Jubilee Lake - Wombat Dam 12km

March 18, 2021

U3A Hike No 142

Hike Report by Frances

The early morning light on the countryside between Kirks Reservoir and Daylesford suggested the day would warm but it was still quite cool when we met at Jubilee Lake. Now a place of recreation, the lake created by damming Wombat Creek, was once the source of Daylesford’s water.

Twenty-six hikers dutifully posed as Andrew seized the first photo opportunity of the day as presented by the disused Daylesford to Creswick railway bridge, before setting out along the lake. The path was damp and muddy in spots, but the walking was easy.

Just before leaving the lake area, we stood beneath a beautiful grove of mature elms, reminders of the Europeans who brought something of their old countries with them when they settled in the area. There were further reminders later, some oaks and an isolated apple tree in a smallish clearing suggesting a long-gone cottage. Near the lake there is also a mineral spring.

Before long we were walking along an undulating bush track through tall slender wattle saplings and much more mature eucalyptus bush, spotting the occasional mine shaft and small quarry site. Morning tea took place on some logs beside the Three Lost Children’s road, named after the three small boys in 1867 who strayed sixteen kilometres from their home and tragically died on a bitterly cold night alone in the bush.

We left the road to walk along the Three Lost Children’s track, soon reaching the Wombat Creek Picnic Area before heading up the steepest incline we would encounter on this hike and arriving at the Wombat Dam. A small diversion to the spillway revealed a barely moving creek in contrast with the torrent hikers remembered from the previous walk here last October. We all enjoyed the peacefulness evoked by the dam.

In the nineteenth and part of the twentieth century there had been a mill beside the dam and the area would have been alive with the sounds of men cutting down the bush, milling the logs. Gordon said the mill closed in 1947, so many of the trees we saw have grown since then. We walked along the old sawmill track where the tramway once hauled logs back to Daylesford. Sadly, the existence of private properties prevents hikers from following the track all the way back. Gordon suggested that the pipes carrying the water from the dam to Daylesford could be under our feet.

Fortunately, the bush has recovered from much of the treatment meted out by past generations. Before long we were back on the same track we had followed earlier, past the tall trees, the wattles, and the lone apple tree. Uneventful except for a single late blooming, pink hyacinth orchid spotted by Chris and Marianne. Back through the shady elms, back to Jubilee Lake and a relaxing lunch, with the unexpected bonus of half a dozen peacocks wandering amongst us.

Photos by Andrew