Hillgrove

History

The town was first known as Eleanora Township, named after the antimony mine that for nearly a decade after 1876 was the sole reason for its existence. The name Hillgrove was given to the town in 1888. Although some alluvial gold was discovered in Bakers Creek gorge as early as 1857, it was not until antimony was discovered that important mining was undertaken in the late 1870s. The main shaft in Bakers Creek was sunk 610 metres below the surface. Tramways operated by a steam-powered winding engine pulled the trams up and down the precipitous incline to the Bakers Creek mines. The town of Hillgrove was established in 1884 and grew rapidly during the 1880s and 1890s due to the expanding production of the mining companies. Hillgrove Post Office opened on 1 June 1884 and closed in 1979. A Hillgrove West Post Office opened in 1890, was renamed Metz in 1896 and closed in 1922. At its peak in about 1898, the town's population was close to 3,000, similar to that of Armidale. By 1933 there were just 241 residents left. Goldmining briefly resumed between 1937 and 1940. However, it was the Damned If I Know Mine, a small operation which extracted tungsten ore between the late 1930s and the late 1950s, which turned a large profit, particularly during World War II when tungsten's steel-strengthening capacity was in great demand. Antimony mining came into its own in 1969 and was mined along with gold, thus sustaining the village. In March 2004, the Hillgrove Gold Project near Armidale was purchased by Straits Resources, who made development plans for the area. The mine closed for months in 2009, due to global price fluctuations. It was later owned by Meridian Capital of Hong Kong, but in December 2015 it closed again, largely due to a fall in antimony prices from $8,000 to…

Most-observed species

• Greater Glider

  Petauroides volans (Kerr, 1792) · Mammalia
  1,259
• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  903
• Gray Fantail

  Rhipidura albiscapa Gould, 1840 · Aves
  724
• Crimson Rosella

  Platycercus elegans (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  714
• White-throated Treecreeper

  Cormobates leucophaea (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  711
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  663
• Gray Shrikethrush

  Colluricincla harmonica (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  589
• Pied Currawong

  Strepera graculina (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  568