In the June Newsletter, I reviewed a book about a Cornish mining family who emigrated from Cornwall to the copper mines at Burra in South Australia. The main characters in that true story are Jane Dunstan and her miner husband, Richard, who was a Tributer.
I have recently re-read, after many years, “The Rush that Never Ended. A History of Australian Mining”, by Geoffrey Blainey. In it he describes the Cornish Tribute system and I thought I might share it with you. The following information is taken from that excellent book.
Many Cornish mines were worked on the tribute system and when the miners emigrated to Australia they brought this and other Cornish mining practices with them. In Cornish mining circles all managers and foremen were called “Captains”. Those who worked on the surface were also called floor or grass captains. But it was the underground captains that were at the top of the pecking order. The captains were very proud of their titles, to such an extent that in tough times, faced with the choice of a pay cut or loss of title, some took the pay cut.
Virtually, all the copper mines in South Australia at this time, 1850’s onwards, were worked on the Tribute system. Under this system the tributers were not wageearners or contractors, but shared in the profits of the actual ore that they mined. They supplied their own tools, blasting powder and candles and at times worked their own hours. Tributers worked in a company mine but were their own bosses. There were Cornish miners who worked 30 years in South Australian copper mines or Victorian gold mines and had never worked for fixed wages. In some respects they were the mining elite. The following describes how the system operated.
The tributers worked for a 9 week period in a designated section of the mine. They usually received subsistence money or “sist” during the term of the contract. Each group of miners selected their own underground section or pitch and this was done at the beginning of the 9 week period on Survey Day. Prior to this day the captains had surveyed and assessed the areas or pitches that were to be worked in the following period. If an area was deemed to have low grade copper ore and/or was difficult to mine, the tributers might be offered 10/- in the Pound of ore mined. If the ore was rich and easily accessible the offer might be 2/- in the Pound.
At a set time on Survey Day the Mine Manager, flanked by his captains and clerks would read out to the assembled miners the number of each pitch and the terms on which it was to be worked. If two groups wanted the same pitch they bid up the amount of tribute to be paid to the Company. If there were sections that attracted no interest the Company would decrease the amount of tribute that it would receive from the miners.
Towards the end of the 9 weeks was Measuring Day. On this day the amount and quality of the ore mined by each group was assessed and the amount of money earned by each group was determined. Settlement Day marked the end of the cycle and it was on this day that the men received their money.
The system was in some ways a gamble. There were times when tributers worked for weeks for little if any reward. But at times fortunes were made, even at low returns in the Pound. An example is given of two tributers who made more money in 9 weeks than a wage-earning miner could earn in over two years.
Many tributers became skilled practical geologists who developed an intimate knowledge of the mine and its ore bodies. In fact many mines in Cornwall and Australia were saved from closure when tributers discovered new, or rediscovered, lost lodes.
However, the system that was generally beneficial, suffered its abuses. Captains could deceive the tributers and vice versa. Many a tributer, finding a rich pocket of ore towards the end of the contract period, would attempt to conceal it so it could be mined on favourable terms next time round. “Tis no sin to take cappen in” was an old Cornish saying.
Tributers were known to mine outside their pitch. Sections of rich ore that had been reserved for a rainy day were often found to have been already mined when they came to be mined some months/years later. In Victorian gold mines it was easy to steal gold and there is much evidence to support this. During their shift miners would hide loose gold about their persons. On the Bendigo field a Cornish tributer was asked to define a “tribute”. He replied that he kept the gold that he could carry and shared the rest with the mining company.
Source: Greg Hamilton writing in 2017-09 DTHS Newsletter
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