Canadian Wilderness: Canadian and Mt Clear Circuit - 15 Kms

 U3A Hike No. 162

Hike Report by Anne

10 walkers met at Canadian to begin an exploration of the Whitehorse Ridge, led by mining enthusiast Gordon. Newly released from another lockdown, it was great to be walking as a group again. We crossed Main Road and headed into the pine forest wasteland south of Elsworth Street. This area has been christened “Mattress Mine” by the New Chums class, due to the amount of household waste dumped in the area. We were agreeably surprised to see that some large scale cleaning up of the area was occurring, with gorse, blackberries and rubbish removed from the area nearest Elsworth Street.

We stopped to look at the North Prince Extended airshaft – a former quartz mine shaft now being used to draw air from the Ballarat Goldfields mine. This mine was one of many quartz mines dotted along the Whitehorse Ridge during the 1870’s to 1900, following the indicator bands of dark slate and quartz that pointed to the presence of gold. Wandering on through the pine trees, mullock heaps, brick structures from past mines and household waste, we emerged onto Tinworth Avenue.

Crossing over, Gordon led us into an almost invisible track, that led to a hidden hut complete with a letter box. We wondered about who had built this fairly substantial structure, with its large bar set into one side and drug references painted around the walls. We crossed Indicator Lane and set off into the pine and scrub again until we met the fence line of Ballarat Goldfields. We followed the fence line, passing a water tower then reaching a high point that offered great views over the tailings dam of the mine, the Sebastopol plateau and the land beyond it.

South of Whitehorse Road we walked along a muddy track called Bradleys Lane, which wandered through a pine plantation. Our shoes were getting heavier as we squelched on through the mud, but one of the group found a novel way to wash off the mud by slipping into a fairly deep puddle. By this stage our thoughts were turning to morning tea, so we found a pine glade with needle-covered mounds to relax on.

Bradleys Lane intersected with Frenchmans Lane to lead us back onto Whitehorse Road, where two wedgetail eagles were spotted circling overhead. At the bottom of the hill, we joined the Yarrowee Trail heading back towards the city. Passing the Ballarat South Sewerage Works, we found the northern fenceline of Ballarat Goldfields and headed uphill to Brittain Street, completing a circumnavigation of the Goldfields Mine area. We came out opposite Mattress Mine, the area we had wandered through earlier in the day, and retraced our steps back to the starting point at Canadian.

It was a very interesting walk, through areas many of us had never been before. Despite feeling that we were in the wilderness, we were never very far from surburban Ballarat. If the area were cleared of dumped rubbish, it could become a great recreational asset for Ballarat.

Photos by Mark H, Chris and Anne