Tasmania's Mining History

Boobyalla Tin Mine

When tin mining developed during the 1870s and 1880s, the port of Boobyalla on the north east coast became very important. Being at the mouth of the Ringarooma and Boobyalla rivers, it became the focal point for the influx of miners and the stores they required, and for the export of tin. For many years there was a regular shipping service, including small steamships and sailing vessels. But, like Bridport, Boobyalla declined as a port after the north east railway was built.

The tin mine in the photograph owed its discovery to George Renison Bell who discovered tin in the Boobyalla river in 1874. Part of the tin extracting process is shown. A gravel pump is sucking feed material up a pipe to what was called the head box. Any unwanted material would be discarded and the remainder would enter a long wooden tray known as the sluiceway. Small pieces of timber called clears, set about one metre apart in the sluice, caused heavy material to bank up behind them. Because the tin was heavier than the rest of the material, it would drop to the bottom of the sluice and after more washing would be extracted. From there it would be bagged and sent away by pack-horse.

Notice the materials from which the sluice has been made, and the machinery, timber and the workers' hut shown in the picture.

Boobyalla Tin Mine

Photograph number 28 of 50 - Boobyalla Tin Mine (1904)

Photograph and text taken from "Photoprints Early Northeast", published by the Tasmanian Education Department, 1980