfail Society organised an event for the 50th year reunion of the 1964 winning Innisfail Foley Shield Rugby League team.  Cheryl Belbin and Chris Head were the instigators of this project and worked hard to ensure the celebrations were a memorable occasion.  The original Foley Shield was on display and they also acquired a football jersey worn during that game against Townsville in 1964.  Original players from the team returned to Innisfail to celebrate and memorabilia collected for the function will be donated to the museum.  The Society's annual fund-raising calendar for the new year is now on sale and this year's theme is 'Pubs from the Past' which feature twelve of the districts oldest hotels.  While researching for this calendar, it was found that in 1940 there were twenty working pubs in the old Johnstone Shire area with many of these pubs having come and gone over the years.  The group's year concluded with their annual Christmas break-up lunch held this time at the newly re-opened Queens Hotel.