Where is Fenbark, I had not heard the name before? It is located not far from Broad Arrow. 30° 26′ 25” South , 121° 15′ 25” East
Fenbark certainly had its day in the sun over its short life. Apart from the gold, it was the site of the Fenbark meteorite find in 1968 discovered whilst people were looking for nickel.
The name Fenbark arises from the two prospectors who discovered the area, Alfred Barker and Joe Fenton, an amalgamation of their names. Alf Barker at least did not enjoy his riches long, dying on July 10, 1936.
It was shortly afterward, under option to the Broad Arrow Syndicate, which by April 1931 had purchased the lease for 2000 pounds, and some shares to the original prospectors in the company to be formed. About the same time the Arrow Gold Mining Co NL was formed in Adelaide with £60 000 capital to take over the syndicate. Then on May 3 1932 it was incorporated under Holdwin Gold Mines.
Bonzle Map showing the location of Fenbark
After all this activity, the mine produced a grand total of four crushings between October 1931 to July 1932, all from the 50 foot level of the mine. Not a great return on the capital invested by the shareholders.
The mine is a good example of why these areas are not suitable for children and the unlucky. Thelma Fay Oliver, 10 years old, died when she overbalanced and fell 75 feet down the shaft at Fenbark in 1941. Her father Reuben Oliver had been working below at the time. Joseph Brown was his mining mate, but after the tragedy he disappeared, causing consternation at the following inquest into her death.
In April 1937, the mine was being worked by William Kendall, James Murchison, J. Delanty, and Kendall’s nephew Leo Frederick Braybrook. They were working a costean, and had been at the mine for one week. The wall of the costean collapsed burying and killing William Kendall outright.
In 1938, a prospector, Terence Edwin Anstey (32), and Avon Delmage Thurkle (28) (Engineer) were convicted with very little evidence of being in possession of stolen gold. They claimed to have visited the Fenbark mine and were given the gold.
The site presently contains a small abandoned open pit, but more information is needed on this. It is 500 metres south-east of the larger Wendy Gully open pit, which borders the south side of the Broad Arrow-Ora Banda Road, 5 kilometres west of Broad Arrow.
The picture above shows a friction hoist, headframe, and main shaft. On the image below shows a truckload of ore for the local battery.
The meteorite was found by Albert Alfred Skinner, K.J. Erbe, and F.C. Bray on 19 May 1968 near the Mt Ellis Trig Station, and the Fenbark Group of Gold Mines. Mt Ellis was located a few kilometres west of Broad Arrow, with the Fenbark mines north of the hill, and immediately south of the Broad Arrow-Ora Banda road.
It was discovered while they were prospecting for nickel. The mass was extremely weathered and fell into several parts. This was not helped when the specimen was subjected to an assay test for nickel before they realised it was a meteorite!
It is fine textured with numerous small spherical chondrules containing olivine, orthopyroxene, trace feldspar, and fine grey derivative of glass. It has a brecciated texture, and many chondrules are deformed and broken. There is some recrystallization. The meteorite contains abundant flecks of nickel-iron, of an irregular outline, with sub-ordinate aggregates of troilite. All the mass is penetrated by iron oxides due to the terrestrial weathering along the numerous fine cracks.
An 1861-gram piece is held by the School of Mines in Kalgoorlie, a second piece by the Western Australia Museum, and the three remaining fragments are held by each of the finders.
Moya Sharp
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Great article. A A Skinner (Albert Alfred Skinner) was my grand father he was born in Golden Ridge in 1910 and passed away in 2002
Kind regards
Paul White
Hi Paul So glad you came across the story,I have added your grandfathers full name to the story.
Hi Moya
Thank you so much. The work that you have done with this site is nothing short of amazing and I congratulate you on a magnificent job.. If you would like any more history on my Grandfather with photos Im more than happy to put together and send through. I also have a vast amount of info and pics on the McFadden Family (my Grandfathers mothers family) who arrived in Boulder in 1900 from the Victorian Goldfields. Let me know and I am more than happy to put together and send through
Kind regards
Paul