***********************
Not far from Grove Hill Historic pub is the Mt Bonnie Mine (historic) established around 1916. I don't know much about the history of the mine as it's not in operation and there's no infromation at the site. From the surrounding area seems that was a reasonable size with a reasonable area which would have been the miners village, one report I did read mentioned that 75 miners were at the site.
We made camp at what would have been the miners village, had some concrete slabs around the area and an old abandoned toilet block. I did not look inside but may have only been habitable by snakes. Although the grass was very long it didn't take too much to flatten and make a reasonable camping area.
One of the 2 bridges we crossed getting to the mine was made from steel railway line, evidence that there may have been some heavey equipment brought into the mine.
The only remaining part of the processing plant was the concrete plinth, it look like the machinery had been berried under one of the hills surrounding the dams. You could see some rusty steel protruding out from the rubble. The rock in the area had sharp edges so caution was needed when driving around. I found out when we returned home that I had a tear in one of the tyre sidewalls down to the canvas, lucky it wasn't any deeper.
One of the 3 dams in the area, this was very clear and looked most inviting. We did not venture in but some of the others felt confident that not crocs were there and had a quick dip.
Another great weekend, unfortunately back to work until next time.
So much to see so little time!!
