Remnants of the Stamp Battery and Sluicing Equipment which were used at New Chum Hill near Kiandra

 

Kiandra
Historic goldmining town now little more than a ghost town.
Today Kiandra is literally one old house, a Court House which is used to store equipment, some ruins and enough memories to bring the whole cold and lonely valley alive. In its heyday it was a true gold rush town which rose and fell in less than a year. At its height it attracted over 10 000 men, women and children and saw the construction of banks, hotels and the usual services required by such a large population. In less than a year most of the gold was gone and the population was reduced to a 200-300. A hundred years later it was a ghost town standing forlornly on plains which, even in summertime, look lonely, glaciated and cold.

Kiandra (it was originally called Giandara or Giandarra Plain - the term may have meant 'sharp stone' in the language of the local Aborigines) has an elevation of 1400 metres and was, until the establishment of Cabramurra, the highest township in Australia.

Kiandra's moment of glory occurred in a few months from 1859-1860. The rush broke out after payable gold was discovered by David and James Pollock (two men who had been bringing their cattle to graze on the summer pastures in the area for some years) in what became known as Pollock's Gully in November 1859. People came from all over Australia and what had once been isolated grazing country suddenly became a boom town. By March 1860 there were more than 10 000 people on the goldfields. Several thousand endured the winter snows. They were ill-prepared and many were forced to see out the winter in canvas tents. However the rewards were extraordinary. The Sydney Morning Herald of 25 February 1860 reported: 'One party before dinner got 176 oz (4981 grams) and another got one lump weighing 19 lb (8603 grams).'

These rewards were short lived. The rich and shallow alluvial gold was worked out in a year and by March 1861 the Sydney Morning Herald was reporting 'Great exodus from Kiandra...nearly all gone to Lambing Flat'. Late in 1861 Kiandra's population had dropped to 250.

The gold escort removed 67 687 ozs (19 155 kg) in 1860 and 16 567 ozs (4688 kg) in 1861. The official total production was 172 000 ozs (48 676 kg). The gold was mostly alluvial and large nuggets up to 28 pounds (12 678 gm) in weight were found.

Mining continued on a small scale until about 1905 but most of this was done by sluicing and dredging.

What is left of Kiandra is located on the Snowy Mountains Highway no more than 300 metres from the turnoff to Mt Selwyn and Cabramurra. It is an indictment of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service that many of the old buildings were burnt or bulldozed by the service in an act of extraordinary historical vandalism. Not surprisingly it is hard to find anyone in the Snowy Mountains area who has a kind word to say about Parks and Wildlife.

All that is now left of the old township is the courthouse and some ruins.

Over the years Kiandra has developed a remarkable skiing mythology. It has been suggested that the first skiing competition and the first ski club in the world were established in Kiandra. These are dubious claims. Certainly it is known that the residents of Kiandra were skiing in 1861 after some Norwegian miners had shown other miners how to convert a fence post into a workable ski and certainly by the 1870s there were competitions and a ski club had been established in the area. But whether these competitions and the club were the first in the world is anyone's guess. The argument is based on the proposition that Canadians, Americans and Europeans had only ever used skis as a means of winter transport. In Kiandra they were used for sporting activities. One thing is certain - Kiandra, being the highest town in Australia until the establishment of Cabramurra, was the first Australian town where skiing was commonplace in wintertime.

Things to see:  

Kiandra's Heritage Trail
The first Kiandra Courthouse was built in 1860 as part of the Police Commissioner's Camp. By the 1870s the building was being used as a barn. The second Court House, which was also the local lockup and the police headquarters, was completed in 1890. It was built from local basalt and is a typical country town court house designed by the Colonial Architect, James Barnet. Most of the court cases were either about drunkenness or were disputes about gold claims and water rights. The Court House closed in 1937 and within a few years it had become the Kiandra Chalet. The owner encouraged winter visitors by operating a ski rope tow. For many years the Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club held a club license at the chalet. The Chalet enjoyed great popularity during the construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme but it declined and was closed in 1973. It is now a depot for the Department of Main Roads.

 

Matthew's Cottage

 

The most interesting thing about Kiandra at the moment is a recently established Heritage Trail. This trail is remarkably simple. Starting at the Court House the visitor is led through the marshy grasslands to the site of the Church of the Ascension, the Post & Telegraph Office, Matthew's Cottage (which is still standing), the Alpine Hotel, the School of Arts, Yan's Store (now a ruin), the Kiandra Hotel, the Teacher's Residence, the Dance Hall, the School, the Kiandra Pioneer Ski Club and the Wolgal Club. The walk is pleasant and easy and the plaques are detailed and informative. It is a rare opportunity to imagine what life was like in Kiandra during those heady days in 1860 when the area seemed to be running with gold. The trail stops at the locations of buildings and also passes water races, mullock heaps and other physical remains of the gold rush.

 

New Chum Hill
On the road to Mt Selwyn visitors pass the scars on New Chum Hill which recall the activity which characterised this find and subsequently led to fairly elaborate sluicing equipment being brought in. Less than half a kilometre from the Snowy Mountains Highway (or, for those of an active disposition, at the end of the Kiandra Walk) is a small park. The story attached to this area is typical of the luck involved on a gold field. 'Early in the gold rush some new chums arrived at the field. Asking other miners about good spots to try they were jokingly directed to a most unlikely location. Their tunnels soon struck rich deposits (so much for expertise on the goldfields) and New Chum Hill became the site of intensive mining. The gold had been deposited in a thick clay matrix by an ancient stream and was best removed by sluicing. To provide water for this operation several groups of miners built a network of races from Three Mile Dam.

'A strong jet of water was used to undermine the hillside and wash the loose soil and gravel into tail races up to 500 metres long. Stones paving these races trapped the gold bearing sediments. A removable bottom on the race allowed this material to be collected easily and processed. This area of the goldfields kept operating until the 1890s. At one time, during a period of only 12 weeks, they extracted £15 000 worth of gold.'

 

Mt Selwyn Snowfields
7 km from Kiandra, off the road to Cabramurra, are the Mt Selwyn Snowfields, reaching a peak elevation of 1614 metres. Alpine and cross-country skiing, snow-showing, snowboarding, tobogganing (with Australia's only tobogan tow) and snow-tubing are available in winter. Accommodation and ski packages are available. There are 45 km of ski trails ranging from 2.5 to 15 km and there is a snow sports school.

The fields cover 45 hectares and there are 12 lifts with a capacity of 9,500 per hour which operate from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. The fields are divided into 40%designated 'easiest,' 48% 'more difficult,' and 12% 'most difficult.' An artificial snowmaking system covers 80% of the terrain.

There is day parking, ski and clothing hire, catering, a children's centre, a ski patrol, a retail shop, ticket sales, a public phone, toilets and information. For further data, snow reports etc, see Selwynsnow.com.au.

 

Three Mile Dam
Three Mile Dam, located a few kilometres along the Cabramurra Road and just past the turnoff to Mount Selwyn, was built by the Chinese in 1882 to provide water for the sluicing operations at New Chum Hill. There is a walk (it is clearly marked on a map a few hundred metres off the road past the dam) which includes the old races and shows clearly how the water flowed from the dam to the goldfields.

Historic Kiandra, published by the Cooma Monaro Historical Society in 1959 and still available, is an outstanding account of the history of the area. It includes lots of interesting contemporary accounts of Kiandra in its brief heyday.

 

 

 

 

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Kiandra