At the same time, shafts were being sunk around Big Hill, becoming known as the Quartz Reefs.
12.
Some quartz reefs were also worked in the area, however the yields from these activities were not significant.
13.
In 1870 Stawell post office was renamed Stawell West, and Quartz Reef, Stawell post office was renamed to Stawell.
14.
Cornish quarryman Joseph Blight had arrived in the colony in 1855 and achieved some success in quartz reef mining at Eureka Reef.
15.
By the 1860s the alluvial gold had been exhausted and efforts turned to underground shafts in search of gold bearing quartz reefs.
16.
As these surface deposits were exhausted the quartz reefs at deep levels were exploited and several mines worked at depths exceeding 600 metres.
17.
The quartz reef containing coarse gold returned about 10oz per ton and was described as the best find in the district for years.
18.
The town's history began with the discovery of a quartz reef outcrop or'blow'by prospector William McGregor in 1863.
19.
At the time their efforts focused almost entirely on quartz reefs, little realising that gold on the Witwatersrand was confined primarily to conglomerate beds.
20.
A " quartz reef " is another term for a vein of quartz, and has nothing to do with biological reefs ( bioherms ), such as coral reefs.
