History

This land was an early coal mine, Hartley Hill Colliery. Hartley Hill Colliery ceased operation in 1926, and the land then remained vacant until we took up residence in the year 2000.

There are still the foundations of a building and mine head structure on the top of the hill. Along the southern side the early railway line easement is still clear and level. This railway line came in off Hillsborough Road. The mine entrance is still apparent, however it has been closed or collapsed in the past. A permanent spring flows from the old mine entrance, even during droughts.

At various places on the land piles of soil from the mine workings are obvious.

The mining was in two stages with the earliest mining in the 1880's. Mining was with picks and shovels, and often close to the surface. There has been significant surface subsidence in some areas.

The driveway to our house is along the old entrance to the mine. This driveway was broad and level before we excavated it. If you look back you can see that Maude St, Cardiff South was a service road to the mine. There is also another old road on the eastern side of the property.

This land eventually passed into the hands of Industrial Equity Limited (IEL), then a very large company that owned hundreds of acres in Warners Bay. Their parcel of land included Lakelands, and the industrial estates along Hillsborough Road. After these were sold IEL was left a bit of bushland that had no apparent value. This land went to auction and we were the only people to turn up to bid. Not wanting to disappoint the auctioneer, we asked the reserve then bid that amount.

At that time real estate buyers were focusing on coastal sites and lake frontage. Some people even questioned our wisdom for buying this land.

Due to a range of reasons we did not build for a number of years, but eventually decided to proceed.

When we bought the land it was used for trail bike riding and recreational fire lighting during summer, and as a dump for 26 stolen cars. It was virtually clear of native vegetation apart from the hardiest of trees. Since we have protected the land the native vegetation has returned, along with the wildlife, to reclaim their environment. The car bodies have mostly rusted away.

Significant native plants growing naturally on this land are Christmas Bells and Tetratheca juncea. Many possums, birds, frogs and reptiles can also be found with ease.

Hartley Hill Homestead was completed in 2000. Having grown up in rural Australia we chose a rural style house and are very happy with what we have achieved. Our first gardens were planted in 2000, and each year we have added a garden or two. Our specimen garden has sections less than one year old, and our orchard of Davidson's Plums (a native rainforest tree) planted in 2001 is still under development.

Where there has been excavation, the gardens and lawns are based on shale and mudstone. Where there has been fill it is also this rock, but also with very hard and poor quality clay.

All our lawns and gardens have been built up with sand, usually unwashed beach sand. The salt in beach sand washes out very fast. The main problem with beach sand is it dries out too much, making it difficult for water to penetrate. As the organic matter builds up in the soil this problem is overcome. For the first three years we left lawn clippings on the lawns as mulch. It would have been impossible to grow lawns without this step. The fungi that break down the lawn clippings penetrate the clay, thereby adding organic matter to the clay and allowing water and plant roots to penetrate. Now when we dig in our lawn we have excellent loam that could grow anything.