{{Short description|Locality and ghost town, in New South Wales, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use Australian English |date=February 2025}} {{Infobox Australian place|type=town|name=Howell|state=NSW|coordinates={{coord|29|56|46.4|S|151|01|52.2|E|display=inline,title}}|local_map=yes|zoom=9|pop=31|pop_year={{CensusAU|2021}}|pop_footnotes=<ref name="census">{{Census 2021 AUS | id = SAL11954| name = Howell| quick = on | access-date = 20 February 2025}}</ref>|postcode=2360|elevation=750|location1=Sydney|dist1=566|dir1=N|location2=Inverell|dist2=30|dir2=SSW|location3=Armidale|dist3=112|dir3=NW|lga=Armidale Regional Council|county=Hardinge|parish=Mayo|stategov=Northern Tablelands|fedgov=New England|near-nw=Copeton|near-n=Auburn Vale|near-ne=Gilgai|near-w=''Lake Copeton''|near-e=Tingha|near-sw=Bundarra|near-s=Stanborough|near-se=Stanborough}} '''Howell''' is a locality, on the western slopes of the Northern Tablelands, within the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. There was once a mining village of the same name, now a ghost town. Much of the effective western boundary of the locality is part of the shoreline of Lake Copeton, as a portion of the locality is now inundated. Howell is mainly forested, with some land cleared for agriculture.<ref name=":18">{{Cite web |title=Howell · New South Wales 2360, Australia |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Howell+NSW+2360/@-29.9297928,150.9542852,24152m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ba1eeb14fe19bfd:0x40609b49043b140!8m2!3d-29.9461945!4d151.0363128!16s/g/11bxffq0m3?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxMi4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw== |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Google Maps |language=en}}</ref>
The area now known as Howell lies on the traditional lands of Kamilaroi people.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Studies |first=Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander |date=2024-11-26 |title=Map of Indigenous Australia |url=https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=aiatsis.gov.au |language=en}}</ref>
The name Howell also is applied to an endangered ecological community, ''Howell Shrublands in the New England Tableland and Nandewar Bioregions,'' based on distinctive natural vegetation. It is characterised by low shrubs, in particular ''Babingtonia densifolia'' and ''Homoranthus prolixus.'' However, the mix of species at sites varies considerably over time, including when all shrub species may be absent, resulting in a natural grassland, or when some eucalypts and cypress pines may be present, forming a low open shrubby woodland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Howell Shrublands in the New England Tableland and Nandewar Bioregions - profile {{!}} NSW Environment, Energy and Science |url=https://threatenedspecies.bionet.nsw.gov.au/profile?id=10415 |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=threatenedspecies.bionet.nsw.gov.au}}</ref>
== History ==
=== Name === {{Further|John Howell (mining engineer)}} thumb|201x201px|John Howell (c.1901)|left The modern-day locality of Howell takes its name from the former mining village, which was named after John Howell (c.1833—1910). He was a Canadian-born naturalized-American mining engineer and mining industry figure. Howell came to Broken Hill to be the general manager of the British Broken Hill mine, in 1889. From 1890 to 1895, Howell was the general manager of the Broken Hill Proprietary and Block 10 mines.<ref name=":92">{{Cite news |date=1910-11-15 |title=DEATH OF MR. JOHN HOWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45128399 |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=Barrier Miner |pages=2}}</ref><ref name=":93">{{Cite news |date=1910-11-15 |title=DEATH OF MR. JOHN HOWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/15178032 |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=6}}</ref> Howell was also a director of various mining companies, including gold mines in Western Australia<ref>{{Cite news |date=1895-12-30 |title=THE WEST AUSTRALIAN GOLDFIELDS. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/81381717 |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=Daily News (Perth) |pages=2}}</ref> and the Overflow Mine at Bobadah.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1896-12-19 |title=OVERFLOW SILVER MINE. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14080567 |access-date=2025-02-16 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=11}}</ref>
After he left Broken Hill, Howell was the first managing director of Smelting Company of Australia, which built, Dapto Smelting Works, a smelter near Dapto,<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Malley |first=J. P. |url=https://arhsnsw.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/The-Old-Dapto-Smelting-Works.pdf |title=The Old Dapto Smelting Works |publisher=Illawarra Historical Society |year=1968 |edition=2nd |pages=4, 5}}</ref> until May 1898.
