Mimi O’Neill on the red stone fence that Jimmy Bryden built in Easton Street, Wonthaggi, for her father in the 1940s. When she built a new house about 10 years ago, she kept the fence. “It hasn’t moved an inch since it was built,” she said. It wasn’t just politically that Wonthaggi was red. Carol Cox reports on the distinctive red stone that formed the town’s roads, driveways and walls.
THE waste stone, or spoil, brought out of the State Coal Mine in Wonthaggi became ubiquitous around the area. Red stone, sometimes referred to as burnt stone, was to be found on most roads and footpaths, on local tennis courts, and “down every driveway and fighting cowshed mud” on farms in the district. It can still be found in many locations around town if you scratch the surface.
The rock – whether sandstone, mudstone or splint – became “red” or “burnt” stone through spontaneous combustion. A research paper from the University of Wollongong explains the process.
“Spoil piles may contain waste coal and other carbonaceous horizons. Coal and carbonaceous materials react with oxygen in the atmosphere, producing heat. If the rate at which heat is generated is greater than the rate at which heat can be dissipated, the temperature of the spoil pile rises. If the heating remains unchecked, spontaneous combustion can occur.”
The earliest reference to red stone in the local newspapers was the July 21, 1939 edition of the Wonthaggi Express under the heading ‘Red Stone Raiders’:
“Because private persons persist in helping themselves to the council's crushed stone at the mine dumps, the council has had to erect a fence around its dump at Eastern Area. Anyone is entitled by payment of 1/- a yard to obtain a load of red stone but they are expected to bring the stone down for themselves. Several times the council has found its dump of loose metal has been raided over the weekend.”
The rock – whether sandstone, mudstone or splint – became “red” or “burnt” stone through spontaneous combustion. A research paper from the University of Wollongong explains the process.
“Spoil piles may contain waste coal and other carbonaceous horizons. Coal and carbonaceous materials react with oxygen in the atmosphere, producing heat. If the rate at which heat is generated is greater than the rate at which heat can be dissipated, the temperature of the spoil pile rises. If the heating remains unchecked, spontaneous combustion can occur.”
The earliest reference to red stone in the local newspapers was the July 21, 1939 edition of the Wonthaggi Express under the heading ‘Red Stone Raiders’:
“Because private persons persist in helping themselves to the council's crushed stone at the mine dumps, the council has had to erect a fence around its dump at Eastern Area. Anyone is entitled by payment of 1/- a yard to obtain a load of red stone but they are expected to bring the stone down for themselves. Several times the council has found its dump of loose metal has been raided over the weekend.”
Red stone fence, Reed Crescent, Wonthaggi. The State Coal Mine was run under the jurisdiction of Victoria Railways, which of course used the coal to run the trains. It gifted operation of the Eastern Area stone dump to the Wonthaggi Borough Council. Red stone was the council's main material for road building, costing only one-third of other road making materials. Road making in the district had been at a standstill until the Country Roads Board tested the stone and found it eminently suitable, but raiding of the dump made it hard to ascertain how long the stock of red stone would last. The Wonthaggi Sentinel and State Town Miner of August 29, 1952 reported:
The Borough Engineer Mr. W.H. Scott estimates that there is a quarter of a million cubic yards of burnt stone at the East Area dump. He said that in the past two years 13,000 cubic yards of stone had been taken from the dump. There is an estimated 19 years’ supply at the present rate and 21 years’ supply if the stone was not sold to contractors. The council made no move to conserve the stone for its own use.
But a short 20 months later, the Wonthaggi Express reported “Wonthaggi councillors, surprised by the rate at which their Eastern Area dump is disappearing, may restrict its stone to borough and CRB roads. Cr. J. McLeod said trucks are operating Saturday and Sunday, and the dump disappearing at such a rate that he doubted if stone would be available in another five years.”
The crushing plant at the council's red stone Eastern Area dump was owned and operated by contractor Mr. F. Webb. During the 1950s, there was much comment in the local press between Mr. Webb and council regarding the royalties paid by Mr. Webb to council for the valuable material, and control of access to the dump, as it appears locals were still helping themselves. The Express of January 11, 1956 reported:
Cr. McLeod drew attention to an anticipated £300 from the dump in the next twelve months. He said this represents only twelve 6-yard loads per day – at the present royalty of 3d. per yard. He added: “Twelve loads a day go past MY place – without all the other outlet roads. I feel a lot of revenue is being lost. It could be trebled – at least.”
Cr. Longstaff: “I agree. This dump has been a bone of contention for some time now.”
Cr. McLeod: “You will recall we inspected these deposits with the Borough Engineer who estimated its life at 60 years. Eighteen months later we again inspected the dump and found half of it gone.”
