Aboriginal and early settler history The area now known as Bodangora lies on the traditional lands of
Wiradjuri people.
John Oxley and his expedition passed the future site of
Wellington in 1817, when following the
Macquarie River. Wellington became a
convict agricultural settlement in 1823.
Jacob Levi Montefiore (1819 – 1885) was given a land grant in the area and made other land acquisitions; part of that land is now within the locality of Bodangora.
Alluvial gold mining Very soon after the rush to Ophir, gold had been found on Mitchell's Creek, in early June 1851. In the late 1860s alluvial gold was found at Jawbone, on the road between Wellington and the site of the later village at Bodongara. There was a minor rush to the field. The discovery of gold at
Gulgong led to most miners deserting the field.
Mitchells Creek Mine The main mine within the locality now known as Bodangora was the Mitchell's Creek Mine. It was a quartz reef gold mine. It was only in 1869, that the Michells Creek Mine began to work a quartz reef, although it was close to where McGregor had found his gold in the 1840s. or jointly owned by him and Jacob Levi Montefiore. In early land titles in New South Wales, mineral rights were a part of the freehold. The Prospectus of a new company, 'Mitchell's Creek Quartz And Gold Mining Company'—capital of 30,000 in 6,000 shares—was issued in late 1869. 3,000 shares were to be offered to the public. 3,000 fully-paid shares were to be issued to the proprietors, Gordon and Montefiore, who were both on the new company's board. The company was eventually formed as The Mitchell's Creek Mining Company, in 1870. Sinking of the shaft took longer than expected and, although the crushing plant had been completed, crushing had still not commenced by July 1871. A report, from October 1872, describes three 5-head stamper mills with amalgam plates, with the material then passing through a
buddle to capture gold bearing pyrite. There were plans to erect a
roasting furnace and
Chilean mill to treat the pyrite ore. Water for the gold recovery processes was pumped from Mitchell's Creek. Despite a significant investment being made, and the deposit being of significant size, the venture did not prosper. In 1874, creditors sued the company and obtained an
sheriff's order to put the assets of the company—mine, land and equipment—to a public auction to be held on 16 April 1874. In July 1874, Gordon and Montefiore made what was left of the company insolvent. A report by
W.H.J (John) Slee, Inspector of Mines, in 1877, noted that the mine was being worked by
tribute miners, and that pyrite ores were being accumulated, using buddles, for future treatment. The mine was still being worked in February 1880, when a miner Thomas Ingall was killed there in a rockfall. Extracting gold profitably from the
sulphide zone ore in the mine had proved too difficult. As gold extraction technology developed during the 1880s and 1890s, the mine presented an opportunity for those who could invest in means of successfully treating the sulphide gold ore and expanding it.
Operation as a large mine (1889 – 1908) Four partners—James Dick (1823 – 1902), a Scottish
gutta-percha manufacturer and mining investor, James. M. Findlay, Thomas. M. Dalveen, and Phillip Davies—a mining expert,—put in £16,000 each. They bought the mine in the latter part of 1888, commenced operations in June 1889, sinking the No.1 shaft and installing new equipment. They continued to operate as a partnership, Mitchell's Creek Freehold Gold Estate, rather than setting up a company. In 1893, an agreement was made with Australian Gold Recovery Company to recover gold from old tailings heaps. They planned to apply the then relatively new
McArthur-Forrest
cyanide process, under the direction of metallurgist Peter McIntyre, who was one of the Forrest Brothers' assistants. The cyanide process largely superseded the chlorination process. By 1895 there were two shafts on the main Mitchells Creek lode. There was a third temporary working known as 'Snow's shaft'. In late 1895, Slee reported again, noting the increase in
stamper mill capacity from 15 heads—installed in 1890—to 25 heads, and that the mine was "being worked on sound commercial principles". By that time, Findlay was general manager; James Dick later became the sole owner, when he bought out Dalveen, in 1900. In 1901, the mine commissioned a new 40-head
stamper battery, near the No.2 shaft, and ore from both shafts was conveyed there on a tram line. By September 1902, the expansion of the Mitchells Creek Mine was completed. A new poppet head, winding engine, and electric lighting had been installed. There was a third permanent shaft on Dick's Reward reef, 600 to 700 yards north-west from the Mitchells Creek main shaft. In March 1902, the sole owner, James Dick, had died. and therefore the individual mining assets needed to be sold. In August 1902, reportedly, the mine was under offer in London, for £200,000. It was noted that this was a far greater sum—even after allowing for recent improvements—than had been determined by arbitration in 1900, when the partnership had been ended. The eventual sale agreed by Dick's estate was for £60,000—£20,000 in cash followed by a series of equal periodic instalments. The new venture took over the operation of the mine, but failed to make the first instalment payment, and asked for more time to make the payment. The Dick estate put the venture into receivership, pending payment, but the sale was never completed, leaving ownership with Dick's estate. At the end of 1903, a new company, Mitchell's Creek Gold Mine Limited, was formed to take over the mine from Mitchell's Creek Freehold Gold Estate. The new owners took control in May 1904. It seems that the purchase was not funded by a capital raising, Cuthbertson was a