He then established and managed the Conrad mine,<ref name=":92" /> on a mining claim that he bought in 1897.<ref name=":8" /> The mining village that grew up near that mine<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Map of the village of Howell and adjoining lands [cartographic material] : Parish of Mayo, County of Hardinge, Land District of Inverell |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1532665773/view |access-date=2025-02-16 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Satellite view - Howell · New South Wales 2360, Australia |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Howell+NSW+2360/@-29.9492263,151.0315116,1481m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ba1eeb14fe19bfd:0x40609b49043b140!8m2!3d-29.9461945!4d151.0363128!16s/g/11bxffq0m3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxMi4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw== |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Google Maps |language=en}}</ref> was named Howell, after him.<ref name=":92" /> It is probable that the Conrad mine was named after one of Howell's grandsons, Conrad George Howell Blakemore.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=The KingsSchool Register 1831-2019 (6th Edition) BLAKEMORE Conrad George Howell |url=https://tksobu.com.au/nsw/kings/uploads/TheKingsSchoolRegister%201831-2019%206thEdition.pdf}}</ref>
Prior to the proclamation of the village,<ref name=":3" /> the area was known as Bora Creek,<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1899-04-22 |title=Bora Creek Mines. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186099790 |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> after the name of a watercourse, now spelled Borah Creek. Apparently, the name Bora Creek continued in use, alongside Howell for a period. (Borah Creek is coincidentally also the name of another modern-day locality, which is closer to Manilla.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Borah Creek · New South Wales 2346, Australia |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Borah+Creek+NSW+2346/@-30.5052016,150.3631633,9.59z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ba08b08a179c46d:0x40609b49043bd40!8m2!3d-30.5849743!4d150.486252!16s/g/1tf363x1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxNy4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw== |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=Google Maps |language=en}}</ref>)
=== Mining ===
==== Silver and base metals ==== The presence of silver in the area had first been noticed in 1888.<ref name=":2" /> Small scale mining took place, but expectations of a silver boom were dashed when it was found that much of the complex ores could not be smelted, even after being taken at great expense to the smelter at Newcastle. Initially, miners extracted only the purest ores from shallow workings.<ref name=":10" /> The first deposit that would be exploited commercially at scale was found, in 1890, and its mining lease was bought by John Howell in 1897.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=1901-04-20 |title=Bora Creek Silver Lode. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176480162/20659428 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Bundarra and Tingha Advocate |pages=2}}</ref> Howell was intrigued by the problem of processing the valuable but complex ores, stating that, "''probably no similar combination of valuable metals on a large scale has ever been worked before''". When Howell had a 100 foot deep shaft sunk, in 1898, the feasibility of mining the ore body was proven,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":10" /> but it would take until 1912 to completely solve the problem of recovering an optimal amount of the valuable content of the ore.<ref name=":10" />thumb|249x249px|King Conrad mine (1901)By mid-1899 there were two large mines operating in the area.<ref name=":2" /> The first was Howell's mine, which became known as the Conrad mine, and the other was Alwell's claim, which became the King Conrad mine.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":24" />
By August 1899, there was a third mine, the Bora Creek Extended,<ref name=":23">{{Cite news |date=1899-08-05 |title=Mining Notes. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186096537 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref><ref name=":24">{{Cite news |date=1899-10-05 |title=MINING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. THE NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT. BORA CREEK SILVER BELT. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14220091 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=3}}</ref> in an area known as 'The South blocks',<ref name=":17">{{Cite news |date=1953-04-17 |title=EYES OF THE MINING WORLD AGAIN ON HOWELL |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185839816 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Inverell Times |pages=10}}</ref> which reportedly was located around two miles southward from the Conrad lease.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-10-11 |title=Mining in Inverell. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186099211 |access-date=2025-02-25 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref>
