mineshaft

Knock-off time at the Mount Isa Mines, ca. 1938

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  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