Administration Hub at Maddingley Brown Coal. Circa 1951.
History.
In 1884 Brown Coal was discovered in the Bacchus Marsh region during construction of the Melbourne to Adelaide rail line.
Mining on the MBC site commenced in the mid to late 1940s, a time of significant fuel shortages across the state of Victoria. The mine was owned by Australian Paper Manufacturers and output was mainly dedicated to their Fairfield Mill, with direct rail transport from Bacchus Marsh. Production peaked in the 1950s, when output averaged 10,000 tonnes per week. In 1967, the original mine void was converted to landfill.
Extraction continues today, with coal mined at the site being used as a soil conditioner in the MBC Soils arm of the Group, and in the agricultural sector for production of fertilisers.
Inclined Tunnel Entrance. Circa 1896.
Maddingley Brown Coal, Handling Plant. Circa 1951.
Handling Plant process Graphic, from the MBC Archives.
The Calleja Era.
In 1990 the Calleja Group acquired the Bacchus Marsh-based Maddingley Brown Coal Mine. The original aim was to use the mine’s 13.5 million cubic metre hole as an EPA-licensed landfill site.
The original Stage 1 of the MBC landfill is nearing approved final waste elevations. Stage 2 EPA-approved cells have recently commenced operation.
MBC receives inert construction and demolition and commercial and industrial waste, sourcing almost half from the Calleja Group’s transfer stations in Altona and Coburg, as well as the company’s fleet of trucks which cart waste direct to MBC from construction sites around the state.
MBC forms part of the broader Calleja Group landholding in Maddingley.
Current activities at the landholding include mining, landfill, soil conditioning (composting and soil recycling), potential acid sulphate soils (PASS) disposal – as part of a plan to rehabilitate the disused Star Dam site into a habitat for the critically endangered growling grass frog – as well as cropping and grazing.
One of the early Maddingley Brown Coal fleet.
Calleja Group holdings at Maddingley. (click on image for a larger view)
Growling Grass Frog.