The three mines were all on the same line of lode<ref name=":17" /> and each become owned by a separate listed company.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1898-08-12 |title=THE CONRAD SILVER LEAD MINING COMPANY (NO-LIABILITY). |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220993320 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=New South Wales Government Gazette |pages=6495}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite news |date=1902-08-15 |title=IN EQUITY. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226399136 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |pages=5811}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-05-05 |title=THE BORA CREEK EXTENDED SILVER, LEAD, AND TIN MINING COMPANY (NO-LIABILITY). |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220940929 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=New South Wales Government Gazette |pages=3484}}</ref>
==== Alluvial diamonds and tin ==== At the headwaters of Bora Creek (now spelled Borah Creek), which are in the modern-day locality of Howell, there were mining leases for alluvial diamonds, where alluvial tin was also obtained.<ref name=":6"/><ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=1903-12-05 |title=Bora Creek Notes. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176478524 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Bundarra and Tingha Advocate |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1904-02-20 |title=Bora Creek Notes. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176966090 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Bundarra and Tingha Advocate |pages=2}}</ref> In August 1899, the area was already being explored for diamonds, when a rich find of diamonds and tin was made on Bora Creek,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-08-23 |title=DIAMONDS AND TIN. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/113258404 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Evening News (Sydney) |pages=3}}</ref> and extensive operations began in the area.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-05-09 |title=Inverell and its Diamonds. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217819893 |access-date=2025-08-13 |work=Glen Innes Examiner and General Advertiser |pages=2}}</ref>
==== Conrad mine ==== {{further|Conrad mine}}thumb|244x244px|Conrad mine, looking south-east (1901) The mineral deposit that was exploited by the Conrad mine was a complex ore body, containing silver, lead, zinc, tin, arsenic, and copper ores, with some gold as well. The ore body, primarily, was worked for its silver content. It was operated, between 1898 and 1913, with two interruptions and changes in ownership structure, and from 1949 to 1957. It produced over 3,500,000 ounces of silver.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Conrad Mine, Howell, Hardinge Co., New South Wales, Australia |url=https://www.mindat.org/loc-28496.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=www.mindat.org}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Conrad Silver Project • Thomson Resources Ltd |url=https://www.thomsonresources.com.au/projects/conrad-silver-project/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Thomson Resources Ltd |language=en-AU}}</ref> However, other metals and minerals were produced; lead in the form of galena and later as silver-lead and lead-tin bullion, copper in the form of copper matte, and arsenic (then called 'mispickel') first as arsenopyrite and later as white arsenic.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=1902-02-08 |title=Bora Creek News. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176477444 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Bundarra and Tingha Advocate |pages=2}}</ref> thumb|244x244px|Conrad mine, stannite stockpile (1901) Although tin is valuable, in 1900, when mining encountered significant amounts of stannite—a hitherto rare complex sulphide ore of copper and tin, Cu<sub>2</sub>FeSnS<sub>4</sub>—treating it and other base metal ores that contained some stannite became a serious issue for the mine. Initially, the stannite was stockpiled, awaiting the implementation of a suitable process. The problem was partially solved by John Howell, around 1903—the mine began producing lead-tin bullion—but only completely solved, in 1912, not long before the mine's first lengthy closure.<ref name=":10" />
From around 1904, a drive had connected the Conrad mine to other workings at a winze under the Moore shaft,<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 April 1904 |title=Operations at Inverell |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14615458 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=9}}</ref> which lay to the south-east along the same line of lode.
By 1906, the operations of the Conrad mine and the neighbouring King Conrad mine had been consolidated, under the ownership of Conrad Stannite Mines Limited. The two mine's workings were connected by drives at the 200 and 400 foot levels.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1906-07-18 |title=THE STANNIFEROUS EDGE. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/237635190 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |pages=7}}</ref> Thereafter the two mines were worked as a single operation.
From 1908, the mine produced white arsenic, which was used in those times to poison prickly pear infestations,<ref name=":10" /> with only partial success,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1911-11-10 |title=Prickly Pear. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/111904521 |access-date=2025-02-24 |work=Moree Gwydir Examiner and General Advertiser |pages=7}}</ref> before the ''Cactoblastis cactorum'' moth was introduced from South America. Prior to capturing the white arsenic from furnace exhaust gases, the poisonous compound had been released to the environment,<ref name=":10" /> and it had killed some of the vegetation in the area near the mine smelter.
