OWNER:

REFERENCES - MINES DEPARTMENT:

LOCATION:

(A) Part of Portion 197, Parish of Branxton, County of Northumberland.

(B) Mining Lease: If it was issued, not found in my research.

(C) Relationship To Neighbouring Mines:

(i) North-east of Anvil Creek Colliery.
(ii) South of Greta Colliery.
(iii) South-west of Whitburn Colliery.
(iv) South-west of New Greta Colliery.

(D) Farthing's Pit was west of Greta Village, along the western bank of Anvil Creek, and some 75 yards east of Greta Railway Station.

DISTANCES:

(A) Farthing's Pit was 12 miles 60 chains (20.4 km) distant by road from Cessnock Post Office, via the Cessnock to Branxton Road, (Highway 82), and the Cessnock to Greta Road diverting at Lovedale.

(B) It was 13 miles 30 chains (21.4 km) distant by road from Maitland Post Office, via the New England Highway (No. 15) and Greta village streets.

(C) Farthing's Pit was 0 miles 50 chains (0 km) distant by the local village streets from the Greta Post Office.

AREA:

10 acres leased from Samuel Clift.

SEAM:

Farthing's Pit was worked in the bottom seam, running more or less in a south of south-west direction, almost from the west bank of Anvil Creek. As this workings was roughly halfway between Little Greta Colliery, which had a seam some 5 feet thick, and Greta Extended No. 2 Colliery, which had a seam some 6 feet 6 inches thick, it is reasonable to assume that in this workings, the seam would have averaged 6 feet in thickness.

Mention was made in both the "Maitland Mercury" and "Newcastle Chronicle" early newspapers of the high quality coal produced by William Farthing in his mine on the Anvil Creek. The "Newcastle Chronicle" newspaper in its issue dated Saturday 5th March 1864 reports that Mr W. Farthing had won a contract to supply the Australian Steam Navigation Company (ASN Coy) with his coal from the mine on Anvil Creek.

It does seem certain that this, "the first mine" on the Greta Coal Measures opened up to the coal markets the fine qualities still now available. A standard that set for many years, and still to this date 133 years later attracts the world coal buyers.

COMMENCED OPERATIONS:

During the mid 1850's, William Farthing had worked for his brothers-in-law, James and Alexander Brown in their coal mine at Shamrock Hill, East Maitland. After J. & A. Brown had purchased John Eales "Minmi" Mine in the late 1850's, William Farthing searched in several areas, including the Four Mile Creek region at East Maitland, for a suitable location in which he could open a pit. His prospecting travels took him to Anvil Creek, Greta. After some short time, he proved a seam of coal there, and he obtained a lease of ten acres from Samuel Clift. This private lease for ten acres in Portion 197 Parish of Branxton County of Northumberland is dated Friday 20th December 1861.

ENTRY:

The Mines Department have supplied me with a copy of a plan of the "Mineral Workings at Anvil Creek". This record "M 19319" was traced from a very old and worn plan on linen, which was later destroyed. Mines Department's plan, Record Tracing Number 288 for the Central Greta Colliery shows a notation between the NSW Government Railway and Anvil Creek stating:

"For old workings approximately in this area, - vide M19319 - sheet 2".

On this Central Greta Colliery Record Tracing Number 288, two furnace shafts are shown, located on the western side of Anvil Creek between the railway and the creek itself directly opposite the end of Wyndham Street, Greta. These furnace shafts, some 35 yards apart lay parallel to the Government Railway tracks. If one lines up these shafts on Record Tracing Number 288 and the entry shaft and air shaft on the linen plan tracing, one finds that they coincide perfectly. It does seem reasonable from this evidence to deduce that the two later Central Greta Colliery furnace shafts were the original entry shafts of Farthing's Pit.

The main entry into Farthing's Pit was a shaft 8 feet in diameter and 50 feet deep. It was located 33 yards east of the present railway boundary fence. The air shaft was some 100 feet in a north-west direction from the main entry shaft. It was located 22 yards from the railway boundary fence. This shaft was oblong in shape, 8 feet long, 6 feet wide and 80 feet deep. Another shaft, (a third), was sunk some 150 feet east of the main entry shaft. This too was a circular shaft, 8 feet in diameter.

The whole mine area was only some 150 yards long by about 88 yards across.

METHOD OF WORKING:

Mr William Farthing, from his coal mining experience gained with James and Alexander Brown at their Shamrock Hill Creek coal mine, appears to have worked his Farthing's Pit by a type of bord and pillar method. Headings and bords appear from the linen plan tracing to have been about 8 feet wide, and were probably worked to the full height of the coal seam. Pillars vary in length, but all are mostly thin in fluctuating widths. Very narrow cut-throughs linked the headings and the bords.

