The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
A mined-out section provides the fantastic impression of five giant columns and lintel staring upwards from the depth where they have collapsed like some half-buried Egyptian temple. The whole cut was poured full of colour and marked with curious striations. At one end mine tailings from underground workings were being dumped to fill the glory hole. These glory holes are developed from the surface, the ore being mined and passed down a series of sieves to a lower haulage level. The pillars are left to support the hanging wall. From August 1945 in his capacity as official war artist Emerson Curtis undertook a three month tour of Queensland. Travelling mostly by train he captured a rich visual record of the extensive wartime activities, people and industry of this ' frontier ' state.
A green pyramid of copper concentrate, preparatory to smelting. From Mt Isa in the far north west of Queensland came a steady supply of melted copper to meet the demands of war. From August 1945 in hi
Depicts a drawing of a group of miners waiting to go underground, Mt Isa, Queensland. From August 1945 in his capacity as official war artist Emerson Curtis undertook a three month tour of Queensland.
Hard spinifex-tufted ridges were rich in minerals essential for war. First zinc, and lead - then copper for wartime usages, had transformed an isolated belt of western Queensland into a modern hive of
The sun sears, the winds scorch; there is a sharp geometric pattern in a landscape of iron buildings, a mammoth water tank, the long legs of a haulage shaft, a great smoke stack and a road sliced out
War charities bazaar makes its appeal outside Mulgrave Mill, North Queensland. From August 1945 in his capacity as official war artist Emerson Curtis undertook a three month tour of Queensland. Travel
Iron ore is pictured being loaded on to a ship at Whyalla, South Australia. Iron ore travelled by conveyor belt at the rate of 1000 tons per hour and was poured into a ship at the end of the jetty.
