User:Hassanswalls/Cullen Bullen Colliery

The first major coalmining development in Cullen Bullen was undertaken by the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company from 1888. On 6 December 1888 Mr. J. Bryant, representative of the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company, notified the Department of Mines that the company had commenced development of “two new mines on two different payable seams of coal”. These seams were located 121m and 302m east of the eastern boundary of the property originally granted to Sir John Jamison. John Mackenzie, Examiner of Coalfields reported that: "Pit bank, screens, workshops, and a branch line 1¾ miles (3km) in length to the Mudgee Railway, are nearly completed, and the company expect to be sending coal to market early in 1889."  During 1892 tests of coal in the upper seams of the mine to determine the possibility of producing coke .

A railway branch line, known as Carson Siding, was opened on 1 May 1889 to service the Cullen Bullen Colliery . This siding is shown on the map of the Parish of Cullen Bullen prepared by the Department of Lands in 1893. It extended east along the line of the present Portland Cullen Bullen Road and Carson Siding Road then turned northwards and terminated west of the Mudgee Road. A parcel of land located west of the present Cullen Bullen Public School was leased by the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company Ltd. from 1 January 1891 for the construction of a loading gantry. 

It has previously been assumed that the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company transported its product from the pit head to the Mudgee Railway by horse and dray. The historical record clearly indicates that Carson Siding was constructed into the village of Cullen Bullen in 1888-1889 and that rail trucks were being loaded at the siding from May 1889. Land was leased near the end of the siding to construct a loading gantry in 1891. It is possible that coal from the mine was transported to the loading gantry by dray for the first few years of the mine’s operation, however a skipway and haulage system connecting the mine to the loading gantry were constructed before 1898. In January 1898 the Lithgow Mercury carried a report on Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company’s mine. A loading gantry with weighbridge and screens was being used for the transfer of coal into rail trucks. According to the report skips were brought out of the mine to the loading gantry by wire rope haulage and a device had been installed for automatic greasing of the skip axles. The haulage rope was driven by a steam engine and a telephone system was installed to provide communication between the loading gantry, engine house and mine. The mine was ventilated by furnace. A blacksmith’s shop and store were located at the headworks. At that time the mine was managed by John Regan and the under-manager was Robert Hutchinson. 

On 25 April 1900 Mr. A.J. Benusan, leaseholder for the mine, notified the Department of Mineral Resources that the mine had been sold to the Lithgow Coal Association who were planning to remove all plant and machinery . The Lithgow Mercury reported on 6 April 1900 that the Cullen Bullen Colliery had been: "… purchased by a local company, who propose to take up the rails and remove the plant elsewhere. All the company’s cottages are to be pulled down, and the mines closed indefinitely. To the business people of the community this means financial ruin, because this is exclusively a mining centre". 