The Loddon Company Channel : A Walking Guide, Devil Track to 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 Company Channel 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, Drummond North, 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).
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. This area, north of the Vaughan Chewton Road, east of Fryer Creek, and south of Campbells Creek Fryers Rd, is well worth visiting and one way of doing so is to explore 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 Company Channel 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 channel, 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. 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.
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 Company channel taking water away from the tunnel towards Red Hill (flowing from right to left). The wooden sluice you see above would have allowed this channel to be blocked allowing water from the Coliban River to flow south through Devil's Tunnel.
Follow the now combined channel south to examine Devil's Tunnel and then continue up over the hill, crossing Irishtown Track, to pick up the channel again at the south entrance, or exit depending on which way the water was running (3).
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 left, flowing southwest (away from the camera) down a natural watercourse, towards Vaughan.
Head to the right (westwards) following the channel 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.
The channel now skirts a very steep hill. It would have been quite tricky constructing the channel here. You can see how they were forced to shore up the channel sides with stone to prevent surface runoff from washing the channel away.
The channel 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 channel continues on the other side of the road (5).
If you have plenty of time you might choose to follow the Vaughan channel on the west side of the road but it's hard going in parts as the vegetation is quite thick along both sides of the channel. 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 channel can be seen here on the right. Continue to walk along the Dry Diggings track.
In about 150 m the channel crosses the track from right to left (8). Now it's time to follow the maze of channels 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 channel.
One thing you'll notice is how many 'poddy' dams are in this area (or sluice heads as they're referred to in the previously cited report by Turnbull, Davies and Lawrence). These are marked with a blue D on the above map). These dams stored incoming Loddon water which would then be used in sluicing operations. In hydraulic sluicing, the outflow of these dams would be directed to pipelines which directed streams of high pressure jets of water to blast away large slabs of earth. At Red Hill, it was Arthur Bradfield and his sons George and Ray, as late as the 1950's using this method. The most dramatic of these eroded landscapes can been seen along the Vaughan Chewton Road at Red Knob (see top photo). Piles of discarded rusting pipes can be seen scattered at various locations through the landscape.
The important thing now is to follow the channels as closely as possible. After leaving the Dry Diggings track behind the channel soon starts to descend steeply, This caused the water to gain pace and erode the sides of the channel. It leads down to an area of deep mine shafts where it pays to be careful where you put your feet (9).
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 channel. This attractive native shrub only grows in a few localities in the wider region, seen here on both sides of the race.
Retrace your steps, this time turning left at the junction encountered earlier. You'll have to look very carefully to see the next channel fork. It's just before a highly eroded 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 sluice head 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 sluice head dam. This dam is interesting because it still has a valve in reasonable order. Perhaps this wooden frame allowed a rope to raise or lower a sluice gate?
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.
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 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 channel again. Turning left you will pass below another sluice head dam higher up the slope.
The channel now skirts a deep gully to the east before bending to head north again. Soon there's another fork in the road. Again take the left option and follow this channel northwards where it will pass another large sluice head dam before finishing at a smaller dam near a very eroded but picturesque gully. The Loddon Company channel report (cited earlier) calls these isolated remnants of the original ground surface, 'chimneys' (17).
There's no choice but to turn around and pick up the channel at the earlier intersection. Turn left and follow the channel southwards. This quite a long stretch of about 400 m. You'll reach pretty much where we met the more substantial race that had been cut through the ridge near the mine shafts. The channel then turns east and then north past the head of another deep gully. There are a few channels running parallel to each other, perhaps excavated at various times as the gully continued to erode undermining earlier channels. Continue north. The channel then bends and crosses the Dry Diggings Track and soon heads south again. There's a narrow side channel here which disappears into an impressive sluice field (18). Quite often you'll see detectorists parked nearby trying their luck in this vicinity. They appear to be very good at finding lead shot!
If you prefer, you can climb up and into this dam and cut the corner to the main Loddon Company channel or else head back and take the left fork at the next intersection (avoiding heading up the two natural gullies on your left).
Comments
Post a Comment