Poverty Gully and Wattle Gully Mine, Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park Circuit - 11.1 Kms

 U3A Hike No. 224

Hike Report by Annette

At last we seemed to have a day for our hike when the weather was NOT going to be an issue!  Ten of us met at Kirks to travel to Guildford where, after a quick toilet stop, we travelled in convoy through Vaughan and Fryerstown to park at the side of the Vaughan-Chewton Rd near the scout camp.

Packs on and walking poles ready, we headed off into the bush, following our leader Gordon.
Not too far in, Gordon headed off the track and lead us down over a small running creek, then up a steep bank (a little challenging, being slippery with blackberries and prickly boxthorn to dodge).  Shortly after, we paused by the remains of a slate quarry where most took advantage of removing a layer of clothing!

As we continued on, there was the eerie sound of what seemed like a large pack of dogs howling, not too far away. Apparently, there was a dingo refuge close by. (Glad I wasn’t living out near them).  We passed some very old mullock heaps, but no real sign of the mines that must have been there once upon a time. Flowers were out everywhere, and, in spite of all the recent rains, it wasn’t too wet underfoot.

The Poverty Creek water channel was interesting, as it had ‘modern’ rubber/plastic lining in parts. Gordon told us that this aqueduct had remained in use providing water to Castlemaine until the 1990’s. The trail alongside the channel eventually brought us around to the site of the Wattle Gully gold mine. The first thing that drew our attention was the huge area of sand tailings from the mine, and the water pond. Both very dangerous as a lot of cyanide was used in the mining process, and was still present to this day.

We stopped on the far side of the mine, in the sun, and enjoyed some morning tea at a junction of the water channel.  Heading off again, we still followed the trail alongside the channel for a while, but then found ourselves on a track that ‘sort of’ followed the channel, but went up and down over small hills. At the top of one of those hills, we came upon the biggest of old boilers I have ever seen. Would have been most impressive in its workings days.

We finally left the channel and walked along another track for a couple of kilometres back to the cars. Packs off and into the cars and we drove back to Guilford where we sat in the park (near the big tree) and had lunch. 

Thanks Gordon for another very enjoyable hike!

Photos by Annette, Gordon and Mark H
















 
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