miners

I believe the man on the right is standing next to a hand operated air pump drive wheel used to provide rudimentary ventilation to the shaft. Firedamp would not be a problem but CO₂ buildup would be.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_mine_ventilation#
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firedamp

The rope and canvas bucket next to the man holding the windlass handle would be for raising the rock, earth (mullock) and hopefully rich wash dirt when they hit bottom and locate the gutter. There is a similar bucket in the foreground next to the air pump, behind the split timbers used for shoring the shaft and drive below. However there does not appear to be a flag flying as required by law for a gold strike.
collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/digital/8OJWMabzQL0JJ
GULGONG AND HOME RULE. (1873, August 16). The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), p. 215. Retrieved January 22, 2026, from nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162655932

The other three men standing up by the windlass wear close fitting miner's caps for working underground. Their three broad-brimmed hats and jackets hang by the side of the mine head.
The manager in shined shoes with collar and tie stands at left, he is the only one in the group who moved during the exposure but not as much as the blurry figure behind him. The overseer stands next to him.
Their shoes/boots appear to be a mix of lace-up and elastic-side.

The Gulgong area became a rush in April 1870, when Tom Saunders found 400 gms of gold at Red Hill, in the heart of the present town. Further major finds were made at nearby Canadian Lead in August 1871 and at Home Rule, 11 km south-east of Gulgong, in May 1872. By 1874, around 8,500 kg gold had been extracted from the Gulgong field.

Charles Bayliss, as operator for the American and Australasian Photographic Company, photographed Home Rule on 15 July 1872, when its population was around 3000. Fortunately, the Gulgong Guardian 13 July 1872 described Home Rule that very week and it’s interesting to compare Bayliss’s images with the reporter’s narrative.
www.sl.nsw.gov.au/blogs/home-rule-not-call-arms#:~:text=T....

There is another photo of the same miners and their mine head with a short handle pick lying on the ground and an eighth man, taken from a different direction showing surrounding buildings with a distant roof under construction here - collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/digital/NRWNop6yJljab

More from Les Golding @ my website www.lesgoldingphotography.co.uk or on Google+ plus.google.com/b/111623969933281414886/+Lesgoldingphotog... or via twitter. twitter.com

Mount Isa, a mining town and the biggest population centre in north-west Queensland, is 820 km west of Townsville, 160 km from the Northern Territory border and 350 km south of the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is situated in an extensive mineral-rich region stretching from south of Cloncurry to west of Burketown. Unlike many other great mining towns, including Broken Hill and Charters Towers, Mount Isa is unlikely to run out of minerals to mine, having mastered the treatment of large volumes of lower grade ore. The Mount Isa mining field was discovered by an itinerant prospector, John Campbell Miles (c1883-1963) in 1923. Miles was camped on the Leichhardt River and took rock samples from an outcrop, knowing by their weight that they were mineralised. A government assayer at Cloncurry found an astonishing lead content of up to 78%. A few months later the Government geologist confirmed the mineral potential, starting a rush of leasehold applications. Miles named the outcrop Mount Isa, explaining in the 1950s that he did so in memory of the Mount Ida mine, about 20 km northwest of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Miles never explained why he substituted Isa for Ida. A rudimentary mining township soon formed and Mount Isa Mines Ltd was floated in January 1924. Storekeepers brought buildings from other towns, mainly Kuridala, south of Cloncurry, and two open-air picture theatres were started. By the end of 1924, there were a provisional school, a progress association, and a surveyed town on the east side of the Leichhardt River. Many businesses had been set up next to the mine on the west side of the river. Putting the town on the east side indicated a certain sensitivity to good town planning. Source: www.queenslandplaces.com.au/mount-isa