deputy lieutenant of Glasgow. As Cuthbertson had died in January 1905, and it was probably either his estate or interests that he was representing that was seeking repayment of the debentures. There was a mortgagee auction in August 1906. However, there seems to have been no sale, because the mortgagees eventually foreclosed on the mine property, in March 1907, seeking to recover a sum of £50,089 10s. 9d. and the interest upon it from 26 January 1907. During the early months of 1908, it was reported that a large cyanide plant was being installed at the mine. File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Poppet head (Australian Town & County Journal, 8 Jan 1908, p.38).jpg|Poppet head File:Mitchell's Creek Gold Mine - Battery from Poppet Head (Australian Town and Country Journal, 1 Jan 1908, p38).jpg|Stamper battery from poppet head File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Mine winder (Australian Town & County Journal, 1 Jan 1908, p.38).jpg|Mine winder and driver File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Officials of Mitchells Ck and Dick's Mines (Australian Town & County Journal, 8 Jan 1908, p.38.jpg|Officials of Mitchell's Ck and Dick mines File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Surface hands (Australian Town & County Journal, 8 Jan 1908, p.38).jpg|Surface hands (Mitchell's Ck) File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Morning shift miners at Dick's mine (Australian Town & County Journal, 8 Jan 1908, p.38).jpg|Morning shift, Dick's mine File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Afternoon shift miners at Dick's mine (Australian Town & County Journal, 1 Jan 1908, p.38).jpg|Afternoon shift, Dick's mine File:Mitchells Creek Mine, Night shift miners at Dick's mine (Australian Town & County Journal, 1 Jan 1908, p.38).jpg|Night shift, Dick's mine
Reduced operations and final closing (1908 - 1919) In May 1908, the mine closed, putting around 200 men out of work. The main mine had become unprofitable to operate, and the 'Dick's Reward' deposit was stated to be "petering out". Reprocessing of 150,000 tons of
tailings was the only ongoing operation, employing only around 30 men at the
cyanide plant. In October 1910, a new company, Bodangora Gold Mines, No Liability, planned to work the neighbouring 'Dick's Reward' gold deposit. In 1913, the Mitchells Creek mine was once again in operation, with 26 of its miners working the mine as
tribute miners. Sources date the final end of mining at the Mitchell's Creek Mine to either 1918 or 1919. in October 1897, and one at another date However, there were significantly less accidents than at comparable large gold mines, such the mine at
Canbelego. One reason given for the relatively low accident rate was that the mine was well timbered, and there were fewer rockfalls as a consequence. Only two of the reported mine accidents were due to rockfalls, and around 500 miners working there by February 1900. The Jawbone deposit was still producing gold in 1907, when about 30 men were reported to be earning a living there, but records of gold production at Jawbone cease in 1911. The settlement arose in the late 1860s, when Ernest Hoffmeister, a German-born gold miner from Victoria, built a residence, on the western side of the crossing, and began successfully farming a
selection of 80 acres. Other selectors encouraged by Hoffmeister's success took up land in the area. The crossing became a favoured camping site of those travelling between the gold fields in the region. and in 1908 a
blacksmith's shop opened. Hoffmeister sold the hotel, by then known at the Redbank Hotel, to William Robinson, In 1891. By 1903, the hotel was reported to be in a dilapidated state. In 1904, William Robinson—the next licencee of what was, by then known as the Lincoln Hotel—died, reportedly having never fully recovered from the death of his wife two years earlier. The licence was only renewed, in October 1904, based an assurance that a new building would be erected. It seems that no new building was erected. In July 1907, the next licencee, Robinson's son, William John Robinson, died from what was reported initially to be a suicide but which a later inquest found to have been an accidental shooting. The hotel closed in 1909, and its remains were demolished in 1936. A post office existed at Lincoln, until 1959, when the last postmistress—also a member of the Robinson family—died, effectively bringing the settlement to an end. The ruin of the post office was still in existence in 2006. The mine did not have a source of water with which to process its ore, and established its crusher on the northern bank of Mitchell's Creek. A settlement sprang up there, with houses, a hotel, school, butcher, baker, store, and a Catholic church and convent.