Mr. Webb did not have a formal contract with council, just a “minute on the books giving him permission to operate” the crusher at their stone dump. He paid the council threepence per cubic yard for the stone he sold to private contractors, and sold cheap crushed stone to the council.”
Other operators tried to gain access to the red stone dump to no avail. The Sentinel of January 10, 1957 reported:
Borough councillors rejected an offer of 1/- yard from Messrs. Beck and Charlton to allow them to take stone from the mine dump. At the present time the council has a verbal agreement with Mr. F. Webb who is paying a royalty of 3d. yard and provides the council with cheap stone.
Cr. Ramage: “I have spoken to a number of truckies and they are satisfied. There will be chaos with more than one contractor there. Besides, Mr. Webb has connections with the CRB and other big firms.”
Council was of the opinion that with crushing and labour costs the council would not make a profit, even at 1/6 yard, if they had to operate the dump themselves.
The council, however, did try to increase its revenue from royalties, and three months later, the Sentinel of April 25, 1957 reports: “The Wonthaggi Borough Council has lost all royalties from the red stone dump at Eastern Area. The Council for several years has received £500 per annum and £300 last year by charging Wonthaggi contractor Mr. Webb, 3d. yard royalty. The council still has charge of the dump but to use the stone for their own purposes only. Wonthaggi contractor Mr. Webb has moved his stone crusher from East Area and will operate from other dumps.”
An article in the Sentinel of October 3, 1957 reports that Mr. Webb “as good as told the Borough Council they did not appreciate cheap stone and increased the price by 2/- to 10/- yard. Mr. Webb told the council apparently through lack of knowledge they did not know they were getting burnt stone cheaper than other users and by their previous actions had deprived themselves of revenue from the dump. He could see no purpose for giving the council the 2/- yard concession which has always been paid by other persons.”
Unfortunately the crushing operation did not last long at the Dudley Area stone dump because the copper overhead wires carrying power to operate the crusher were continually stolen. Once the crusher operation ceased, the council continued to use uncrushed stone on the roads. The stones that were too large were left on the side of the road – many ended up in local gardens as borders and suchlike.
On a more positive note, the red stone from the Wonthaggi mines was well respected and sought after further afield. It made its way to Adelaide for tennis courts and to Western Australia for night cricket grounds. The Wonthaggi Express of August 9 1956 reported: “Our redstone is news again. 1,500 yards of Wonthaggi redstone is being used in a new athletic track at the Melbourne University. A panel of professors feels that the resultant track will be better than the many-times more costly Olympic Games track.”
Does this hint that Wonthaggi red stone was in fact used on the MCG running track at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics? If anyone can prove or disprove this please send your information to the “Comments” section of the Bass Coast Post.
Thank you to John Bordignon for supplying some great anecdotes on the spoil dumps which didn't just smoulder but at times also had flames coming from them. The Western Area dump was used as a beacon for fishermen to get their bearings in the dark. The burning dumps would help pilots flying from Tasmania confirm their position. John's mum remembered that, coming into Wonthaggi by train, seeing the dumps told her she was getting close to home. When a low loader was left on a dump one Friday night, its tyres caught fire and the entire low loader was lost. John believes there was an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish the dumps during the Second World War as they contravened “no lights visible” rule of the blackout.
COMMENTS
November 4, 2014
I too witnessed the slag head spontaneously ignite many times when growing up in Wonthaggi, except for me it was always Kirrak. All the kids would know about it when this heap caught fire because it would smoke during the day and glow red hot by night for weeks at at time. It was easily seen from North Wonthaggi.
I would like to ask a question in regards your reference to July 21, 1939 edition of the Wonthaggi Express.
My own recollection of Wonthaggi newspapers was of the Sentinel Times and the Powlett Express. Or was this paper actually called the Wonthaggi Express in an earlier iteration?
Mark Stephenson, Wonthaggi
The Borough Engineer Mr. W.H. Scott estimates that there is a quarter of a million cubic yards of burnt stone at the East Area dump. He said that in the past two years 13,000 cubic yards of stone had been taken from the dump. There is an estimated 19 years’ supply at the present rate and 21 years’ supply if the stone was not sold to contractors. The council made no move to conserve the stone for its own use.
But a short 20 months later, the Wonthaggi Express reported “Wonthaggi councillors, surprised by the rate at which their Eastern Area dump is disappearing, may restrict its stone to borough and CRB roads. Cr. J. McLeod said trucks are operating Saturday and Sunday, and the dump disappearing at such a rate that he doubted if stone would be available in another five years.”
