Diamond St Mount Taylor Park by angela808 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

When I would pass this area I would always wonder when I passed it... why is it so empty with no houses on it?

and one day years later when I was watching a video called Is KINGSTON the Most TOXIC Suburb in Queensland by WalkaboutWithRob on Youtube.

and I learned the truth about why this area on the corner of Kingston Rd and Diamond St in Kingston in Logan City has no houses.

this area once was a Gold mine and then it was a dumping ground.

then one day people began to see black sludge in their gardens.

they ran tests and found out that the black sludge was toxic.

A lot of people call Logan city Bogan and in the new paper clipping in the video you can see the news paper headline on this called Bogged and I think this is wear people get the idea to call Logan city Bogan city. they must have gotten it from this news paper headline years ago...But who knows?

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Information on Kingston Gold Mine- Mount Taylor.

Mount Taylor is located about one kilometre north of the Kingston Railway Station, in Brisbane, 27 kilometres from the city centre. Gold was first discovered in the Kingston area in 1885. Mount Taylor is a slight elevation (less than 66 metres/ 200 feet above sea level), that has held the interest of the people of Brisbane, because of its isolation from the proclaimed gold fields, and close proximity to the city.

In the early 1900’s two separate survey reports were conducted by the Queensland Mines Department. The known gold bearing ground runs along the crest and the south-western slope of the hill, and in a south-east to north-west direction. These reports are available on line from the “Queensland Government Mining Journal, October 15 1913, and June 15 1915”.

Eade’s shaft, would eventually reach 70 foot in depth.

In 1913, the Queensland Kingston Mines and Investment Company, requested help from the Mines Department in assaying the property, in the hope of securing of a large investment of cash, from investors in Melbourne.

The results of analysis, carried out by Mr. Connah and Mr. Hall, at the Government Chemical Laboratory, suggest that working the hill in its entirety was infeasible, the average gold yield being two grammes per ton. It was suggested that only the rich gold bearing ground along the crest be worked, until further exploration had been done to ascertain the extent of the ground. Sluicing the soil was proposed by the manager Mr. C. C. Smythe, and an area was marked out for sluicing, by the Government Geologist, Mr. Lionel C. Ball, covering 6 acres. Having an average depth of 2.5 ft. and gold equivalent to between 1.5-28 grammes per ton. Water would have to be lifted from Scrubby Creek, up 100 ft., to a purpose built reservoir. The nearest water is about a mile away, so allowances for pumps and piping would have to be considered.

By 1915, Eade’s Shaft had been sunk vertically to a depth of 70 ft. At the 40 ft. level a drive had been cut in a northerly direction. A granular quartzitereef 15 ft. in width was met. A second drive was cut at 68.5 ft. depth, and was worked in three different directions. The shortest tunnels ran 21 ft. west-south-west, and 67 ft. north-north-east from the shaft, and failed to encounter any ore. The longest tunnel runs 127 ft. north-north-west, and what was regarded as the lower termination of the ore body was met at 65 ft. from the shaft. The gold is distributed in a highly erratic manner in the Mount Taylor ore body, and of a very fine grade.

Mount Taylor was temporarily abandoned, during WW1, and the 20’s. In 1932, Mr. Kussman leased the area, and employed 25 men to work the site. The mine now consisted of a shaft and an open cut area. A 10-head stamp battery had been erected and an electromagnetically operated shaking screen was being installed to treat surface soil. In its first year of operation, it treated 3000 tons of ore for a return of 3.43 grammes of fine gold per ton. Over the next 5 years, a further 25,401 tonnes were crushed but the recovery of gold was poor.

In 1938, South Queensland Gold Mines installed additional equipment and introduced crushing in cyanide solution, which resulted in higher recovery. In 1941, the mine operated under a tribute system, where men worked the mine and paid the owner for the right to do so. Kingston Gold Mines acquired the property in 1950, and new plant equipment was installed and brought into operation in October 1951. The first eight months of operation, ore was treated for a fairly high average cost per ton. It was expected that larger amounts of ore would reduce the cost of production. The mine closed permanently in 1954 due to uneconomic grades of ore.

