Page 298 - J Delaney - City of Cessnock Education and Schools

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! . RICHMOND MAIN SCHOOL

STATE ARCHIVES FILE NO. 5117476-1

Richmond Vale was one of the earliest regions of settlement in the

Lower Hunter. With Morpeth ·as the main Northern Port and the Active Retired

Army Corps Leaders, Close and Bloomfield, settling in the surrounding Green Hills

district and encouraging others to settle likewise, 'i t was only. natural that
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this rich agricultural area of the Wallis Creek should receive .such searching

attention. ' Its flats and plains provided crops of wheat and maize . .· Its hills

and mountains supplied much timber. But it was coal that eventually gave

Richmond Vale its biggest impetus. Richmond Main Colliery was to become

Australia's largest coal mine.·

Newcastle Town was the centre of the coal industry for many years.
Its colourf~l background had commenced as a harsh prison for troublesome convicts.
The Irish insurgents suppressed at Vinegar Hill in the early 1800's were given
hard punishment in a new gaol camp at Newcastle and were forced to pe!"form the
difficult tasks of primitive coalmining. When coal production lagged in the
1820's, a large English Company, newly formed to carry out large agricultural
pursuits in Australia, was given by the Government, the Australian monopoly of
coal production and sales. In its first twenty years in the coal industry,
this Ccmpan~ had worked Newcastle ·pits.

The arrival of the steam propelled boat, the "Sophia Jane" at Morpeth
in Septembe~ 1831, opened a new era. Other steams soon followed. Some, like
the "William The Fourth" were built in Australi.a. Still more ca~e from overseas.
Most made journeys to Morpeth. Shrewd entrepreneurs saw opportunities of under-
cutting the monopolist coal company and supplying cheaper coal to ships at Morpeth
In this group were two brothers, James and Alexander Brown, who worked mines ·
at Four Mile Creek. When they were challenged in Court by the. Government for
breaching the coal monopoly charter, they were found guilty, but received only
a minimum penalty. This Court case resulted in breaking-up the monopoly and
boosted coal exploration and development. J. & A. Brown were soon again
operating coal mines - this time at Minmi.

Professor Edgeworth David, in 1886, had proved the Greta coal seam. ·
Provesscr·David had drawn elaborate maps outlining the course and direction of