Zebina Lane
LANE, Zebina Bartholomew, MAusIME MAusIMM MLC (1856-1912)
Zebina Lane was born at Mount Moliagul near Bendigo, Victoria, on January 27, 1856, the eldest son of Canadian mining engineer Zebina Lane and his wife Mary Lane née Kearney. His early education was in Bendigo, before he commenced an apprenticeship in mechanical fitting at the Central Foundry in Melbourne in 1871. In 1880 Lane was working as a carriage greaser in Melbourne. He then joined the Colonial Smelting Company at Kyneton, later moving to New Zealand and also visiting California.
On February 12, 1878, Zebina married Euphemia Leslie, at Sandhurst, North Bendigo, and they had five children. The first child, Mary Janet, died in infancy; another child, George, died from diphtheria aged 3 years; and a third child, Marion Myrtle, died from lead poisoning, aged 2 years, in Broken Hill. The two surviving sons were Alexander Leslie and Gordon Leslie who were ultimately established as graziers by Zebina on a 4,300 acre property, Flowerdale Station, near Broadford, Victoria.
In 1885 Lane moved to Broken Hill and in 1887 was appointed manager of the Consolidated North Broken Hill mine. In 1888 he became manager of the Block 14 mine. The Block 14 Mining Company Limited had been floated off from BHP in 1887 and was a significant mine.
Lane was Secretary of the Barrier Amalgamated Mining Managers Association from 1887 and was appointed Chairman in 1892. He was a founder Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers, and was a founding Councillor in 1893. Zebina was elected to the first Broken Hill Municipal Council on December 1, 1888 as the representative for King Ward which he held until his resignation in 1891. He served as the second Mayor of Broken Hill between 1889 to 1890. In 1889 he was made Captain of the Reserve Rifle Corps in Broken Hill.
In 1892, with the price of silver falling, BHP, Block 14 Mining Company and other miners proposed the introduction of contract mining to reduce costs without employing union labour. Zebina Lane was the focus of much of the anger of unionists, and an effigy of him was burnt in the main street. He left Broken Hill with his wife and two sons temporarily for their safety. He left his position as Manager of Block 14 on September 14, 1893. Later, in October 1893, he was formally farewelled and a presentation of a salver containing 100 ounces of silver and a medallion was made to him.
On November 18, 1893, Lane arrived in Albany on the “Ophir” on his way to the West Australian Goldfields to assess prospects for a syndicate wishing to float mining companies in the Adelaide and Melbourne markets. Zebina made an extensive tour of the Goldfields with a focus on mining leases at the southern end of what became the Golden Mile. In 1894 he travelled to London where he assisted George Doolette of the Coolgardie Gold Mining and Prospecting Company launch Great Boulder Propriety Gold Mines Limited, and was appointed the company’s superintending engineer and attorney.
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In October 1894, Lane formed the investment group, the British Westralia Company, which resulted in his appointment as the superintending engineer of the Great Boulder Perserverance, Great Boulder South and the Boulder Bonanza mines. In June 1896, Zebina became the Managing Director of Hannan’s Public Crushing, Condensing and Saw Mills Company Limited, providing mining services to other companies.
Lane was also interested in coal, and in 1899 he assisted in floating Collie Proprietary Coalfields of WA Limited, becoming a director of the company from 1904 to 1908. He made an unsuccessful attempt to briquette Collie coal in 1902.
Lane adopted the title 'Colonel', being the honorary colonel of the 1st Battalion of the West Australian Infantry.
From the late 1890’s to 1904, his company, Zebina Lane and Co, developed suburban land near East Perth known as the Westralia and East Norwood (Joel Terrace) subdivisions. In 1901 he assisted James MacCallum Smith to purchase the Sunday Times.
Zebina was a Liberal Member of the Legislative Council for the Metroplitan Suburban Province from September 1903 to May 1908. He left Western Australia in 1910 to retire to Victoria. He had abdominal surgery for appendicitis and complications necessitated four subsequent surgeries including one in London in 1910.
He died in Berlin, Germany, where he had travelled for medical treatment, on October 20, 1912, aged 56. He was survived by his wife Euphemia and their two sons.
References:
Denis A Cumming and Richard G Hartley, Westralian Founders of Twentieth Century Mining, Richard G Hartley, Ross Moyne, 2014.
John M Dew, Mining People – A Century, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Parkville, Victoria, 1993.
Anne Porter, Lane, Zebina (1829–1906), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed online 3 March 2021.
Geoffrey Blainey, The Golden Mile, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards NSW, 1993, pp. 14-16.
Bendigo Advertiser, 7.3.1878, p. 2.
Adelaide Advertiser, 3.10.1893, p. 3.
Barrier Miner, 23.10.1912, p. 4.
Western Mail, 25.10.12, p. 19.