In March 1913, the mine was closed,<ref name=":15">{{Cite news |date=1913-03-07 |title=CONRAD MINE CLOSED. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185935737 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> after a dispute over how mine workers should be paid—by day labour or contract—at a time when the silver price had already begun to fall.<ref name=":10" /> During 1913, the plant was dismantled and sold off.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1913-12-06 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5390694 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Advertiser (Adelaide) |pages=14}}</ref> After its closure, the mine was worked by locals on a small scale, during and after the First World War, but eventually it filled with groundwater and became inaccessible.<ref name=":10" />
Exploration and development at the old mine recommenced around 1949. The first lead concentrates were shipped in December 1955. The Conrad mine was impacted by a fall in metal prices in 1957, poor ore grades, and high production costs. Mining ceased on 27 December 1957. Its plant was dismantled during 1958–1959,<ref name=":172">{{Cite web |title=Conrad Mine {{!}} NSW Resources |url=https://www.resources.nsw.gov.au/mining-and-exploration/legacy-mines-program/case-studies/conrad-mine |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=www.resources.nsw.gov.au}}</ref> but some remnants were left at the site, such as the headframe.
The mine was well known as a source of rare mineral specimens.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1953-10-02 |title=Rare Minerals Were Found at Howell Mine |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185849590 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> The area remains of interest for mineral exploration.<ref name=":4" />
=== Mining village === thumb|249x249px|The village, then known as Bora Creek, in April 1901, around the time when it was proclaimed and named Howell.
==== Foundation and population growth ==== The village of Howell was proclaimed in April 1901,<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=1901-04-27 |title=VILLAGE OF HOWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226383484 |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |pages=3391}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> although the mining settlement, using the name Bora Creek, already existed by then.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1901-04-27 |title=MINERAL WEALTH OF THE INVERELL DISTRICT. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165290151/16790886 |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |pages=1036}}</ref> It dated from around the time that mining work commenced in 1898, and, by 1901, already had 176 dwellings and a population of 570.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Wiedemann |first=Elizabeth |url=https://library.inverell.nsw.gov.au/NINV/DOCUMENTS/JPEG/12.%20Bengonaway,%20Boggy%20Camp%20and%20Bora%20Creek.pdf |title=World Of Its Own: Inverell's Early Years |publisher=Devill Publicity |year=1990 |location=Inverell |pages=176–180}}</ref>
In August, 1903, the population of the village was reported to be around 800.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=1903-08-13 |title=Howell. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/104892841 |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=Catholic Press |pages=22}}</ref> By late 1903, there was also a separate 'calico town' of tents, at the diamond mining area<ref name=":7" /> near the headwaters of Bora Creek. By 1912, the population was around 1,000.<ref name=":10" />
==== Heyday ==== thumb|245x245px|Goodyer's 'Bora Creek Hotel', the smaller of Howell's two hotels (1901) Although most of its miners' dwellings were made from impermanent makeshift materials, such as timber slabs, bark, corrugated iron, and white-washed hessian fabric, the village's other buildings gave it an appearance of permanence.<ref name=":10" /> thumb|244x244px|Howell's brass band at Inverell (1907) Conrad Street, the 100 foot wide, partially cobbled main street of the village was the beginning of a road that led to the Conrad mine, which lay beside Bora Creek.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Satellite view - Site of Conrad mine, Howell, NSW (29°57'16.8"S 151°01'29.6"E) |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/29%C2%B057'16.8%22S+151%C2%B001'29.6%22E/@-29.9546668,151.0236109,377m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d-29.9546668!4d151.0248984?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxOS4xIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw== |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Google maps |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In the other direction, Conrad Street became the road to Inverell,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":10" /> and branching from it was another road to Inverell, which is now blocked by the waters of Lake Copeton.<ref name=":18" /><ref name=":0" />
At opposite ends of the long main street, stood the village's two hotels; Goodyer's 'Bora Creek Hotel' and what was known as 'the top hotel'—officially the Conrad Hotel—a two storied brick structure, including a billiard hall, barber's shop, and 23 bedrooms.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":13" /> There was a large public hall for dancing and other events, and a school of arts building with a library. The village had three stores, two bakers, two butchers, boxing hall and gym, newsagent, and blacksmith.<ref name=":10" /> In 1911, the village had a doctor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1911-05-19 |title=COPETON. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185924728 |access-date=2025-03-10 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref>
