South Waratah Colliery
| Location | |
|---|---|
  South Waratah Colliery Location in Australia | |
| Location | Kotara South |
| State | New South Wales |
| Country | Australia |
| Production | |
| Products | Coal |
| History | |
| Opened | 1873 |
| Closed | 1961 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Waratah Coal Company |
The South Waratah Colliery was a coal mine located at Kotara South, in New South Wales Australia.
The Waratah Coal Company was formed in 1862 to work a tunnel colliery at Waratah, which was served by a privately owned railway line running to the Hunter River at a location that was to be known as Port Waratah. By 1873 the coal reserves at the tunnel mine at Waratah were becoming exhausted so the the Waratah Coal Company purchased an area of land near what would be known as Charlestown.[1] Sinking of a shaft on this land soon commenced, with this shaft being initially known as the Raspberry Gully Pit and as latter lnown as Charles' Pit. To serve this new colliery a colliery branch line, known as the Gully Line or Raspberry Gully Line was laid from the existing line to the Waratah tunnel mines at Scholey Street Junction to the Colliery. Construction of this new line commenced in January 1874 and an act of Parliment was obtained to allow the constrution of railway branch lines to the new shaft at Raspberry Gully and a new tunnel mine at Waratah.[2][1]
A town of grew from the influx of miners from the mine to the south and was named after Charles Smith, the manager of the Waratah Coal Company in the 1870s, and became known as Charlestown.
During a strike at the mine in 1888, eight houses were built in Charlestown for strike breakers. The houses became known as Scab Row. During a confrontation with strike breakers, Alfred Edden, president of the Waratah colliery lodge was arrested. He later became member for the electoral district of Kahibah in 1894.
The Borehole Seam was mined until 1906 and the Wave Hill Seam commenced in 1951. The colliery was closed in 1961 and demolished in 1969.
Lake Macquarie City Council has created a short heritage trail depicting a brief history of the former Waratah Colliery and rail corridor which carried coal from the mine to Port Waratah, with interpretative signage located along a multi-use pathway.
References
- Looking Up the Gully Line - A History of the Waratah Colliery 1993
- City of Lake Macquarie Heritage Study
- "Raspberry Colliery". NSWrail.net. Retrieved 2009-03-21.