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Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 1 of 11 Coal Mines Historic Site THR Identification Number: 5618 181 Coal Mine Road, Saltwater River Status: P ermanent Registration (amended 16 - 04 - 2008) Municipality: Tasman Chapel and main Barracks precinct. © PAHSMA Convict separate apartments © PAHS MA Convict solitary cells © PAHSMA Location: Coalmines Historic Site PID 7339701 CPR No. 8661 Title n/a AGD East E559027 UPIN AGD North N5240524 Setting: The Coal Mines Historic Site is situated on a spit of land on the north east of the Tasman Peninsula. The place is bound ed to the east by Norfolk Bay and in the north climbs a moderate - steep hill of Mount Stewart. The Coal Mines are set amongst a native dry sclerophyll forest predominantly of Eucalypt species, contributing to romantic ruins within a largely The main settlement of the Coal Mines is situated in a concentrated area between Coal Mine Hill and an inlet of Norfolk Bay, although there are associated remains scattered throughout the forest. Description: The Coal Mines registrati on is defined by the attached Central Planning Register Map (CPR). The stone and brick buildings at the Coal Mines Historic Site are in various stages of ruin. Other features include collapsed shafts and adits, each linked to the remains of loading whar ves by a network of tramways. Engulfed by the bush and less immediately obvious are the ruins of semaphore stations and evidence of support industries such as tanning, brick making, quarrying and lime production. Buildings Remnants of the main settlement i nclude the priso ners’ barracks, chapel, officer s ’ quarters and solitary cells. On the slopes above are the ruins of the military officers’ quarters . The Point. Situated in a U - shape are the ruins of the cookhouse, bakehouse, washroom, guardhouse and store, barracks, and Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 2 of 11 Officers’ accommodation © PAHSMA Main Barracks precinct © PAHSMA PAHSMA chapel/schoolhouse. On the hillsi de, overlooking this complex, a re the ruins of the military barracks, and more comfortable brick accommodation for the officers, surgeon, chaplain a nd other officials allowing a degree of surveillance and separation. No timber buildings have survived and the only evidence of other buildings is foundations or sub - surface remains. Infrastructure One of two quarrie s which supplied building stone shows ev idence of pick marks in the quarry walls, and a number of dressed blocks lying nearby (PWS, 1997: 10). One of these quarries is located to t he southwest of the barracks and the main across and the vertical wall stands 15 metres high. There are brick and stone remains of a bakehouse oven and a stone - lined structure , thought to be an airshaft. The former signal station located on top of Coal Mine Hill is marked by a small section of fo und ation. The remains of the semaphone on top of Mt Stewart are in a similarly ruinous condition. Many of the original roads and tramways have survived, including the formation of the incline plane, which extends from the 1845 shaft on Coal Mine Hill to Pl unkett Point. Other remains include a lime kiln, which is largely intact, and a series of tan pits. No evidence remains of blacksmithing, timber getting or charc oal burning. Evidence of agriculture has also disappeared, save for a few exotic garden species at a number of locations The original adits and shafts are inaccessible. However, the sites of the 1838, 1842 and 1845 main shafts and numerous minor shafts are readily apparent, as are the associated soil dumps and coal stockp iles. The extensive underground workings are inaccessible, but represent a potential archaeological resource. Maritime Structures logs on the site of the original coa l wharf extending along the and a ballast pile. The wharf is 70 metres long and the shore. Numerous cultural artefacts and coal s creenings are Further marit ime archaeological remains may exist at the place, up to 340 metres from the high water mark, in rela tion to the . Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 3 of 11 Cemetery rear of the Military Officers ’ Quarters. Sever al headstones mark Feature Type: Shafts, mine adits, punishment cells, signal station, quarries, brick kiln, lime kiln, well, roads and tracks, ruins, exotic plantings, archaeological deposits, collections Archite ctural Style: various (including ruins of Old Colonial Georgian Integrity: High Condition: Ruins and archaeological sites Use: Original or Significant Use(s) : Penal Station, extractive industry Current Use(s): Recreation, tourism, conservation History: In early 1833 a survey of the Tasman Peninsula’s northwest had noted a seam of coal at a place known as Slopen Main. Later that year, Port Arthur’s Commandant, Charles O’Hara Booth, oversaw the establishment of a mine worked by convicts. Convi cts had only been used once before in such an enterprise in Van Diemen’s Land - at Macquarie Harbour in the early 1820s where their endeavours were unsuccessful. Initially comprising adits driven inland from the coast, the workings at the Coal Mines rapid ly expanded as more seams were discovered. By 1840 the workings were serviced by a network of roads supervision of more than 200 convicts was well established . Despite not being of the highest quality, the