Baddera Mines

Statement of Significance

1993
The Baddera Mine site has very high historic, social and scientific significance for the community and the
potential for an interpretive understanding of mining.
The Baddera Mine site requires a high level of protection under the Municipal Inventory. Accordingly, it also warrants
archaeological work as the remnants on the site are more complete than at other mine sites and as such
will lend itself as a place of'interpretation'for the mining activities in the region.
Because the site is visible and more comprehensible than most other old mine sites there should at least
be interpretive signage on the site to convey an understanding of the place whether or not a full cultural
tourism project eventuates. (See also Site No. 35 for suggestions of cultural tourism potential of the
Wheal Fortune Mine site, and sites 88 &117 for the tourist potential of the Wheal Ellen Mine and State
Battery.)
2004
Baddera Mines, an industrial archaeology site containing the physical remnants of Baddera and Baddera
North mine sites, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
Baddera Mine was Western Australia's largest lead producer in the early decades of the twentieth
century and was closely linked with early attempts to establish a works to smelt Kalgoorlie gold ores;
due to the state of preservation of their evidence, Baddera Mines are important reference sites for the
understanding of other sites on the Northampton Mineral Field;
the place illustrates the development of mining and processing technology over the first half of the
twentieth century;
the place contains rare evidence of the application of steam power to mining and processing;
the place contains rare, and probably unique in Australia, evidence of the application of a Frenier pump;
North Baddera Mine contains a rare, and possibly the State's only, surviving in situ example of a oncecommon
Huntington mill;
the place has links with important figures in the early development of the state's mining industry,
including George Klug, W.G.fSutherland, and E. Protheroe Jones; and
North Baddera Mine has social value for the community as the site, within living memory, of a tragic
mining accident, thus demonstrating the risks involved in the mining industry throughout its history.

Physical Description

1993
Roof:
Integrity: Low
Modifications: Dismantled mine
N/A
The Baddera Mine site is located on the side of a gently rising hill and as such it is possible to get a slightly
elevated and general overview to grasp the concept of the workings and function of the site. The site itself
comprises extensive mine workings, tailing dumps, footings and concrete plinths, crushing equipment etc. left from
one of the more recently operating (1950's) large mines in the district. There are also the ruins of stone and brick
enclosures to buildings, and the base of a brick lined stone smelter chimney together with various scattered shafts
and open pits.
The mine has operated during various periods in the history of mining in the district and, being
one of the more recently operating on some scale, has more interpretive material available to provide an
understanding of the contribution mining made to the community. Baddera can also provide an example of more recent mining activity in comparison with the historic remnants of mining activity at the
Wheal Fortune (Site No.35), Wheal Ellen (Site No. 117) mines and the State Battery (Site No. 88).
About six miles north of Northampton, the Baddera Mine was discovered in 1873 and worked for several years to
produce galena. During this time, Crowther and Mitchell obtained 176 tons of lead ore in 1878, 68 tons in 1879 and
374 tons in 1880. After being sampled by S. Cullingworth and being re-opened by the Fremantle Trading Company
in 1907, its shaft was 347 ft deep in 1913, and No. two level was 800 ft long and No. three level was being driven. It
was producing about 2200 tons of ore per month containing about 215 tons of lead. In 1915, stoping was being
done over lengths of 630 ft at No. one level, 800 ft at No. 2 level, and 400 ft at No. three level. The Fremantle
Trading company closed this mine in 1921, after working the main lode to a depth of 450 ft and a length of 1100 ft.
By this date the mine had yielded 129.3 K tons of ore containing 13,890 tons of lead worth over 317 000 pounds.
The mine was re-worked in the 1950s, and was closed in 1953 after two men were killed by a fall of rock.
2004
Baddera mine is 8km north of the township of Northampton and is reached by travelling 1.4 km east along Baddera
Road and entering the wire gate at the south west corner of Location 1472.
North Baddera Mine is some 500m north east of the Baddera, from which its tailings dump can be clearly seen.
Vehicle access (4WD) between the mines is possible via a bushtrack and cleared exploration grid lines, but the
North Baddera main shaft and treatment area are concealed by thick scrub and not easy to find. There is better
vehicle access from a station track heading east from the main highway some 500m north of the Ladyland turnoff,
but this is through private property.
Baddera Mine
With some notable exceptions, the evidence is that of the foundations of mining and treatment plant, the equipment
having been removed for use at other sites after the mine's closure in the 1920s.
The oldest structures at Baddera probably date from around 1906. Only the stone-work building-in of the Cornish
boiler (no longer on site), and the foundations of its stack, remain from this period (NR037-1). Two or possibly
three other periods of subsequent work are evident in the main shaft, treatment plant and boiler house areas. One
includes the stonework building-in of the two existing Cornish boilers, the ducting of their flues to the older stack
(NR037-4 to NR037-12), and the stonework plinths of crushers, tanks and Wilfley tables. These probably date
from 1910, the beginning of the Baddera mine's most productive period which lasted to 1920. Concrete work in the
last period mainly consists of plinths for Wilfley tables, treatment tanks and their motors.
The general layout of the mine is with the steam generation plant at its centre, the main shaft, to the south and the
treatment plant to the north. The flow direction of the treatment plant was from west to east, towards the tailings
dump. The foundations of a fairly substantial house, possibly that of the mine manager, lie some distance away to
the east. A roller crusher east of the main site (NR037-20 to NR037-21) was evidently not related to the original
mine.
Frenier pump spirals and drive
In the north-west corner of the site are scattered 14 disk-shaped metal casings, some alongside a substantial
machine drive. The casings, 4 ft (1.2m) diameter and 10 inches (250ml) deep, are formed of 5 ft (1,5ml) steel plate
and contain within them a spiral of 6 turns at 55ml spacing (NR037-16 to NR037-18). The remnants match the
description of a Frenier Pump.
Roller crusher
The crusher has been crudely mounted on a rock foundation (NR037-20 to NR037-21), now mainly collapsed. It is
distant from the main treatment area and is almost certainly a remnant of a small scale, much later mining
operation, possibly from the 1951-53 period.
The 'house'
The base of a stone-walled building survives in the eastern part of the site. Remains of two rooms are visible, one
2.6m x 4.9m wide, the other about 7m x 4.9m. This may have been a manager's residence, or it could have served
a mine function such as storage, smithy or explosives magazine.
Ventilation shaft
This is a single compartment shaft, 1.8m x 0.8m, sawn timber lined with a bush timber collar. It has two 200ml
timber stumps, 1.5m centres, near its south-western corner.
Southern shaft
Just outside the southern boundary of Location 1472 there is a deep pit that is being used as a rubbish tip. This
corresponds to the southernmost shaft on the mine, noted by Feldtmann.
North Baddera Mine
Due to the isolated location of the mine, the remains of the North Baddera treatment plant have been well
preserved apart from the ingress of the surrounding bush (NR037-29).
While the North Baddera mine was operational several houses were built within Location 1472 to the west of the
mine, and about 100m from it. The sites are now in very thick bush but traces of at least one can be identified. The
treatment area is concrete floored throughout and was at least in part covered. From the mine shaft (NR037-23)
the ore was raised to a bin.
From the documentary evidence it is known that the ore was passed from the bin to a primary crusher, which was
probably mounted on the H-shaped foundation near the Huntington mill (NR037-24); it was then fed via a trommel
to the mill for fine grinding and thence over the Wilfley tables (NR037-27 to NR037-28) for mineral concentration.
The Huntington mill (NR037-23 to NR037-25) is a pendulum (or centrifugal) mill in which suspended rollers crush
the ore against a ring die. The remnant on site consists of the roller pendulum hanger ('spider' plate), central shaft,
part of the ring die housing, timber bed and the drive shaft.
Sparse remnants of habitation were noted some 70m east of the main shaft, but there was insufficient time to
investigate these in detail.

