Government Battery No. 3

 

In 1939 land was set aside, (NT Portion 565) 1.6 km east of the Tennant Creek township, and construction of the third Government Battery on the Tennant Creek Goldfield was started that same year.
No. 3  Government Battery was opened in 1941, comprising of a 10 head stamp battery with Rand type concrete king posts and a Blackstone diesel engine, alternator and electrical equipment for driving various pumps and lighting.

The Battery during busy time  operated 24/7 but during World War 2, shortage of labour as the local men enlisted, fuel shortage and with no ore to crush the Battery ceased to operate.
Post war saw the return of the miners to the goldfield, and in 1946 the government appointed a Battery Manager, Mr M T Dunstan to supervise the rehabilitation of the Battery as plant, equipment and building materials had been removed by the military. By June the Battery started crushing 400 tons from the Wheal Doria with an expectation of a yield of 14dwt per ton.
The concrete pillars started to crack due to local river rock being used as the aggregate, breaking the camshaft, and also reducing the capacity of the Battery to five stamp heads. Replacements and repairs were carried out using parts from No. 1 and No. 2 Batteries, which the government hoped to combine to No. 3.
1947 a Mess was opened

Battery opened 1958