This week, Roy was going through his photos of places he had visited, and he was surprised to discover that there was a place which he thought was absolutely fascinating but hadn't yet told you about! Sunny Corner, the first place Silver was mined in NSW, was a place Roy had wanted to visit and when he arrived he found it fascinating, partly because once there we had such trouble finding anything to look at! When we did eventually find a stamper battery and a house, it was well worth the search.
Sunny Corner is a tiny settlement, mainly used by artists and crafts people today. Truthfully, there really isn't much left that you can see in Sunny Corner. All the information on the internet says 'look for the many relics of mining' but Roy has now discovered that the main areas are 'off limits' because they are dangerous, including being contaminated by dangerous chemicals. The town is still well worth a stop if you are on your way between Lithgow and Bathurst (follow the signs from the Great Western Highway - it's not far), but you will have to keep your eyes peeled to find the relics of its silver mining past, other than the mullock heaps!
Sunny Corner, as the town is known today, was not always called Sunny Corner at all. When Europeans first moved into the area, the settlement was known as Mitchell or Mitchells Creek and when the town was officially gazetted in 1885 this was the name it was given. People always called the area Sunny Corner though, and two years later the name was officially changed. At first, even before the town was officially gazetted, people were attracted to the area because gold had been discovered. We don't actually know exactly when gold was first found at Sunny Corner, but it was probably about the same time as the gold rushes in Ophir and Hill End. Certainly, by 1864 the area was probably home to at least 2000 people but 2 years later the population had dropped right down, with only about 300 people left. Then, the real rush on the area began.
In 1881 the first reef of silver to be discovered in NSW was found at Sunny Corner. Soon the area was serviced by a school, Post Office, Police Station and several hotels as people came to the area to mine for silver. We can't be certain, but Roy and I think the relics we found, in the existing town, just down Austral Street, are from the time that silver was mined at Sunny Corner, probably around the early 1900s. The stamper battery was one of the biggest Roy has ever seen, and was in a paddock filled with lumps and bumps, bits of concrete, metal and spoil from the time of the mines. The house itself was what Roy really loved though. It was a ramshackle place, a little cottage which seemed to be made of wood, bricks, stone, mud and metal. There was a clawfoot bathtub (which the bathroom must have been built around!) and an old stove still inside, and the floor had loose lino covering it. Underneath, you could see old newspapers which were used as an underlay. People seemed to have just added a bit here and there, as was required by the people who lived there. The house was as if someone had just walked away and forgotten to shut the front door.
