Title: The Monster MineAuthor: Anonymous (P.G. M)* A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook *eBook No.: 0600901.txtEdition: 1Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: Latin-1(ISO-8859-1)--8 bitDate first posted: May 2006Date most recently updated: May 2006This eBook was produced by: Richard Scott and Colin ChoatProject Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed editionswhich are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright noticeis included. We do NOT keep any eBooks in compliance with a particularpaper edition.Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check thecopyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing thisfile.This eBook is made available at no cost and with almost no restrictionswhatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the termsof the Project Gutenberg of Australia License which may be viewed online athttp://gutenberg.net.au/licence.htmlTo contact Project Gutenberg of Australia go to http://gutenberg.net.auThe Monster MineP.G. M (1845)(This story first appeared in The South Australian Odd Fellows' Magazine August, 1845)Hope LodgeHayloft HotelAugust 16th, 1945This day is memorable in the annals of the principality as thecentenary of the purchase by a Company of the Great Copper Mine on theBurra, and will be celebrated by a grand festival.One hundred years ago a few individuals of limited means subscribedtogether, with much difficulty, the (at that time large) sum of20,000. With this they purchased, of the Local Government of thatperiod, twenty thousand acres of mineral land; and the spot fixed onis that immense tract of country now occupied by the seven great andflourishing cities--Featherstonhaugh, Stockton-on-Burra, Aston,Buncely, Grahamstown, Bagota, and Snobsgain.At that time the district was approached with great difficulty, theroads over hill and dale being infested with wild dogs (wolves) andnatives (ourang-outangs), and almost impassable to other thantravellers on horseback, the few wheeled vehicles which existed beingclumsy conveyances called drays, and drawn by bullocks; for so greatwas the demand for, and scarcity of, horses at that time, thatbullocks, goats, and even dogs were employed in drawing the valuableore to the port of shipment, which was the now inconsiderable port ofAdelaide. The splendid harbour of Boston Bay was then either unknownor treated with a neglect almost inconceivable to those who now knowit as the most important resort for shipping in the known world.Atmospheric railways and aerial machines were, it is true, talked of,but the matter-of-fact men of the day considered them theoretical,visionary, and impracticable; and when we consider that the vessels ofthe period occupied a space of four months in transferring the ore(for no means for smelting were then established) to England, then theonly market for it, we shall cease to wonder that, for a length oftime, it was doubtful whether the scheme would prove successful orotherwise.To those who are acquainted with the immense wealth of the proprietorsof this property--the Princes of the soil; to those who look at theirpalaces, their castles, and their villas, it is almost Incrediblethat, so short a time back as one century, their ancestors were atimmense trouble to raise the paltry amount referred to, which each ofthe one thousand proprietors could now readily pay ten times over;that, in fact, two great political parties, called the Nobs and Snobs,(supposed to be the same as the Whig and Tory of a still earlierperiod), actually coalesced to attain this object, notwithstanding thealmost frantic opposition offered by two gentlemen of the name ofManager, who apparently held very influential positions in theprincipality, or rather, as it was called at that time, the colony.The City of Adelaide, then, as now, the seat of Government, boastedfew of the splendid buildings which now embellish it. The ancientmonument in the midst of Light-square was scarcely completed. Amonument erected by the Odd Fellows, to the memory of a deceasedbrother, was only then in the course of erection.A few of the oldest Churches and Chapels that are dotted over our vastcity were certainly in existence, and one Catholic Bishop had latelyarrived in the place.No splendid Cathedral, either Protestant or Catholic, reared its proudhead in this our embryo city. The Prince's palace, the palaces of theArchbishops and Bishops, were not thought of. The great man of theplace, who, from his advanced years, was known by the soubriquet ofthe Grey Governor, resided in a portion of the Prince's palace, whichthose curious in antiquarian researches may still find occupied asapartments and offices by the Lord Steward's clerks; and oneunpretending Chapel, in the Monastery of St Murphy, is still pointedout by the venerable father O'Recollect as the nucleus of that greatbuilding.No Colleges actually existed, except in the legends of the oldestinhabitants, who spoke (without, however, anything like confidence) ofa College which had existed in air (Quere in Eyre?) in earlier days.The great-grandfather of our present beloved Prince was then but aninfant in the cradle; and the land was governed by nominees of ourgreat ally, England, with whom friendly relations have been maintainedfrom that time to the present; indeed, as our readers must be aware,this ancestor of our beloved Prince was afterwards the renowned AlbertEdward the First of England.Records have, however, been handed down of a visit to this clime paidby King John, who died eight hundred years ago; after which a longblank of seven hundred years occurs in the documents in the hands ofthe Lord Keeper of Records.We are afraid we are occupying too much space in the oldestestablished journal of the principality, but cannot resist one morecircumstance, which is amusing to those who consider the rude state inwhich our ancestors carried on their commercial arrangements. It is awell-recorded fact that the great monetary medium was a simple paperdocument, signed chiefly by one of the Mr Managers before alluded to,which was taken currently as cash, the knowledge of electricity beingso confined at that time that our present excellent monetary systemwas unthought of, and he who had proposed such a scheme would havebeen looked upon as a madman.One fact more. It is said that wheat-seed was sown months before itwas reaped, and the fructification was left entirely to nature. Muchdoubt has arisen in the minds of many scientific men as to thepossibility of growing wheat without electricity; and we have thesatisfaction of informing our readers that a series of experiments arenow being carried on by Professor Oldenough to ascertain the fact.But the ringing of bells and the firing of the great steam cannon atFort Boston announce the fact that the festivities of the day have nowcommenced, and as our Lodge takes a prominent part in them, I mustresign my seat in the electro-phonotypographical chair to some onemore worthy to fill it.THE END