Over 55 years ago, at Easter, I was lost, somewhat. Although I knew where I was I couldn’t find what I was looking for, Tyrendarra 15, a well site in western Victoria. It had been completed some years previously and I was looking for some evidence of its presence, perhaps some sumps where the shale shakers had removed the cuttings, a well head is always a good indicator you’d think, a limestone pad is another, and always the crap and rubbish those drillers leave behind, drums of this and that, cables, surplus cement. None of it was seen amidst the swaying trees and lava stone walls of the district.
It’s ok. Later I did find the well site. In navigation speak, whilst at the right latitude I was awry with the longitude, a little decimal or three.
Whilst lost and strolling around the perimeter of the prettiest paddock anywhere I was approached by a duo of galloping horses, an older male and a kid who rode past me, waved, and rode on, then reined back to ask if they could help. They did, they at least knew where the well site was, a mile towards Codrington and on the other side of the track. There it was, without a well head, without a sump, without mess or anything of notoriety regarding drillers and their habit of making a mess and moving on. Well done.
The older male returned on his horse a couple of days later, he was a grandson of the earliest owners of these paddocks, although not the area where the drilling had occurred, that was Victorian Government land. Horse riding and horse ownership got us talking punting, as it does.
This man’s father rode Massinissa into Portland to collect Revenue off the delivery boat from Melbourne. So, you may well ask.
Massinissa ran second in a Caulfield Cup. Revenue won the Melbourne Cup of 1901 at a short price (7/4 or perhaps 2/1). Both of those horses were sent to the owners property ‘Ellangowan’ to hack for a year as a holiday and respite for injuries, to remove them from the eye of the racing public, amateur and professional, and to see if either had another racing season in them. It was not uncommon for stayers to stroll about doing not a lot for extended periods of time, although this was then.
Neither raced again. Revenue became a ride for the Clerk of the Course at Melbourne tracks. He achieved hero status again when taken to the First World War and was killed in action there, in a cavalry charge in Romani Egypt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Romani
The owner of these two was also the owner of Wakeful. Now there is a racehorse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakeful_(horse)
In her last race she came second in The Cup, conceding the winner 22 kilograms (or the imperial equivalent). In the book ‘Melbourne Cup’ under the year 1903 there is about 17 words dedicated to the winner, the rest of the page is about Wakeful!! – she was bonny, whatever that is.
The elder male, and his daughter, (presumably ‘the kid’ mentioned) won prizes for their cattle. Several of their family were awarded medals for acts in battles.
Windemere 2, a well nearby that went through the same strata, essentially, produced oil, condensate and gas. It was sealed after completion. There is gas, tight though, underneath most of that ground and most of that Parish. (But I’m not a rock doctor.)
I was part of three in a team, a geologist, palaeontologist, and me, and I was good at bbq and average at drilling otherwise, one of those VW-powered Gemco rigs, that could sample to 50, auger to 30, and raise drill a little and good for chipping that. There was basalt where we were, part of the flood of it from volcanic cones on the horizon, and fiddling to get through the layer of that and into the sand, and limestone underneath took up most of my days when drilling, just me.
There was great interest in marble – limestone when subjected to heat and pressure, as in deep underground, turns to marble, maybe. That marble is the most profitable rock there is, ok, apart from diamonds, it is valued at 5000 times greater than coal. Even I thought that was a strange analogy but the person who said it was in charge of the shares and maybe he was talking it up a tad.
Mount Clay nearby was a volcano that had lifted, domed, the underlying limestone. Stratigraphic work had shown limestone (marble?) at depth in the area and the hope was that the process had proceeded upwards to within quarry depth.
I drilled when and where indicated, just me, and the other two examined the dust and chips. My rig was needed at Auvegne, NT, so it went off up there and I went with work on a great ship from Wollongong to Daru PNG twice, loading and unloading for Bureau of Mineral Resources.
I left Tyrendarra before completion of the fieldwork so cannot say what they found, or didn’t. Since no marble extraction appears to have taken place I reckon the question has been answered. The LLC and leases were for sale for a long while and is no more, they held a lot of leases especially in NSW but none others for marble.
Mount Eccles (Eeles) was the bigger volcano a few miles north and visible. The flood basalt from that came south into the Fitzroy River and then followed that course to the sea, it is a wide puddle of hellish ground, locally known as “The Stones” and most of it absorbed, utilised and offered in Aboriginal myths. That flood came across the present day Princes Highway where it narrowed for once then widened again when it went south. The river was displaced and now runs on the western boundary of the lava field. Darlots Creek was similarly put out and it too runs on the boundary on the eastern side. Out on the field there are pressure ridges, lava bubbles, tunnels and caves where the tunnels collapsed. It is grassed in a thin layer of red soil and is good sheep ground.
I met the geologist a year or so later. He told me he was out around the back of Mount Clay, near the golf course (Heywood) when a Tiger Moth took off from one of the fairways there (as you do) and then he saw a person walking up the fairway in the opposite direction, carrying a port (suitcase to non Queenslanders). It was a bi-plane anyway, which is what a Tiger Moth is. But did it land and drop its passenger then take off again? ‘Mazing. The same geologist was doing staff work (it’s a stick with graduations on it and used in levelling survey work) when lightning struck the fence behind him, and knocked him out. He wasn’t electrocuted, or burnt, just the enormous noise and pressure wave caused him to pass out and he got injured through that. (Un)lucky for some, because I would ordinarily have been doing the staff work on that job and I’m taller, and magnetic, Antenna Anthony fits.
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Retired, typing
Good read thanks keep them coming
Cheers
HK