Illewong, New South Wales

Illewong was a mining village, now a ghost town, in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia.

[8] The Queen Bee Copper Mining Company was established on 26 November 1903; its directors were local men from Cobar and Wrightville.

[11] A settlement, including a store, had developed at Bee Mountain, by the end of 1904,[12] and a post office opened there in 1905.

[16] Always a small village, Illewong could nonetheless support sporting teams, even a rifle club.

water-jacket cupola furnace, with which experiments are being made for the purpose of securing data as to the best means of dealing with the low-grade ores.

It was some distance from the nearest railway at Wrightville, its copper ore grades had fallen over time, and were now mainly low-grade.

On the basis of the experiments, it had ordered a water jacket furnace, but it would need to bring coke from Wollongong, a costly proposition.

[21] As well as reducing the total production rate of the smelters, to around half, this change almost certainly caused some employees to lose their jobs, putting downward pressure on the village's population.

[23] Rising copper prices led to the Queen Bee mine resuming production by April 1912.

The old company objected unsuccessfully when a local man, Robert Ellis, took out fresh leases and took possession of the mine site.

[31][32] When he claimed ownership of the all items on the leases, including any copper, the stockpiled ore, and the equipment of the Queen Bee mine, a protracted dispute began.

[38] The village had a policeman, Constable Malony, who had been stationed there for seven years, when he was found dead with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, in October 1912.

Operations were "temporarily curtailed", in October 1917, with the reason being that Port Kembla already had too much ore.[47] Six men later worked the mine as tributers—supplying the C.S.A.

[49] In 1923, it was reported that only one family was dwelling there, and that a house or shop, in the deserted village, could be bought for just the value of the transfer fee.

What seem to be the last official mentions of the place occurred during 1941, when the village's plan was altered, effectively reducing its area[54] and the dedication of the land for its school was revoked.