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Dumbara Graphite Mine

In the year one thousand eight hundred and sixties, the company called Freudenberg, which belonged to Britain, started digging in this mine. The said poet has well described the nature of the mine they built that day to extract the great graphite deposit that was spread over the area. Even today, he has the ability to see with his own eyes the nature of the mine that is described in those four verses when he entered it.

This graphite mine is not dug underground like other mines. This is a dona that has penetrated a natural mountain and extended into it. The nature of this is really similar to the nature of a railway tunnel. This is a mining industry. The average height of the Donna is about 8 feet. Width is about 5 feet. The walls on both sides were made with stone walls and concrete beams were used to strengthen the walls. Today these are crumbling in places. The total length of the Dona is said to be around 2-3 km. But it is difficult to say exactly how much the total distance is. Because this Dona is currently collapsing in some places and it is dangerous to walk in it. Today, a large stream of water constantly flows through the Dona. Except for its facade, the interior is completely covered in darkness. Inside has become a paradise for bats. As the poet mentions, this dona walks looking towards the West. When the sun rises in the morning, the sunlight spreads right through the portal of the Dona for a short distance into it. After a short distance here, there will be another side road that splits. It has also moved towards the western direction.

Sunlit tunnel mouth

At that time, a hydroelectric generator was installed near the Dona in order to break the darkness of this Dona. Where this generator was built using a large turbine, two huge cement pillars where the turbine was installed can be seen even today. It is said that as the Dona gradually spread away, there were large holes made in places to get air circulation in it.

The two large embankments where the turbine was installed

A turbine used for a mining industry in a foreign country may have been a similar turbine in Dumbara.

A tank used for transporting goods
A transport device called dakku was used to bring out the graphite extracted from the dona. Even today, these tanks can be seen along the railway lines. A type of vehicle with a large bucket and iron wheels is called dakku. They have to be pushed by someone to make them run. These run on rails. In the middle of this dona, rails have been installed for driving the dakku. The railway line extends directly to the Kalu Ganga, which flows not far from Dona. Today, you can't see the rails, but you can see the straight line that it spanned. In this way, the graphite brought to the river from the barge is then directly loaded into the barge. The ferry arrives at Kalutara along the Kalu Ganga and returns to Colombo port along the sea. The graphite being loaded onto the ship from the port has been taken to England by accident. It is said that the people who were engaged in these tasks at that time were hundreds of thousands.