Wyalong

Last updated

Wyalong
New South Wales
Wyalong Newell Highway Mid-Western Highway.JPG
Neeld St, the main street of Wyalong
Australia New South Wales location map blank.svg
Red pog.svg
Wyalong
Coordinates 33°56′S147°15′E / 33.933°S 147.250°E / -33.933; 147.250 Coordinates: 33°56′S147°15′E / 33.933°S 147.250°E / -33.933; 147.250
Population851 (2011 census) [1]
Postcode(s) 2671
Elevation245 m (804 ft)
Location
LGA(s) Bland Shire Council
State electorate(s) Cootamundra
Federal Division(s) Riverina
Mean max tempMean min tempAnnual rainfall
23.4 °C
74 °F		10.0 °C
50 °F		477.8 mm
18.8 in
Eight-hour day procession by miners in Wyalong - late 1890s Wyalong eight hour day.jpg
Eight-hour day procession by miners in Wyalong - late 1890s

Wyalong is small town of the Bland Shire located in the Northern Riverina Region of New South Wales, Australia. Established as a gold mining town, it is now a quiet town with historic buildings a few kilometres east of West Wyalong, the major district service centre. At the 2011 census, Wyalong had a population of 851. [1]

Riverina Region in New South Wales, Australia

The Riverina is an agricultural region of South-Western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west.

New South Wales State of Australia

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In December 2018, the population of New South Wales was over 8 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Contents

History

The town of Wyalong was established in 1884. [2]

Gold was discovered at Wyalong in September 1893 by Joseph Neeld. The "Main Camp" was erected on the eastern side of the main diggings with impressive government buildings being erected, now classified by the Heritage Trust as being worthy of preservation. The goldfield was named Wyalong by mining warden William Henry John Slee. [3] At its peak in May 1894 there were more than 12,000 miners on the goldfields, digging deep vertical shafts and tunnels to access the quartz reefs which contained the gold. By the end of 1894 the number of miners had reduced to about 4,200. The Amalgamated Miners' Association of Australasia, a precursor of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, was active in the area, including organising eight-hour day processions (see Photo).

William Henry John Slee Australian geologist

William Henry John Slee, FGS (1836–1907), was an Australian geologist, mines inspector, and mining warden.

The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. It had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life. The use of child labour was common. The working day could range from 10 to 16 hours, and the work week was typically six days a week. Robert Owen had raised the demand for a ten-hour day in 1810, and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark. By 1817 he had formulated the goal of the eight-hour day and coined the slogan: "Eight hours' labour, Eight hours' recreation, Eight hours' rest". Women and children in England were granted the ten-hour day in 1847. French workers won the 12-hour day after the February Revolution of 1848. A shorter working day and improved working conditions were part of the general protests and agitation for Chartist reforms and the early organisation of trade unions.

The Catholic Sisters of Mercy started their first school at St. Patrick's, Wyalong, in 1896 with 196 students and 6 Sisters. In 1899 Wyalong became a municipality with council chambers being erected, a courthouse, police station, post office and school of arts.

Sisters of Mercy religious order

The Religious Sisters of Mercy (R.S.M.) are members of a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley (1778–1841). As of 2019, the institute has about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They also started many education and health care facilities around the globe.

Homes and businesses were initially built around the main mining area. In 1895 West Wyalong was developed around the bullock track further west. As mining declined West Wyalong became the main service centre for agriculture in the surrounding district, although for many years there was rivalry between the towns. [2] Both towns wanted the Temora railway line, constructed in 1903, but settled on a compromise of a station midway between the two towns, called Wyalong Central.

Temora, New South Wales Town in New South Wales, Australia

Temora is a town in the north-east of the Riverina area of New South Wales, 418 kilometres (260 mi) south-west of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2016 census the urban population of Temora was 4,054.

Gold mining in the immediate area declined from 1910 and ceased by 1921. Old tailings were reworked by cyanide processing during the 1930s. In 2004 Barrick Gold is undertaking gold mining 43 km west at Lake Cowal through the process of in situ cyanide leaching, a variant of the controversial process of Gold cyanidation.

Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company has mining operations in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, the United States and Zambia. More than 75% of Barrick's gold production comes from the Americas region. In 2018, it produced 4.527 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$806/ounce and 383 million pounds of copper at all-in sustaining costs of $2.82/pound. As of December 31, 2018, the company had 62.3 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves.

Lake Cowal lake in Australia

Lake Cowal is the largest inland lake in New South Wales, Australia. The lake is ephemeral, being fed by the small Bland Creek and by the occasional flooding of the Lachlan River. Despite this, it retains a considerable amount of water in about 70% of years.

Gold cyanidation is a hydrometallurgical technique for extracting gold from low-grade ore by converting the gold to a water-soluble coordination complex. It is the most commonly used leaching process for gold extraction.

Development since the 1970s has expanded Wyalong in the direction of West Wyalong with several motels built at Central Wyalong. A shared bicycle and pedestrian track was constructed in 1994 to link Wyalong with West Wyalong.

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References

  1. 1 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Wyalong (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 2 April 2015. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. 1 2 Dow L, Guyon D, Irving R, McPhee M, Matthews A, Prineas P, Rubinich T, Simpson J (1995). Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Australian Places. Surry Hills, NSW: Reader's Digest. p. 227. ISBN   0-86438-399-1.
  3. ↑ Barrier Miner, 11 April 1907, p. 2.

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