coal found a ready market in the colony and was used by As at Eaglehawk Neck, the Coal Mines operated as an outstation of Port Arthur, falling under the jurisdiction of both the Commandant and the Commanding Military Officer. Initially better - behaved convicts were sent to the mine; however, as it became established, it was used as a punishment station akin to Port Arthur, but with an even harsher regime and more fearsome reputation. At the time the Coal Mines were establish ed , G o vernor Arthur was strongly involved in the rules and regulations which gave order to the convict station. Later other governors and administrators had reason to v isit, report and/or to make recommendations on the situati on at the Coal Mines. Lady Jane F ranklin, visited in 1837 and recorded vivid observations of the place. In 1838 the Molesworth Report was published; the net result was the cessation of transportati on to New South Wales in 1840 and a dramatic re - structuring of the system of convict management in Van Diemen’s Land. The new system – known from 1840 as the Probation System – saw all new convict arrivals placed in work gangs scattered across the colony. Convicts were to be classified according to behaviour and ability; they were to enter private service as wage - earners when released on probation after serving a portion of their sentences in gangs. These gangs were located at the sites of old road Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 4 of 11 stations , or in new stations built in unsettled areas. Port Arthur and the Coal Mines were retained as punishment establishments within the new probationary framework. Along with this re - shaping of the convict system came a substantial increase in the Convict Depa rtment’s footprint on the Peninsula, as six new stations were opened up. At the Coal Mines, the workings steadily advanced inland. By 1842 a number of new shafts had been n inclined plane, down which wagons laden with screened coal trundled, pulling up empty wagons with their weight. A steam winding engine was employed at the mouth of the shaft, the first instance of mine mechanisation in Tasmania. According to the stipula tions of the probation system, the convicts at the mines were meant to be strictly classified. However, the day/night shifts worked by the miners, as well as the lack of suitable buildings, often worked against this aim. During 1841 – 43 the population of th e mines reached almost 600 convicts, steadying at around 400 by 1846. By the mid - mining, as well as negative reports about the alleged abuses perpetrated by convicts i n the mines. A large complex of separate apartments was built to classify and contain prisone rs at night however , the economic and political burdens of the station were considered untenable. The probation system reached its zenith in the mid - 1840s, then b egan a rapid decline that lasted until the early years of the following decade. Stations were closed across the colony, as the Convict Department desperately rationalised and centralised its operations in the face of the impending end of transportation. Th e stations of the Tasman Peninsula were some of the last to be closed, as all remaining Imperial convicts were channelled onto the Peninsula . The Coal Mines were closed for convict purposes in 1848. The mines were then privately leased and worked for a fu rther 30 years. While Port Arthur subsequently became a popular tourist destination, the Coal Mines, away from the main tourist thoroughfare, did not receive the same level of visitation. Instead its buildings were plundered as a local source for building materials. The present - day Anglican Church at Dunalley was constructed from sandstone sourced from the Commissariat Store. In 1938 the site was proclaimed a Scenic Reserve. In 1985, during the time the Coal Mines Historic Site was managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the former Port Arthur Conservation and Development Project (PACDP) engaged in a number of projects in the area, including a comprehensive archaeological survey at the Coal Mines by Bairstow and Davies in 1987 . The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA) took over management of the Coal Mines Historic Site in 2004. References: Bairstow, D. and Davies M., 1987, Coal Mines Historic Site survey: Preliminary report , Occasional Paper 15, Tasmanian Department of La nds, Parks and Wildlife, Hobart. Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, 2007, ‘Statement of the Significance for the new Statutory Management Plan’ (Draft), PAHSMA. Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS), 1997, ‘Coal Mines Historic Site, Management Plan ’, prepared for the Department of Environment and Land Management’. Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 5 of 11 ASSESSED HISTORIC CULURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE Statement of Significance: (non - statutory summary) The Coal Mines Historic Site is an outstanding example of the 19 th century European global strategy of using the forced labour of convicts in the establishment of colonial economies. The dual role of secondary punishment station and an ambitious industrial venture is rare in Australian convict history. The mines were the first mechanis ed mines in Tasmania and among the first mechanised in Australia. The beds and footings of the winding and pumping machinery are the earliest pit - top workings in Australia. They demonstrate different technical aspects in the extraction and transportation of coal in the early 19 th century, from relatively simple manual techniques through to the more mechanised systems of the steam age. The site has extensive research potential because of the high degree of integrity of the site and its cultural landscape s etting. It is an unparalleled resource for archaeological research into early Australian mining practice. The Coal Mines Historic Site has outstanding heritage value because of the place’s special association with convicts and their administrators in th e period 1833 to 1848. The Heritage Council may enter a place in the Heritage Register if it meets one or more of the following criteria from the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995: a) “It is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Tasmani a’s history” The Coal Mines Historic Site was established in 1833 to mine coal and to provide secondary punishment for re - offending convicts. It is an outstanding example of the 19th - century European global strategy of using the forced labour of convict s in the establishment of overseas colonies. The hard physical labour and the infrastructure for delivering punishment at the Coal Mines represent the extreme hardships that many convicts experienced. The Coal Mines were developed as the most severe place of secondary punishment in the Colony of Van Diemen’s Land, but it was also hoped that sufficient coal would be produced for all government needs in the colony in an emerging steam age. The extent of the former industrial operations is demonstrated by th e extant ruins, surface and subsurface remains — both terrestrial and maritime — which complement the extensive archival records. The site illustrates the importance of convict labour and productivity, classification, punishment and surveillance in the penal system, and the role of convicts in helping to establish new colonial economies. The Coal Mines Historic Site illustrates the adaptation of the British penal system to colonial conditions and an aspect of the evolution of the secondary punishment system into the Probation System. The hard and dangerous work that official and unofficial sources record as performed at the Coal Mines, and the solitary cells in which the most recalcitrant prisoners were housed, are emblematic of the lowest tier on Lieutenant - Governor Arthur’s progressive scale of convict punishment and reform. They were designed to deter offenders from further crime through the promise of extreme severity. The historical record and the presence of outstandingly preserved extant examples of s olitary cells at the Coal Mines Historic Site express an aspect of 19th - century intolerance of the practice of homosexuality in Britain and Australia. The Coal Mines Historic Site is a very early industrialised mine site in Australia, and the first in Tasm ania. The Coal Mines Historic Site represents an important step in the progress of Australia’s Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 6 of 11 mining industry. b) “It demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Tasmania’s heritage” The Coal Mines were the first mechanised mines in Tasma nia and among the first in Australia, and played an important role in building the economic confidence of the new colony. The mines contain the engine beds and footings of the winding and pumping machinery installed in 1845, which represent the earliest r ecorded pit - top workings in Australia. The dual role of the Coal Mines as a secondary punishment station and an ambitious industrial venture is rare in Australian conv ict history. The Coal Mines have more surviving above - ground evidence of mining activit y than the Coal River site at Newcastle in New South Wales and it is likely that the subsurface evidence is also more intact — including evidence of how the coal was extracted , handled, processed and transported . c) “It has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Tasmania’s history” The terrestrial and maritime archaeological deposits of the penal colliery have outstanding research potential. The Coal Mines Historic Site contains largely unexplored archaeological evid ence that because of its integrity may provide a unique insight into convict mining operations, penal settlements and colonial industry in general. In combination, documentary evidence, collections, structures, engineering relics, cultural deposits, and te rrestrial, underground and maritime landscapes of the Coal Mines Historic Site have unparalleled potential for archaeological research. They represent evidence of labour organisation, construction technology, industrial production, use of locally availabl e materials and adaptation of imported traditions to suit local conditions. Potential research topics include issues relating to the European exploration of the Australian hnological adaptation and innovation, and environmental impacts. d) “It is important as a representative in demonstrating the characteristics of a broader class of cultural places” Australia's convict sites share a suite of attributes that stem fro m their peculiar philosophical, economic, social, strategic and geographic contexts. They exhibit features that reflect the imperatives of convict management, including: