Red Knob, Red Hill
The above scene, while, in a way, rather picturesque, is the end result of the destructive effects of gold mining, in particular, hydraulic sluicing, which has erased the original landforms and vegetation, and left a heavily weed infested landscape stripped back to bedrock. And probably it all wouldn't have been possible if not for the transfer of vast amounts of water from the Loddon River, redirected to this area near Irishtown, Central Victoria.
All that lovers of nature can do for the moment, is to put aside their horror and view this area as an abandoned factory designed to process the earth in pursuit of gold. And as a factory, it's a remarkable relic of unfettered avarice, a lesson for us to ensure that we never again allow the promise of short term gain to override our responsibility to leave the land in a fit state for future generations.
The story of the Loddon Race has been explored in great detail by Jodie Turnbull, Peter Davies and Susan Lawrence in their study 'Rivers of Gold: The Loddon Company Water Management and Alluvial Mining at Fryerstown'. As they say in this study, 'The mining water system built by the River Loddon & Tributaries Water Supply Company operated under a succession of owners for almost a century. It was the most extensive private water supply network in the Castlemaine district and preserves some of the best examples of inverted siphons in Victoria and possibly Australia (page 7)'. It snaked for over 24 kilometres through rugged desiccated country, from its source in the upper Loddon, Holcombe, to finish at Red Hill, Fryerstown, emptying its by then sludge laden water into Fryerstown Creek (where it would have eventually made its way back into the Loddon River again). (Note: The authors of the above paper call the Loddon mining water system, the 'Loddon Race' and I will follow their example).
Hydraulic sluicing operations at Mitta Mitta
The Red Hill Hydraulic Gold Sluicing Site is considered to be of historical, archaeological and scientific importance to the State of Victoria as a characteristic and well preserved example of an early form of gold mining. Hydraulic sluicing of alluvial gold deposits is an important key ingredient in an understanding of historic gold mining technology and the way it shaped our landscape. So this area, which to the naturalist might seem a monument to short sightedness, is, to the historian, a fascinating relic of past industrial processes. For this reason, this area, north of the Vaughan Chewton Road and south of Fryers Creek, is worth exploring. And one way of doing that is by following the network of races and channels that carried the water that made hydraulic sluicing possible here.
In a previous blog I looked at one aspect of the scheme, the point where the Loddon Race intersected the extension of the Coliban Channel, at the Devil's Gully Tunnel. But in a series of blogs I hope to show you how you can walk large sections of the race, starting, in this first one, with the end point, that is, where all that Loddon River water ended up. This walk is around 11 km, longer if you choose to explore the interesting historical ruins at Red Hill.
So firstly a heads up. This walk requires a fair degree of fitness and surefootedness. And, needless to say, it requires an adventurous streak. There are almost no tracks guiding your way. This is a field rambling adventure, so walkers looking for a relaxing stroll should think twice about following my path! Having a GPS device or a mobile phone with a GPS app (I use Strava) as well as some sort of map is pretty handy, although, even if you get lost, you'll never be far from a road. (A map of the area can be found at the Cartography Community Mapping website). I've numbered key points in the walk (refer to the map above). Our starting point is a large cleared and firm area off Devil Track not far north of its intersection with Irishtown Track (see the green parking symbol on the above map). The roads in this section of the Castlemaine Dry Diggings National Heritage Park are a mixed lot but for much of the time these tracks are quite accessible to conventional vehicles.
The starting point of the Devil Track to Red Hill walk
After parking here and ensuring you have the usual accessories (water, snack and a jacket etc.), head off across Devil Track heading east into the scrub where you'll soon meet the incoming Crocodile Reservoir Channel (1) which once brought Coliban River water all the way from Malmsbury Reservoir. There is a parallel but lower race on this side of the road which is leading water in the opposite direction to Nuggety Gully, a gold mining area close to Damper Track. The Crocodile Reservoir channel soon crosses over Devil Track and leads to the remarkable intersection explored in my blog mentioned earlier (2).
On the upper centre right is the Crocodile Reservoir channel heading towards Devil's Tunnel (flowing from left to right). Bottom left is the Loddon Race taking water away from the tunnel towards Red Hill (flowing from right to left). The wooden slide gauge you see above would have regulated the flow along this race.
