Dry creek- Harbinger Battery Red jacket - VIC

Information
The newly discovered Harbinger Reef was the big news on Dry Creek: in 1870 the Harbinger Co. laid a tramway to the battery. Other mines crushing at the Dry Creek battery were the Commercial and Moonlight. In 1871, only the Harbinger mine was sending stone to the machine: the New Chum and other reefs were abandoned. In 1876, the mine and plant of the Harbinger Co. was sold and the new owner immediately got the steam-engine and battery in thorough working order. By 1878 (and probably earlier) kiln/s operated at the Dry Creek/Harbinger battery, burning the quartz prior to crushing. For several years from that date, work in the Harbinger mine was confined to driving the main tunnel and prospecting, with no crushing taking place. During that period, bushfire 'burned down' the battery and steam engine, and the claim was left idle for a few years. In 1884-5, the battery and engine were repaired, additional gold-saving appliances installed, and (new) quartz-roasting kilns constructed. In 1886, active mining recommenced in the Harbinger, resulting in a few good yields before the gold cut out. A lower tunnel was driven to again cut the reef, and crushing resumed in 1888.A 10-head battery and other plant was erected on another site for the Harbinger mine sometime later, and was removed in the late 1970s to Walhalla where it forms part of the Long Tunnel Extended mine restoration. Adits were worked on the New Chum line, on the opposite site of the spur, and a battery erected there in about 1903. The New Chum was worked until 1915.Although the battery on this site appears to have operated in connection with the Harbinger mine for the greater part of its career, it has generally been recorded as the New Chum battery. The 12 heads of battery, steam engine and boiler remaining on the site are presumably part of the original 17-head crushing plant installed in 1868 (ex-Smile of Fortune, 1867). The missing five stampers may have been discarded when the battery was repaired after bushfire damage in the early 1880s. The substantial kilns would be those constructed by the Harbinger Co. in 1885. Despite their being generally attributed to the New Chum, the battery and plant seem to have never been exclusively associated with that reef.