secure stores; accommodation for the civil, military and convict populations based on principles of hierarchy, classification and surveillance; places of health care and punishment, administration and industry, and facilities for religion. The Coal Mines Historic Site is outstanding in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an Aus tralian Convict Site because:  The form and location of elements at the Site display deliberate design and arrangement,  The Site represents important aspects of Australia's convict industry, incl uding principles of labour organisation and punishment, introduction and adaptation of technology, and the role of convict labour in building colonial economies. e) “It is important in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement” Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 7 of 11 The site has been the subject of art work by several professional and amateur artists, including Conrad Martens, Owen Stanley and Bishop Nixon. The convict period remains of the Coal Mines Historic Site demonstrate different technical aspects in the extra ction and transportation of coal in the early 19th - century, from relatively simple manual techniques to which are added the more mechanised systems of the steam age. The industrial operations, using a combination of convict labour and mechanical devices, were unique in Van Diemen’s Land, representing a novel blend of human punishment and technical innovation. The surviving industrial landscape elements clearly illustrate the application of British models of mining adapted to suit the available labour sou rce, local environment and colonial economy. The spatial layout of its elements in the landscape of the Coal Mines Historic Site demonstrates convict - settlement design practices; these were essentially military in character, with the organisation of the bu ildings allowing vistas for surveillance and the separation of classes and illustrates the role of craftsmen within the industrial enterprise and demonstrat es the presence of skilled stonemasons at the settlement. The alternating underground vaulted brick separate cells of 1845 – 46 are the only surviving example of this type of prison accommodation that was introduced into Van Diemen’s Land during 1844 – 46 and never used elsewhere in the colonies. The cells demonstrate innovation in the practice of isolating convicts at night from even the most minimal contact with their fellow prisoners, while still providing adequate ventilation. f) “It has strong or spec ial meaning for any group or community because of social, cultural or spiritual associations” The Coal Mines Historic Site is important to the community's sense of place and of its own history. It has a long history of use by the local community for fish ing, bushwalking, bird watching and other forms of recreation. The Coal Mines Historic Site and the associated convict records evoke powerful associations for the descendants of all those who passed through here, whether convicted or free people. The Coa l Mines Historic Site is a complex cultural land scape of outstanding natural an d historical values. It has a sense of serenity, remoteness, mystery and discovery that makes the site special to visitors. The Site’s forested hills and marine landscape for med the bars of the prison and are still dominant - century the Site has been valued for its romantic qualities as ‘picturesque’ ruins surrounded by native bush within a setting of bays and headland s. This enduring sense of remoteness and isolation is still valued by visitors. It has also been valued for the Gothic atmosphere of confinement and suffering, evoked by the cells in particular. The regenerating bushland provides a naturalised context f or the cultural relics, imbuing the site with a sense of antiquity and transcendence not present at more intensively managed and manicured sites. The site also has inspired art work by professional and amateur artists, including Conrad Martens, Owen Stanle y and Bishop Nixon. g) “It has a special association with the life or work of a person, a group or an organisation that was important in Tasmania’s history” The Coal Mines Historic Site has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the plac e's Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 8 of 11 special association with administrators and convicts from the British Empire in the period 1830 to 1877. Commandant Charles O'Hara Boo th was responsible for the development of the mine. Jane, Lady Franklin, visited the Coal Mines in 1837 and wrote a re view of operations at the penal settlement. Acclaimed 19th - century artists and writers who visited and left a record of their impressions include Bishop Nixon, Conrad Martens and Owen Stanley. PLEASE NOTE This datasheet is intended to provide sufficient information and justification for listing the place on the Heritage Register. It is not intended to be a comprehensive historical record or inventory of the heritage values of the place. Assessed by: DR Cleared by: DS 30 June 2008 Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 9 of 11 Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 10 of 11 Tasmani an Heritage Council Tasmanian Heritage Register Entry Enquiries to Heritage Tasmania 1 03 Macquarie Street or GPO Box 618 Tasmania 7001 Ph (03) 6233 2037 Fax (03) 6233 3186 11 of 11