Golden Gully and Archway is a heritage-listed former mining and now pastoral property at Golden Gully, Hill End,

Bathurst Region Bathurst Regional Council is a local government area in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Great Western Highway, Mid-Western Highway, Mitchell Highway and the Main Western railway line ...

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, Australia. It was built by European and Chinese gold miners. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

History

Golden Gully was created by European and Chinese miners during the 19th century. With the onset of the 1851

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

, the miners sank shafts, adits and drives to retrieve the alluvial gold deposits which settled on an ancient buried river bed. In 1983 the National Parks and Wildlife Service nominated the site for listing under the Heritage Act. The site was under threat of damage and

disturbance Disturbance and its variants may refer to: Math and science * Disturbance (ecology), a temporary change in average environmental conditions that causes a pronounced change in an ecosystem * Disturbance (geology), linear zone of faults and folds ...

from proposed commercial mining operations. Following site visits and discussions with National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Mineral Resources and mining companies an Interim Conservation Order was placed over the site in 1987. A Permanent Conservation Order was placed over site on 2 September 1988. On 2 April 1999 the site was transferred onto the State Heritage Register.Heritage Office files notes 1983

Description

Golden Gully and Archway is a deeply incised man induced braided channel system. The Gully banks contain shafts and drives that demonstrate the mining techniques used by European and Chinese miners to reach gold deposits. Intensive and successive fossicking activities had led to a massive landscape alteration. The course of the Tambaroora Creek has been changed and variegated and in all sections its bed has been lowered below the 1851 level. The combined action of fossicking and erosion and sculptured the former banks of the creek into spires, organ pipes and arches. When viewed from within the Gully these structures appear to change colour according to the time of day and incidence of direct sunlight.Heritage Office file notes 1983 The Grand Arch at Golden Gully collapsed after a prolonged period of wet weather in November 2021. No trace of it remains.( Hill End @ Tambaroora Gathering Group Newsletter Issue 30, February 2022, p. 12.

Heritage listing

As at 26 November 1999, Golden Gully and Archway is a major site on the Hill End-Tambaroora goldfield where large scale alluvial fossicking was undertaken by European and Chinese miners. The gully is evidence of the onset of the 1851 goldrush. It displays the difference between European and Chinese mining techniques during the 19th century. In particular the eroded gully has exposed the square European shafts and the round Chinese shafts in a dramatic and unique landscape. Golden Gully and Archway was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

References

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Attribution