Allwell Street was the beginning of the road to the King Conrad mine, which was to the north-west of the Conrad mine and slightly downstream on Bora Creek.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Satellite view - Site of King Conrad mine (29°57'01.1"S 151°01'08.0"E) |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/29%C2%B057'01.1%22S+151%C2%B001'08.0%22E/@-29.9502941,151.0177405,377m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d-29.9502941!4d151.0188882?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIxMi4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw== |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Google maps |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Church Street was the site of the village's three churches; a Church of England, Wesleyan (Methodist) Church, and Catholic Church.<ref name=":10" /> Near where Church Street joined Conrad Street, stood the public school,<ref name=":0" /> which opened in March 1900. Until July 1901, the school was called Conrad, then became known as Howell.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Howell |url=https://nswgovschoolhistory.azurewebsites.net/schoolHistory?schoolId=3986 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=nswgovschoolhistory.azurewebsites.net}}</ref> The school already had 147 children attending in 1901, and a new school building was erected in 1902.<ref name=":10" /> thumb|174x174px|Postmark In 1901, a brick police station, lock up, and residence were built in Argent Street,<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":0" /> followed by a courthouse in 1902.<ref name=":10" /> The post office, which had been known as Bora Creek, also became called Howell, in July 1901.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1901-06-29 |title=Gazette News. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176480176 |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=Bundarra and Tingha Advocate |pages=2}}</ref>
The village had a sportsground—used for cricket, football, and athletic competitions—and a jockey club that hosted regular race meetings, at the village's racecourse.<ref name=":10" /> The village had a brass band that participated in 'B-grade' competitions.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1907-04-10 |title=MUSICAL FESTIVAL AT INVERELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165387808 |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |pages=925}}</ref> It even had a short-lived newspaper, ''The Bora Creek Digger.'' The paper had relocated from nearby Boggy Camp, where it had been known, during 1899, as the ''Boggy Camp Tingha and Bora Creek miner''.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Trove search result for:Boggy Camp Tingha and Bora Creek miner |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/category/newspapers?keyword=Boggy%20Camp%20Tingha%20and%20Bora%20Creek%20miner&l-title=1784 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=trove.nla.gov.au}}</ref> Published every second day, in 1900–1901, the newspaper apparently even survived for a while after its proprietor received a six-year prison sentence for "forging and uttering", while awaiting yet another trial for perjury.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1900-12-01 |title=News of the Week. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127548838 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Maitland Weekly Mercury |pages=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Crimes Act (1900) No. 40 - Part 5 |url=https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/1988-02-15/act-1900-040#ch.5 |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=legislation.nsw.gov.au}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1901-06-01 |title=MINING. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/194095705 |access-date=2025-03-02 |work=The Walcha Witness and Vernon County Record |pages=2}}</ref>
==== Decline and disappearance ==== The loss of 250 jobs, when the Conrad mine closed in March 1913,<ref name=":15" /> had immediate consequences for the mining village of Howell. Soon after the mine closed, a work gang of ethnic-Chinese demolished or relocated many of the village's houses and shops, selling them for reuse in nearby towns.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1914-06-19 |title=HOWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/183612471 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> Equipment and buildings of the mine were sold by an auction, over two days in June 1914. The items sold included the mine manager's house, built by the last manager of the mine, which sold for £40, a fraction of its original cost.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1914-06-30 |title=HOWELL. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183611747 |access-date=2025-07-28 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> Other buildings fell to ruin.
The declining village sent men to the First World War. The roll of honour from Howell's public school lists 54 names, nine of whom died.<ref name=":20" /> Although the school remained open, a classroom was removed and re-erected at Tingha, during 1918.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 March 1918 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/183604081 |work=The Inverell Times |pages=5}}</ref>
The licensee of the Bora Creek Hotel applied for a licence renewal in January 1918, but was only granted a final one year's renewal, to allow the sale of the licence and its transfer elsewhere. The licensing inspector had objected to the renewal, because the building was old and dilapidated, and he stated that the police had not insisted on repairs only because they knew that the business could not bear the cost. Howell was described as "practically deserted".<ref>{{Cite news |date=1918-01-29 |title=Bora Creek Hotel. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/183607815 |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> In early February 1919, the hotel's furniture, stove, baths and cooking utensils were put to an auction sale.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1919-01-31 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176514578 |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=Tingha Advocate and North-Western Journal |pages=4}}</ref>
Over its life, the village suffered greatly from fires. In March 1904, the Catholic church burned down, under suspicious circumstances.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1904-03-08 |title=Howell. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176971476 |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=Inverell Argus |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1903-08-13 |title=Howell. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/104892841 |access-date=2025-02-20 |work=Catholic Press |pages=9}}</ref> In December 1904, the assay office at the Conrad mine burned down.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1905-12-15 |title=FIRE AT HOWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/14736157 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |pages=7}}</ref> In February 1908, a fire destroyed one of the village's stores and its stock, all insured.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1908-02-20 |title=Fire at Howell |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/157198942 |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The National Advocate |pages=2}}</ref> However, the worst ones occurred during the years of the village's decline; a series of unexplained fires, starting in the early hours of the morning, which seem to have destroyed buildings that were insured but were never rebuilt.
