Winnecke Goldfield

The goldfields are named for surveyor Charles Winnecke who established a depot there whilst first mapping the area in 1879.{{Cite web |title=Winnecke Goldfield cemetery |url=https://northernterritory.com/gb/en/alice-springs-and-surrounds/see-and-do/winnecke-goldfield-cemetery |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=Australia's Northern Territory}}

Gold was discovered there in late 1902 by prospector William Russel and it was a start of the gold rush; this meant that, by January 1903 there were 200 men there and 400 by June. This was widely reported throughout Australia and Charles Chewings said that there were exposed reefs that stood "nearly vertical" and that "in all of these free gold is visible in nearly every stone broken".{{cite news |date=21 February 1903 |title=Rich gold at Winnecke's Depot |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197904519 |access-date=7 March 2024 |newspaper=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=14,963}}

This rush caused significant problems due to a lack of resources. A well sunk there in 1903 was soon polluted by cattle and it led to several deaths from typhoid. The water supply was soon cleaned up and fenced but the rush was ending and there was a rapid decline in the population.{{cite web |last=Coulthard |first=William |date=1903 |title=Diary, 1903 of William Coulthard (transcribed and annotated by Kate Holmes) |url=https://hdl.handle.net/10070/449299 |access-date=6 March 2024 |website=Library & Archives NT: Territory Stories|hdl=10070/449299 }}

In 1903 a guide and handbook was produced by Robert Sands Frearson which included the warning:

{{Blockquote|text=While faithfully placing before the public my impression regarding the probable good results that will follow the expenditure of capital on the Arltunga and Winnecke’s Depot Goldfields, I must warn all men who think of going to these fields that, unless they have their best friend (say £75 to £100) in their pockets, they will most undoubtedly, have tremendous hardships to encounter.|author=Robert Sands Frearson|title=R.S. Frearson's guide and handbook to the Arltunga and Winnecke's Depot goldfields, MacDonnell Ranges, South Australia|source=1903}}

In 1905 a Coorong Battery was placed at the Coorong Gold Mine at the goldfield, and it is an example of early steam engine technology of Hawke and Co.{{cite news |date=3 June 1905 |title=The Winnecke Goldfield |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88172121 |access-date=7 March 2024 |newspaper=Chronicle |location=South Australia |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=47 |issue=2,441}}{{cite news |date=5 May 1905 |title=The New Coorong Battery |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208885549 |access-date=7 March 2024 |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |location=South Australia |page=1 (4 o'clock.) |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XLII |issue=12,482}}{{Citation |author1=Ridgway, N |title=The Coorong Battery at the Winnecke Gold Mine, NT |journal=Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=69–74 |doi=10.1080/14488388.2010.11464826 |s2cid=110782652 |publication-date=2010 |issn=1448-8388}} The battery was located on the side of the hill, so slurry would fall over the amalgamation plates. The mine was operated by a private miners syndicate until 1907 and the sold to the Commonwealth Government. The government then shut it, and the battery, down sometime after 1913 due to financial losses and safety concerns.{{Cite web |title=Coorong Gold Mine, Winnecke Goldfield, Georgina Range, Central Desert Region, Northern Territory, Australia |url=https://www.mindat.org/loc-291362.html |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=minddat.org}}

On visitor to the Coorong Battery in 1905 was Doris Blackwell who travelled there alongside her governess Mabel Mary Taylor. One their visit they stayed with the Battery Manager, George Lines, and his wife. Blackwell described the goldfield as "a calico village, a straggling land and tents and bough shelters" and that is had "an atmosphere of ugly impermanence".{{Citation |author1=Blackwell, Doris |title=Alice on the line : overland telegraph, one family's story |publication-date=1975 |publisher=New Holland Publishers |isbn=978-1-74110-803-3}}

Blackwell visited again, in around 1907, with her father Thomas Bradshaw and was surprised by the changes to it; she said:

{{Blockquote|text=I was astonished by the utter desolation of the place. I wondered if I had dreamt that there had ever been a street with several stores, an hotel, and a number of houses. They had disappeared as completely as if picked up in a whirlwind and scattered across the near-by Simpson Desert.|author=Doris Blackwell|title=Alice on the line (1975)|source=p. 196}}

