Coal Mining In The Malvern Hills

Press, Volume C, Issue 29458, 9 March 1961, Page 21

Coal Mining In The Malvern Hills

Coal was found in the Malvern hills in 1851 at a time when firewood was becoming scarce in Christchurch and all coal being used in the settlement was being imported from Australia or England.

Because of this the Malvern district began to be opened up more readily and very soon horses and drays began the long trek to the mines. One of the roads near Coalgate is still known as the Coal Track.

Coalgate itself was originally Selwyn Bluff, after the bluff of hills above the village, but the name was changed when it was thought the area was to become a great industrial centre, and the town would be the gateway to the mines and factories in the valley.

The survey plans for the township of Coalgate lay the whole area out in sections and streets and it might prove a poser for the local postmaster to find a letter addressed to George square, which is set out and named on the map. While the Midlands of Malvern did not eventuate and slag heaps and towering chimneys did not darken the land, the Malvern hills coalfields are still worked. While the number of mines has declined there is still a ready demand for the coal.

On the back road from Coalgate across to Sheffield there is a turn-off preceded by an A.A. sign, “Beware of Coal Trucks,” and at the top of the Bush Gully road is the Klondyke mine. This

mine is now the main one operated in the district. There are also three smaller mines operating nearby. About 1900 a large seam of coal was found at Bush Gully and was worked by the Deans family until 192], when it caught fire. A new drive to the same seam was located in about 1928 by Mr Charles Green, of Coalgate, and Mr W. Smith, of Sheffield, and this is now the Klondyke mine.

Mr Green, who is director of the mine, says that since 1928 more than 270.000 tons of coal have been extracted and with 20 men employed the daily production is between 40 and 50 tons of hard brown coal

The shaft goes down 900 feet at a grade of one in one. which is equal to a vertical depth of 507 feet. For 200 feet the shaft drives through stone and then follows the main coal seam. There are 15 levels which extend out from the main incline. Up and down the 900 foot incline slides the skip, a truck which carries two and a half tons of coal from the small trucks on the levels to the bins at the surface. Twice a year the sun is at the right angle to shine straight down the length of the shaft, illuminating the square timbered roof and sides and the rails and winch rope to the very bottom. For the rest of the year there is light only for the first few yards and the shaft descends to blackness.