page_title: Wenlock Goldfield
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wenlock Goldfield / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Remnant central pier of the Garraway Creek bridge constructed by the Fishers in 1946 to access Wenlock from Portland Roads
context_page_description: Wenlock Goldfield is a heritage-listed mine in Archer River, Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1892 to 1950s. It is also known as Batavia Goldfield and Lower Camp. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 3 March 2006.
context_section_description: Wenlock Goldfield (formerly Batavia Goldfield) and the settlement of Lower Camp are situated along the eastern bank of the Wenlock River on Cape York Peninsula, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) north of Coen. The Batavia Goldfield was proclaimed in 1892, following discovery of gold at Retreat Creek (a tributary of the Wenlock). In subsequent years camps known as Bairdsville, Top Camp (Plutoville), and Lower Camp (Wenlock) were established and supplied from Coen. The settlement of Lower Camp was formed after Kitty Pluto discovered gold there in 1915. It became the main township on the Batavia Goldfield in the 1930s and was officially named Wenlock in 1938. It is around this time also, that the Batavia Goldfield became known as the Wenlock Goldfield.
  Alluvial gold had been discovered on the Cape York Peninsula as early as 1876, on the Coen River, after attention was drawn to the region by the Palmer goldfield. A small rush ensued in 1878. Although this soon dissipated, by the late 1880s a small township had been formed at Coen. In 1892 the Coen Goldfield was proclaimed officially and reefing work commenced. Although production totals paled in comparison with fields such as the Palmer, within the next few years the erection of batteries and a cyanide works at Coen gave the northern Peninsula a permanent base for prospecting expeditions. Gold was found on the Starcke River in 1890, at Batavia (Wenlock) in 1892, Ebagoola in 1899 and Potallah in 1902.
  Following William Baird's discovery of gold at Retreat Creek in 1892, a 13 kilometres (8.1 mi)² area around the camp of Bairdsville was proclaimed as the Batavia Goldfield. Output for 1892–1893 was an estimated 2,000 ounces of alluvial gold worth £4 per ounce. Miners continued prospecting the area. In 1906 gold was discovered at the Tunnel, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast of Lower Camp. The discovery of gold at Plutoville (Top Camp) by an Aborigine named Pluto in 1910 was suppressed, to allow Coen and Ebagoola miners first choice of the ground, and a rush did not take place until mid 1911.
  Despite being so close to the workings at Top Camp (Plutoville), gold was not discovered at Lower Camp until January 1915 when an Aboriginal woman, Kitty Pluto, accidentally discovered a nugget while carting surface wash from Top Camp (Plutoville) to the Wenlock. Both Top Camp and Lower Camp workings are situated on the east bank of the Wenlock River, close to the edge of a low Mesozoic sandstone tableland rising above the workings. However the main centre remained at Plutoville (Top Camp) from 1911 to 1922. Stores owned by Dehn, Armbrust and Shepherd traded at Top Camp.
  The original shallow alluvial area at Lower Camp covered less than 0.4ha and by 1916 most miners either had returned to Plutoville, prospecting the surrounding countryside, or had left the region altogether. In 1922, a group of miners attempted to locate the main leader's northern extension beneath the mantle of Mesozoic sediments. After sinking several shafts, they came across an auriferous lead at a depth of 5.4 metres (18 ft) and at a distance of 20 metres (66 ft) from a reef, which provided rich specimen stone. From then until the late 1930s, the Lower Camp was in constant production and has officially returned a yield of 35,016 ounces of gold.
  The most productive area was confined to deeper ground to 25 metres (82 ft) and contained within the New Year's Gift, Prohibitionist, Double Chance, Band of Hope, Golden Casket and Hidden Treasure claims, all of which were later converted into general mining leases.
  The Batavia was the most productive goldfield in Cape York during the economic depression of the early 1930s, with six payable mines. In 1932 it produced 2,793 ounces of recorded gold valued at £9,287, compared to 3,342 ounces valued at £11,114 in 1931. The use of motor lorries greatly assisted operations on the field. Two batteries had been established by the end of 1931 to crush the one-ounce stone. One of these was Forsythe's, formerly at Belmore Creek near Croydon, which had been shifted to the Batavia field in November 1
caption: Remnant central pier of the Garraway Creek bridge constructed by the Fishers in 1946 to access Wenlock from Portland Roads
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