ED Miles Mining Exchange is a heritage-listed commercial building at 65 Mosman Street, Charters Towers City, Charters Towers, Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by William George Smith junior, and built in 1887 by Ben Toll. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 9 November 2012.
History The former ED Miles Mining Exchange in Charters Towers was built in 1887 and extended in 1889, 1891 and 1901, to house the business established by Edward David Miles in 1883, and managed in partnership with Joe Millican from 1887. This was the first of a number of long standing mining exchange businesses established during the 1880s in Charters Towers, and thought to be the most successful business of this type in Queensland, operating from 1883 until it was liquidated shortly after the death of Miles in 1922.
The Charters Towers gold deposits were first discovered in December 1871, by an Aboriginal boy named Jupiter who accompanied prospectors Hugh Mosman and Adam Mosman and John Fraser, who were later joined by George Clarke. Jupiter found a rich vein of gold laden quartz. Mosman travelled to Ravenswood in early January 1872 to register the claim which he named Charters Towers, honouring the Gold Commissioner, William Charters. By March 1872 Commissioner Charters had issued 25 prospecting area permits in the vicinity of Mosman's claim and the rush began.
Two settlements were established, one which became Charters Towers and another distant which became Millchester. Charters Towers began with a number of stores, hotels and a butcher shop along a track that was to become Mosman Street, with the population reputedly 3000 by August 1872. There was rivalry between the two settlements, particularly after the courthouse was established at Millchester in 1873. However Charters Towers soon dominated. Its town survey was undertaken in November 1874 marking out allotments in a "T" formation, with the mines and the provision stores of Mosman Street on one axis, and the road to Millchester marked by Gill Street on the other. Charters Towers was declared a municipality in 1877 encompassing one square mile centred on Mosman Street. It included new churches, the Oddfellows and Good Templar Lodges, 21 hotels and 57 shops.
In the meantime, it had become evident the procurement of gold from the deep seams of Charter Towers required substantial machinery to crush quartz and sink shafts. This required working capital to find the gold, finance machinery and to pay the wages of workers employed on these time-consuming processes. The Queensland Gold Fields Act 1874 and Gold Mining Companies Act 1875 allowed for combinations of leases, claims and syndicates in order to work their leases at great depths. The legislation also underpinned the establishment of permanent settlement which would attract capital investment to the field. Early "no liability" companies were floated but were short-lived, known as "no reliability companies" by the banks which refused to finance them. Most mines were run by syndicates with financial backing by the town's businessmen. A number of share-brokers operated around town in the late 1870s, regularly advertising in The Northern Miner newspaper. Company shares were available to the general public, and this initiated the role of mining agent whose sole purpose was acting as secretary of these companies and dealing in their shares. From 1881 the Charters Towers Town Clerk Edward David Miles also filled the role of secretary for a number of these companies and by 1882 company mining became the norm in Charters Towers.
ED Miles, having first advertised his services in February 1882 became a full-time mining agent in February 1883 and established an office adjacent to the Miner's Arms Hotel in Mosman Street. A native of Wales, he came to Australia in 1862 attracted by the Victorian gold rush. He initially worked in Castlemaine and then moved to Ballarat. In 1875, he moved to Charters Towers and was employed as an engine driver, a miner and worked in the store of John McDonald. He was appointed town clerk in 1880. The first mining company he represented was the Day Dawn Prospecting Claim, one of the most successful in Charters Towers. Established in 1875 and floated as a limited liability company in October 1881 it later realised a record production of worth of gold in 1898. In May 1883 ED Miles was reporting to The Queenslander newspaper on 15 companies in Charters Towers, listing himself as secretary to five of these.
Mining secretaries ensured the companies complied with the relevant legislation and regulation and kept board members informed of their legal responsibilities. They were the company's named representative on legal documents and it was their responsibility to ensure company directors operated within the law. It was also their responsibility to register and communicate with the shareholders to ensure dividends were paid and company records maintained, such as lists of directors and shareholders and annual accounts. In mining towns, mining exchanges dealt in mine shares, whereas stock exchanges dealt in a variety of enterprises. Nevertheless, to deal in a stock exchange one had to be a member and Miles, as well as operating his own mining exchange, was later a member of the Charters Towers Stock Exchange.
The growth of both Gympie's and Charters Towers' gold fields led to the establishment of brokerages in both towns and in Brisbane, dealing in mining shares. Mining exchanges had operated in Ballarat, Victoria since 1857. Like Charters Towers, Ballarat's success came through the formation of mining companies to finance the deep sinking of mines. The establishment of the first dedicated mining exchange building in Ballarat was initiated by the local Borough Council in 1864 in a renovated building. Even when a more substantial building was constructed in 1888 (VHR HO65), it was still located on land owned by the local council.