History

Baddera Mines is situated on Location 1472, 8.8km north of Northampton and 1.6km east of the North West
Coastal Highway. Two mines have been worked on the site, Baddera and Baddera North. These have also been
known as Old Baddera and New Baddera, respectively. The southern extension of the Baddera ore body has been
worked as the Baddera South mine.
Baddera Mine was established in 1873 and worked for about ten years to a maximum depth of 30 metres. No
production figures are available for this period but lead concentrates averaging 72% lead were produced to the
value of £34,000. The mine was reopened and worked from 1910to 1921, during which time 14,110 tonnes of lead
were produced from 131,340 tonnes of ore with an average grade of about 11% lead. This was the largest
production of any lead mine in Western Australia. Baddera North was worked from 1948 to 1953 and yielded 730
tonnes of lead from 15,610 tonnes of ore with an average grade of approximately 5% lead.
Key stages in the lives of the mines
• First Phase of Mining 1873 c. 1900
• Mining for Smelter Flux 1900 - 1906
•The Change from Smelting to Lead Mining 1906-1910
•The First World War and the Lead Mining Boom
• North Baddera Mine 1947-1953
•The January 1953 Mine Disaster
•Two small 'shows' operated for short periods at Baddera,1951-53.
• Ore from the Gurkha mine was processed at the North Baddera treatment plant, 1953-56.
• G.H. Mitchell trucked tailings and hand-picked concentrates from the South Baddera dump for reprocessing at
the Northampton State Battery, 1964-66
• During the base metals pegging boom the Baddera area pegged, 1970. for 'speculative purposes'.
• Baddera and neighbouring areas drilled by Hillcrest Resources., 1997-98

Chronology Entries
1872 The Baddera Mine opened.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: Low
Modifications: Dismantled mine
Orig'l Fabric: Very little remains intact

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.