In the early hours of the morning of 27 January 1915, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the village's post office, courthouse, and Holsted's general store.<ref name=":14">{{Cite news |date=1915-01-28 |title=DISASTROUS FIRE AT HOWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/115801279 |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=The Tamworth Daily Observer |pages=2}}</ref> The village's Court of Petty Sessions and Warden's Court had been abolished only a month earlier.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Howell Court of Petty Sessions |url=https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ORGANISATIONS1001676&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,Howell%20court&offset=0 |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=search.records.nsw.gov.au |language=en}}</ref> On 30 January 1915, only a few days after the earlier fire, a vacant house was destroyed in a fire, once again in the early hours of the morning and without apparent cause.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-02-05 |title=ANOTHER HOWELL FIRE. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141667238 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=The North Western Courier |pages=2}}</ref> In June 1929, the Conrad Hotel, the last hotel in the village, was delicensed; its fully furnished, two-storey building—the most substantial building in Howell—was destroyed by fire, during the early hours of 27 January 1930, almost to the hour, fifteen years after the large 1915 fire. It was insured.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1928-01-04 |title=TO CLOSE. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186080065 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref><ref name=":13">{{Cite news |date=1930-01-29 |title=CONRAD HOTEL |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185917595 |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref><ref name=":14" />
Despite protests, the police station closed in November 1934<ref>{{Cite news |date=1934-12-10 |title=HOWELL POLICE STATION |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185140645? |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Inverell Times |pages=3}}</ref> and, in the following year, the building was demolished and relocated to Inverell.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1935-07-19 |title=Howell Police Barracks |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184666604 |access-date=2025-02-21 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref>
The public school closed in October 1942,<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":10" /> when the population of the surrounding area was 40 to 50.<ref name=":10" /> The village's literary institute building replaced the school, as the polling place for the 1944 shire elections,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1944-11-10 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263365614 |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> and was still a polling place for the 1954 Australian federal election.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1954-05-28 |title=Arrangements for Voting To-morrow |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/191363875 |access-date=2025-03-08 |work=Inverell Times |pages=1}}</ref> The post office seems to have remained open,<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 August 1935 |title=OBITUARY |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184677750 |work=The Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> and it was operating in 1947.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 August 1947 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263421865 |work=The Inverell Times |pages=5}}</ref> In 1948, the Methodist church building was put up for sale by tender, separately to its land, and faced demolition and removal.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1946-09-13 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263393195 |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=Inverell Times |pages=5}}</ref>
Howell was described in November 1948 as, "''A mere handful of buildings, now reaching the ramshackle derelict state, are all that remains of a lively community''."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1948-11-29 |title=HOWELL. . . THE PAST. . . AND THE FUTURE |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263432205 |access-date=2025-07-30 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> Also in 1948, a judge observed that Howell's cemetery had not been used for many years and had a growth of "green timber".<ref>{{Cite news |date=1948-02-11 |title=Howell Cemetery Subject of Charge |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/263403752 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Inverell Times |pages=8}}</ref> Although the cemetery had some use,<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=Cemetery 6602 - Howell |url=https://austcemindex.com/cemetery?cemid=6602 |website=Australian Cemeteries Index}}</ref> even in the heyday of the village and more so thereafter, the remains of many Howell residents were interred at the cemetery at Inverell—possibly at least in part because of its proximity to the nearest hospital.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1911-06-02 |title=Obituary. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185928827 |access-date=2025-03-10 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-02-19 |title=Obituary. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185648591 |access-date=2025-03-10 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1940-08-02 |title=OBITUARY MR. JAMES SHANLEY. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185668146 |access-date=2025-03-10 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref>
There was a small revival of the village, after development work commenced on the Conrad mine during 1949, although most of the workers resided at Tingha.<ref name=":10" /> In November 1951, the village escaped destruction by a bushfire.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1951-11-23 |title=Howell Miners Fight Fires |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185860124 |access-date=2025-02-23 |work=Inverell Times |pages=1}}</ref> Howell still had its post office, in mid 1952<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 June 1952 |title=Inverell-Copeton Mail service |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185431665 |work=The Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> and its school of arts building, in mid 1954.<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 May 1954 |title=Advertising |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/191360201 |work=The Inverell Times |pages=3}}</ref> The closure of the Conrad mine in 1957, resulted in the abandonment of the village and the removal of twelve workers' cottages that had been erected there around 1949.<ref name=":10" />
