1 & 3. Prisoners' Barracks (1838)
These stone buildings housed the convicts in dormitories. The east wing (1) contained solitary cells in the basement. The west wing contained a cookhouse, bakehouse and wash-house.
2. Chapel (1838)
This structure, with its ornamental stonework, was also used as a school room. Along with the Prisoners' Barracks, it replaced earlier timber structures.
4. Officers' Quarters (c.1846)
Officer's Quarters
These were erected during the last phase of the convict building program. The quarters appear to have been used after the closure of the convict station by miners under private employment.
Along with the prisoner's barracks and the chapel, these are among the most conspicuous of the ruins at the Coal Mines Historic Site.
5. Solitary Cells & Separate Apartments (1846)
Only remnants of the 36 solitary punishment cells remain. Above the cells, 108 separate apartments were erected in 1846, and another 100 cells, to replace earlier wooden buildings, were under construction. This was in order that every convict could be housed separately overnight, thereby 'preventing crime and effecting discipline'. Convict numbers were to be reduced accordingly.
6. Commissariat Store (1843)
This was a large two storey stone building enclosed by a high wall. It was used to store the settlement's provisions and was serviced at the front by a T-shaped timber jetty. When demolished, stone from the building was used to erect St Martins Church at Dunalley.
7. Inclined Plane (1846)
This connected the main shaft with the coal jetty at Plunkett Point. The filled waggons were attached to one side of a continous loop and the whole worked as a self-acting tramway. As the wagons descended, the empty carts were drawn back up to the shaft.
8. Main Shaft (1846)
Interior of a Shaft
Need Help?
You will need the Shockwave
Plugin installed to view this
animation. Get it from Macromedia
The main shaft was operational by 1846. It was equipped with a steam engine for pumping water, although the coal was still brought to the surface by hand. The foundations of the engine may be seen beside the pit.
The animation to the left shows a scene from the interior of the shaft. Work in the mines was often hard, dirty and dangerous for the convicts.
9. Sump/Shaft (date of construction uncertain)
Sump or Shaft
The function of this structure, undoubtedly convict-built, is unknown, as there appears to be no record of its construction. It is commonly called the 'convict well' but is unlikely to have served this function given its distance from the settlement. It may have been a sump to lower the water levels in the underground workings, or, alternatively, an exploratory shaft.