The crushing plant at the council's red stone Eastern Area dump was owned and operated by contractor Mr. F. Webb. During the 1950s, there was much comment in the local press between Mr. Webb and council regarding the royalties paid by Mr. Webb to council for the valuable material, and control of access to the dump, as it appears locals were still helping themselves. The Express of January 11, 1956 reported:
Cr. McLeod drew attention to an anticipated £300 from the dump in the next twelve months. He said this represents only twelve 6-yard loads per day – at the present royalty of 3d. per yard. He added: “Twelve loads a day go past MY place – without all the other outlet roads. I feel a lot of revenue is being lost. It could be trebled – at least.”
Cr. Longstaff: “I agree. This dump has been a bone of contention for some time now.”
Cr. McLeod: “You will recall we inspected these deposits with the Borough Engineer who estimated its life at 60 years. Eighteen months later we again inspected the dump and found half of it gone.”
Mr. Webb did not have a formal contract with council, just a “minute on the books giving him permission to operate” the crusher at their stone dump. He paid the council threepence per cubic yard for the stone he sold to private contractors, and sold cheap crushed stone to the council.”
Other operators tried to gain access to the red stone dump to no avail. The Sentinel of January 10, 1957 reported:
Borough councillors rejected an offer of 1/- yard from Messrs. Beck and Charlton to allow them to take stone from the mine dump. At the present time the council has a verbal agreement with Mr. F. Webb who is paying a royalty of 3d. yard and provides the council with cheap stone.
Cr. Ramage: “I have spoken to a number of truckies and they are satisfied. There will be chaos with more than one contractor there. Besides, Mr. Webb has connections with the CRB and other big firms.”
Council was of the opinion that with crushing and labour costs the council would not make a profit, even at 1/6 yard, if they had to operate the dump themselves.
The council, however, did try to increase its revenue from royalties, and three months later, the Sentinel of April 25, 1957 reports: “The Wonthaggi Borough Council has lost all royalties from the red stone dump at Eastern Area. The Council for several years has received £500 per annum and £300 last year by charging Wonthaggi contractor Mr. Webb, 3d. yard royalty. The council still has charge of the dump but to use the stone for their own purposes only. Wonthaggi contractor Mr. Webb has moved his stone crusher from East Area and will operate from other dumps.”
An article in the Sentinel of October 3, 1957 reports that Mr. Webb “as good as told the Borough Council they did not appreciate cheap stone and increased the price by 2/- to 10/- yard. Mr. Webb told the council apparently through lack of knowledge they did not know they were getting burnt stone cheaper than other users and by their previous actions had deprived themselves of revenue from the dump. He could see no purpose for giving the council the 2/- yard concession which has always been paid by other persons.”
Unfortunately the crushing operation did not last long at the Dudley Area stone dump because the copper overhead wires carrying power to operate the crusher were continually stolen. Once the crusher operation ceased, the council continued to use uncrushed stone on the roads. The stones that were too large were left on the side of the road – many ended up in local gardens as borders and suchlike.
On a more positive note, the red stone from the Wonthaggi mines was well respected and sought after further afield. It made its way to Adelaide for tennis courts and to Western Australia for night cricket grounds. The Wonthaggi Express of August 9 1956 reported: “Our redstone is news again. 1,500 yards of Wonthaggi redstone is being used in a new athletic track at the Melbourne University. A panel of professors feels that the resultant track will be better than the many-times more costly Olympic Games track.”
Does this hint that Wonthaggi red stone was in fact used on the MCG running track at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics? If anyone can prove or disprove this please send your information to the “Comments” section of the Bass Coast Post.
Thank you to John Bordignon for supplying some great anecdotes on the spoil dumps which didn't just smoulder but at times also had flames coming from them. The Western Area dump was used as a beacon for fishermen to get their bearings in the dark. The burning dumps would help pilots flying from Tasmania confirm their position. John's mum remembered that, coming into Wonthaggi by train, seeing the dumps told her she was getting close to home. When a low loader was left on a dump one Friday night, its tyres caught fire and the entire low loader was lost. John believes there was an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish the dumps during the Second World War as they contravened “no lights visible” rule of the blackout.
COMMENTS
November 4, 2014
I too witnessed the slag head spontaneously ignite many times when growing up in Wonthaggi, except for me it was always Kirrak. All the kids would know about it when this heap caught fire because it would smoke during the day and glow red hot by night for weeks at at time. It was easily seen from North Wonthaggi.
I would like to ask a question in regards your reference to July 21, 1939 edition of the Wonthaggi Express.
My own recollection of Wonthaggi newspapers was of the Sentinel Times and the Powlett Express. Or was this paper actually called the Wonthaggi Express in an earlier iteration?
Mark Stephenson, Wonthaggi