There appears to have been a number of headings running out from the main entry shaft. One in the north-east section of this small area is shown as "No. 3 Heading". Some bords or headings have been identified with the miners' names. This was a common practice in the early days of coal mining in NSW. The miners names shown are:

Coleman,
Hodges,
Woodman,
Pritchard,
Farmer,
Barber,
Frost.

All the working in Farthing's mine was made by hand mining, hand boring and grunching. No record has been found during my research if skips were used. I am fairly confident, that there were skips utilised underground. Certainly no pit-horses were used underground in this mine. The miner or wheeler shoulder pushed skips to the shaft's bottom. With the small area worked, on a sloping seam of say 1 foot in 5 feet, this would not have been a too difficult task.

When William Farthing worked at James and Alexander Brown's Shamrock Hill Creek mines, a horse-whim was utilised to raise the coal produced up the mine shaft. Again it does seem reasonable to assume that a horse-whim haulage was also used at this shaft in Farthing's Pit. This assumption has some support in the fact, that in 1865 when William Farthing commenced to sink the shaft at his new Anvil Creek Colliery nearby, he started with a horse-whim to make his first entry. Later at this new mine, the horse-whim was replaced by an 8 HP steam engine. However no steam engine was used at the original Farthing's Pit.

On the surface, the coal production at first was tipped into horse and drays to be taken to Morpeth and Maitland. Later in March 1863, after the NSW Government Railways reached Greta, Farthing's Pit was connected by a short rail siding. William Farthing purchased 10 rail wagons constructed by Rodgers Brothers of Newcastle. My research failed to locate the route of Farthing's railway branch from the NSW Government Railways to the pit area. I was also unable to find a description of the pit-top and skip unloading methods.

Underground illumination in Farthing's Pit was provided by his employees' tallow oil cap lights.

MINE HAULAGE:

I am fairly confident that the underground haulage in Farthing's Pit was carried out by his employees pushing or shoulder shunting the skips. Certainly no pit-horses were used underground.

Again I am fairly confident that a horse-whim was utilised to raise the coal production to the surface in Farthing's Pit. This was the method used in James and Alexander Brown's Shamrock Hill Creek mine, and a similar method used by William Farthing when he commenced to sink the shaft in his new Anvil Creek Colliery mine.

VENTILATION:

In the Newcastle field coal mines during the 1850's and 1860's, ventilation generally was arranged by the "two shaft entrances" into the mine workings. Where these mines extended and developed and required additional ventilation, usually an underground furnace was placed under one of the shafts. In such cases this shaft above the furnace was usually oblong shaped. My research did show that William Farthing during the late 1860's did use an underground furnace in his Anvil Creek Colliery. It does seem reasonable to assume, and supported by one oblong shaft, that an underground furnace may have been utilised in Farthing's Pit.

RAIL CONNECTION:

Because William Farthing purchased 10 rail wagons from Roger Brothers of Newcastle for use at Farthing's Pit, the logical deduction is that William Farthing arranged the construction of a rail branch track to connect his pit to the NSW Government Railways. My research failed to locate descriptions and details of such a track, (if any).

It is also of general interest, that when the NSW Government Railways first reached Greta in early 1863, William Farthing provided a surface area on his "Samuel Clift" lease for the construction of a platform. For many years, up until the early 1880's, the Railway Timetable denoted "Farthing's Platform", not "Greta".

RAIL WAGONS:

In a deed dated 10th October 1864 and appearing in the Registrar-General's records in Book 90 No. 845 outlining a mortgage between William Farthing and Rev. William Purves, William Farthing had offered as part of his mortgage security, 10 railway coal wagons made by Rogers Brothers of Newcastle, then in use at his mine.

Because the Government Railways did not reach Greta until March 1863, and this mine ceased mining operations early in 1865, I am confident that these 10 wagons were the extent of Farthing's fleet, at this period.

BRIEF HISTORY:

William Farthing was born in 1818 in Filey, Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, the son of William Farthing and Jane Armstrong. He migrated to NSW in 1841, arriving on the ship "William Turner" on Tuesday 5th October 1841. He became a boot maker and leather merchant at Maitland.

Lillias Brown was born in 1821 at Kingsowknowe, Lancashire, Scotland, the daughter of Alexander Brown and Mary Hart. She arrived in NSW on the ship "Margaret" with her family, including her brothers, James and Alexander Brown on Tuesday 25th January 1842.

In 1843 William Farthing married Lillias Brown. They had four children:

In mid 1851, like many other Australians, William Farthing tried his hand at gold mining, and is said to have been fairly successful. During 1853, he returned to East Maitland and commenced work as a coal miner for his brother-in-law, James Brown. At this date, James Brown was operating Hillington Colliery on Portion 221 Parish of Maitland County of Northumberland, close to Shamrock Hill Creek, a tributary of Four Mile Creek, East Maitland.

