The first cage used for hauling miners and wash dirt up and down shafts was at the Gravel Pits shaft in 1857. The buckets were on the average 80 gallons in capacity.

Two years later on June 27, 1859, at the United Albion shaft, an unfortunate accident happened when a man named John Cameron was killed by falling off the bucket when it was 45 feet from the bottom. He was one of many.

The miners had the courage to live with this hazard. Lives were continually being lost as a result of the bucket catching against the centres and sides of the shaft.

The early alluvial shafts were very narrow and while the buckets had nothing to guide them they swung freely until steadying. With men standing on the rim a margin of overweight would cart the buckets causing the bottom to brush the timber, tip the bucket, resulting in the men being swept off and falling to the bottom of the shaft.

Later a pot bellied iron bucket was used and while it was safer than the cage, it was far from being fool proof. Many of the old type cages used in the alluvial mines had a chain attached to each of the four corners. They were efficient and hauled millions of tons of wash dirt up the shafts at great speed. Miners even rode up and down on their roofs, but they never had a safe name.

In 1864, north of Ballarat at the Great North Western Company on the Dead Horse Lead, they had a simple contrivance for protecting the men from the risk of falling while standing on the rim of the bucket when being lowered or raised up the shaft. It consisted of rings of iron attached by means of three links of a small chain to the chain on which th bucket hung and large enough for the hand to be put through. The men could catch hold of these rings and get a secure hold.

A shoe at the top of the ring prevented the hand being jammed against the chain. This was much better than having to hang onto a thick wet chain or rope.

In 1865 a Mr Hillman of Skipton Street invented a safety cage designed for hauling. This cage was fitted with a powerful spring on each side, with cams holding chisel shaped section slightly curved, and held back from the timber guides with the spring and a trip plate, in case the cable, chain or rope broke.

In the event of this happening the trip was released, the chisel sections sprung open and, bit deep into the guides thus slowing the cage to a stop.

The guides were continuous lengths of squared timber about six by three inches, which ran down the centre of the hauling compartment of a shaft. The distance between each couple of guides was just enough to admit a cage working up and down between them. These cages were in great demand throughout the mining districts.

The "Adze Eye Pick" was also Hillman's. This type of pick is still in use, and has never been surpassed. Likewise the use of an oil-bearing on underground trucks instead of the old grease-bearings was the work of Mr Hillman.

What with miners underground thinking up new ideas, an tradesmen above producing them, it was in October 1869, the some men of the Ballarat Mining Board thought it was time young men were trained in the field of mining.

Harrie Wood, government mining registrar, and famous for his notes on the Ballarat gold fields; R M Sergeant, legal manager of Sergeants Freehold Mine; H R Casselli, architect,, and others, established a School of Mines at Ballarat, the oldest of its type in Australia. The school drew its students from, every state.

By the 1890's, many of the students were found on most of the mining fields of the world.

It is astonishing how mining techniques developed so rapidly. By the end of the first week in August 1851, at Golden Point, Ballarat, the tin dish and cradle were in action. Within a few weeks they were on the field in great quantities. Every man arriving at the diggings had no trouble in picking one up.

To handle more wash dirt a day, puddling in a tub came next, using a shovel to turn it into a slurry, which went through a cradle more easily.

By 1853, the horse-powered puddling machine appeared, built into the ground and lined with wood. The wash dirt was churned into a slurry by wooden harrows, then put through a sluice box. In 1854 they were lined with boiler plate. By 1855, the foundries turned them out in cast iron. Later, they were driven by steam.

James Salkeld invented chain driving gear to work these machines, with the majority of the Sebastopol mines working five or six machines.

An early invention was the horse powered "whip" for hauling spoil up a shaft. By using sawn or round bush timber sunk into the ground, the whip" was erected so that it leaned with the top end over the shaft. Here, a pulley wheel was fixed on an axle. Another wheel was placed just above the ground, back from the leaning timber. The hauling rope ran under the ground pulley, then over the pulley above the shaft. A horse was then harnessed to the rope. The horse walked straight out from the shaft to raise the bucket, and backed to lower it.

The remains of an old whip track and the collar of the shaft it served may still be seen on the edge of the plateau about 300 yards south of the Frenchman's Lead, although it is now partly overgrown with blackberries.

The bucket usually had a short chain attached to the centre of its floor. It was hauled up, then lowered a fraction, so the; chain was caught on a hook attached to a post. It was then lowered again, the top of the bucket tilted and spilled its load into a truck, shoot or barrow.

The cornish horse-powered whim was another cheap way of hauling and were very efficient to a depth of 500 feet. Two ropes were usually arranged around a wooden drum, wound i n Opposite directions to allow for a full bucket arriving at the surface, and an empty one landing at the bottom. The drum revolved freely in a socket as a horse harnessed to a yoke with a Swivel bolted to a cross-bar, walked in a tight circle. The swivel allowed the horse freedom to turn around while hauling and lowering.

In 1860, over the range to the south west of Sebastopol at Browns diggings, a Mr McGrath invented "fanners" or doors for the brace on which the cages landed. These were first used at the Star of Hope whim shaft, and were quickly used as a safety measure throughout Victoria and the rest of Australia.

The Engine Houses were the show places on all the big mines.

The drivers drew the line at anyone walking across the floor with muddy boots. They took pleasure in keeping their domain clean. Floors were covered with linoleum and showed off rows of pot plants and ferns. Lamps were brightly polished, the railings around the winding engine and winding drum sparkled and the copperwork polished to a warm glow, were familiar sights. With the huge flywheels spinning, the engine driver sat in his big chair, foot hovering around the brake, and all the time looking over the winding drum to the mouth of the shaft, in readiness for the emerging cage, carrying men and spoil from below.

Day or night, rain or shine, the drivers on the early alluvial mines worked their engines, always accepting the tension that was placed upon them.

Some of the drivers chairs were solid and fine to behold, but others were flimsy and had a neglected look.

James Salkeld, engineer at the Band of Hope in 1863, introduced an indicator, mounted on the winding engine.

It was a clock face without numbers on it and measured three feet in diameter. A hand indicated to the engine driver the position of the truck and cage, while being drawn up the shaft. The distance travelled from the plat to the landing brace was shown by the hand moving over more than half the face of the dial. It was set in motion by a tangent wheel and screw working obliquely, driven direct from the winding gear shaft. A bell was also connected and it would ring when the cage arrived within fifty feet of the brace. The indicator was placed in front, a little i on one side, and within a few feet of the engine driver's chair.