Tyres

The main engine house at Elrington Colliery near Abernethy was built to hold the winding machinery that drove the mine's two concrete-lined shafts. Each shaft measured 18 feet in diameter and dropped 1,190 feet through rock to reach the Main Greta Seam. In 2017, what remained on the floor of that building was a pile of tyres. BHP Collieries Proprietary Limited developed the site from the mid-1920s as a dedicated supply mine for the company's Newcastle steelworks. The intention was to pioneer modern extraction methods on the Hunter coalfields and deliver 3,000 tonnes of coal a day. Coal production commenced in 1930 using battery locomotive haulage underground and a surface rail connection to the broader South Maitland Railway network. The mine never came close to its planned output, running at roughly half capacity through much of its working life. By December 1962, BHP closed Elrington Colliery. Approximately 90 men were affected. The company cited persistent operating losses; the seam itself was far from exhausted, with large reserves left untouched underground. The railway branch serving the colliery was dismantled in 1963. The site did not stay idle for long. On 17 June 1964, BHP opened Elrington Engineering Pty Ltd in the former colliery workshops. The business employed approximately 50 tradesmen and continued operating into the 1970s before passing into private hands. This photograph records the engine house as it stood in 2017. The winding machinery is long gone. The building remains, its floor occupied by a loose pile of tyres. The two shafts that justified the building's existence are somewhere below.