Why was gold mostly mined in shallow workings around Woods Point apart from the Morning Star?
This was mainly due to the lack of power to operate pumps to clear mineshafts of groundwater. Many of the Woods Point dykes outcrop close to the river level. The Morning Star is a large dyke bulge and proximal alluvials and surface workings had been carried out by many individual leaseholders during its first two decades. After a hiatus, several leaseholders formed a public company in the 1890’s as the 2nd gold rush came. It was called The Morning Star Mine Co. Ltd and it was set up to begin serious shaft sinking operations into the Morning Star dyke. The collective financial clout of the stakeholders enabled a more sophisticated approach to pumping out ground water at Morning Star involving steam driven pumps. This had a devastating effect on the timber in the area at the time as photos at the turn of the 19th/20th Century reveal but you would not know it now as it’s well wooded. This is notwithstanding the devastation also felt to the native fauna and flora in Jan 1939 (Black Friday
