Adelong Falls Reserve

Adelong is located 416 km south-west of Sydney via the Hume and Snowy Mountains Highways. It is 340 m above sea level and currently has a population of around 900 people. It seems that the word 'adelong', or something similar, meant either 'river on a plain' or 'along the way' in the local Wiradjuri language. Europeans settled the area in the 1840s with Adelong Creek station being established in 1843. It wasn't until the discovery of gold in 1853 that the town really developed. A gold rush in the following years resulted in the population reaching an estimated 5,000 people by 1855. The result of this rush was that an Anglican parish was established in the same year and the following year, 1856, saw the formal establishment of the town. In 1857 William Williams discovered both reef and alluvial gold on Mount Charcoal. It is said that Williams, who went by the nickname 'Old Gold Dust', bought a mining claim for £40,000 and sold it for £75,000 later the same day. This rush of luck resulted in the town's population increasing to 20,000 by 1860 of whom nearly 3,000 miners came from China. The area yielded 7,000 ounces of alluvial gold and the reef mines reputedly produced 50 ounces to each ton which was crushed. In total the area yielded nearly 25 tonnes (or 200 tons - the sources are very confused) of gold. The 1860s and 1870s saw the town booming. Mines and batteries (to crush the reef gold) sprung up along the valley. The mines included such romantically named operations as Donkey Hill, The Challenger, Lady Mary, Long Tunnel, Great Victoria and Gibraltar which, at its peak, was employing 450 men and had tunnels reaching over 400 metres into the surrounding mountains.

Richie's Gold Battery at the Adelong Falls Reserve This is a very well preserved and fascinating area where the enthusiastic gold panner can try their luck in the creek where thousands of miners once made their fortune. The area is clearly signposted and many of the ruins are easy to recognise including the Richie's Gold Battery, the water wheels which were used to drive the battery, and the old brick chimney. A guide to the town explains: "The ruins of the Richie's gold batteries are the remains of a quartz crushing and gold saving installation, which was praised as 'a credit to New South Wales' and which ranked 'foremost of any in Australia' (Department of Mines annual report 1882). The ruins are made up of what was called a 'reefer machine' and was operated from the earliest 'rush' days up until World War I. "All the machinery at the site was worked by two large water wheels supplied with water from the Adelong Creek and carried down by races, either cut into the hillside or on wooden trestles."