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Chalybeate Spring, Mittagong
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Chalybeate Spring, Mittagong
The Chalybeate Spring at Mittagong, New South Wales, was a perennial, carbonated, chalybeate (iron-rich) mineral spring. The spring was for many years a tourist attraction, mainly during the second half of the 19th century and first few decades of the 20th century. Successive chalybeate springs at Mittagong had, over many thousands of years, created a deposit of iron ore that was mined by the Fitzroy Iron Works, which was closely associated with the early development of the town of Mittagong, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Although there is still some seepage, close to where it once was, the spring itself has now disappeared.
The traditional owners of the country around Mittagong are Gandangara people. It is not known if they used the spring as a water source but this small spring, given its strong-tasting water and earthy odour, would be an unlikely water source, with plentiful freshwater nearby. It is almost certain that the limonite in the area surrounding the spring would have been used as ochre pigment.
The discovery of the spring by European colonists does not seem to be recorded but the surveyor Jacques noted the presence of iron ore in the course of realigning the Great South Road (now Old Hume Highway) toward the new town of Berrima in 1833. As the spring lay within the ore deposit, is likely that the spring was first identified around that time.
During late January 1849, the then Governor of New South Wales, Charles Augustus FitzRoy, visited the spring. He named it 'Lady Mary's Well', after his wife Lady Mary FitzRoy who had been killed in a carriage accident in December 1847 in the Domain of Government House, Parramatta. Over the years, variants of the name involving 'Lady Mary' or 'Lady Fitzroy' were used occasionally but, on the whole, this official name did not stick.
For a time, the spring was thought to be the only chalybeate spring in New South Wales. In fact, there were other chaleabeate springs in the Southern Highlands—near Berrima, Hill Top and Picton—and there were other springs within Mittagong, even in close proximity. The Mittagong spring remained known as 'The Chalybeate Spring' throughout its existence.
The Chalybeate Spring was situated on the top of a grassy knoll on southern side of the Great South Road (now Old Hume Highway) about a quarter of a mile (400m) from the Mittagong railway station.
It was described in 1896 as "no more than a little hole in the ground from which the water oozes up through the crevices among the hematite ore". In later years, the spring-water emerged from a pipe.
Chalybeate springs in the Mittagong area, in their natural state, were described by the Geological Surveyor, J.B. Jaquet, as follows, "They generally issue from centre of saucer-like depressions ("craters") in the top of low mounds ("cones"). The cones are composed of material brought up from below in solution, just as the walls of a volcano are made up lava and ashes, which have issued through the vent. The cones never attain great dimensions. There is always a tendency for the vent to become choked with deposited oxide, and when this occurs the spring seeks a fresh channel and issues from the surface somewhere in the vicinity of the base of the cone. So it happens that the deposits are often composed of a series of cones which, owing to encroachment upon the other, have lost their identity and coalesced together."
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Chalybeate Spring, Mittagong
The Chalybeate Spring at Mittagong, New South Wales, was a perennial, carbonated, chalybeate (iron-rich) mineral spring. The spring was for many years a tourist attraction, mainly during the second half of the 19th century and first few decades of the 20th century. Successive chalybeate springs at Mittagong had, over many thousands of years, created a deposit of iron ore that was mined by the Fitzroy Iron Works, which was closely associated with the early development of the town of Mittagong, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Although there is still some seepage, close to where it once was, the spring itself has now disappeared.
The traditional owners of the country around Mittagong are Gandangara people. It is not known if they used the spring as a water source but this small spring, given its strong-tasting water and earthy odour, would be an unlikely water source, with plentiful freshwater nearby. It is almost certain that the limonite in the area surrounding the spring would have been used as ochre pigment.
The discovery of the spring by European colonists does not seem to be recorded but the surveyor Jacques noted the presence of iron ore in the course of realigning the Great South Road (now Old Hume Highway) toward the new town of Berrima in 1833. As the spring lay within the ore deposit, is likely that the spring was first identified around that time.
During late January 1849, the then Governor of New South Wales, Charles Augustus FitzRoy, visited the spring. He named it 'Lady Mary's Well', after his wife Lady Mary FitzRoy who had been killed in a carriage accident in December 1847 in the Domain of Government House, Parramatta. Over the years, variants of the name involving 'Lady Mary' or 'Lady Fitzroy' were used occasionally but, on the whole, this official name did not stick.
For a time, the spring was thought to be the only chalybeate spring in New South Wales. In fact, there were other chaleabeate springs in the Southern Highlands—near Berrima, Hill Top and Picton—and there were other springs within Mittagong, even in close proximity. The Mittagong spring remained known as 'The Chalybeate Spring' throughout its existence.
The Chalybeate Spring was situated on the top of a grassy knoll on southern side of the Great South Road (now Old Hume Highway) about a quarter of a mile (400m) from the Mittagong railway station.
It was described in 1896 as "no more than a little hole in the ground from which the water oozes up through the crevices among the hematite ore". In later years, the spring-water emerged from a pipe.
Chalybeate springs in the Mittagong area, in their natural state, were described by the Geological Surveyor, J.B. Jaquet, as follows, "They generally issue from centre of saucer-like depressions ("craters") in the top of low mounds ("cones"). The cones are composed of material brought up from below in solution, just as the walls of a volcano are made up lava and ashes, which have issued through the vent. The cones never attain great dimensions. There is always a tendency for the vent to become choked with deposited oxide, and when this occurs the spring seeks a fresh channel and issues from the surface somewhere in the vicinity of the base of the cone. So it happens that the deposits are often composed of a series of cones which, owing to encroachment upon the other, have lost their identity and coalesced together."
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