306. Hard Hill Water Race Walk 10km
U3A Hike No 306
Source:Woady Yaloak Historical Society
Hike Report By Ann Ottrey
Fourteen walkers set out on this 10km circuit 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.
Our walk today was located in the southern part of Boden’s operations, around Hard Hill.
We set off for two dams east of Doctors Road – State Forest Dam and Big Dam. Big Dam
was, unsurprisingly, the largest dam in the race system, covering a large surface area but
relatively shallow. There was little water to be seen, but the original valve in the dam wall
was still in place – a rare thing in an old mining dam. We stopped for morning tea nearby,
before following part of a water race back to Doctors Road.
The walks in this area were originally laid out with tracks and signs to follow some of
Boden’s water race lines. These have gradually become indistinct over the years due to bushfires,
infill and erosion, so our walk today followed a mix of tracks, roads and very occasionally a water
race.
We saw our first wildflowers west of Doctors Road with pink and white heath in bloom.
We visited another two dams in this western section – Hard Hill Dam and Skipper Dam, both
of which contained water. The climbs up the dam walls were quite steep and slippery and
many of us slid back down on our bottoms.
The last section of the walk back to the cars was described by Gordon as quite a roller coaster,
and so it proved to be.
Thanks to Gordon for another great bushwalk through an area of interesting mining remains, and thanks to Peter for accepting the role as whip.
Photos By Gordon Talbett
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Photos By Marianne Kennedy
LINKS
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