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On Display: John Lewis
How did you come to be a volunteer with the
Daylesford & District Historical Society?
I have had a lifelong association with the Daylesford
district. As a child I played in the ruins of the last gold mines
to close near the town.
In the early stages of my Civil Engineering
career I was involved with the replacement of the open water channels
that brought water to Melbourne from the storage reservoirs, with
underground conduits. I saw a parallel with the water races used
to transfer water to the gold diggings even though in a much reduced
size. The diggings were mostly in dry gullies remote from a ready
source of water. Water was an essential resource to separate the
gold from the dirt and was nearly as scarce as the gold during summer
months.
Before my retirement I had visited the Daylesford
Museum to learn more about gold mining and the water races. There
were many photographs of the mines but not much on the water races.
However some photographs of the water powered wheels used to drive
quartz crushers sparked my interest for more information. I decided
then that I would like to research the harnessing and use of water
for gold mining as a retirement project and started to collectsurvey
references.
The more I researched, I came to the conclusion
that the ingenuity of the miners to exploit the land terrain in
order to transfer water over many kilometers to the top of ridges
was a remarkable achievement for that time, and I set out to map
the route of the water races.
I had shown some of my early mapping work to
the curator of the museum, David Endacott, (pictured on John's left)
and he strongly encouraged me to continue as this aspect of gold
mining had not been recorded in any depth. He also directed me to
some very interesting sites were the water had been used and has
continued to assist with the project.
I decided then that I would create a research
tool for the museum to display the lengths to which the miners had
to go to secure water for their operations. I was familiar with
computer aided design and saw the software as an ideal tool to display
maps that could superimpose historic information over present day
maps.
What has your work involved?
The work involves tracing the route of the water
races from where there is evidence that large quantities of water
have been used. I trace the race back to its source which has been
up to 20 kilometers away. Even though most are over 140 years old,
and not used for at least 100 years, a significant number of the
channels have survived in forest areas and the natural parks areas
that almost ring the town.
I systematically search these areas on foot
and record the route of the races using a GPS (Global Positioning
System) receiver which determines the latitude and longitude using
American satellites. I record the position about every 20 steps,
then download the data to a computer.
Sections of the races through private land have
mainly been destroyed. Some races have filled with forest litter
and others have been destroyed by subsequent mining eras. It is
necessary to search for traces on expected alignments beyond the
missing sections. Other evidence of destroyed races can be found
in the survey records of land selection leases, mining leases and
claims, so I also search the archive records held by the Ballarat
Public Records Office.
I have had survey training and I convert these
19th century surveys to modern projections which can then also be
superimposed over the present day maps. The MapInfo software used
allows attachment of text data to the map images through dialogue
windows on the screen. At the present stage of development, a mouse
click on the water race or mining lease will reveal data on the
mining company involved, a time line of operations, and research
references where the data displayed can be found. Later it is planned
to include newspaper references, photographs and other relevant
information.
How have you researched the project?
I research newspapers of the day, mining surveyors
reports, mining journals, lands and mining surveys, claims and lease
registers, and Mines Department correspondence archived at the PRO.
As a complimentary project all of the information I have obtained
is included in a searchable database for rapid recall.
What are the wider implications of this work?
The work has the potential to facilitate heritage
research, land and parks management, and flesh out family history
research for claim holders, mining managers and shareholders, by
linking people to physical places. Mining exploration companies
are also interested in locational information that allows historic
yield records to be placed at particular sites.
How would you describe the Daylesford & District
Society collection?
The Daylesford & District Historical Society
operates the Daylesford museum which is housed in an old school
of mines building. It contains the original assay furnace and chimney,
many photographs and mining relics, and extensive archives. It is
well known for its enthusiastic support of serious historical enquiry.
Future directions All of the data is being captured in a format
that will allow three dimensional terrain modelling which will facilitate
virtual reality views of the goldfields as a future project. The
work also has the potential to provide state of the art interactive
displays with touch screen technology.
John Lewis, 2000.
John Lewis was the joint winner of the Museums
Australia (Victoria) MIRA and can be contacted at the Daylesford
and District Historical Society on (03) 5348 1453.
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