NuclearMinerals

Radium Hill mine shut down in 1908; Douglas Mawson loses link and claims during first Antarctic expedition

Radium Hill mine shut down in 1908; Douglas Mawson loses link and claims during first Antarctic expedition
Douglas Mawson (at right, in 1910 after return from first Antarctic expedition) and, at left (seated in back of the car), the centre of attention at the Adelaide suburb of Semaphore in 1914 after his second expedition. 
Main image by W.S. Smith, courtesy State Library of South Australia

Arthur Smith worked the Radium Hill mine site that he'd discovered in 1906 for the next two years. Adjoining leases stretched for three kilometres along the lode of Australia’s first uranium mine, with one of them half owned by Douglas Mawson.

As lecturer in mineralogy and petrology at Adelaide University with a particular interest in radioactivity, Mawson was “intimately connected” to the Radium Hill from the beginning and worked on it for two years, hoping to find a way of extracting radium at a profit.

Smith’s “Carnotite Mine” discovery had excited others to peg claims, including Albert McBride, owner of Outalpa Station where the find was made. McBride, who had share dealings with mines at Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie, drove 50km across country to the find his claim, hoping to expand his fortune. Two Swedish brothers named Olson jumped ship at Port Adelaide and walked 460km to Radium Hill to find work at this “wonder metal” mine.

Interest was further stimulated when Arthur Smith sent an unusual specimen of cuprite ore from his mine to Shepherd’s Bush, London, for the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908. The specimen was awarded a diploma for gold medal. Mawson also sent samples around the world, with pioneering nuclear researchers Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie among those who received it.

At the Radium Hill mine site, problems emerged for Smith. His workers sank a shaft 30 metres on the underlay where it struck brackish water in 1907. With his finances exhausted, Smith stopped mining and allowed his lease to lapse.

Mawson hadn’t been able to fully exploit the potential of his mining venture at Radium Hill when he left for Antarctica on the Shackleton expedition 1907-09. He recounted later:  “When I returned, I found that our claims had been jumped by a publican from Broken Hill.”

Other related ADELAIDE AZ articles

Historical mining structures and equipment, including the South Australian government batteries (ore crushers), left on the Tarcoola and Glenloth gold mining fields in the state's far north during the first half of the 20th Century.
Minerals >
Big government input for Tarcoola far north goldfields during first half of 20th Century in South Australia
READ MORE+
Reg Sprigg and Arkaroola, the former station in the Flinders Ranges that Sprigg later turned into a tourist resort and wildlife sanctuary. Sprigg first went there in the 1940s looking for uranium mining possibilities at its Mount Painter.
Nuclear >
Geologist Reg Sprigg in 1944 confirms uranium lode in a top-secret survey at Radium Hill in South Australia's north
READ MORE+
A contemporary map showing the Ediacara and Beltana in the northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia during the 1880s silver rush. The many abandoned mines left their boilders scattered around the area.
Business A (19th Century) >
Silvermania has miners rushing to Flinders Ranges' Ediacara and Beltana in speculative Adelaide 1880s bubble
READ MORE+
Radium Hill uranium mine set Australian precedents for mining safety. Main image courtesy Wikipedia
Nuclear >
Radium Hill mine leaves a legacy of Australian firsts from its short life (1954-61) in the South Australian outback
READ MORE+
Remnants of the uranium mine at Radium Hill, first opened in 1906.
Nuclear >
First uranium mine in Australia at Radium Hill in South Australia's north in 1906; Port Pirie gets treatment plant
READ MORE+
Memories from the Radium Hill ghost town were kept alive by the historical association led by Kevin Kakoschke pictured (inset) with Peterborough mayor Ruth Whittle at opening of the Radium Hill Heritage Museum at Steamtown in Peterborough.
Heritage >
Radium Hill ghost town heritage listed in 2017 with historical group, led by Kevin Kakoschke, setting up a museum
READ MORE+

 

 
©2025 Adelaide AZ | Privacy | Terms & Disclaimer | PWA 1.1.58