Mount Hope, New South Wales

Mount Hope (elevation 223 m) is a settlement in western New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the Kidman Way, 95 kilometres north of Hillston and 160 km south of Cobar. A government township called 'Nombinnie' was surveyed in the mid 1880s but that name was rarely used. At the 2016 census, Mount Hope and surrounding area had a population of 19 people living in 9 private dwellings, with a median age of 31 years. The only remaining business at Mount Hope is the Royal Hotel (commonly referred to as the 'Mount Hope Pub') which offers food, beverages and accommodation (though fuel is no longer available).

The Mount Hope region is within the traditional lands of the Wangaaypuwan dialect speakers (also known as Wangaibon) of the Ngiyampaa people.

'Coan Downs' was a consolidated pastoral holding in Blaxland county (Western Division) made up of the previous Bundure, Coree, Gonn, Gooan, Killeen, Wagga, Yara and Yara Block B runs. Located about 40 miles north of the Lachlan River, the ‘Coan Downs’ pastoral run was leased by the Desailly brothers (Francis and George) in the late 1860s. By the early 1870s the station was under the management of the Melbourne Banking Company. In 1873 a shepherd on ‘Coan Downs’ station, Alexander Fisher, investigated "an unusual hill" on the pastoral run and "found copper mineralisation" and withered and yellowed vegetation on the site. The location of Fisher's discovery of copper ore was about ten miles south east of the 'Coan Downs' station homestead and about three miles north east of Mount Hope, a 300 feet high landmark "standing out in bold relief from the surrounding hills".

A group of businessmen from Hay soon became involved in the discovery of copper ore at Mount Hope. In October 1873 Henry C. Viviain, a Hay auctioneer, arrived at Booligal with “some very rich specimens of copper ore brought from Mount Hope”. Viviain claimed that “the mountain is formed entirely of this ore”. The copper ore was sent to Melbourne and assayed at a reported yield of 60 percent. The first shipment of ore from Mount Hope, weighing 10 tons, arrived at Hay in December 1873 on a dray “decorated with flags”. From Hay it was conveyed by water to Adelaide on the Cumberoona steamer. An advertisement in late December in the Riverine Grazier, lodged by Thomas Blewett and Henry B. Welsh of Hay, called for tenders "to carry by land and water, 1,000 tons of copper ore via Hay, from the Mount Hope Copper Mines, 150 miles from Hay, to the smelting works, Adelaide". A second discovery of copper ore in the Mount Hope vicinity was made soon afterwards by McDowell and Mackenzie, in a porphyry formation just three miles or so south of the Mount Hope mine, which they named the Great Central Copper Mine. In February 1874 a third discovery was made in the district (by R. D. Jones), six miles north east of the Mount Hope mine. Richard Hollow, with “thirty years’ experience in copper mining in Cornwall and South Australia”, was appointed manager of the Mount Hope Mine. In 1878 the company made a call on shareholders of sixpence in the pound. By November it was disclosed that “there were 2000 shares forfeited for non payment of calls”. In February 1881 the principals of the Mount Hope Copper Mining Company began the process of setting up a new company. In January 1882 the old company was dissolved and its assets transferred to the New Mount Hope Copper Mining Company.

The formation of the New Mount Hope Copper Mining Company involved an injection of capital from the smelting company, Messrs. W. J. Weston and Co. of Sydney (representing half the share value) and the transfer of the registered office from Hay to Sydney. The construction of smelting furnaces at Mount Hope were commenced under the management of Captain Mathew Bryant. By February 1881 one furnace was “almost completed and another in a forward state”. Miners were “busy getting out the ore” and, as reported by a resident, “the deep sound of a blast or shot as they call it, startles us eight or ten times a day”. The description of Mount Hope in February 1881 was optimistic about the prospects of the settlement. The writer noted that “Mount Hope has arisen again from the ashes of the first attempt to develop its grand mineral resources, and what was a desert of rocks a few months ago is now a busy little town that may soon rival Cobar”. It was estimated that the adult male population was about fifty or sixty. Women and children were also present; the writer remarked: “I never saw such a place for children; it is like an ant bed, but they all seem healthy and happy”. In November 1882 it was reported that “a Government tank of 25,000 yards is being excavated for the benefit of the public” at Mount Hope. A post office and a bank had opened in the township. Four stores were established “and another in course of erection”. The population “exceeds 500 souls”. The Great Central Copper Mine south of Mount Hope township had re commenced operations during 1882. A company had been formed in 1881 to work the mine and, beginning in April 1881, three shafts were sunk under the management of C. L. Cawse. By late 1882 furnaces, sheds and an engine house were being constructed. Adjoining the Great Central mine was the less developed South Mount Hope mine, the property of “Brown and party”. Seven miles north west of Mount Hope township was the undeveloped Mount Allen copper mine. The surveyed government township of Nombinnie was located south of the established Mount Hope township. In November 1901 it was reported that there “about a score of new dwellings” in the surveyed township “and others are in process of erection”. Copper prices declined during the mid 1880s and the “unprecedented depression in the copper market” adversely affected the balance sheets of the Mount Hope mining companies. In August 1899 “concentrating machinery” was installed at the New Mount Hope mine which was able to utilise low grade ore by “dressing it up to a high smelting value”. This was expected to be of “immense benefit to the trade of the district, as of late years owing to insufficient output of copper” employees had not received “the full value of their earnings”. At the Great Central mine it was reported that “affairs look gloomy”, where work was being carried out "in a perfunctory sort of manner, but there is no money about”. In 1913 the New Mount Hope copper mine was acquired by Mount Hope Ltd. In March 1918 it was reported that the mine was “now worked as a purely concentrating and leaching proposition” and “gives employment to 150 men”. By that stage the Central Mount Hope mine had ceased operations.