Race approaching Devil's Tunnel looking southwards
Follow the now combined channel south to examine Devil's Gully Tunnel and then continue up over the hill, crossing Irishtown Track, to pick up the race again at the south entrance, or exit depending on which way the water was running (3).
Devils Gully Tunnel southern entrance
The channel here is pretty much dead flat and so water will often sit here. This allowed water to flow in both directions depending on which company was using the channel at the time. Continue on to the next intersection. Here below, on the left, water is flowing in from the south from the Loddon River (towards the camera) and, on the right, flowing southwest (away from the camera) down a natural watercourse, towards Vaughan.
Head to the right (westwards) following the race as it falls precipitously down Rocky Gully to where it flows into Rocky Dam (4). You may find it full of water, or empty depending on the season.
If you look to the south, you'll be able to see the incoming Loddon Race high up on the southern cliff (left of photo). The River Loddon & Tributaries Water Supply Company also used this race to supply miners at Vaughan, while, at one stage, also allowing water which came from the Coliban system to flow along the same race. Once Rocky Dam filled to a certain height, it overflowed into the continuation of the race on the upper right and went on its merry way. The race now skirts a very steep hill. It would have been quite tricky constructing the race here. You can see how they were forced to shore up the channel sides with stone to prevent surface runoff from washing the race away.
Race beyond Rocky Dam
One needs to watch one's feet here. The path is littered with fallen branches and various plants such as Golden Wattle and Coffee Bush. It's a long way to fall. Continue picking your way around the slope following the race. After a while you pass a slate quarry and then later on some large and interesting rocks.
The race emerges close to the intersection of the Vaughan Chewton Road and the Drummond Vaughan Road (see photo below). Once this was quite a dangerous intersection owing to the angle both of these roads met and it was sometimes difficult to see approaching cars. The intersection has been improved by lowering the Drummond Vaughan Road and ensuring the two roads meet at a right angle. The remains of the old approaches can still be seen alongside the new road. The Vaughan race continues on the other side of the road (5).
If you have plenty of time you might choose to follow the Vaughan race on the west side of the road, although I should warn you that it's hard going in parts as the vegetation is quite thick along both sides of the race. But as we haven't got all day, we're going to cross over the Vaughan Chewton Road, and join a track which runs along parallel and close to the road. Turn right (east) and follow the track as it skirts one of the many deeply eroded creek gullies here, mirroring the course of the road (refer above map). Within about 160 metres we turn left to follow the Dry Diggings Track which is a major walking trail. To your left there appears to be a diversion channel which might once have allowed sluicing or panning for gold in the creek bed. In another 100 metres the track bends to head north and rises up over a low ridge. Soon there is a track intersection (6). Turn left to continue to follow the marked walking trail.
The incoming Loddon Race can be seen in the background of this photo. The track runs parallel to the race and soon meets it at a bend after which both track and race turn northwards (7).
The race can be seen here on the right. Continue to walk along the Dry Diggings track.
In about 150 m the water race crosses the track from right to left (8). Now it's time to follow the maze of channels and races to see where the incoming water once headed. To ensure we don't become hopelessly lost, we're going to always take the left fork of the Loddon Race.
The important thing now is to follow the races as closely as possible. After leaving the Dry Diggings track behind the race soon starts to descend steeply, This caused the water to gain pace and erode its sides. It leads down to an area of deep mine shafts where it pays to be careful where you put your feet (9).
Just past this mined area, our channel, which has almost disappeared, meets a more substantial race which has been cut through a ridge. We will meet up with this arm of the Loddon Race on the way back but for now we'll turn left (west) and follow it as it falls away down the slope (10).
Only a few metres down there is a minor race heading off to our right (north). It's a little hard to see but perhaps you can see it in the photo below. Because it's filled with leaf litter it looks more like an old walking trail than a water channel. If you miss this junction you'll find yourself at a dead end down the bottom of the slope where you can peer over the edge of a cliff.
Sticky Boronia (Cyanothamnus anemonifolia) is plentiful along this narrow race. This attractive native shrub only grows in a few localities in the wider region, seen here on both sides of the race.
Despite a washout blocking our path, if you look carefully you can see that the race continues across the other side.
Skirt around the washout and continue tracing your path along the race. When it becomes hard to discern its path, look to your left and you'll see that, in fact, the race is dropping away, descending down the hill at an angle (11).
