Surface Hill Heritage Walk
U3A Hike No 92
Hike Report by Geoff Howard
Eleven hikers met at Delacombe Town Centre on a cool morning pleased to find that, by the time we reached Smythesdale the weather had settled to provide a very pleasant walking day.
Gordon led us to Argyle Dam in the Surface Hill Reserve and from there we walked along parts of the extensive water race system constructed during the sluice mining era (1860’s to around 1900).
Starting from Argyle dam we followed along the roughly constructed races past several dams that had been breached at the end of their mining days, leaving only sections of the dam wall remaining. While the area now seems very dry, clearly it was able to capture and direct significant amounts of water in the mining days to allow the sluicing to occur across a large area. These water races were generally constructed by miners during summer, when water was scarce and when the sluicing could not operate.
While early parts of the walk could have been described as fairly rough, when we had to weave through some undergrowth on ill-defined paths, it can be reported that those fearless (or were they foolish?) walkers who allowed their legs to be exposed were fortunate not to be scratched by the prickly scrub and sword grass.
After about 8 km of tramping along the often ill-defined paths we reached Bowden‘s Water Race Walk which was more clearly defined, providing a very informative interpretation board.
This latter part of the walk took us past two more dams, the second of which still retains water.
Although the day was mostly sunny we were protected by the overhead eucalypts which included messmate, stringy bark and peppermint gums through to middle story with prickly acacias and a range of other species. After an early lunch at the waterless ‘Biden’s dam number one’ we completed the circuit back to Argyle Dam soon after 12 o’clock and adjourned to tea rooms in Smythesdale before returning to Ballarat.
We thank Gordon and Andrew for keeping us on the path
especially on earlier sections of the walk where the races had been
significantly damaged and were hard to follow.
Photo's by Andrew Parker
Hike Report by Geoff Howard
Eleven hikers met at Delacombe Town Centre on a cool morning pleased to find that, by the time we reached Smythesdale the weather had settled to provide a very pleasant walking day.
Gordon led us to Argyle Dam in the Surface Hill Reserve and from there we walked along parts of the extensive water race system constructed during the sluice mining era (1860’s to around 1900).
Starting from Argyle dam we followed along the roughly constructed races past several dams that had been breached at the end of their mining days, leaving only sections of the dam wall remaining. While the area now seems very dry, clearly it was able to capture and direct significant amounts of water in the mining days to allow the sluicing to occur across a large area. These water races were generally constructed by miners during summer, when water was scarce and when the sluicing could not operate.
While early parts of the walk could have been described as fairly rough, when we had to weave through some undergrowth on ill-defined paths, it can be reported that those fearless (or were they foolish?) walkers who allowed their legs to be exposed were fortunate not to be scratched by the prickly scrub and sword grass.
After about 8 km of tramping along the often ill-defined paths we reached Bowden‘s Water Race Walk which was more clearly defined, providing a very informative interpretation board.
This latter part of the walk took us past two more dams, the second of which still retains water.
Although the day was mostly sunny we were protected by the overhead eucalypts which included messmate, stringy bark and peppermint gums through to middle story with prickly acacias and a range of other species. After an early lunch at the waterless ‘Biden’s dam number one’ we completed the circuit back to Argyle Dam soon after 12 o’clock and adjourned to tea rooms in Smythesdale before returning to Ballarat.
We thank Gordon and Andrew for keeping us on the path
especially on earlier sections of the walk where the races had been
significantly damaged and were hard to follow.
Photo's by Andrew Parker
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