Earlier in 1843 James Brown had opened a small shaft mine in Portion 27 Parish of Maitland on the banks of Shamrock Hill Creek. James Brown had built a "gun-barrel" style house on this portion, together with fine stables to house his horses used to cart his coal production to Morpeth. John "Baron" Brown, son of James, such an important figure in Australian Coal History, was born in this "gun-barrel" home in 1850. It is difficult to imagine the hive of activity in this Shamrock Hill Creek area at this period. Quite a number of small coal mines, a public school, a church, a boarding house and many miners' houses. Later the Shamrock Hill Meat Preserving Works was erected in the 1860's. Also a number of pottery, pipe and brick works.

William Farthing and Rev. William Purves had been close friends and associates during the period William Farthing worked for his brothers-in-law, James and Alexander Brown. Rev. William Purves was appointed to pastor the Presbyterian Church at East Maitland in 1846, when that church was having difficulties. Over the years, William Farthing had been a keen and devout church-goer, and he was involved in a number of land transactions and purchases by the Presbyterian Church. (See the Registrar-General's records such as Book 51 No. 160; Book 58 No. 612; and others). On Monday 2nd April 1855 William Farthing and Rev. William Purves purchased adjoining allotments of 48 acres each, (shown at this sale as Lots 12 and 13 Parish of Stockrington). These allotments are now shown on the Lands Board's Parish of Stockrington map as Portion 30 and Portion 37.

In 1859 James and Alexander Brown purchased the Minmi Colliery from John Eales, and their Shamrock Hill Creek area coal mining activities were gradually phased out. William Farthing looked for an area in the Four Mile Creek region on which to open up his own coal mine, but was unsuccessful. William Farthing in early 1861 is said to have been told that some lumps of coal had been found in the Anvil Creek on Samuel Clift's land. In company with a member of the "Clift" family, he searched the Anvil Creek for coal signs without much fortune, and their exploration was abandoned. William Farthing was a man of great tenacious purpose, and strongly believed that the stories of lumps of coal being found in Anvil Creek had indicated that coal was in the area. Some weeks later, he returned alone and walked up and down the length of Anvil Creek. Finally after digging some shallow trenches and shafts near the present location of the Greta Railway overbridge, he found some coal outcropping. On Friday 20th December 1861 William Farthing obtained a lease of 10 acres from Samuel Clift on Portion 197, Parish of Branxton, County of Northumberland, on the western side of Anvil Creek, and commenced opening a coal mine in early 1862.

The Mines Department plan of the early pit working in the area, (see M 19319), shows 3 shafts had been sunk. With the intense mining made, as indicated by this plan with its wider bords and narrow pillars, displayed that William Farthing had continued the practices utilised by James and Alexander Brown in their East Maitland mines.

No doubt William Farthing had been closely associated with his fellow miners in these pits, or through his church activities. When he developed and extended his mine on the Anvil Creek bank, in all probability he persuaded a number of these experienced, pit hands to work at his (Farthing's) new pit. Some miners names appear on the copy of the old linen plan (M 19319) to identify various bords and headings. A practice extensively used in early Australian coal mines. Miners' names listed were:

Coleman,
Hodges,
Woodman,
Pritchard,
Farmer,
Barber,
Frost.

In an endeavour to prove a feasible connection, I researched the "Births" register in the East Maitland Courthouse for the years 1856 to 1861 seeking possible related names. I found these details:

1. John Coleman and Anna Weinz had children born during this period. The register informs that John Coleman was a coal miner living at Four Mile Creek.

2. Mark Hodges married Ann Brown. Mark Hodges was a coal miner living at Four Mile Creek.

3. William Farmer married Christina Dunn. William Farmer was a coal miner at Four Mile Creek.

On Friday 4th March 1864 William Farthing won a contract to supply the Australian Steam Navigation Company (ASNC) with coal from his mine on the Anvil Creek. In reporting this news item on Saturday 5th March 1864, "Maitland Mercury" newspaper stated that 10 men were employed in this mine.

The small "10 acres" lease obtained from Samuel Clift was soon worked out. William Farthing on Monday 10th October 1864 reached an agreement with his friend, Rev. William Purves, that he should purchase from Rev. Purves, his land being Portion 61 and Portion 192 Parish of Branxton, just south of his original mine on the bank of Anvil Creek. On this land in early January 1865, William Farthing sunk a shaft, some 600 yards distant in a south-west direction, from his early mine, and this became the Anvil Creek Colliery. The Registrar-General's records at Book 90 No. 845 shows that Rev. Wm. Purves gave a mortgage of £3,650-0-0 ($7,300.00) at an interest rate of 8% per annum to provide funds to develop this new colliery. Anvil Creek Colliery working has been fully described in that colliery's history. See pages 1598 to 1620.

