Boden's Water Races 1 and 3, Surface Hill Heritage Reserve Circuit - 10.3 Kms

 U3A Hike No. 230


Hike Report by Anne

Eleven walkers assembled at Argyle Dam, Surface Hill, on a soft, foggy morning. The fog held off the heat which was predicted for later in the day, and was very atmospheric as we crossed the dam wall.

We were setting out on an 10.3 km walk to explore some of the dams and water races built by Thomas Boden and Party during the 1860’s and 1870’s. Boden’s party were sluicing for gold around Watsons Hill, Surface Hill and Hard Hill in a quartz area south of Smythesdale. In the early years of operation, the water ran out in summer, so they started catching water in dams and transporting it from valley to valley to the gold sluicing areas. Near Watsons Hill, a wooden flume was used to move the water across a valley, and the water from Argyle Dam was pumped uphill to Surface Hill. More commonly, the water was moved by gravity through the extensive system of races. The system was constructed over several years, hand dug by the miners who worked for the company, during times of mining inactivity (mid to late summer).

We walked along a very dusty stretch of road recently scraped out by machinery, with fallen trees along the edge. This area was being prepared for burn off some time in the coming months. We left the road and followed part of the Boden’s No 3 race walk, basically making our way slowly through open scrub. Trees had fallen across the old water race and we were constantly hopping from one bank to the other or skirting around trees and shrubs. We left the race at Doctors Road which we followed until the start of Boden’s No 2 race walk.

The path on this walk was clearly marked and used more than the previous one. It was hard to pick the race at times, and at others it was a deep erosion gully. We had a morning tea break near the start of this section. We saw many more wildflowers along this track compared with the earlier race. Flowers included blue pin cushions, bluebell creeper (Billardiera heterophylla), twining fringe lily, goodenias and a pretty little 5-petalled pink flower that I can’t name. As the walk continued, we passed two dams built by Boden’s party, the first one breached and the second one still intact and holding water. It was eerily quiet, with no frog noises.

We left the race and headed north on dirt roads again, taking a diversion to see the remains of hydraulic sluicing at Surface Hill. This was quite a sight! A large area of the hill had been washed away, leaving eroded gullies and cliff faces and huge piles of discarded quartz stones. Amongst the rubble we saw a lone spotted hyacinth orchid. From here, we walked back past Argyle Dam to our cars, where we found a shady spot by the dam for lunch.

Thanks to Gordon for leading a very interesting walk.

See the links after the photos for GPX file download, interactive map and historical notes

Photos by Mark B





















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