Mine site
40 metre-long mullock heap with one dumping line running north from a filled shaft. The heap has been partially quarried. 20 metres south is a scatter of red hand-made bricks and rough concrete rubble. Further south there are smaller mullock dumps and a line of shallow reef workings Surface workings 30 metres west of the mullock dump, running north, is a line of small mullock paddocks, terminating in a shallow open cut.On the same line to the south, in an area north and west of the most southerly section of reef workings there is an area of hydraulic sluicing.
West of the cyanide works and along Scotchman Gully there are patches of shallow alluvial workings.
Battery site
On the eastern side of the open-cut is a small mullock paddock, below which is a spread of hand-made red bricks and fire bricks. Near this rubble is a dry dam, with traces of battery sand nearby.Puddling machine site
10 metres north of the water race is the outline of a 20 foot diameter puddling machine.The central mound retains its wooden post and fragments of timber side-boarding are still present in the puddling trench.
Water was fed to the puddling machine from the race by a pipe, now largely buried. The dumps are weathered and partially quarried, but the puddling machine is in good condition
The Old Tom Reef Gold Puddling Site consists of the remnants of one puddling machine complete with water race.
The puddling machine site, which was operated in the 1930s, is very rare in that the puddling trench still has traces of its timber lining.
The site lies close to the remnants of a quartz mine known as the Old Tom Reef.
The site is a good characteristic example of the puddling technology developed in Victoria from 1854 in response to the need to process enormous amounts of clay soil which needed to be broken up to get at the gold.
Horses were used to drag harrows around a circular ditch in which the soil and water were mixed.
Geological map of the Bendigo gold field which shows historical features in superb detail, including mine shafts/companies, gullies, lines of reef, dams, and sand heaps. Originally prepared in the Bendigo Office, Mines Department, 1923. High quality, durable A1 print in a satin finish. Large, 594 x 891 mm. Go to online shop.
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