The Coliban Main Channel : Walk 1: Malmsbury Reservoir to Forrest Road:

Malmsbury Reservoir, prior to 1939 (all historic photos sourced from the State Library, Victoria)

Introduction

    In this series of blogs I'll be revisiting the walks described in my book 'The Coliban Main Channel: A Walking Guide" (2023). As this book is now out of print, Field Rambling in Central Victoria seems a good place to expand on the original walk descriptions where new (and corrected) information has become available and, in addition, to focus more on the walking experience rather than historical exposition.

    In the original book, the aim was not only to provide specific walks, but also to leave open the possibility that walkers might attempt to walk the entire length of the channel over a number of days. Theoretically, it could be done in just two days although three would allow a more comfortable pace. I say 'theoretically' because undertaking the entire walk would be far from an easy task, or even possible, as some sections are inaccessible, some are within freehold land, and as the Channel is still in operation, sections may be closed off for maintenance from time to time.

    As I wrote in the introduction to the book 'Nevertheless, within the book, maps have been provided which offer suggestions for those walkers keen to see some (or most) of the channel. While the access track is well maintained and marked along some stretches of the channel, in other parts, access tracks are indiscernible or  non-existent.'

    So bearing all this in mind let's begin with the most obvious starting point, the car park at Malmsbury reservoir. The reservoir can be reached via Evans Street Malmsbury.

Malmsbury Reservoir picnic area and car park

     Today the Malmsbury reservoir is a beautifully maintained and popular tourist destination. It boasts manicured lawns, picnic facilities, a playground and a shelter.

    A more detailed version of the rather sad history of the early days of the Malmsbury Reservoir is told in my book but as this blog is more of a walking guide, suffice it to say that the contract for the construction of the Malmsbury Reservoir was let in June 1866 with the completion date August of the following year, but from the start there were problems. Besides a host of challenges, there was considerable friction between the Superintending Engineer Hendrick Oscar 'Henry' Christopherson and the contractor Greenwood which culminated in the sacking of  both men.

    The appointment of a new contractor in 1869 failed to improve matters. Matters came to a head in 1870 when key decisions made earlier proved disastrous. One of these was the importation from England, and erection of an insufficiently strong water tower (shown in the photo at top). This meant that the outlet valves regulated by the tower never functioned properly and had to be modified to allow water to flow at a satisfactory rate through an outlet pipe which ran through the embankment wall. But the main problem was the unsuitability of the outlet pipe itself. Christopherson had bought a stock of obsolete Melbourne Sewer company cast-iron segments which, according to his plan, were to be bolted together to form pipes able to be used at both Malmsbury reservoir and the Back Creek syphon. It can't be overstated just what an ill thought out decision this was. The cobbled together pipes failed, resulting in greatly increased costs and a delay of almost 4 years in completing the project.

    Below is a map (amended from the one in the Coliban Walking Guide book) showing some of the key details of this walk along the Coliban Main Channel.

    A version of this map was included in the walk description in the book. There has been one significant change. The original walk finished by continuing along the Adamson Street extension until the railway line was reached, before turning east along Fleming Street. This amended walk finishes by taking a look at a number of interesting buildings, most notably the Malmsbury Railway station. The original path is marked by the black hatched line.

        

   The Coliban Main Channel: Walk 1: Malmsbury Reservoir to Forrest Road 

    In this, the first part of the channel, we will concentrate on the return walk of 6 km, although, if a car shuttle can be organised, walkers can continue to the parking area marked on an old and now obsolete alignment of the Calder Highway. Those walkers deciding to do the return walk to the Malmsbury Reservoir carpark can choose to return the way they came, or else cross over the channel at Forrest Road and return along a walking track (yellow hatched line) that runs between the channel and Coliban River. The remainder of that walk will be described in the track notes below.

    You begin the walk from the car park. Head towards the chain-link fence that borders the channel. The channel access path can be reached by opening the gate and then descending the path that follows the bluestone lined channel down to the bridge over the channel.

Sluice Gates: Main Channel left foreground. In middle distance is the compensation channel leading to the Coliban River

    Unfortunately, the interesting initial sections of the Channel shown in this photo can't be more closely inspected for reasons not immediately apparent, but most likely dictated by Coliban Water's insurance brokers.

    What can be seen in the photo above is a junction. The Channel continues to the left (or north) beyond what is called a 'tank' (now fenced) but the offshoot here is known as a compensation channel, so called because it provides a guaranteed flow to the Coliban River and was necessary, not only to ensure the ecological values of the river, but also to satisfy the needs of the farmers and miners who lived and worked downstream.

    The engineer who designed the Coliban system, Joseph Brady, estimated that the total flow travelling the Coliban system should be divided into three, one third to the Channel, to provide water to the Castlemaine and Bendigo districts; one third to the Coliban River and, the remainder which would probably be lost to seepage and evaporation.

    Cross over the bridge shown in the photo below. You are now on the southern side of the Channel; proceed along the grassy track that leads up to the impressive Malmsbury Railway viaduct.    

    Access track bridge over the Coliban Main Channel at Malmsbury

    Heading north east along the grassy track you’ll notice that the concrete race runs parallel to the original open channel (which runs to the northwest of the concrete race). Along many stretches of the Coliban channel you will see the old open channel diverge and head off in a different direction. There are some interesting historical artifacts within and beside the old superseded channel but it quite often takes a fair amount of effort to view them. It’s recommended that walkers on the outbound leg of Walk 1 stay on the main Coliban Channel access track.

