Mining Sleuce with Riffle Base

This was on the verge for most of January 2020. First dumped outside the North Annandale, then migrating to the Annandale Shops. On 23 January, I finally succumbed and took it home. 

Puzzled by what it was, I sought the help of the facebook group StreetbountyInnerWest

The group came up with four leads.

1. Part of a Beehive
2. Washing Board
3. Roof Vent (eg in a Gable)
4. Mining Sleuce

With these leads this object would appear to be a Mining Sleuce Box with Riffles to strain the gold.
"After the soil of a hillside was turned into a slurry with water, it waschannelled down the hill into sluice boxes, where minerals were caught on “riffles” in the boxes."...https://maas.museum/changing-landscapes-mining-and-rural-infrastructure/



More at:

• Riffles are the timber battons across the base of the box https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riffle
• Placer Mining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placer_mining
• How to use a Sleuce https://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/how-to-use-a-sluice-box
• A rocker box (also known as a cradle). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocker_box
• Gold washing cradle used in the Ophir goldfields https://collection.maas.museum/object/253784
• Hargraves Cradle – Used to Make Australia’s First Payable Discovery of Gold  https://maas.museum/inside-the-collection/2012/09/26/hargraves-cradle-used-to-make-australias-first-payable-discovery-of-gold/

Gold Mining Links to Annandale

• "John Otto Weine (Dutch)was a bullock driver on the gold fields."... https://ramin.com.au/annandale/story-74b-trafalgar-street.shtml#weine
• Stanley Jevons http://ramin.com.au/walks/50s-Annandale-A-Short-Walk.shtml