The Mihi Creek site is a
cultural landscape created as a result of mixed within the area since the early 1860s. Past use of the area is divided into two distinct though connected historical phases – the use of the area by
Queensland Railways for Queensland's first
main line railway, and then as an evolving coal mining and coke manufacturing operation in 1871, concluding around 1960.
Railway Operations (1865–1875) Queensland's colonial government fostered the development of railways as a means of developing the State and providing social benefits. It was argued that rail would reduce freight costs and save travel time for passengers. An added incentive for rail development in Queensland was the very poor state of the roads. In wet weather especially, this hampered the transport of freight. The
Ipswich reach of the
Bremer River was chosen as the eastern terminus of the first main line railway instead of
Brisbane because of the importance of Ipswich to
Darling Downs pastoralists. Ipswich was becoming a major
inland port and was located at the intersection of important transport routes to the Darling Downs and Upper
Brisbane Valley. The Chief Engineer responsible for construction of the railway was
Abraham Fitzgibbon, later to be engaged as Queensland's first
Commissioner for Railways. Charles Fox and Son, an engineering firm based in England, were appointed as consulting engineers and
Peto, Brassey and Betts, contractors with worldwide railway construction experience, were engaged to construct the line. Construction of the first section of main line between Ipswich and Bigge's Camp (now
Grandchester) officially commenced on 25 February 1864 with the turning of the first sod at North Ipswich by Lady
Diamantina Bowen. The original route followed the north bank of the Bremer River crossing Mihi Creek and Iron Pot Creek and joining the route of the present main line at
Wulkuraka. The line was officially opened on 31 July 1865. The first bridge over Mihi Creek was one of four bridges constructed on the line between Ipswich and Grandchester. The embankment of the Mihi crossing was exposed to flood waters from the Bremer River and Mihi Creek and began to subside after a flood in April 1867. The crossing was notorious for the sharp reverse curves in the approaches to the bridge. In May 1868, the Mihi deviation was completed at a cost of about and opened for traffic. This crossed the creek above the flood level about further up stream and it followed a gentler curve. The old line was removed and the bridge was dismantled and stored. The line was used until 1875 when a new line was opened to the south across the Bremer River, cutting out the original first six kilometres from the
North Ipswich Railway Workshops and through Wulkuraka. However, a portion of the line between North Ipswich and Wulkuraka was retained to service the railway workshops and also for the use of coal mining and coke manufacture that were then occurring at Mihi Creek.
Coal Mining and Coking Operations (1864–) The discovery of coal in Queensland dates from 1825 when outcrops were observed by Major
Edmund Lockyer on the banks of the upper
Brisbane River. Two years later, when Ipswich was settled as a convict outstation, known as Limestone, the presence of coal was noted between the convict settlement and Brisbane by Captain
Patrick Logan. The following year, explorer
Allan Cunningham also marked several outcrops on the Bremer River on his survey map for
New South Wales Governor Ralph Darling. Coal was one of the first minerals in Queensland to be commercially mined. Mining originally commenced at
Goodna in 1843 with the
West Moreton Coalfield at Ipswich following in the early 1850s. Primary sources of historical information for coke manufacture in the West Moreton field, and across Queensland generally, are scarce as the early regulation of Queensland's mining industry was focused mainly on gold mining. Coal mining was not regulated until the 1880s with the passage of the Mines Regulation Act 1881, the Mineral Lands Act 1882 and the Mineral Lands (Coal-Mining) Act 1886. The Mines Regulation Act allowed the appointment of mines inspectors and the first was appointed in January 1882. While these inspectors reported regularly on the operations of coal mines, coke manufacture was not covered by the definitions of the Act and therefore not considered officially part of the mining industry and went largely unreported. Coal mining was not covered by specific legislation until 1925, and these regulations also made no mention of coking. This has led to no systematic record keeping of coke manufacture in Queensland - especially concerning production numbers, value, equipment used, people employed, or any other detailed characteristic. Information contained in Queensland government records is fragmentary - except for State owned enterprises such as those at
Bowen and
Mount Mulligan in northern Queensland. A by-product of coal mining,
coke was usually regarded as a somewhat unimportant side industry to the actual mining of coal. Coke is used as both a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting ore and is produced from baking
bituminous coal in ovens at temperatures as high as . Coke manufacture became an important
extractive industry from the late 1860s with the introduction of mechanically driven transportation, such as steam- powered ships and trains. Sites for coking of coal were most often located adjacent to transport systems, road, rail or water. In 1871, the Eastwood Mine opened at Mihi Creek and was named after its owner, John Eastwood. The Eastwood Mine was worked during the 1870s and into the early 1880s. Due to the owner's interest in other mines it then laid idle for several years until it was sold to John Wright and Brydon, Jones & Coy in 1884 who renamed the site to Mihi Mine. A short rail spur-line was built, connecting their mining rail/tram infrastructure to the Ipswich railway (presumably to the 1868 main line alignment of the Ipswich - Grandchester rail line). Twelve
coke ovens, known as the Mihi Ovens, were soon constructed on the hillside above Mihi Creek. Coke ovens erected on the West Moreton Coalfield were exclusively of the
beehive type, so called because of their domed appearance. Beehive coke ovens consisted of a brick dome with a small circular opening (an exit flue) at the apex, and a larger arched opening at one side to permit charging and drawing. They were usually constructed in double rows known as batteries. The space between ovens was usually filled with rubble and earth to provide insulation and the whole battery surrounded by a stone retaining wall to resist the outward thrust of the brick domes. The Mihi Ovens remained in use until 1890/1 when Wright's attention was diverted a new coal development at the New Bishop Mine located nearby. It was 1908 before the site was mined again, this time by Paul Francis, a Cornish miner who had been working in the Ipswich area since the 1870s. He named his venture the Francis Mine, constructed a horse whim for hauling loaded coal skips out of his tunnel, sank an air shaft to the workings and erected bunkers of "60-tonnes capacity". The exact location of Francis' first tunnel is not known but in 1917 a second tunnel was driven into the hillside probably below Viking Street. A siding was also laid which connected to the railway workshops which terminated below the tunnel. In 1923 Francis sold the site to a partnership of miners and a
barrister who created and floated the company, Klondyke Collieries Limited. As Klondyke Collieries Limited, coke production at the site flourished. The horse whim was replaced by an electric winder, and air shaft sunk to the workings and fitted with an electric propeller fan, a screening and crushing plant was erected, and power supplied by the Electric Supply Company Limited. The ovens were used throughout the 1930s. By 1942 several new beehive ovens had been constructed to meet the increased demand for coke for smelting purposes though the actual market for this coke remains unknown (see also
Klondyke Coke Ovens). In 1945 and 1946, Klondyke and Bowen in northern Queensland were the only coke producers in Queensland, with Klondyke turning out approximately a sixth of Queensland's coke production. In 1948 the site changed hands again and was renamed Moreton Colliery and worked until the early 1950s when the pit's supply was exhausted. Bryce (2009:5) recalls that the ovens were still being used as late as 1960. After the closure of the site, coke production was taken over by the nearby Haighmoor site which remained in production for a further 15 years as southern Queensland's only coke works (
Klondyke Coke Ovens). == Description ==