Australia So Much to See

The second of the chemical grade Lithium concentrate processing plants, built with a costing of $320 million, was completed a month ago, and, as at 12^th October 2019, was only officially opened a week ago, with production only just commenced. Above, crushed Spodumene ore is being fed by overhead conveyor belt to the conveyor carrying the ore to a stockpile, from where the ore is conveyed from base of the pile to the processing plant.

With the boom in worldwide demand for Lithium for the rechargeable battery market, this second plant is only part of the expansion, with a third processing plant being planned. Greenbushes is said to have the largest Spodumene ore body in the world.

October 2019 saw Greenbushes celebrate 130 years as a township, and as part of these celebrations, Talison Lithium help an open day, featuring bus tours to view the various aspects of the mine, which is normally completely closed to the public. Thank you Talison for this unique opportunity.

Before we visit the mine, a little of the past history of Greenbushes.

In 1888, David William Stinton found a half pound (around quarter of a kilogramme) of tin in a gully south of the present townsites, and pegged it for the newly formed Bunbury Tin Mining Company. The resulting influx of prospectors and miners created a demand for tradesmen, merchants and storekeepers, with the population peaking at over 3000 by 1907, across three settlements; Greenbushes, South Greenbushes and North Greenbushes.

Greenbushes is a town that is dependent on the wellbeing of the mine, and this has had many ups and downs over the past 130 years since tin was first discovered by David Stinton. Fluctuations of the mine’s fortunes and downturns has also had an effect on the population and housing values in nearby Bridgetown. The area is rich in a number of minerals, which are mined according to market demand.

Greenbushes was named because of shrubs with bright green leaves which contrasted with the bluish-green leaves of the Eucalypt trees. These were Callistachys lanceolata (formerly Oxylobium lanceolatum), known as Native Willow, Greenbush, or Wonnich, a shrub which can reach up to seven metres in height. They provided shade for travellers who stopped to refresh at a Greenbushes well.

A history time line from Discover Greenbushes on greenbushes.com.au, a website that no longer works.

1886 Mines department found alluvial tin deposits

1888 Tin discovered by David Stinton

1890 5000-acre timber concession established at North Greenbushes

1891 Post and telegraph office was established

1893 First school building opened

1894 Greenbushes Club Ltd formed

1896 Nelson Arms Hotel built

1898 First freehold settlers selected land

1898 Railway station opened at North Greenbushes

1898 Miners Arms Hotel built

1899 St Barnabas Anglican Church built

1899 Police station and Courthouse built

1899 Adelaide Timber Company lease granted

1899 Railway Hotel built

1899 Branch of the West Australian Bank opened

1900 Five head battery erected

1900 Brookman Hotel built

1900 Courthouse Hotel built

1901 Greenbushes district gazetted as a Road Board District

1901 Methodist Church built

1901 Public hospital built

1902 Kerosene lamps installed

1903 Duke of York Hotel built

1904 Roman Catholic Church built and Roman Catholic School established

1904 North Greenbushes School opened

1906 Private maternity hospital opened

1907 Road Board office built

1907 Anglican School established

1907 New post office built

1907 Exchange Hotel built

1910 South Greenbushes School opened

1910 Mining registrar’s office moved to Bridgetown

1910 Welford Hotel changed to Shamrock Hotel

1917 Gas street lighting installed

1919 RSL formed

1922 War Memorial unveiled

1924 South Greenbushes School closed

1925 Group settlement scheme established

1926 North Greenbushes School closed

1927 Courthouse Hotel dismantled and moved to Pemberton. (# Note: Some sources quote the move as in 1926.)

1928 Timber Corporation moved to Palgarup.

1931 Private maternity hospital closed

1933 Electric lighting installed

1935 Footpaths along the main street sealed

1935 CWA formed

1935 Vultan Tin Mines Ltd commenced hydraulic sluicing of tin

1936 Main street sealed

1937 Catholic School closed

1941 Home Guard formed

1942 Air observation post established

1942 Sister Kate's Home for Children established

1942 Greenbushes Tin Pty Ltd given Government assistance to sluice tin on a claim previously mined by dredge.

1944 Apple packing shed built

1944 Group schools closed

1945 School bus service introduced

1949 Newton Ice Works opened

1949 Duke of York Hotel dismantled

1954 Greenbushes linked to the State Electricity Commission grid

1961 Aberfoyle Tin NL granted temporary reserve over district

1963 Town water supply connected

1964 Greenbushes Tin Limited was set up and commenced operation

1965 Primary school destroyed by fire

1966 New school opened

1970 Greenbushes Shire amalgamated with Bridgetown Shire

1972 Bank of New South Wales closed branch

1973 Catholic Church destroyed by fire

1973 New Catholic Church opened

1976 South West Highway re-routed

1976 Lindsay's shop closed

1977 Police station closed

1978 Bush fire brigade formed

1979 Jewell Investments Pty Ltd incorporated (later became Lithium Australia)

Only the Exchange and Shamrock Hotels remain of the seven or eight hotels the town once supported.

