Coopers Creek is a locality and mine in the
Gippsland region of
Victoria, Australia
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
. In the 1860s, Coopers Creek was settled during the
Victorian gold rush and, throughout its history, gold, copper and lime have been mined there. Today, Coopers Creek is effectively limited to two camping sites, the first near the site of the mining town and the second to the east at Bruntons Bridge. Ruins from the locality's mining history, and the Copper Mine Hotel are all of the locality's history which survives. In August 2022, the 21 properties that comprise the town were listed for sale.
Geography
Coopers Creek is in the
Shire of Baw Baw in
Victoria's Gippsland region. It is located in the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
, in the steep forested slopes of the
Thomson River valley. The original township was located around the confluence of the Thomson River and Coopers Creek which is where mining operations were centred. The area gazetted as Coopers Creek is partially bounded by the Thomson River and by a number of roads in the area. It is partially within the
Baw Baw National Park, the Erica State Forest and the Boola Boola State Forest. The area used for mining is now included in the Coopers Creek Copper Mine Historic and Cultural Features Reserve.
History of industry
Mining
Alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
gold from a
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
,
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
deposit in the area
was found in the Thomson River upstream of Coopers Creek resulted in a number of mining claims being made in the area during the Victorian gold rush. However, very little gold was actually discovered in Coopers Creek. It was the discovery of the first copper deposit in Victoria, in 1864, which led to the continued viability of township.
Initial
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...
conducted in Coopers Creek was unsuccessful and unprofitable due to lowered copper prices and the large quantity of firewood being consumed in the process.
A new source of copper was found in 1878 and led to the significant increase in mining infrastructure, including a new
crushing mill,
kilns
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
and smelting
furnaces
A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion.
Furnace may also refer to:
Appliances Buildings
* Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings
* Boiler, used t ...
, and an increase to 70 men being employed at the mine. By 1880, however, the copper found two years earlier had been exhausted and the mine fell into relative disuse for twenty to thirty years.
The post office, opened twenty-five years earlier, closed on 11 September 1893.
Though attempts were made to begin mining at Coopers Creek in the late 1800s, it was not until 1910 that large-scale mining began again. Earlier wishes that the train line from
Moe
Moe, MOE, MoE or m.o.e. may refer to:
In arts and entertainment Characters
* Moe Szyslak, from the animated television show ''The Simpsons''
* Moe, leader of The Three Stooges, played by Moe Howard
* Moe Higurashi, supporting character in ''Yash ...
to Erica, around by rail to the east, be extended to Coopers Creek were realised around 1910, with the Platina station on the
Walhalla railway line
The Walhalla railway line was a narrow gauge railway located in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The line ran from Moe to the former gold-mining town and popular tourist destination of Walhalla. Construction began in 1904. The line closed in ...
being constructed at Coopers Creek. New leases were taken up by the Gippsland Copper and Platinum Mining and Smelting Company in around 1910 with the intention to bring new technology and increase the mining of copper at Coopers Creek.
The last gold mined from
Happy-Go-Lucky
Happy Go Lucky may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1936 film), an American film
* ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1943 film), an American musical film starring Betty Hutton
* ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1946 film), a French film
* ''Happy Go L ...
was sold to the copper smelting works at Coopers Creek before its closure in 1915. The Walhalla mine closed around the same time. Operations at Coopers Creek ceased in 1915 following the pattern of mine closures in the area.
Mining operations returned to Coopers Creek in the 1960s, with the copper mine being cleared out and building of a new smelter being completed in 1969. The renewed mining operation was short lived, however, ending in 1971 due to the falling price of copper.
The
Long Tunnel Extended Mine at Walhalla was opened for tourism some years later, and a number of pieces of equipment and buildings were moved there from Coopers Creek.
Other industries
Following the collapse of the copper mining industry in the 1910s,
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
instead became the main industry at Coopers Creek. There was a lime
quarry, underground mine and kilns near the township in the late 1920s. Around this time accommodation in Coopers Creek consisted of four cottages, a
bunk house
A bunkhouse is a barracks-like building that historically was used to house working cowboys on ranches, or loggers in a logging camp in North America. As most cowboys were young single men, the standard bunkhouse was a large open room with nar ...
and tents.
Despite the closure of Walhalla's largest gold mine in the 1910s, the lime exports from Coopers Creek meant that the Walhalla railway line continued to operate regularly following a significant decline in rail traffic through the 1930s.
Lime quarrying continued in Coopers Creek until 1952 when the last quarry closed.
Woodcutting had also been a major industry in the Coopers Creek area, mainly to support the mining operations by providing firewood and construction materials. This tree felling had a significant impact on the area, however, as, by the 1930s, there was such a shortage of trees that they needed to be felled in adjacent valleys.
The 1939
Black Friday bushfires further devastated the Coopers Creek area and forced a large part of the population to move into larger towns and cities to seek employment.
Township
The township of Coopers Creek was established in the 1860s around the copper mine and smelting works located around the confluence of the Thomson River and Coopers Creek and was described as having "a lively appearance" and that it had potential to become "a flourishing little place".
The Copper Mine Hotel began operations during the 1860s to support the growing population with both accommodation and as a
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
.
The population of Coopers Creek was large enough, that, on 1 January 1868 a post office was opened in the town.
Around 1952, the Copper Mine Hotel () closed after around 100 years of operation from various locations around the township. The final building, apparently the only one left standing, became derelict and burnt down in 1999, leaving the original chimneys. It has since been rebuilt, maintaining its original design, but was closed to the public in 2007 and also includes a private two-bedroom residence.
In 2015, Coopers Creek consisted only of two campsites in addition to the unused pub buildings, the first near the location of the original township and mine and the second to the east of the original township at Bruntons Bridge. The Coopers Creek campsite is a popular camping site and includes a
long drop toilet, picnic tables, a boat ramp as well as walking and
four-wheel drive
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
tracks. Ruins from the locality's mining history can also be found around the camping sites.
From around 1960 the Holyoak family, after staying at the Copper Mine Hotel, began purchasing
titles
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
of properties in the town. By 2022 the family had acquired all 21 property titles in the town which including the pub as well as open parkland. That year they listed for sale the of the town for between and with comparisons being made by Australian media to Canadian television sitcom ''
Schitt's Creek
''Schitt's Creek'' (stylized as ''Schitt$ Creek'') is a Canadian television sitcom created by Dan Levy and his father, Eugene Levy, that aired on CBC Television from 2015 to 2020. It consists of 80 episodes spread over six seasons. Produced by ...
''.
References
{{authority control
Ghost towns in Victoria (state)
Mining towns in Victoria (state)
Copper mines in Australia
Lime kilns in Australia
Towns in Victoria (state)
Shire of Baw Baw