Briefly summarising the Anvil Creek Colliery's progress for this personal history of William Farthing, the mine prospered. When more development was required, his friend, Rev. W. Purves on Tuesday 1st September 1868 guaranteed William Farthing's overdraft for £1,500-0-0 ($3,000.00) with the Commercial Bank of Sydney. On Monday 24th January 1870, Rev. W. Purves provided William Farthing with additional funds by a loan of £8,000-0-0 ($16,000.00). (See Registrar-General's record in Book 117 No. 922). For his collateral for this loan, William Farthing had nominated thus:

985 acres of land,
30 coal rail wagons supplied by Goddard Limited,
An 8 HP steam winding engine,
Plus other machinery.

On Monday 27th February 1871 an underground fire broke out in Anvil Creek Colliery mine causing serious damage. It was almost 12 months before the mine re-opened at great expense to William Farthing. It does appear that William Farthing was forced to sell various lands, that he held and were not for mining, to meet his expenses. For instance, his land at Portion 30, Parish of Maitland was sold to his sister-in-law, Catherine Berry (nee Brown). (See Registrar-General's records, Book 105 No. 562). In April 1872 in order to restore and develop his Anvil Creek Colliery working, William Farthing was forced to form a new company, Anvil Creek Coal Mining Company, to provide capital. William Farthing's friend and associate, Rev. William Purves had died at sea, on Tuesday 26th April 1870, whilst on a holiday to his homeland. On Thursday 7th August 1873, when William Farthing could not meet his mortgage commitments to the estate of Rev. W. Purves, the trustees of the new Anvil Creek Coal Mining Company on a token payment of ten shillings ($1.00) took over William Farthing's liabilities and interest in the company. The trustees appointed a new coal mining manager.

On Friday 7th February 1876, the Company re-appointed William Farthing as the colliery manager. It does seem to me that the "1871" underground fire was never completely extinguished. On Wednesday 26th September 1877 an underground fire again broke out in Anvil Creek Colliery. The mine was sealed on Friday 16th November 1877, and Mr William Farthing was again without a mine.

When he opened his Anvil Creek Colliery mine, William Farthing built his home close to the mine. This was located between Bell and Cuthbert Street, Illawong, on Lots 2 and 3 Section 16 of the Illawong township sub-division. On Friday 6th February 1875 Lillias Farthing, William Farthing's wife, is shown as acquiring 7 acres of land from James Price's grant. (See Registrar-General's records - Vol. 200 Folio 226, dated 5th February 1875). A home was built there, facing the main Cessnock to Greta Road, about 2½ miles from Greta.

William Farthing, in later years, appears to have been occupied in trading in land deals, both buying and selling. As examples of this, see just a few found in the Registrar-General's records:

Book 160 No. 334 dated Thursday 4th May 1876,
Book 161 No. 369 dated Friday 7th July 1876,
Book 162 No. 386 dated Friday 25th August 1876.

In addition William Farthing acted as a magistrate at both Greta and Branxton Courthouses. He is said to have acquitted himself on the Bench with credit and discretion.

On Friday 6th August 1886 William Farthing died suddenly as he sat with his wife in front of the fire at his home, Farthing's homestead. Shortly after, Lillias Farthing placed the 7 acres of land and its 6 roomed cottage with Brunker and Wolfe, auctioneers of Maitland, for an auction sale at 11 a.m. on Tuesday 17th August 1886. The property and home was purchased by Richard Ford. Registrar-General's record shows this sale on transfer No. 112252 dated Monday 6th September 1886 and on the deed at Vol. 481 No. 133.

Lillias Farthing died on Wednesday 11th September 1901.

William and Lillias Farthing are buried in a single grave, being Lot 30 Section 9 Presbyterian Cemetery at East Maitland. It has a concrete surround surmounted by a light steel fence about 2 feet high. A 6 feet high granite headstone was prepared and stood by Lock and Doherty of Newcastle.

Whilst perhaps not rising to the standard of his brothers-in-law James and Alexander Brown, as renowned mining owners and entrepreneurs, William Farthing should be remembered as the pioneer of the Greta Coal Measures. It was his enthusiasm and perseverance, that took the first step to open up this great coalfield. Others have attained great honour as developing the riches and wealth for Australia from this mineral from this field. Special credit and recognition should be given to William Farthing. William Farthing struggled to achieve his aims, and thereby gave our "Maitland" Greta coal seam coalfield its start.

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