Shuttleton, New South Wales

Shuttleton is a ghost town located in the Parish of Hume, County of Mouramba,[1] New South Wales.[2][3] The former village site is 29km (18 miles) west-south-west of Nymagee.[4]

It was founded in expectation of population growth following the discovery of gold in the district and nearby copper deposits. An outcrop of copper ore was discovered by an aboriginal prospector, John 'Jacky' Owens, in late 1900; he had previously discovered gold at Gilgunnia. Owens was either employed by or working in partnership with Thomas Shuttle, who was living in the area as the caretaker of the Government Tank, at Crowl or Sandy Creek—both names were used because "crowl" was the local Aboriginal word meaning "sandy"[5]—a watering place on a travelling stock route. Shuttle is credited as being the co-discoverer and it is he who took out the first mining lease in the area, known as "Shuttle's".[6][7][8][9] However, it was on another lease—held by Eason, Mooney, and Osmetti—further north of the other leases, that the richest discovery was made, in February 1901,[10] creating the need for a permanent settlement.

The new village of Shuttleton was proclaimed on 15 July 1902.[11] The original settlement had been called (informally) Crowl Creek; it was subsequently named Shuttleton, after Thomas Shuttle, who was still exploring his lease in search of copper, around the time that site for the village was selected in 1901.[12][13][14] There was a family by the name of Shuttle in the village, for many years afterwards.[15][16] Thomas Shuttle died, still living in the area, in 1928.[17][18] It seems that Jacky Owen did not prosper from his discovery but he also lived to an old age.[19]

By mid-1903, mining was in full swing and reverberatory smelters were under construction.[10] The village had 330 to 350 inhabitants, a post office, police station, public school, two hotels, stores and other businesses.[4][20] A wave of personal bankruptcies in the village suggests that its initial prosperity was short lived.[21][22] In 1913, a day of horse racing took place there.[23] The village had a market garden operated by ethnic-Chinese.[24]

The mines at Shuttleton included the Crowl Creek Copper Mine,[4] the Commonwealth Copper Mine,[25][26] and the South Shuttleton Mine[15] (later known as the Shuttleton Mine). The Crowl Creek Copper Mine had a smelter.[27][28] In August 1908, the Crowl Creek and Shuttleton Mines were purchased by Nymagee Copper Limited Co., operator of the copper mine at Nymagee; thereafter, the siicaceous ore from Shuttleton was blended with the 'basic' ore mined at Nymagee to facilitate its smelting.[29] It is likely that, when the Nymagee operation closed in 1917, substantive mining operations at Shuttleton also ended.

In late 1918, just before the end of the First World War, the village received the news that its former school teacher had been killed in action in France.[30] The school closed in 1920.[20]

Once the copper mines closed, most inhabitants moved away. The size of the village's area was reduced in 1942 to suit its reduced circumstances.[31] By 1945, it was no longer a polling place.[32] By 1949, its buildings were mainly gone,[33] but it was still significant enough to be, once again, a polling place in 1950.[34] In 2006, one of Shuttleton's old churches was being used as a hay storage shed.[35] Today there is virtually nothing left to show of the former village except its street grid,[36][3] its cemetery,[37] some mine ruins,[35] and an access road—linking Priory Tank Road (from Nymagee) and Kidman Way—called Shuttleton Road.[36]

References
  1. Village of Shuttleton : Parish of Hume, County of Mouramba.
  2. New South Wales. Department of Lands, Map of the County of Mouramba [cartographic material] / .
  3. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1806376 Village of Shuttleton] [cartographic material].
  4. "CROWL CREEK COPPER MINE". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912). 1 July 1903. p. 32. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  5. "Aboriginal Words and Meanings. COLLECTED BY THE LANDS DEPARTMENT". trove.nla.gov.au. Royal Anthropological Society of Australasia.Vol. 5 No. 12 (23 January 1903). 23 January 1903. p. 20. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  6. "CORRESPONDENCE". Cobar Herald (NSW : 1899 - 1914). 3 May 1902. p. 3. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  7. "NEW COPPER FIND". Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder (NSW : 1899 - 1952). 7 December 1900. p. 10. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  8. "MINING". Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931). 29 July 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  9. "Map of New South Wales showing stock routes, tanks, wells, and trucking stations [cartographic material]". Trove. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  10. "COBAR AND NYMAGEE". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 30 June 1903. p. 8. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  11. "VILLAGE OF SHUTTLETON". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 19 July 1902. p. 5129. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  12. "SHUTTLETON, (Crowl Creek)". Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder (NSW : 1899 - 1952). 16 August 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  13. "CROWL CREEK COPPER MINE". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912). 1 July 1903. p. 32. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  14. "Wirlong". Cobar Herald (NSW : 1899 - 1914). 10 August 1901. p. 2. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  15. "Shuttleton News". Western Age (Dubbo, NSW : 1914 - 1932). 11 September 1915. p. 2. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  16. "District News". Western Age (Dubbo, NSW : 1914 - 1932). 25 February 1919. p. 3. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  17. "Men and Women". Wellington Times (NSW : 1899 - 1954). 12 January 1928. p. 3. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  18. "Advertising". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 14 February 1928. p. 2. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  19. "Anthology of Anecdote". Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950). 15 July 1922. p. 26. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  20. "Shuttleton". nswgovschoolhistory.cese.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  21. "IN BANKRUPTCY". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 31 July 1903. p. 5677. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  22. "IN BANKRUPTCY". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 17 April 1903. p. 2963. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  23. "Shuttleton". Cobar Herald (NSW : 1899 - 1914). 1 August 1913. p. 3. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  24. "Chinese market gardens in southern and western New South Wales – AHR". Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  25. "COPPER MINING IN N.S. WALES". Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912). 2 November 1901. p. 1119. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  26. "Shuttleton, Mouramba Co., New South Wales, Australia". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  27. "CROWL CREEK COPPER MINE". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 25 September 1906. p. 10. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  28. "CROWL CREEK-SHUTTLETON COPPER MINE". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 18 April 1907. p. 10. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  29. McQueen, Ken (2017). "Nymagee copper: Birth, death and resurrection?" (PDF). Journal of Australasian Mining History, Vol. 15. p. 107.
  30. "District News". Western Age (Dubbo, NSW : 1914 - 1932). 8 November 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  31. "ALTERATION OF THE DESIGN OF THE VILLAGE OF SHUTTLETON". Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 2001). 13 November 1942. p. 2988. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  32. "ABOLITION OF POLLING PLACES". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973). 12 April 1945. p. 865. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  33. "NYMAGEE–GHOST TOWN". Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954). 25 November 1949. p. 14. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  34. "Advertising". Western Herald (Bourke, NSW : 1887 - 1970). 2 June 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  35. "Map of South Shuttleton Mine in New South Wales - Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia". maps.bonzle.com. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  36. "Shuttleton, N.S.W. - Site of old village". Google Maps. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  37. "Australian Cemeteries Index - Cemetery 2077 - Shuttleton". austcemindex.com. Retrieved 11 October 2020.

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