Australia's Lead History Essay

From the 1850’s – 1900’s gold, silver, lead and zinc were discovered in South and West Australia. In the early 20th century mining started to decline because the only major finds were lead, zinc and copper but their full potential was later realized. Today Australia is one of the leading nations in the mining industry as they have a lot of resources to mine.

Australia’s lead history:

Lead is one of the oldest metals known to man. Lead was the first discovery out of all metals in Australia. The Geraldine located on the Murchison River was the first lead mine in Australia. This mine operated in the 1950’s and the 1960’s after Augustus Gregory (explorer) discovered lead while looking at the landscape for developments. He came to this discovery when he was crossing the river on his horse. He

He discovered this while he was engaged in a project on a road along the Fish River. This was not the start of the “gold rush”, the gold rush began when Edward Hammond Hargaves discovered payable gold in 1851. Gold was mined with picks and pans until the surface gold depleted.

Australia’s silver history:

The aboriginals who looked at creating tools and weapons to survive most probably mined silver. Silver was the first metal that attracted the attention of early settlers in South Australia. Silver was discovered by Charles Rasp at Glen Osmond which created Australia’s first mine called Wheal Gawler in 1841. The next major discovery of silver was near Cape Jervis. This became the Talisker mine. This gave rise to nearby mining town Silverton. Several different silver companies were started in then years 1887-1888. Sometimes several companies were formed a day. They often had very similar names.

CHARLES RASP

THE DISCOVERER OF

SILVER IN AUSTRALIA

THE WHEAL GAWLER MINE

FINISHED SILVER PRODUCT

Australia’s uranium