The dredge was landed in Cairns and railed to Battle Creek where a new pontoon was constructed and it was rebuilt. The dredge originally had approximately sixty 12 cubic feet (0.34 m 3) buckets, and the Richardson RGP motors were supplied by cable with power from a land-based generator plant.Īlluvial Gold Co Ltd had the FW Payne dismantled in New Zealand, and the Ravenshoe Tin Dredging Co Ltd, which was established in 1953, purchased the dredge which arrived in Queensland in 1954.
All the original equipment was British, including the two surviving Richardson electric motors and bucket drive cog wheels, and a Vaughan 15 ton gantry crane. The dredge was named the FW Payne and was operated as a gold dredge for Barrytown Gold Dredging Co Ltd in Barrytown, located on the West Coast of the South Island. The Nettle Creek Tin Dredge was originally designed by FW Payne & Sons, England, and built c.1937 (according to photographs of the dredge under construction) in New Zealand by the Oak Ridge Co Ltd for Gold Mines Of New Zealand Co Ltd. Bucket line dredging was begun on Return Creek by Tableland Tin Dredging Co Ltd in the early to mid 1930s, and on Battle Creek by Ravenshoe Tin Dredging Co Ltd in 1957. In the area, the four creeks (Smiths, Return, Battle and Nettle Creeks) have provided the majority of the concentrates. The Nettle Creek area was divided into two sections, the upper section was shallow and crossed by several granite bars, but was rich in tin.Īlluvial cassiterite (SnO2 tin oxide) has been mined in the Mount Garnet area since 1881. The leases were situated between Ravenshoe and Mount Garnet, North Queensland, and comprised tin bearing deposits which followed the courses of Battle and Nettle Creeks with both areas crossing the Kennedy Highway between Ravenshoe and Mount Garnet. The Alluvial Gold Co Ltd purchased the Battle Creek and Nettle Creek alluvial dredging leases from The Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd in August 1949.
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