Mining for gold on Tasmania’s rugged west coast in the 1880s presented extreme challenges. However, some of the State’s largest nuggets were found at Rocky River, about 26 miles (over 40 kilometres) from the small town of Corinna,
April 2 1883
SOME MINERS WERE LUCKY!
In 1906 an ex- miner calling himself Mugil wrote an engaging piece for The Sunday Times about the hardships of prospecting on the Rocky.
Men camped on the bank, digging tunnels by hand in the hope of finding a seam of gold or, like Mogil and his mate Adam, trying their luck in the river itself.
Miners processing material from their tunnel.
It was difficulties surrounding food that formed the basis of Mogil’s story. Provisions for an anticipared eight week stay had to carried in on two treks from Corinna, which took four days.
‘Access was via a foot track over a succession of hills 1500 to 2000 feet in height….the track soon became a narrow line of sludge pools crossed by slippery roots sometimes above and sometimes below the surface of the mud….‘ (Sunday Times May 27 1906)
The staples were bacon, oatmeal, flour for damper, and as many potatoes as they could carry. The aim was to supplement the meat supply with game, including wombats, which were then known as badgers. The area was far too wet and miserable for wallabies and kangaroos to hang around in. The problem was that after a month the bacon ran out and their dog failed to find enough ‘badgers’. Fortunately the pair had also brought in a large supply of salted mutton birds, sent to the west coast from Bass Strait islands in barrels.
By the way, here are some sketches of the mining area around Corinna published in The Leader on June 29 1895.
Mogil gives an account of their diet, in which the oily mutton birds featured very heavily.
MENU FOR BACONLESS MINERS
‘One beautifully fine Sunday morning we prepared breakfast, consisting of porridge (no milk), grilled mutton birds, damper, and the usual billy of tea…Two meals a day were all we could afford, so dinner was timed for 5,30 pm., when we had stewed mutton bird, potatoes, damper and jam, retiring to bed about 8.30 with the rain steadily falling on our canvas shelter, as the sunshine did not last out the day – in fact, it rarely does there.
On Monday morning it was my turn to get breakfast, so I prepared porridge, fried mutton bird and tea.’
That night Adam, who was an experienced bush cook. prepared baked mutton bird seasoned with wild thyme. The accompaniment was spuds, and damper fried in mutton bird oil flavoured with a few drops of Worcester sauce. Mogil said he managed to get down half of it, but gave the rest to the dog when his mate wasn’t looking. He didn’t want to hurt Adam’s feelings.
It got to the point where neither man could tolerate the taste or smell of mutton birds another day. They gave gold mining up as a bad job and went back to Corinna, where they could buy lamb chops. 😎
TO WATCH A VIDEO ON THE ROCKY RIVER, CLICK HERE.
