With only one or two exceptions, all the important mining centres of Queensland are now connected with the eastern coast by rail, and those that are not are being rapidly linked up. During the year 1908 thirteen new railways were authorised by Parliament, five of them to serve mineral districts. Four of these lines are now under construction; and in addition the railway to the Etheridge field is completed for two-thirds of its length.
To sum up: Queensland during the half-century of her existence has produced gold to the value, in round numbers, of over £69,000,000, and other minerals, coal, and precious stones worth more than £21,000,000—or an aggregate of £90,000,000. Last year's mineral production was worth £3,844,000, so that, even at the same rate of output, in less than three years we shall have topped the £100,000,000. The number of men obtaining employment in connection with the industry during 1908 was just upon 21,000—only 4,000 less than Queensland's total population in 1859. The value of machinery and plant used for mining and ore reduction purposes throughout the State is over £2,000,000. The worth of the coal output of the West Moreton district alone last year (£193,000) was more than the total revenue of Queensland during the first year of her existence; while the mineral product of the Herberton district during the same period was nearly four times as great.
In the space available for this article it has been possible to take but a cursory view of the mineral progress which has characterised the first half-century of Queensland's life, but enough has been written to show that that progress has been remarkable, if not phenomenal. And who shall say what strides will be made during the next fifty years, or venture to predict what will be the value of our mineral wealth in the year 1959? It is a safe rule "not to prophesy till you know," but even the most timid prophet could hardly hesitate to predict expansion for Queensland's mining industry. Where there has been so much growth in the past, and where there is such an unlimited field for greater growth in the years to come, it would be absurd to suppose that there will be no further advance. As a matter of fact, many well qualified to judge do not hesitate to say that the industry is as yet in its infancy. It has been truly said of gold that "what it is, there it is"; and what you have to do is to find where it is. When it is remembered, however, that the prominent hill known as Mount Morgan, with its millions' worth of golden ore, was within a day's journey of the populous town of Rockhampton, and remained undiscovered until 1882, although alluvial gold had been found at its base for years previously and the disappointed miners from Canoona had twenty-three years before swarmed in its vicinity; when we recollect that only quite recently nuggets have been found in the streets of some of the oldest of Victorian mining townships, who shall say what has yet to be unearthed in the wide expanses of Queensland's bush, a great deal of which is already known to be "rich with the spoils of Nature"?
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;"
and the experience of the last half-century amply justifies the belief that untold millions lie hidden in the earthen depths of Queensland.
GYMPIE: SCOTTISH GYMPIE GOLD MINE
GYMPIE: No. 1 NORTH ORIENTAL AND GLANMIRE