==== Remnants ==== There is little left to show that the village ever existed.<ref name=":10" /> There is a dam on Borah Creek, near to the village site, in what was once known as Snake Gully.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":10" /> A road, still known as Conrad Street where it passes through what was once the village of Howell, leads to the abandoned site of the Conrad mine. Some vehicle tracks in the area follow the routes of former streets of the village, including Sharpe, Argent, and Allwell Streets.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Howell Road, was once a route to Inverell,<ref name=":19">{{Cite web |title=Parish of Mayo, County of Hardinge [cartographic material] : Land District of Inverell |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-616977610/view |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref> but it now ends abruptly at the shore of Lake Copeton;<ref name=":18" /> a now inundated section of the road's route runs through the submerged site of a village, Copeton, originally called Boggy Camp, which once stood on the left bank of Copes Creek, where diamonds were mined.<ref name=":19" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wiedemann |first=Elizabeth |url=https://library.inverell.nsw.gov.au/NINV/DOCUMENTS/JPEG/12.%20Bengonaway,%20Boggy%20Camp%20and%20Bora%20Creek.pdf |title=World of Its Own: Inverell's Early Years |publisher=Devill Publicity |year=1990 |location=Inverell |pages=171–176 |chapter=}}</ref> Before it flows into the lake, Copes Creek forms the northern boundary of the modern-day locality of Howell.<ref name=":18" />
Howell has a cemetery, which is located to the east of the former village's site.<ref name=":19" /><ref name=":21">{{Cite web |title=Howell Cemetery, Howell NSW 2360, Australia |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Howell+Cemetery/@-29.9477102,151.0389735,3130m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ba1e9cf58e6b88f:0x79d3dbadb5688cf2!8m2!3d-29.9533101!4d151.0621036!16s%2Fg%2F11v0b3c9l9?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDMwNC4wIKXMDSoJLDEwMjExNDUzSAFQAw%3D%3D |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Google maps |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":22" /> There are at least three headstones there, being those of; Joseph Dillion, a miner who was accidentally killed in the Conrad mine, in 1910;<ref>Inscription on grave of Joseph Dillon, Howell Cemetery, "Loving Memory of Joseph Dillon Accidentally Killed 9th April 1910 Aged 26 Years Now he has gone oh how we miss him, he had no time to say good bye, Erected by his mother."</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 April 1910 |title=Miner Killed Instantly |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239412135 |work=Daily Telegraph (Sydney) |pages=5}}</ref> Mary Ann Clarke, a 42-year-old woman, who died at Howell, in 1902, after giving birth to a daughter and receiving what was found to have been inadequate medical care;<ref>Inscription: Howell Cemetery "In Loving Memory of Our Dear Sister Mary Ann Clarke Died June 18th 1902 Aged 42 Years Deeply Mourned Erected by Her Loving Brothers"</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Inquest at Howell. MRS. CLARKE'S DEATH. VERDICT OF THE JURY. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184466851 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> and Joseph Gribble, a 92-year-old man who died at Howell in 1911.<ref>Inscription: Howell Cemetery "In Loving Memory of Joseph Gribble Died 2nd Nov [''sic''] 1911 Aged 92 Years Not gone from memory, not gone from love, but gone to a better home above" (The month on the headstone is in error as a contemporary newspaper report states that he died on Saturday, 2 September 1911.)</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=5 September 1911 |title=OBITUARY |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185925541 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> It is known that other burials occurred there,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1915-08-24 |title=MRS. ADELINE MARY HOBDAY. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185646108 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1918-09-27 |title=Late Frederick C. Ravenswood. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176514319 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Tingha Advocate and North-Western Journal |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1923-06-29 |title=Obituary. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176517351 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Tingha Advocate and North-Western Journal |pages=2}}</ref> from at latest April 1902<ref>{{Cite news |date=1902-04-29 |title=Howell. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176977967 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Inverell Argus |pages=2}}</ref> to at least as late as April 1933.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1933-04-07 |title=MINER KILLED |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185817319 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Inverell Times |pages=4}}</ref> One of those interred there was Peter Allwell, who in 1895 found the ore deposit that became the King Conrad mine.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1925-06-26 |title=OBITUARY. MR. PETER ALLWELL. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184193773 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> The public road to the cemetery was proposed to be closed, in 1970,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1970-04-03 |title=NOTIFICATION OF PROPOSED CLOSING OF ROADS |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220180936 |access-date=2025-03-09 |work=Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales |pages=1127}}</ref> but its former route is still partially discernible in aerial views.<ref name=":21" /><ref name=":19" /> Access to the cemetery now requires crossing privately owned land.
