The Commonwealth was Crown-granted to Ben Perkins and Hugh Reed in 1898. In 1901 the Big Eddy and Commonwealth were both being developed by Hugh Reed et al.

In 1901 the Big Eddy was described as having two tunnels in altered diorite; one at the river level was in 8 metres and another 12 metres higher in elevation was in 36 metres. The upper tunnel started on a vein 20 centimetres wide at the entrance but pinched to about 2.5 centimetres at 23 metres in. The tunnel also intersected a second and smaller vein said to be the same as the one occurring in the lower tunnel. The quartz carries galena and pyrite scattered throughout it.

It was also reported in 1901 that on the Commonwealth a shaft had been sunk for 30 metres with a drift of 26 metres at the bottom. While the nature of the ore on the Commonwealth was not reported it was stated that the conditions were similar to the Big Eddy.

The claims were held by World Cement Industries Inc. in the 1980s. Please refer to the Riverside (082ESE114) for further details.