Gold Mines of Nelligen

Nelligen's colourful history includes the famous gold rush. Long forgotten traces of this fascinating period can still be discovered crumbling and decaying in nearby forests and scrub. Often reclaimed by growth, a day out in the forest can uncover and evoke the days of the old pioneers. Many of the diggings and exploration was unrecorded, so there is still much to be re-discovered.

The rough miners' dwellings at the Phoenix claim have almost all been reduced to a heap of rubble. However one of the stone fireplaces still retains its arch and ant bed mortar. The dam has long since disappeared, in its place are a collection of tree ferns. The surrounding trails and excavated shanty sites support mature trunks of eucalypts.

Further along the NSW Forestry Commission roads follow the same spurs as the old trail from the original Currowan landing, past Currowan mine and the branch to the Phoenix mine. See hand cut and stoned embankments dating back to the later gold mining years. However much of the old trail has been obliterated by recent logging operations.

Take the trail as far as the Brimberamala workings, where there are at least one hundred shafts. The area is dangerous, with shaft beside shaft, and recorded depths to 60 metres. Traces remain of the Brimberamala miners' village, but it is barely recognisable. To the north of the Brimberamala River is another set of shafts (access is only by four wheel-drive fire trail). One stone fireplace remains reasonably intact and there are several smaller shafts. An old pack trail, painstakingly hand carved from the hillside, leads eastwards from the shafts. Heading north again, the Shoebridge mine is hidden in a remote gully. The trail to the mine and village has been obliterated by flood waters, so it remains remote and largely undiscovered. An abandoned shaft descends 14 metres and chalky fragments of rusted trolley lines and an old hopper bucket lies beneath the shaft. An old stamper also remains overgrown by ferns. The boiler remains on the ground nearby. The crank shaft, and one heavy rear wheel are near the stamper battery.