Dear Roger
Mount Gleddon in Western Australia is commonly know as Nanny Goat Hill and
is a sacred Aboriginal site. It adjoins a large mining area, and could have
possibly had goats working there in the early years of mining. It maybe that
horses were very limited, and as there were plenty of sheep and goats, Goats
could have possibly been used for transporting metal. Personally I wouldn’t
have thought that goats could carry that much weight of metal. Take tin –
very heavy metal and the moulds would have had to been very small, for
example 25lbs max: so that a goat, if it was 200lb in weight (very big goat),
could carry 50lb – i.e. 25lb each side. No documentary evidence to support my
theory. Only that of Mount Gleddon’s alternative name.
Phil has already explained the Dartmoor Reaves, so no need to expand on that.
Located the following: extracted from:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/122975/coal-mining/81626/History
Manual labour to electric power:
In the first shaft mines, coal was loaded into baskets that were carried on the
backs of men or women or loaded on wooden sledges or trams that were then
pushed or hauled through the main haulage roadway to the shaft bottom to be
hung on hoisting ropes or chains. In drift and slope mines, the coal was
brought directly to the surface by these and similar methods. Sledges were
pulled first by men and later by animals, including mules, horses, oxen, and
even dogs and goats.
Regards Chris Kelland
|