Village of Bodangora Growth After mining was resumed by Mitchell's Creek Freehold Gold Estate, in mid 1889, a settlement sprang up near the mine. The village site lies partially inside the Parish of Bodangora (
County of Lincoln) and the Parish of Nanima (
County of Bligh).
Mitchells Creek is the name of a watercourse that passes to the north of the village's site, Two of the four men involved in the mining venture, were Phillip Davies—after whom Daviesville was named—and James Dick—of Glasgow, Scotland, one of partners in the mine—who gave his name to Dick Street, one of the streets of the village. The name Bodgangora had been used previously as the name of the cadestral parish, and a property in the area. The
common land of the village remained known as the Daviesville Common. The settlement had a public school from August 1892. Initially called Mitchells Creek, its name became Daviesville in March 1893, before changing again, to Bodangora, in November 1906. The village also had a post office, which changed its name from Daviesville to Bodangora in 1897. It used the numeric code 1703. By 1896, the settlement had a police station. In August 1897, the main street was "being cleared of
stumps and other impediments to traffic", and the village did not have a proper water supply, There eventually would also be Catholic However, the Tattersall's Hotel at Bodangora was in business by the end of 1900. At the same date, the village had two butchers' shops, a bakery and confectionary shop, a boot shop, a shop selling
horehound beer, and at least four stores, T. McDonnell's store, H.Levy's General Store, the Jubilee Store and the Post Office Store. There were also "several fruit and soft drink shops". The village's new post office building was officially opened on 31 March 1905. The village reached its greatest extent around 1907. but the newer and larger settlement, away from the floodprone creek, eventually led to the abandonment of Kaiser. The Catholic church of St Joseph and its convent school relocated from the settlement of Kaiser to the new village in 1905-1906.
Storm damage At 7:45 pm, on Monday, 4 March 1907, the village was hit by a "cyclonic storm", which damaged almost every building in the village to some extent. The building of the Church of England was destroyed, and the Methodist and Baptist churches were damaged. Another of the badly damaged buildings was the newly-relocated Catholic church; beyond repair, a new Catholic church, St Paul's, was later constructed of stone. By September 1908, the village's population was in decline, and it was envisaged that "if the present rate is kept up in a short time there will only be some twenty or thirty houses left on the place." The new Catholic Church officially opened on 9 May 1909. Gold mining continued sporadically, with mines being worked
on tribute, in 1913, In May 1920, two
weatherboard cottages and five large sheds were put up for auction. The 'Mine House'—a house where visiting directors and other guests had stayed—was demolished and relocated in July 1921. Bodangora sent 47 men to the First World War, of whom 16 died. A memorial to those who served and those who died in the
First World War, was unveiled by
Sir Walter Davidson, in September 1921.
After mining The mining company auctioned off its assets, in February 1923, ending hopes of a resumption of mining. Following the sale, the decline of the village intensified. Although surrounded by good agricultural land, proximity to Wellington ensured that agriculture alone would not sustain the village as it had been. Buildings in the village were being demolished and relocated during 1923, including the mine manager's house. The hotel closed at the end of September 1923, following the cancelling of its licence, and was just a pile of stones by mid 1925; its closing was a major blow to the village. During 1928, the Baptist church building was relocated to Wellington, where it was used for a
Sunday school hall. In mid 1932, the police station was closed, and the village was thereafter without a police presence. In 1936, some of the streets of the village were closed. Some tailings were being reprocessed, between 1931 and 1940, becoming a locality, Bodangora. Bodangora's population was only around 30 in 1986.
Later gold production Attempts at reprocessing mine
tailings to recover gold occurred, between 1931 and 1940 and in the early 1970s. was sold, in 1973, and relocated for display with other mining relics at O'Brien's Hill,
Grenfell. Gold production resumed, when Cluff Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd began reprocessing 241,000 tonnes of tailings—average gold grade 1.88 g/t—from the old Mitchells Creek Mine, It had only a small impact on the much diminished village, although four employees resided there while it operated.
Heritage Items Although not much of it remained by then, the 'Former Bodangora Gold Mine', on the western side of Dick Street, was made a heritage item, in 1987, as was the unfinished railway. == Present day Bodangora ==