page_title: Rock Bolting Development Site
section_title: Heritage listing
hierarchical_section_title: Rock Bolting Development Site / Heritage listing
caption_attribution_description: English: Rock Bolting Development Site: SHR Plan No 2892
context_page_description: Rock Bolting Development Site is a heritage-listed former rock bolt experiment site at Sharp Street, Cooma, Snowy Monaro Regional Council, New South Wales, Australia. It was used by Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority personnel from 1956 to 1962. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 23 December 2016.
context_section_description: The Rock Bolting Development Site is of state heritage significance as the location of field testing of a pioneering Australian methodology for the permanent support of underground excavations in hard rock, using patterned rock bolting. The practice made tunneling safer, faster, and less expensive than earlier methods and quickly spread worldwide; it continues with little change today.
  The drilled holes and remnant rock bolts exposed in the rock faces of Lambie Gorge are evidence of where "pull-out" tests were undertaken to prove a rock-bolt anchorage that was as strong as the bolt itself.
  Rock bolts had been used in coal mines from 1912 primarily to attach loose slabs to more stable rock layers, and their use began in hard rock in Sweden in 1939.
  However, the approach was empirical without theoretical guidance or the backing of laboratory experiments. The methodology for the permanent support of underground excavations in hard rock was developed by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority between the mid 1950s and the early 1960s, through design research, coupled with testing, measurement and trials.
  Rock Bolting Development Site was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 23 December 2016 having satisfied the following criteria.
  The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.
  The Rock Bolting Development site is of state heritage significance for its role in the history and development of the applied science of rock mechanics in NSW, Australia and internationally. It was the site at which a quantum leap in knowledge, methods and techniques of rock excavation and tunnelling were developed in the 1950s and 1960s. The new methodology led to a significant reduction in the cost of rock excavation and tunnelling, vast improvements in safety of workers and increased speed at which rock tunnelling projects could be completed.
  The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.
  The Rock Bolting Development site is of state heritage significance for its strong association with the widely acclaimed Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority and its expert professional staff. The new methodology had significant associations with major tunnelling contractors.
  The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
  The Rock Bolting Development site is of state significance for its aesthetic and technical values in NSW. The aesthetically distinctive rock face and scattered remnant shards are a strong visual representation of the creative and lateral thinking leading to the ground-breaking research in the science of rock mechanics.
  The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
  Regarded as the most significant engineering development made on the Snowy Scheme, the Rock Bolting Development site is of state significance as it is held in high esteem by the engineering fraternity in NSW and Australia.
  The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
  The Rock Bolting Development site, with its still evident bolts and bore sites and the rock shards dislodged during experiments, is of state heritage significance for its potential to demonstrate the process of developing the rock bolting techniques in NSW. The site can also demonstrate the precedence of the work of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority and its impact in the engineering fraternity worldwide.
  The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
  The Rock Bolting Development site is of state heritage significance as it is the only site where such activity was undertaken in Australia.
  The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteri
caption: Heritage boundaries
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