The Howell public school's First World War roll of honour is now at the Sports and Recreation Club in nearby Tingha.<ref name=":20">{{Cite web |title=Howell Public School First World War Roll of Honour, Tingha {{!}} NSW War Memorials Register |url=https://www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/memorials/howell-public-school-first-world-war-roll-honour-tingha |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au}}</ref> The court records of Howell were not lost in the courthouse fire of 1915, and are kept in the State Archives of New South Wales.<ref name=":12" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Howell Warden's Court |url=https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ORGANISATIONS1000725&context=L&vid=61SRA&lang=en_US&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,Howell%20court&offset=0 |access-date=2025-02-22 |website=search.records.nsw.gov.au |language=en}}</ref>
== Contamination and environmental impact == A legacy of mining is the contaminated Conrad mine site, and consequent contamination of Borah Creek, downstream of the Conrad mine site, and Maid's Creek, downstream of its confluence with Borah Creek. That contamination is exacerbated by the presence of insoluble arsenic compounds, as well as the metallic and acid contamination that can be expected from a base metal mine site.<ref name=":16">{{Cite journal |last1=Brookes |first1=K.A. |last2=McIlveen |first2=G.R. |date=1988 |title=The Impact of a Derelict Base Metals Mine on an Aquatic Environment |url=http://www.mwen.info/docs/imwa_1988/IMWA1988_Brooks_793.pdf |journal=Proceedings of Third International Mine Water Conference, Melbourne (International Mine Water Association) |publisher=Department of Mineral Resources, New South Wales}}</ref>
In October 1913, soon after the Conrad mine closed, a resident of Copeton noted that pollution from the mine site was affecting the water quality in the Gwydir River, killing fish in the river for five miles below the confluence of Maids Creek.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cant |first=T.W. |date=14 October 1913 |title=Correspondence. INVERELL'S WATER SUPPLY (To the Editor, The Times). |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/185932839 |work=Inverell Times |pages=2}}</ref> It had been identified, as early as 1922, that water from the Conrad mine contained dangerous levels of arsenic and needed careful handling. Significant environmental impacts from the site were identified during the 1970s.<ref name=":172"/>
Despite remediation work and capping of tailings dumps being carried out, the creek water and sediments were highly contaminated, in 2017—exceeding guidelines, both onsite and downstream of the mine—by contaminants carried in mine water flow and leachate from tailings dumps.<ref name=":16" /><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Connor |first=Gyan |title=Diagnosis of a base metal mine tailings capping failure |date=2018 |degree=MRes |publisher=Macquarie University |url=https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/Diagnosis_of_a_base_metal_mine_tailings_capping_failure/19438385/1?file=34536527 |language=en}}</ref> Both creeks are part of the catchment of Copeton Dam, but fortunately there is little effect on the dam's water quality.<ref name=":16" /> The mine site is managed under the Legacy Mines program of NSW Resources. Off-site environmental impacts make the site one of the highest-risk sites in the Derelict Mines Program database.<ref name=":172"/>
== References == <!-- Inline citations added to your article will automatically display here. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:REFB for instructions on how to add citations. --> {{reflist}}
== External links == {{commons}} * [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1532665773/view Map of the village of Howell and adjoining lands, Department of Lands, Sydney, N.S.W] * [https://www.facebook.com/groups/173600066693051/ Howell and Copeton Familes and Friends] - Facebook (public group)
Category:Armidale Regional Council Category:Mining towns in New South Wales Category:Ghost towns in New South Wales