Despite a series of financial scandals associated with the parent Chillagoe operation and the temporary closure of its smelters, Mungana continued to develop. The Lady Jane Mine was regarded as "promising" and in 1909 new plant was installed including a Babcock boiler. The Mungana Mining Co. installed a pumping plant at Girofla in 1911 that was one of the largest in Queensland at the time and required considerable supporting infrastructure. It consisted of a beam pump with a sweep, a tandem compound engine with an long crank shaft and a weight fly wheel in diameter. Like many of its contemporaries, Mungana had a reputation as a wild frontier township. The large number of men, physical isolation and tough living conditions resulted in frequent fights and drunkenness. In October 1901 a domestic servant named Hannah Treacy was murdered by a drunken miner, Richard Henderson, who soon after committed suicide. The offender is believed to occupy one of at least three graves rumoured to exist at the end of Main Street. A formal cemetery was established approximately two kilometres from the township in the early twentieth century, consisting of both marked and unmarked graves. The oldest known burial is dated 1904. The town racetrack was also located in this area and one of the cemetery fence posts was the fourth furlong marker.
