mining

Definitely not 1920. A construction photograph taken on the northern side of this with similar viewing aspect to the south is captioned Mill Site. 31st October 1929. The large crane jib is being used as a "Gin Pole" to erect the very large steel posts. The Urquhardt Shaft is being sunk with a wooden headframe.

The Mount Isa Mine Early Infrastructure, established in the 1920s and early 1930s and located on the western edge of Mount Isa, is important as surviving evidence of the establishment of large-scale mining by the Mount Isa Mining Company (now known as Mount Isa Mines Limited (MIM)). The development of the mining infrastructure was on a scale rare in Queensland mining, and the place has the potential to reveal further information that may contribute to the knowledge of the early mining processes used in Queensland. John Campbell Miles discovered the ores of Mount Isa as lead outcrops early in 1923. Such a late find on a mineral field closely prospected for nearly sixty years was probably due to the fact that most Queensland prospectors were looking for copper or gold and lead mining was an alien tradition. However, while the discovery was first acknowledged in 1923, it is not improbable that the Mount Isa deposits were long known and ignored. Lawlor Shaft and Winding Plant (1920s) Robert Lawlor held the 2.5ha Crystal Lease at Top Camp on the new Mount Isa field when the government geologist, EC Saint-Smith, inspected the area in September 1923. This lease was consolidated into Mount Isa Mines holdings by the end of 1924 but Lawlor's Shaft remained as the major access point to ores in the Rio Grande lode during the exploration and ore proving phase (1925-9). The headframe and ancillary buildings were featured in a photograph in the Queensland Government Mining Journal, 15 August 1929. Urquhart Shaft and Headframe (1930-31) Mount Isa Mine Power Station (1931) From mid-1927 the technical management of Mount Isa Mine was in the hands of the Urquhart group (formerly known as the Russo-Asiatic Consolidated). With their increased capital they set about developing the "most modern mine of the age." Source: apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=601182

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

Alluvial Gold Some rocks containing gold veins have been exposed on the surface and are eroding away. The gold that these rocks contained has been washed down into creeks to form alluvial (placer) gold deposits. Here, the gold is further concentrated by the action of water. Because gold is heavier than most of the material moved by a creek or river, it can become concentrated in hollows and trapped in the bed of the river. These are known as secondary (alluvial) gold deposits and they can be worked using a gold pan or cradle. Alluvial gold deposits sparked the Australian gold rushes of the 1850's Source: www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/minerals-ener...