Whitehorse Range - Mt Helen Circuit
Whitehorse Range - Mt Helen Circuit 20th December 2018
An early surprise was the shortcut through Gordon's own yard as we climbed towards the Mt Pleasant pine forest. The trees cover an extensively mined area from the 1800's.
Unfortunately the tracks through the area have more recently been used to dump household waste, particularly mattresses. Local residents have had this issue highlighted in The Courier. The $31 cost of disposal of a mattress at the transfer station is relatively high compared to other councils. The manager of infrastructure at the council contends that this dumping was a problem even prior to the introduction of tip fees. We do need to continue to bring this problem to our councils’ attention for them to make this a priority.
As we travelled westerly, we could see the edge of the mine works currently operated by Castlemaine Goldfields Ltd, a subsidiary of the Asian company, LionGold.
The kilometres of tunnels extending towards Brown Hill have trucks capable of carrying 35 tonnes of ore from the work faces over 700 metres below the surface, 24 hours a day. Their subsurface mine maps are based on remarkably accurate surveys of the adits and shafts which were conducted in 1920's. They have a shed full of core samples of rocks below Ballarat. The company employs about 160 workers directly. We saw the heavy earthworks machinery extending the tailings storage works.
The next highlight was the view above the Southern Wastewater Treatment Plant. We passed the old Whitehorse Rd tip site and followed Frenchman's Lane which runs parallel to the Yarrowee River Trail to Magpie. Aubrey's Rd took us back to the pine forests where we had our break.
Large tracts of the plantation had been cleared for replanting. Jones Ave led back to Mt Clear and the track along Canadian Creek back to the Parker's.
Thanks again to Ingrid, Mary and Andrew for the sumptuous Christmas BBQ.
Gordon and Andrew were also recognised for their outstanding work in setting our trails each fortnight.
By Chris Charleson
We welcomed 3 new hikers, Ewan, Tony and Dick for our final
event of the year, departing from Valley Drive, Canadian. Led by Gordon, we
were to see the "backside" of south/east Ballarat.
An early surprise was the shortcut through Gordon's own yard as we climbed towards the Mt Pleasant pine forest. The trees cover an extensively mined area from the 1800's.
Unfortunately the tracks through the area have more recently been used to dump household waste, particularly mattresses. Local residents have had this issue highlighted in The Courier. The $31 cost of disposal of a mattress at the transfer station is relatively high compared to other councils. The manager of infrastructure at the council contends that this dumping was a problem even prior to the introduction of tip fees. We do need to continue to bring this problem to our councils’ attention for them to make this a priority.
As we travelled westerly, we could see the edge of the mine works currently operated by Castlemaine Goldfields Ltd, a subsidiary of the Asian company, LionGold.
The kilometres of tunnels extending towards Brown Hill have trucks capable of carrying 35 tonnes of ore from the work faces over 700 metres below the surface, 24 hours a day. Their subsurface mine maps are based on remarkably accurate surveys of the adits and shafts which were conducted in 1920's. They have a shed full of core samples of rocks below Ballarat. The company employs about 160 workers directly. We saw the heavy earthworks machinery extending the tailings storage works.
The next highlight was the view above the Southern Wastewater Treatment Plant. We passed the old Whitehorse Rd tip site and followed Frenchman's Lane which runs parallel to the Yarrowee River Trail to Magpie. Aubrey's Rd took us back to the pine forests where we had our break.
Large tracts of the plantation had been cleared for replanting. Jones Ave led back to Mt Clear and the track along Canadian Creek back to the Parker's.
Thanks again to Ingrid, Mary and Andrew for the sumptuous Christmas BBQ.
Gordon and Andrew were also recognised for their outstanding work in setting our trails each fortnight.
Photo's by Andrew Parker
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Thanks Chris, now I know a bit more about the Ballarat gold mine.
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