The extent of coal deposits in the Southern Highlands and their commercial viability was first reported to the state government by mining surveyor William Keene in 1853.
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There have been more than 20 coal mines operating since then.
Medway
The first colliery in the Southern Highlands was the Cataract Mine which opened in 1867 near a waterfall on Medway Rivulet and built a standard gauge private railway line to the main southern railway line.
Great Southern Colliery opened in 1881 and closed in 1896.
Loch Catherine Colliery opened in 1923 and produced until 1929. The colliery reopened in 1964 and amalgamated with Berrima Colliery in 1990.
Medway Colliery opened in 1924. It was purchased by Southern Portland Cement Ltd in 1926 and renamed Berrima Colliery.
It served the Berrima Cement Works until the colliery closed in 2013.
It operated for 89 years making it the longest operating colliery in the Southern Highlands.
Metropolitan Portland Cement Ltd opened Carrada Bulli Colliery in 1949 and it closed in 1952.
Bundanoon
Rock Roof Colliery opened in 1869 and was renamed Erith Colliery in 1871. It closed in 1896.
Ringwood Colliery opened in 1884 and closed in 1885 after a royalty dispute with the landowner.
After lying idle for a decade the colliery reopened in 1896 and was renamed Collins Colliery.
The colliery ceased production in 1912.
It reopened in 1923 as the Federal Colliery and closed again in 1924.
Mittagong
Black Bob’s Colliery was an early source of coal for the Fitzroy Iron Works in the 1870s. It closed in 1889 then reopened in 1947 as Southern Colliery which operated successfully until 1968.
Mittagong Colliery opened in 1883. It was renamed Box Vale Colliery in 1890 and closed in 1896. South Main Colliery at Mittagong opened in 1951 and closed in 1955.
Two mines near Mittagong mined the only known deposit of anthracitic coal in Australia. Mount Waratah Colliery opened in 1957 and closed in 1971 and Mount Alexander Colliery opened in 1956 and closed in 1972.
Joadja Creek
The vast majority of the collieries in the Southern Highlands mined the Wongawilli Seam.
An exception was the Joadja Creek oil shale mine which mined the American Creek Seam because of the presence of torbanite.
Mining commenced in 1873 and ceased in 1903.
