South Maitland coalfields
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Coal mining, Railway transport |
| Founded | 1918 |
| Headquarters | East Greta Junction, New South Wales , Australia |
Area served | South Maitland coalfields, New South Wales |
| Products | Coal |
Number of employees | Thousands (across the coalfields) |
The South Maitland coalfields held the distinction of being the most extensive coal mining region in New South Wales until the downturn in coal extraction during the 1960s. The coal deposits were first identified by Lieutenant-Colonel William Paterson and his team on an exploratory mission to the Hunter Valley in July 1801. Commercial coal extraction commenced in the 1840s. Around the mid-19th century, approximately 1850, a coal seam was discovered near Mount Vincent, prompting Bourn Russell to start limited mining activities at Stoney Creek, Homeville, close to Farley. In 1886, Professor Tannatt William Edgeworth David located a premium-grade coal seam at Deep Creek near Abermain, which led to the allocation of roughly 20,000 acres (81 km2) designated for mining operations.
The region’s coal transport was facilitated by the South Maitland Railway, which branched off from the New South Wales Government Railways' Great Northern Railway at East Greta Junction, situated 33.49 km north of Newcastle. This rail system unified several lines and was managed by South Maitland Railways Proprietary Limited, a company established in 1918 with a capital investment of £500,000.
Covering territory from East Greta near Maitland extending westward to Paxton southwest of Cessnock, these coalfields included numerous communities and housed over thirty collieries that employed thousands of workers. The principal companies operating here were Caledonian Collieries Limited and J & A Brown & Abermain-Seaham Collieries Limited. These two entities merged in 1960 to create Coal & Allied, which subsequently acquired Hebburn Co in 1967.
List of collieries and proprietors
- East Greta No.1 (established 1891 by East Greta Coal Mining Co.; ceased operations in 1929 due to the Depression)
- East Greta No.2 (opened 1896)
- Glen Greta (operated between 1930 and 1931)
- Glen Ayr (launched in 1914 by Glen Ayr Colliery Co.; inundated in 1930)
- Ayrfield No.1 at Heddon Greta (active from 1918 until 1933; closed after fire)
- Ayrfield No.2 (functioned from 1924 to 1930; flooded)
- Heddon Greta colliery (closed following fire and flooding incidents in 1912)
- Stanford Merthyr No.1 at Kurri Kurri (started in 1901 under East Greta Coal Mining Co., later J & A Brown; major mine closed during the 1960s)
- Pelaw Main, Kurri Kurri (established 1901 by J & A Brown; closed in the 1960s)
- Richmond Main, near Kurri Kurri (opened in 1890 by John Scholey syndicate then J & A Brown; recorded highest daily production in NSW; shut down in 1967)
- Hebburn No.1 at Weston (initiated in 1903 by A.A.Co., later Hebburn Coal Co. from 1958)
- Hebburn No.2 (located three miles south of Weston) (commenced operation in 1918 by Hebburn Coal Co., transferred to J & A Brown in 1967)
- Hebburn No.3 or Elrington near Abernethy (began mining in 1924 by Hebburn Coal Co., later acquired by BHP Ltd. in 1962)
- Greta Main at Weston (started in 1922 by E S & B Jefferies; flooded in 1935)
- Abermain No.1 (operated by Abermain Collieries Ltd. as of 1960)
- Abermain No.2 at Kearsley (the region’s first mechanised mine) (opened in 1912 under Abermain Collieries Ltd., active until at least 1964)
- Abermain No.3 at Neath (established in 1923 by Abermain & Seaham Collieries Ltd., operational through 1960)
- Neath colliery (started operations in 1906 under Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Mining Co., taken over by Cessnock Collieries Ltd. from 1933 until about 1961)
- Aberdare collieries (initially run by Aberdare Collieries Co. Ltd. until 1905 then Caledonian Collieries Ltd., continued till around 1960; open-cut mining began from 1946)
- Aberdare South (Abernethy) Main colliery (opened in 1917 under Caledonian Collieries Ltd., active by the 1940s)
- Aberdare Central at Kitchener (started operations in 1917 with Caledonian Collieries Ltd., active circa 1960)
- Aberdare Extended located at Cessnock (established in 1906 under Caledonian Collieries Ltd., active through to about 1963)
- Hill End Colliery (ceased operations in 1931; managed by Hill End Colliery Company)
- Cessnock No.1 (also known as Kalingo Colliery) (opened in 1927 by Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Mining Co.; taken over by Cessnock Collieries Ltd. from 1933 until approximately 1964)
- Cessnock No.2 (started mining activities in 1917 under Wickham & Bullock Island Coal Mining Co.; operated by Cessnock Collieries Ltd. from 1933 until about 1955)
- Bellbird, located south of Cessnock (opened in 1908 by Hetton Coal Mining Co.)
- Pelton colliery (began operations in 1916 under Newcastle-Wallsend Coal Co.)
- Stanford Main No.2 at Paxton (five miles southwest of Cessnock) (launched in 1922 by East Greta Coal Mining Co.; transferred to J & A Brown and associates from 1934 until around 1961)
- Maitland Main colliery (operational from around 1929; situated four and a half miles southwest of Cessnock; originally named Greta Main Colliery when opened in 1921)
- Millfield Greta located six and a half miles southwest of Cessnock (started mining activities in 1924 under Millfield Greta Coal Co.; later managed by RW Miller)
References
- Eardley, Gifford H., The Railways of the South Maitland Coalfields, Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division, Sydney, 1969