Mine buildings at Mount Taylor, Brisbane. (Kingston Gold Mine) Photo by David Cooper.

The open cut pit at Mount Taylor, Brisbane. The following is an interview of Stan Seers by Joan Starr. “Stan began working at the mine in 1951 and remained there until it closed on 8 May 1953.

the manager was Fred Birchall. Another chap named Bill Griffiths and I operated the 50hp double drum winch used to haul the ore to the crushing chamber.

It was an open cut mine, about 100 metres across the top and perhaps 30 metres deep when I went there.

Two powder monkeys drilled and blasted the rock which fell into the bottom of the cut. The crushing chamber was under ground at the base of the cut. It was covered with a heavy timbered grille – possibly about 3 metres square- to which the ore was dragged with the winch. This winch had an endless steel cable and a one tonne scoop. The cable ran through a large pullet which was anchored to a big tree well back from the top of the cut.

After leaving the crushing chamber, the ore was carried by an under ground conveyor belt to the stampers where it was ground to a fine powder before being processed to extract the gold.

The gold was collected fortnightly by a Brisbane stockbroker who also brought out money to pay the men. About 20 men were employed there.

The ore extended well beyond the area being mined and into a property used for growing pineapples. The mine owners offered the grower a considerable price for his land, but he demanded twice as much and when this was refused, he wouldn’t sell. Shortly after that, the mine was closed.

On one occasion, Bill Griffiths and I were allowed to handle the fortnight’s take of gold. It was the size and shape of a medium- sized pudding basin- solid gold! The broker said it would be worth about five hundred pounds at that time. What would it be worth today!”

After closing, Mount Taylor’s open cut pit was used as a refuse tip. The combination of the cyanide waste used for the gold mining and new waste including used engine oil produced a toxic site. In 1967, the area was filled and subdivided for housing.

Problems began in the 80’s when black sludge began oozing up through the ground on properties on Diamond Street. Rehabilitation began in 1991, with 47 properties being resumed, and draining the old shafts and lining them with plastic before capping them off.

Now, Mount Taylor consists of eleven hectares of rehabilitated recreational park land, that cost an approximate $10 million to clean up.

But the gold did not run out, it just was not worth taking out of the ground, at that time. It’s worth considerably more now.

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News Information I found.

State Government passes on Logan's former toxic dump site as concern grows sludge could bubble to the surface

Toxic sludge could again bubble to the surface at a former gold mine and dump in Kingston after the State Government washed its hands of the site.

Concern is growing that toxic sludge could again bubble to the surface at a former gold mine and dump in Kingston after the State Government washed its hands of maintaining and monitoring the site.

Logan City Councillor Graham Able said council would not be made responsible for the State Government project that was now a 11ha park, particularly one that could be unstable and had not been monitored for toxins for 15 years.

"They want to hand back the maintenance to us and I say 'no, why should we?'," Cr Able said.

"Who says it (seeping toxic waste) couldn't happen again?"

In December last year, the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection ceased maintenance at the Mt Taylor Environmental Park, Kingston, which was formerly a residential area until poisonous ooze started affecting people's health.

In a letter to Logan City Council, the department suggested council assume responsibility for the site "for the benefit of the local residents".

EHP acting deputy director general Andrew Connor did not answer why the department had decided not to renew the maintenance contract but said the park cost the department $31,000 last financial year.

In a written statement, he said representatives would meet with council to discuss long-term maintenance options.

Mr Connor compared Mt Taylor with Roma St Parklands and the Newstead Gasworks as contaminated land sites that had been successful as recreational sites.

In the late 1880s, the Mt Taylor area at Kingston was a gold mine, but from 1953 to 1973 was used as an illegal dump for toxic waste such as petroleum, acid sludge and cyanide and landfill.

TIMELINE

September 1986: Complaint by Diamond St resident made to Logan City Council about sludge material on property.

April 1987: Caustic substance that burns skin and clothing is reported to be seeping into Diamond St properties. Test drilling begins.