There were a number of early mining exchanges in Queensland, none of which were established by local councils. Former Ballarat businessman and publican, Henry Farley had a mining exchange and hotel in Gympie in 1868. He then established the Mining Exchange Hotel in Stanthorpe in 1872. Another exchange was reported in Gympie in 1872. By 1881 there were 112 mining companies operating in Gympie, and Crawford and Rohde operated an exchange here from 1882 to 1885. Crawford then built his own building in 1885 from which he operated as mining secretary and commission agent. Another building in Gympie, Smithfield Chambers housed mining secretaries from 1895 and later the Gympie Stock Exchange Club. Other mining exchanges were established elsewhere in Queensland including; Thorp in Ravenswood, Clifton & Cohen Croydon and Barker & Frew also in Croydon, all established in 1887. Thorp also operated in Charters Towers. His Ravenswood exchange burnt down in 1901 and he replaced the building in 1903, although he appears to have not operated a mining exchange from the new building (Thorps Building). Miles's 1883 business was initiated prior to more substantial operations, such as the Brisbane Evening Mining Exchange (March 1884); the Stock Exchange in Gympie (10 July 1884); and the Brisbane Stock Exchange (23 July 1884). An early attempt to establish a stock exchange in Charters Towers began operating in the billiard room of the Crown Hotel in July 1885, but was a relatively short lived operation. Business was booming in Charters Towers by 1886, when British speculative investment in mining shares increased following the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London where gold and ore samples were exhibited.
Miles' mining exchange business is thought to be the first of this type outside of Gympie, operating until shortly after his death in 1922. In 1884, Miles employed Joe Millican as assistant secretary, who became a partner in 1887. The Northern Miner newspaper described Miles's business character as "honest...exhibiting perfect sobriety...patient and unwearied industry and attention to business down to the minutest details."
In February 1887 ED Miles released plans for his new office designed by local architect WG Smith Jnr. The report in The Northern Miner included the following description for the building to be located on a vacant allotment between the Imperial and Empire Hotels in Mosman Street: The building will be 52 x 36 feet wide [15.8 m x 11 m], clear on the inside, and will be divided into six separate offices with a hallway six feet [1.8 m] wide hall running through; the verandahs at the back and front will be ] wide with a bedroom on the back verandah for one of the clerks. At the left-hand side of the main entrance will be the public room ] long whilst at the rear of this are two offices each ]. On the right hand side is another office ], and next to this is the board room ], and there is another ] square room at the back of the board room. The walls will be ] high and the front and the wall near the Imperial will be of brick, whilst the other two will be composed of wood. The front of the building will be something like Mr Hunter's Exchange, but a little higher, and the verandah roof, which has a nice ornamental edging, will come lower in order to protect the front of the building form the afternoons' sun. The offices can be entered either from Mosman or Bow streets.The contractor was Ben Toll, and Smith supervised its construction. By mid July 1887 the company had relocated to its new premises.
A feature of the interior is the use of a ventilation system, likely to be a variation of the Tobin tube, developed in England in the 1870s and patented by Martin Tobin in 1873. Ventilation is achieved through the installation of horizontal tubes under the floor, connected to vertical tubes attached to the internal walls to a height of just over one metre, drawing fresh air into the room and circulating it. At the ED Miles Mining Exchange, the system was probably installed at construction. It complements the more traditional ventilation methods including ventilated ceiling roses, fanlights, operable high-level windows, and a large roof lantern with operable glazing that were included within the building.
The architectural firm WG Smith & Sons was established in Townsville in 1886 by William George Smith Jnr and Snr. Smith junior designed a number of buildings in Townsville and Charters Towers. These include the Band Pavilion in Lissner Park and the Masonic Lodge in Charters Towers, and Osler House and the Choral Society Buildings in Townsville. He also designed St Mary's Convent in Charters Towers for the Sisters of Mercy.
An economic downturn occurred in 1888 because of a decrease in overseas investment and a continuing drought which led to the closure of crushing machines due to lack of water. The slump was short lived because of the development of the Brilliant Reef. It had been financed by Richard Craven and GM Levers who had profited from the British investors of 1886 and they were able to manage the mine for themselves. In 1889 Brilliant Reef, mined to a depth of , became the biggest producer in the field.
Charters Towers was at its economic peak in the late 19th century, and according to Government Geologist Robert Logan Jack, was the third largest gold producing area in Australia, after Ballarat and Sandhurst (Bendigo). Many new buildings were completed and other mining agencies established. The T-junction of Mosman and Gill Streets became the financial district of Charters Towers. For one block to the east, north, and south were eight banks, the post and telegraph office, two assayers' offices, and four solicitor's offices. Share-brokers occupied the Royal Arcade, and other offices were located in Mosman and Bow Streets. The Royal Arcade was built in 1888 and by 1890 the Stock Exchange operated from the building.