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C1887
Madame Berry G.M.Co. No.1 Shaft Creswick near Ballarat.
Lithograph of the Madam Berry Mine at Creswick produced more than 12 t gold from a lease just half a kilometre long. The State’s richest deep alluvial gold lead system, known as the Berry Lead System, run north from Creswick, … Read Full Description
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Full Title:
Madame Berry G.M.Co. No.1 Shaft Creswick near Ballarat.
Date:
C1887
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured lithograph.
Image Size:
185mm
x 100mm
Paper Size:
210mm
x 135mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1887
Description:
Lithograph of the Madam Berry Mine at Creswick produced more than 12 t gold from a lease just half a kilometre long.
The State’s richest deep alluvial gold lead system, known as the Berry Lead System, run north from Creswick, slightly to the west of Smeaton. Mining of lead system took place from early 1870s. The Berry No. 1 mine was floated in 1881 and by the end of 1884, the company’s main shaft had been sunk 494 feet. Confronted with large flows of water, the company erected some of the most extensive pumping machinery in the State, including a 70-inch cylinder Cornish engine. The engine was locally manufactured at John Hichman’s Union Foundry Ballarat and was capable of lifting 60,000 gallons of water per hour.
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 18716.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 632842
State Library New South Wales: CALL NUMBERS MB 2 Q 34 , 992.2/1B3
State Library Victoria: RARELT 994.531 B21W (1887) B
Francis Wilson Niven (1831 - 1905)
Niven was a lithographic printer and mariner. At the age of 13 he went to sea and was apprenticed to John Sargent, captain of the Stebonheath. Following voyages to Victoria in 1851 and 1853, having gained the rank of first mate (1852), he was discharged in London on 15 June 1854. After prospecting with limited success, Niven decided upon the occupation of printing, specifically lithography, because it suited the artistic disposition he had inherited from his father. He purchased presses for £40 from Alfred Ronalds, a nurseryman at Ballarat who had formerly been a lithographer at Geelong. Niven taught himself to use this equipment with the aid of Ure's Dictionary of Arts. His first known commercial work was assisting with illustrations on Ballarat Punch in 1857. In the 1860s he trained with the lithographic artist Hermann Deutsch in his Bridge Road office. They produced many prints of Ballarat scenes. Between 1863 and 1865 Deutsch sold him the business. Innovation in lithography was a significant part of the firm's success and in 1873 Niven imported one of the earliest known commercial steam lithographic presses in Australia. F. W. Niven & Co. became a large printing business and at its peak employing seventy hands and having some £7000 worth of machinery.