May 1987: Residents Against Toxic Substances (RATS) committee formed condemning council inaction. Toxic waste is found to be more widespread than first thought.

July 1987: Reports reveal area was once an illegal dumping ground for industrial waste.

March 1989: State Government announces plans to purchase 21 houses in Diamond and Amethyst streets (Mt Taylor).

June 1990: State Cabinet selects an option for rehabilitation from the Reviews and Assessment of Hazardous Waste Investigation Kingston report.

July 1990: Removal and demolition of houses in Mt Taylor area begins.

December 1990: Diamond and Amethyst streets closed and Diamond St is moved to its current position.

September 1991: Capping, sealing and landscaping completed. Mt Taylor Environmental Park opened.

December 2012: State Government ceases maintenance of Mt Taylor Park, which has not been monitored in more than 15 years.

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What Wikipedia says.

Kingston toxic waste.

The Mount Taylor Gold mine was located on the corner of Queens Road and Kingston Road. It operated from 1898 to 1955.

The Kingston toxic waste story began in 1931 when cyanide and other toxins such as acid waste used in the Mount Taylor gold refining process were disposed of around the mine site. When the mine closed in 1955, the Albert Shire Council started to allow used recycled oil processing wastes to be dumped into a sludge pit on the site; this practice continued until 1967. From 1968 to 1973 the main open-cut pit was used as a domestic and industrial waste tip. In 1968 the council required the sludge pit to be filled as a condition of the land being divided for a residential subdivision. Workers simply moved the displaced sludge and re-dumped it into the open-cut pit.

In 1982, after the Logan Council took over the area, it discovered high levels of acid in the soil.

In September 1986 residents, in the Diamond street area of Kingston, started to notice black sludge beginning to ooze from the ground and seep into their gardens and began to complain of health problems to the Logan Council. By April 1987 the council was warning people to avoid the sludge. Surrounding soils and ground-water were also found to be contaminated. The ooze was corrosive to clothes and skin. Removal was met with re-occurrence within months.

In May 1987, frustrated with the council inaction, the residents of Kingston formed an organisation called RATS (Residents Against Toxic Substances). Because of increased leukaemia and other diseases in Kingston, they condemned the council and demanded action. Kingston residents could not afford a costly civil action so they went to the media and began a self-funded civic action.

It took four years of fighting the council and local governments for the residents of Kingston to be vindicated when the Minister for Emergency Services, Terry Mackenroth, ordered a review of all scientific and medical evidence, offered full health tests for residents and announced the Wayne Goss government would rehabilitate the site and pay for families to be moved away. Envirotest released a revised report in May 1990.

Eventually the state government resumed 46 properties and rehabilitated the area completing 1991, which is known as Kingston Park. The people of Kingston were moved on, Mount Taylor was sealed and landscaped, but no compensation came for residents who reported illnesses and deaths (Some place the figure at six deaths due to leukemia). The final medical report found no evidence of "a major toxic hazard" in Kingston but recognised the "stress on a number of residents because of the uncertainty". Kingston residents finally could not prove that dumped toxic chemicals caused leukaemia or any other disease.

As of 2000, the total cost of this operation, including relocating infrastructure, the engineering required to seal the site and ongoing monitoring, was approximately $8 million. Although the Mount Taylor site was capped, sealed and vented in 1991, no toxic waste was removed. Some former residents believe there is still a toxic hazard risk in the future as a result.

The Mount Taylor Parklands were opened on 19 October 1991.

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so this is why the area I pass is so empty with no houses it could still have toxics in the dirt...I wonder if the people who live on the Streets around Mount Taylor Parklands know the history of this park?

it's too bad the grounds are toxic there is still Gold under the toxic dirt so you can walk in Mount Taylor Park, Kingston and walk over Gold and Toxic waste.

this park is one of a kind.

once upon a time my mum and dad and older brother lived in Opal Street in Kingston next to this toxic area and my mum said they all took tests when they lived there I had no idea this history ties with my family...the things you learn from the past.

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PLZ GIVE ME LLAMAS IF YOU LIKE THIS PHOTO OF MINE

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