{"id":513,"date":"2018-11-22T17:08:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T06:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coffscoastheritage.wordpress.com\/?p=513"},"modified":"2018-11-22T17:08:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T06:08:36","slug":"the-mountain-maid-mine-of-david-pont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/2018\/11\/the-mountain-maid-mine-of-david-pont\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mountain Maid Mine of David Pont"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\n

\"David
David Pont’s mining pick – Coffs Harbour Regional Museum collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nDavid Pont was a Glenreagh-based man who married Charlotte Shipman in 1889 [1], and passed away in 1936. [2]
\nHis main claim to fame was his \u201cMountain Maid\u201d mine, which was the principal mine in the brief-lived Lower\u00a0Bucca goldfield. [3]\u00a0 The mine produced \u00a320,000 of gold. [2]
\nWhile the Lower Bucca goldfield existed for only a few years from 1896, the village which sprang-up next to it, lasted well into the 20th century as an agricultural service centre, which included a school, store, hotel, and Mechanics\u2019 Institute (School of Arts) at various stages.
\nThe mining data sheet for the \u201cMountain Maid\u201d mine (held by Coffs Harbour Regional Museum) gives a location of 0751E 6402N, which places the mine 200 metres south of the village.
\n\"MountainMaidMineMap\"
\nThe Upper\u00a0Bucca goldfield (the Beacon Mines) also produced a village at the same time, but this Beacon Village was dismantled in the months after the Beacon company pulled the plug in 1899.
\nThe Beacon Village was up in the scrub; the Lower Bucca Village was down on the plain.
\n
\"PontArticle1\"
UPS AND DOWNS. (1929, February 8).\u00a0Coffs Harbour Advocate (NSW : 1907 – 1942; 1946 – 1954)<\/i>, p. 2.\u00a0 http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article185716446<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThis miner\u2019s pick reminds us of how hard life was before mechanisation.
\nAustralia\u2019s gold-miners in the 1800s were known as \u201cdiggers\u201d, because that\u2019s what they did. Dig.
\nSee David Pont\u2019s miner\u2019s pick at the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum<\/a>.
\nReferences<\/em><\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Glenreagh \u2013 A Town of Promise<\/a> <\/em>by Elizabeth Webb, 2001, p.30<\/li>\n
  2. PERSONAL (1936, July 31).\u00a0Coffs Harbour Advocate (NSW : 1907 – 1942; 1946 – 1954)<\/i>, p. 2. http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article189058870<\/li>\n
  3. THE MINES AT CORAMBA, BUCCA CREEK AND CORINDA. (1896, August 18).\u00a0Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW : 1889 – 1915)<\/i>, p. 5. http:\/\/nla.gov.au\/nla.news-article61312939<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     
    \nAcknowledgement<\/em>
    \nVolunteer Geoff Watts November 2018
    \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      David Pont was a Glenreagh-based man who married Charlotte Shipman in 1889 [1], and passed away in 1936. [2] His main claim to fame was his “Mountain Maid” mine, which was the principal mine in the brief-lived Lower Bucca goldfield. [3]  The mine produced £20,000 of gold. [2] While the Lower Bucca goldfield existed for … Continue reading “The Mountain Maid Mine of David Pont”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coffscoastheritage.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}