From 1933 some of the miners at the Winnecke Goldfield were Italian migrants Pascale "Patsy" and Maria Antonia Ciccone and their three most productive workings there were 'Patsy's Prospect', Big Gun' and 'Pyritic Show'.{{cite news |date=13 May 1933 |title=Mataranka notes |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81219960 |access-date=7 March 2024 |newspaper=The Northern Miner |location=Queensland, Australia |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} With government aid they bought a small crushing plant but they struggled to succeed there and moved on to the Tennant Creek and Wauchope Wolfram Fields. In 1938 they returned to Winnecke, alongside their Giuseppe and Maria Concetta Gagliardi (their son-in-law and daughter) for a short time due to insufficient water being available to run the larger equipment.{{Cite web |title=Agency details for Guiseppe Gagliardi |url=https://navigator.nt.gov.au/page/keywordsearch_item_details.php?ss=winnecke&sagency=on&sseries=on&sitems=on&sfunction=agency&sunitid=136&sidnum=0&sbreadcrumb=ks,ksSumRes,ksRes |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Library & Archives NT: Archives Navigator}}{{Citation |author1=Petrick, Jose |title=The history of Alice Springs through landmarks and street names |publication-date=1996 |edition=3rd Ftha|publisher=J. Petrick |isbn=978-0-646-30256-0 |author2=Petrick, Jose. Street names tell history of Alice Springs}}

Other miners in the region at the time were the Johannsen family, including Gerhardt Johannsen and his son Kurt Johannsen.{{Cite book |last=Johannsen, Kurt G. (Kurt Gerhardt), 1915- |title=A son of the Red Centre : memoirs and anecdotes of the life of road train pioneer and bush inventor of the Northern Territory of Australia |date=1993 |publisher=K.G. Johannsen |others=Palmer, Daphne. |isbn=0646133047 |edition=Rev. |location=Morphettville, S. Aust. |oclc=38326395}}

In 1993 Ciccone's crushing plant was moved from the abandoned Winnekce Goldfield to Arltunga Historical Reserve where it is preserved.

There is an unofficial cemetery site at the goldfield which was primarily used to bury those who died during the typhoid outbreak. It consists of seven graves and the earliest, and only identifiable grave, is the one for Drew Williams, a prospector, who died on 31 May 1903.

This site was heritage protected in 2001.{{Cite web |title=Site details: Winnecke Goldfields Cemetery |url=https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/heritageregister/f?p=103:303::::NO:P303_PLACE_ID:82# |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=NT Heritage Register}}{{Cite web |title=Winnecke Goldfields Cemetery |url=https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=22778 |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=NT Place Names Register}}{{Citation |author1=O'Byrne, Denis |title=Survey of historic sites: Winnecke Depot goldfield |publication-date=1981 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/19018136 |access-date=7 March 2024 |publisher=Spinifex Enterprises |author2=O'Byrne, Theresa}}

File:Coorong_battery_depot,_Winnecke_goldfields.tif|Coorong battery depot, Winnecke goldfields, 1905

File:Boiler_from_Winnecke_depot.tif|Boiler from Winnecke depot being transported by a team of horses, 1905

File:Dowling_050.jpg|Photo of Pascale Ciccone's mine at Winnecke, taken between 1938 - 1939

File:Winnecke,_1938.tif|Winnecke Goldfields in 1938

File:Winnecke,_1938,_Giuseppe_Gagliardi_on_right.tif|Winnecke, 1938, crushing plant

File:Trudy Hayes 281.tif|The Johannsen's home at Winnecke, c.1930s

File:Trudy Hayes 284.tif|A willy willy near the Johannsen mine, c.1930s

File:Trudy Hayes 286.tif|The Johannsen mine at Winnecke, c.1930s

• Holmes, Kate. (1903) Diary, 1903 of William Coulthard.
• R.S. Frearson's (Firm). (1903). R.S. Frearson's guide and handbook to the Arltunga and Winnecke's Depot goldfields, MacDonnell Ranges, South Australia.{{Citation |author1=Frearson, Robert Sands |title=R.S. Frearson's guide and handbook to the Arltunga and Winnecke's Depot goldfields, MacDonnell Ranges, South Australia |publication-date=1903 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18369698 |access-date=7 March 2024 |publisher=Frearson's Printing House |author2=R.S. Frearson's (Firm)}}

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Category:Mining in the Northern Territory

Category:Gold mines in Australia

Category:Ghost towns in the Northern Territory