THE ROSE OF SHARON
An 1891 Rutherglen Gold Mine
Hopetoun Road, Rutherglen.
Phone 0260 328 428
At Rutherglen within eyesight of the Big Wine Bottle Town Water Storage, is the historic Rose of Sharon. On this and adjoining property in 1891 the Rose of Sharon Gold Mining Company was formed.
Now the Rose of Sharon is a Gold Mining Museum and a Gold Mining Display. It is located in over 100 acres of rolling fields, and from the Tea Room has an uninterupted view all the way to Wodonga.
At one stage there were over 400 gold mines on this property.
Many of the mines were single person mines, and having obtained a permit were allocated about 3 square metres of land.
Still set up within the property are two Gold Mines.
Coopers Gold Mine
A large vertical mine was dug straight down just near the car park.This Gold mine was known as the Coopers mine, and yeilded 60 ounces of gold per ton. It was 120 feet deep.
Just near this mine is a shaft or mine which has been dug straight down vertically like a huge water well on top of Coopers Reef, and this shaft has a tunnel running back to Coopers Mine. This shaft is only 30 foot deep, or about 10 metres. But this mine still yeilds a little gold to anybody who would be brave enough to climb down and work the mine.
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Above you can see straight down the shaft, which joins a tunnel to the Coopers Gold Mine.
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Above you can see the "grave" of poor William Thorne. According to the Findings of the Inquest, which are available in the Museum, Mr Thorne died when the rope he was using to climb down Coopers Gold Mine Shaft broke, causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft.
The Shamrock and Thistle Gold Mine
The other Gold Mine is the Shamrock and Thistle. It is pictured below and was dug horizontally into the hill side. You may walk right up to the entrance, and see down the main tunnel. The pictures below show you some more of the inside of the mine.
 Above you can see the entrance to the Shamrock and Thistle Mine, and on the right is a photo looking back towards the entrance from the main passage or shaft. |
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Above left is a photo looking along the main tunnel or shaft, and above right is on of the many junctions where the shafts separate and go in two directions, chasing the leads.
Gold Mining Tours
As there were over 400 gold mines on this property before the turn of the last century, there are many items related to the industry which were left on the poroperty when the gold ran out.
A complete set up of the gold mining processes and life styles has been built on location, and provides a fascinating insite into the life and times of the 1890's.
Link to Gold Mining Display shown on page 2.
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