The Matakana to Mount Hope single tracked branch line was opened in February 1919. The copper mine for which this branch was constructed to service ceased full time operations four months before the line was opened. In early July 1924 the train service between Matakana and Mount Hope was discontinued “because of the paucity of business”; there had been “so little hope of a mining revival in the district that the whole of the mining machinery at Mount Hope was dismantled and removed”.

In March 1927 Mount Hope was described as a “decayed mining town” that “has been living on hopes and memories for years”. The price of copper had fallen so low “that the mines closed up and much of the two plants has been sold”. In December 1957 five separate bush fires “were raging out of control” between Condobolin and Hillston. The main Western railway line was cut and tracks destroyed. Fires around Euabalong and Mount Hope were “burning on a 100 mile front”. A fire “threatened to engulf” the village of Matakana (17 km south of Mount Hope) and “20 women and children were driven through an arch of flames to escape the fire” and provided with accommodation at Mount Hope. Fire fighters “managed to divert the flames” around Matakana village.

The Royal Hotel is a survivor from the heyday of Mount Hope. The Royal Hotel was one of four hotels granted licenses during 1881 as the New Mount Hope Copper Mining Company built infrastructure, installed machinery and commenced mining and smelting operations at Mount Hope. The first of the licensed premises was the Mount Hope Hotel in March 1881, followed by William Clark’s Royal Hotel (July), Thomas Saunders’ Albion Hotel (August) and John Lees’ Commercial Hotel (November 1881). In September 1882 a license was granted to James Lyell for the Great Central Hotel at South Mount Hope. William and Sarah Clark and family had been living in the Mount Hope district since about 1876. Clark was also an owner of a store at Mount Hope township. William Clark died in February 1910 at Waverley in Sydney. His widow Sarah Clark took over the license of the Royal Hotel at Mount Hope after his death. In July 1912 the license was transferred from Sarah Clark to her son, William Frederick Clark. The correspondent made the comment: “We wish the new proprietor luck in his undertaking and hope that business in Mount Hope will soon liven up so as to compensate all business people for their endurance”. In about 1917 the Clark family sold the Royal Hotel to B. A. Davis. In 1930 the Royal Hotel was owned by John Swasbrick (Snr.) and the licensee was Mrs. W. Davis. In December 1930 a fire destroyed the Royal Hotel. At the subsequent inquiry by the Coroner it was pointed out that “although the building was constructed chiefly of concrete and iron with an absolute minimum of wood, the building was on fire throughout its length and breadth in an incredibly short space of time, the fire spreading rapidly even against the wind”. The inquiry revealed that “the owner was not in embarrassed circumstances, although the licensee was” and returned an open verdict regarding the origin of the fire. In June 1933 John Swasbrick died at his residence, the Royal Hotel, aged 79 years. At the time of his death Swasbrick was the owner and licensee of the hotel. The Royal Hotel at Mount Hope offers cold drinks and hot beverages. It serves counter meals and snacks and has accommodation facilities, but fuel is no longer available at the hotel. The Royal claims to have the only concrete bar in New South Wales.

Mount Hope is surrounded by three extensive nature reserves: Yathong, Nombinnie and Round Hill. The reserves comprise a large area of plain and ridge country on the boundaries between three major biophysical regions: the Cobar Peneplain, the Darling Depression and the Southern Riverine Plain. The area protects the largest remaining contiguous stand of mallee in NSW and supports a rich diversity of flora and fauna, including many rare and endangered species. Round Hill Nature Reserve (south east of Mount Hope), Nombinnie Nature Reserve (to the south) and Yathong Nature Reserve (to the north west) are included in the 2,500 square kilometres Central NSW Mallee Important Bird Area because of its significance for bird conservation, especially of the malleefowl and red lored whistler.