Mining - Basalt

DESCRIPTION

NameMining - BasaltEvent LocationShellharbour City LGADescriptionShellharbour is rich with basalt. In the mid-19th century, the land was scattered with blue metal which was put to good use, building drystone walls for fencing and piggeries, and in the construction of homes and public buildings.

The arrival of the railway in 1887 allowed the transport of basalt by rail, however, ships remained the cheapest and most effective way to move the product to Sydney.Chambers and Co built the first 480-foot turpentine jetty at Bass Point (originally called Long Point), for the transportation of blue metal from the nearby quarry. An engine and crusher was installed at the quarry, and in 1880 the first shipment of blue metal was sent by steamer to Melbourne.

By the end of 1882 the company was insolvent.George Laurence Fuller of Dunmore House bought the quarry, added more equipment and purchased a steamer Platypus, for the blue metal trade. The Long Point jetty was improved in 1890, and Fuller commissioned a new steamer Dunmore, which loaded its first cargo 16 December 1891. The Dunmore could be loaded with 350 tonnes of blue metal in two and a half hours.Work at the quarry was abandoned in 1939 and the jetty virtually destroyed by heavy seas in 1957.

South Coast Basalt reopened the quarry in 1973 and rebuilt the jetty and basalt gravel loader, which remain today.Today there are blue metal extraction quarries at Bass Point, Dunmore and Croom.External LinkShellharbour Blue Metal QuarryObituary Mr RB Chambers

Workers at the quarry, c.1935.

Maurice (Bill) Martin, 3rd from right.

CONNECTIONS

PlaceBass Point ReserveLocalityShellharbour City LGACroomDunmoreFamilyFuller

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Mining - Basalt