Old buildings and locations in the centre of town have plaques showing what the building was used for, or what was once there. Many of the former business locations are how private dwellings.

In 1899 the Bank of Western Australia was established on this site. The Bank, under the name of Bank of New South Wales, continued until 1972, when it became a bank agency. Greenbushes Tin Ltd had purchased the building in 1970. After the closure of the agency, the building became a private residence. It now houses the Greenbushes Community Resource Centre (previously the Greenbushes Telecentre)..

Across the road from the former bank building, the former Post Office building, constructed on 1907, now houses private businesses.

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Join us for a tour of the Talison Greenbushes Lithium mining and processing facilities on the next page.

16/01/2024

# 1926 or 1927?

1927 Courthouse Hotel dismantled and moved to Pemberton. (# Note: Some sources quote the move as in 1926.)

While some sources, including the Pemberton Hotel website, claim the Courthouse Hotel was demolished and re-constructed at Pemberton, other sources give 1927 as the year.

From the Pemberton Hotel website:

In February 1926 an application was granted for the transfer of the license from Greenbushes to Pemberton. The Pemberton Hotel was opened in April 1926 re-built from materials transported from the former Courthouse Hotel site in Greenbushes.

Mr Ewing pointed out that the Courthouse Hotel had virtually gone - -

From a newspaper article on Trove dated 20 May 1926 reports on a move to delicence two hotels in Greenbushes, to reduce the number of licenced premises in the town due to a decline in population, in part due to the closure of a mill which employed 200 people.

Extracts:

He would not give and opinion as to which hotel should go, but would leave it to the bench. It is natural that the other hotels would benefit by the transfer to the Courthouse Hotel.

At present five public licences were in existence in the town, one of which was being transferred to Pemberton.

These above articles from Trove indicates to me that the demolition of the Courthouse Hotel and rebuild in Pemberton probably commenced in 1926, but that it could not have been up and running as a licenced hotel in Pemberton in April 1926. For this reason, I believe that the date of commencement is more likely to have been April 1927.

From a newspaper article on Trove dated 27 February 1926 regarding the transfer of licence

Extracts:

In opening his case. Mr Layan said he was making application for the transfer of the Courthouse Hotel Licence from Greenbushes to Pemberton, on Locs. 20, 21 and 22.

Very fine plans had been drawn up by Mr J. Parry. The site was the most suitable that would be placed before the bench. the area being three quarters of an acre.

Fred Delaporte, licensee of the Courthouse Hotel, Greenbushes, said he was an applicant for removal of this licence to Pemberton, on premises proposed to be erected in accordance with the plans and specification lodged with the Court.

1982-85 Greenbushes Tin Ltd in operation

1983 Police station handed to school

1986 Greenbushes Limited formed and operating alongside Lithium Australia Ltd

1987 Old Methodist Church destroyed by fire

1988 The "Tin Centennial" celebrates 100 years since the discovery of tin in the district

1990 Greenbushes Tin merged to form Gwalia Consolidated Ltd.

1990 Greenbushes Ltd and Lithium Australia Ltd merged with Gwalia Consolidated Ltd

1991 Uniting Church opened

1993 Primary School celebrates 100 years

1993 Post office closed and Post Office agency opened

1994 Telecentre opened

1997 Cosy Corner Store closed

1998 Greenbushes Discovery Centre opened

1998 New mine lookout opened

1999 Gwalia Consolidated Ltd merged with Sons of Gwalia Ltd

2001 Centenary Celebrations at Greenbushes

2001 Tantalum Expansion Project at Greenbushes Mine

2001 Underground Mine Opens

2003 Underground Mine in 'Care & Maintenance'

2004 Replica underground mine 'Discovery Decline' opens at Greenbushes Discovery Centre

2004 Sons of Gwalia in Administration

2007 Discovery Forest display & Discovery Theatrette open at Greenbushes Discovery Centre March

2007 Town Square garden opens in August

2007 Talison Minerals formed

2009 Talison Lithium Limited (lithium mining) following company split

2009 Global Advanced Metals Pty Ltd (tantalum & tin mining)

2010 Talison Lithium Limited listed on Toronto Stock Exchange

2010 Global Advanced Metals formed

2013 Talison Lithium Pty Ltd formed