Follow it down to where it once carried water that trickled into a poddy dam. Dams like this provided water for sluicers working in the gully below. Here's a view of this narrow dam looking to the north.
We will stay this side of the gully (below is how the gully looks from the west side).
A deeply eroded gully in the Red Hill area
Follow the race until you reach a T intersection (12).
Keeping to our plan of always taking the left fork, turn and follow the left channel.
This leads to another, though smaller, poddy dam. There's a mine shaft below the dam (13).
Retrace your steps, this time turning left at the junction encountered earlier. You'll have to look very carefully to see the next fork. It's just before a highly eroded and bare patch of ground. It starts as a small race filled with leaves but soon becomes more easily discernable as it wanders away to the west. Once again this race finishes at another poddy dam (14).
Go back to the bare eroded area, turn left along what was once a race. At some stage it became filled with sediment and now resembles a walking track.
It's not long before it shows a channel profile and, within a short distance, leads to a large poddy dam. This dam is interesting because it still has the remnants of a wooden valve. This wooden frame is all that's left of an elaborate structure which regulated water flow from the dam to the hydraulic sluices.
It's easier to walk along the bank of the dam and half way along you'll encounter a rusty V-joint piece of pipe which once was an integral part of the hydraulic sluice equipment. In The Loddon Company paper referred to earlier, an old miner, Verne Hooper, describes the process of hydraulic sluicing and how this piece allowed incoming water to be split to serve two important functions. Why it's perched there I'm not sure but it's handily placed because it points to where another race splits off to the left just below the dam (15). Perhaps you bypassed the previous side arms? Well, this one is worth exploring to the end because it leads to some particularly interesting remains. This is another side race that's inconspicuous at the beginning before deepening and becoming more substantial further on.
After a couple of hundred metres it ends at a substantial stone lined poddy dam.
It's worth continuing past the dam in a northerly direction (there's a walking track which leads the way). Not far ahead is a dumping ground for old sluice pipes, slowly rusting away (16).
As long as you're confident you can find your way back, further along the path you'll reach a sluiced field composed of piles of old river rocks, bare bedrock and eroded gullies. One is left to marvel not only at the energy of the men who created this maze of races, channels and sluicing works, but also the energy of the jets of water that melted the landscape, leaving the detritus of millennia behind.
Time to return to the main race again. Turning left you will pass below another poddy dam higher up the slope. 
The race now skirts a deep gully to the east before bending to head north again. Soon there's another fork in this maze. Again take the left option and follow this channel northwards where it will pass another large poddy dam before finishing at a smaller dam near a very eroded but picturesque gully. The Loddon Race report (cited earlier) calls these isolated remnants of the original ground surface, 'chimneys' (17).
The next stretch of the Loddon Race gets very confusing with parallel channels which head off in all directions and then disappear at eroded gullies before continuing on the other side. Probably the easiest thing to do is take the right fork from now on. We masochists will probably attempt to follow all the side races, at one stage finishing below a high dam wall (19).
If you've stuck to the plan of taking only left forks and you find yourself below the dam above, you're free to cheat a little. Climb up into this dam and cut the corner to the main Loddon Race. Almost done. The race then runs close to the track we walked in on at the start. You can either walk out along this unnamed track which appears to be the western extension of Irishtown Track (making sure you don't turn south on to the Dry Diggings track) or continue to follow a rather densely vegetated channel as it circles north around a hill, skirting a very large dam near private houses fronting the Vaughan Chewton Road. It's easier walking along the dam bank.
It isn't long before the road is reached. The race here is quite silted up from the run off from the gravel road (20).
Whew! Thankfully the final section of the Devil Track Red Hill walk is quite straightforward. Cross the road and you'll find the race heads off north again. There's one tricky part where you have to leave the channel to avoid entering private property. Walk along the fence line to where the Loddon Race, now quite deep, emerges again.
Once past the private property thankfully there are no left hand forks worth following. However there are two large poddy dams on the downhill side of the channel. The race is cut deeply through rock at various stages.
The Loddon Race east of Vaughan Chewton Rd
Simply continue on until you reach your starting point. I hope you enjoyed your field rambling adventure. At the very least you should be feeling a lot fitter as a result of your perambulations!
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