311. Mollonghip-Barkstead, Wombat State Forest, 11.2km, circuit

 U3A Hike No 311





Hike Report By Tina Evans

With the weather forecast earlier in the week giving lots of rain, just 6 hardy souls tuned up at Kirks. We headed to Mollongghip. Once we got out of our cars the icy wind hit us. So, we quickly set off along Slaters Road for the cover and shelter of Wombat Forrest. Just before we started to follow the signs for The Goldfields Trail, we saw about 30 kangaroos in the paddock on our right.

Soon we saw evidence of The Andersons Tramway in the form of a station for loading the logs onto the trams that were pulled by horses to the sawmill in Barkstead. When we arrived in Barkstead, we could see that logging was still a source of income for the locals.

The Andersons were six brothers that sailed to Melbourne from Scotland in 1850. The tramway was initially 5k long, but it was extended to 23k. When they eventually cut all the timber down in their area, they got into a dispute with other landowners. The dispute led them to stop logging and move to Smeaton where they set up their Flour Mill business.

Leaving Barkstead we turned left onto Mullens Dam Track. We had morning tea at Mullens Dam and were entertained by the wind blowing the water in patterns across the dam.

Leaving the dam, we continued along Mullens Track where we turned left onto Pinchgut Road. From here we walked up hill until we turned right onto Dredge Track. Here we saw a sign for free firewood collection area. Soon we were back on Slaters Road and heading back to where we had parked our cars. A kangaroo came bouncing down the road towards us before it eventually turned off and went into the same paddock where we had seen them at the start of our hike.

This was a very interesting hike with a lot of bush walking as well as track roads. Some of the tracks were waterlogged, and so we had to navigate around the muddy puddles that stretched across our path.

Thank you, Gordon, for a dry windy hike, and to Rob for his whipping skills.


Photos by Terry B, Gordon, Alan & Tina















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