The Antimony Mines of Ringwood

Our speaker in April, Russ Haines, most generously brought along some material found in the Ringwood archives relating to Doncaster / Templestowe, including a certificate awarded to a student in the nineteenth century, which he bought on E-bay. We thank him for these items which will go into our archives.

Antimony is a metal always associated with gold, often found in quartz reefs. There was a quantity discovered in Ringwood in the 1860’s by road workers employed by Smith Brothers. They noticed a shining metal while digging a little north of the present Ringwood township

A man name Pierce Boardman, a eucalyptus distiller and person with a good knowledge of metals, was contacted to give his opinion of the metal which had been found

In 1869, mines were opened. These were mostly trench mining finding lode on the surface. The main lode varied from 6 feet to 30 feet. Several levels were dug and Pierce Boardman became the first mine manager. Unfortunately later, Boardman was killed in the mine at level two and was buried in Box Hill Cemetery.

The boom era in the Ringwood antimony mines was the 1870’s when eight pounds a ton was obtained and two ounces of gold per ton was extracted.

In 1876, a 40 h.p. engine was installed to speed up and modernise the mining process. By 1883 there was a good four inch vein on levels three and four.

Altogether there were more than 20 leases in the vicinity and over 200 men were working on the hill. The Boardman mine existed from 1870-1934. Other names were Brights, Paterson and Plant which closed in 1897 - this reopened for a time in 1921 during bad economic times.

The Ringwood railway station, still in its original condition, opened further south in 1882 and eventually the centre of Ringwood developed near the station where it is today. The original area where the antimony mines once were is occupied by the present Civic Centre in Mines Road which commemorates the historic antimony mines.

Source: Russ Haines, President of Ringwood Historical Society recorded in 2009-09 DTHS Newsletter