UPPER YARRA GOLDFIELDS TRACK by Peter
Wilson, photos by Peter Wilson and Corrie van den BoschHOME PAGE | WHAT WE DO | EQUIPMENT | CONTACTS | RISK MANAGEMENT | PROGRAM | PHOTOS | MAGAZINE | LINKS
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UPPER YARRA GOLDFIELDS TRACK by Peter
Wilson, photos by Peter Wilson and Corrie van den Bosch
OCTOBER 2011
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In April 2011 a group of CWCV members joined with walkers from other clubs on a track-clearing day on the Upper Yarra Goldfields Track and later in the year a work party from other clubs continued the work. With all that work done in clearing and marking the track it seemed fitting that the walk be included on our program and so it was on 9th October.
According to a paper titled Historic Gold Mining Sites In St Andrews Mining Division dated June 1999 prepared by The Department Of Natural Resources & Environment the Upper Yarra Goldfield was opened in 1859 and mining developed around several main tributary creeks of the Yarra River.
The paper goes on to recount:
During the 1860s the alluvial miners concentrated their efforts on working the creek beds and banks through diverting streams or constructing cofferdams. At some places puddling machines were also tried. A favoured sluicing place was McMahon’s Creek where operations were undertaken to divert the stream and sluice loose shale on the bottom of creek. A major diversion scheme was undertaken here in 1864 when miners successfully drained the Yarra River by a tunnel through what is now known as the Great Peninsula.
It was from the site of this tunnel at the Great Peninsula (about 20 kilometres up the Woods Point Road from Warburton) that we set off on the twelve-kilometre circuit track through the forest and past some of the relics of that gold mining era.
From the car park the track leads down to the river near the entrance to the tunnel and to a set of concrete stepping-stones across the stream. Fortunately the water level was low enough for us to make the crossing with dry feet. At times of high water levels a short detour is needed to connect with the track on the other side of the river.
In the words of Ernest Hemingway it was “Across the River and into the Trees”. Having safely negotiated the stepping-stones the track led us on a wide circuit through forest dominated by tall eucalypts and tree ferns in the damp gullies; once noisy from the activities of miners searching for that elusive gold but quiet now except for bird calls and the cries of alarm from bushwalkers on discovering leeches attaching themselves to any exposed skin.
While the initial mining activity in the area was the search for alluvial gold in the bed of the river and its tributaries, extensive water races were built to support hydraulic sluicing that commenced in the region in the early 1870s. A section of the track follows the path of an old water race for about two kilometres and one has to admire the skills and tenaciousness of those early miners who surveyed and dug those channels, largely with hand tools, through difficult country.
Quartz reef mining also developed slowly from 1860. Our walk took us past some deep shafts (now fenced for safety) that are almost certainly relics of that activity. The June 1999 paper states:
Quartz Mining never progressed from the small scale and was undertaken by small co-operative parties of working miners either working new reefs or giving old mines another go.
and goes on to recount:
By the turn-of-the-century Upper Yarra quartz mining had still not progressed passed the small-scale stage. Mines flourished for brief periods of time as rich shoots of gold were found. … By 1910 most of these and other small co-operative companies had closed down.
There was more small-scale activity from 1913 to 1917 and again as late as 1948 but for all practical purposes, the Upper Yarra Goldfield was exhausted by the early 1900s and nature was left to heal the scars in the forest.
Our track eventually brought us back to the river at the opposite end of the tunnel to where we began. The absence of any visible stepping-stones at this point and a swiftly flowing river made for an easy decision to take a short detour around a road back to the cars.
My thanks to all those who participated and made the day an enjoyable one.
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