188 COALFIELDS AND COLLIERIES OF AUSTRALIA. 



South Bulli and Bellanibi Collieries. 



These two collieries are now owned by the Belambi Coal 

 Company Limited, of Melbourne, and are managed by Mr. 

 A. E. U. Sellers, who has been in charge for the past seven 

 years. The South Bulli colliery was started by Messrs. Taylor 

 and Walker, in 1862. After driving a tunnel for five or six 

 chains, they came across a basaltic dyke, which had partly 

 cindered the coal next to it; this so disheartened them that 

 they abandoned mining operations. The property was next 

 taken up by Messrs. Saywell and Wilson, about 1885 or 1886, 

 and they continued to work it till 1890, when the late Mr. 

 Ebenezer Vickery bought it. He in turn sold it to the present 

 holders, who, at that time, owned the Bellanibi mine. In May, 

 1908, a further area of four square miles was taken up at the 

 back of the original property. The Bellanibi colliery is also 

 known by some as the "Model' or "Woonona " colliery. 

 When the improvements now being effected at the South 

 Bulli are completed, this will be the must modernised colliery 

 on the south coast. 



The seam worked varies from five up to eleven feet in 

 thickness, averaging about eight feet. The roof -shale is 

 about twelve feet thick, and the floor-shale eight feet. The 

 i.'ature of the roof and floor rocks appears to have had a decided 

 influence on the formation of the rolls, which in turn have 

 an important bearing on the laying out of the mine. The 

 general direction of these rolls is N.W. and S.E. The same 

 roll has been traced for over half a mile, and may go still 

 further; others die out and commence again. They may run 

 parallel, but also merge one into the other. They occur at 

 irregular distances apart, and vary in height and width, as 

 a rule the rolls are more numerous and defined near the crop. 

 The coal is the most distrubed, soft coal being bent more 

 than the hard: the lower shale is also affected, and the roof 

 is sometimes slightly bent, the coal may even be forced into 

 it. The lower shale is fairly uniform, but the upper shale 

 varies in thickness, and becomes shallower towards the west. 

 The rolls are highest where the shales are thickest; it is also 

 noticed that the thinner the coal, the shallower the rolls. These 

 rolls are not found in the northern part of the field. At Clifton 

 they have a sandstone roof, which is not so yielding as shale, 

 whilst at Helensburgh, where they have shale, there is a much 

 greater depth of cover than at Bellanibi. AVhen the rolls 

 tue long and well defined, they show joints, known as " grey 

 backs," which may dip in the same or opposite directions, 

 at varying angles. The junction between the coal and the 

 lower shale at a roll often has a black polished skin like o 

 slicken-slide. The rolls were formed earlier than the dykes, 

 which break up through them, while the faults are more 



