MARY RIVER; catchment, Korrawinga & K’gari

Currently working on updating this number ’10 batteries’ as new research comes to hand

FATE OF NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC MERCURY AND THE MARY RIVER, SE QLD:

A CHRONICAL OF LEGACY GOLD MINING, SUGAR CANE CROPPING AND HG-ORE DEPOSITS

Gympie, renowned for a gold discovery in 1867 in the nascent state of Queensland lies on the Mary River. An ensuing gold-rush transformed Gympie into a major gold producer with some 116t of gold won from >40 large mines in the historic period to 1925. Mercury amalgamation in at least 10 batteries was responsible for most gold recovery. Tailings were discharged either directly or to creeks draining to the Mary. At Cinnabar on a tributary of the Mary ore deposits discovered in 1872 were worked for Hg periodically through to the end of World War II. Additionally, Hg-based fungicides have until recently been utilized by the sugar cane industry on land in the lower reaches of the Mary. The fate of these Hg sources in a river that discharges into Korrawinga (Great Sandy Strait) which borders K’gari – a combined Ramsar/World Heritage site, is unknown.

→ Gympie Battery Locations — compiled reference list and map (46 sites, with interactive map; still being cross-checked for duplicates)