    About 500 metres into the walk you will pass under the heritage listed Malmsbury Railway Viaduct. Built in 1859 to span the Coliban River, the Viaduct is one of the largest 19th century bluestone structures in Victoria. It remains both an impressive sight and a significant engineering achievement consisting of 5 arched spans, 152 metres in length. 

Malmsbury Viaduct, looking north ca. 1900

    As can be seen above, in earlier times the access track crossed over to the other side of the Channel at this point. These days the track continues straight on. The Channel is now concrete lined all the way to Forrest Road.

        At some point in the late 1920's it was decided to replace the old open channel with concrete 'bucket' channeling which allowed them to take a more direct path.

(Colourised) Rose series postcard, Malmsbury Viaduct looking south, ca. 1934

Present day view

    Perhaps taken at the same time as the 1934 photo above, here's a view from around the same point but looking northwards towards the old Calder Highway (Mollison Street). 

    You can see that the original channel headed off to the left (west) to pass under yet another pedestrian bridge. Note the single young pine tree on the 'island' between the old and new channels. Below is a present day view taken from the same spot. You will get a closer view of the chimney in the background a little later in this walk.

    It can be seen that the concrete channel built prior to 1934 had ribbed sides, the lack of that ribbing in the recent photo indicates that this section of the channel has been replaced at least once. Note the growth of the pine tree shown in the previous photo, now accompanied by a whole family of aging pines. Here's how that old section of the open channel looks like today.

    Continue up the track. Ahead is an open gate. The Coliban River is very close by on your right. Across, on the other side of the river is the Malmsbury Botanic Gardens. Established in the 1850’s they are one of the earliest regional botanic gardens, with many old and notable trees. It's well worth a side trip.    

    Just beyond the junction of the old open channel and the concrete race, you might be able to see the remains of an old brick weir (see photo below). The weir allowed water to be diverted to a side chute which led the water back to the Coliban River. It’s all that remains of an early business venture designed to utilise the motive power of this falling water to cut through bluestone. The side race leading to the turbine can be seen on the left just before the weir wall.   

    The remains of the weir can be seen in the right foreground. Below is what remains of the turbine race inlet.

    Malmsbury bluestone was a much admired and sought after stone in the 19th century. There were a number of quarries dotted around the area but it seems one of the major quarries was run by the Footscray and Malmsbury Stonecutting and Quarrying Co., whose story was told in an earlier blog. 

    The stone was brought to this site for cutting. As stated above, originally it was hoped that the motive power of the water tumbling down from the channel back to the river would provide sufficient power for the cutting blades. A reporter from the Bendigo Advertiser takes up the story:

 '...it is intended ... to utilize the compensation water as a motive power by means of a 23 h.p. turbine. The turbine is in its place, and everything prepared for the reception of the saws, but unfortunately a hitch has arisen about the supply of water. According to the statement of the directors of the company that is erecting the mill, Mr. Stone [newly appointed Chief engineer of the Coliban System] promised to supply them with 1,112 cubic feet of water per minute, and finding that this quantity would drive a twenty-three horse power turbine, they put up their works accordingly. But it turns out that the compensation water allowed is, on an average, only about 140 cubic feet per minute, a quantity quite insufficient to drive the turbine. Mr. Stone's explanation, as I understand it, is that he was merely asked what quantity of water it would take to drive a twenty-three horse-power turbine, and having made a calculation replied that it would take 1,112 cubic feet per minute. There has evidently been a misunderstanding on one side, and blundering along in the dark on the other.’ Bendigo Advertiser, Sat 31 Jan 1874,  page 2

    It has been written elsewhere that in fact that the cutting of the stone powered by the turbine continued until a drought in 1884 forced the transition to steam power. At first glance, and as suggested in the newspaper article cited above, too little water falling over too short a distance should never have provided the power to cut bluestone slabs but it seems it did, at least for 10 years.

The stone sawing works c.1876. Picture: Malmsbury Historical Society (note the Malmsbury viaduct in the background indicating that the view is to the south)

    Just before Mollison Street there's another heritage feature, the Mollison Street culvert, displaying the high quality of the stonework all along the channel. Needless to say, such fine work came at a high cost!

    It’s now time to cross over the road and resume walking along the channel. To your right a network of paths lead towards the Coliban River within the Malmsbury Common Reserve. However, your aim here is to keep to the Coliban Channel access track even if at this point it looks a little scruffy.

    Duck around the side of the gate and continue walking northwards. Here to the left behind a row of trees is the now restored Blyth Bros Steam Flour Mill.

“Malmsbury Flour Mill”  (photograph John T. Collins, 1963-66), Blyth Bros Steam Flour Mill

    After it's restoration in the late 1970's it served for a time as a restaurant. It's now a private residence.    

Blyth Bros Steam Flour Mill 2022

            Continue northwards. To your left you will see that the old channel diverges to pass under a cliff.

        At the point where the old open channel rejoins the modern race there's a sluice gate that allows water to be diverted back to the Coliban River to allow maintenance work to be done downstream. Here it's in the open position.

    The channel bends to the west following the course of the Coliban River and crosses over Brew's Gully. On the right hand side, if you clamber down, you can see the original culvert albeit augmented by a more recently installed pipe, perhaps designed to preserve heritage features.

    Close to the gully, one of the earliest photographs was taken of the excavation of the channel, around 1871.

    The State Library gives the location of the above historic photo as follows: 'Early development work on Malmsbury Reservoir, pre 1900'. Nothing about this photo suggests that it was at or near Malmsbury Reservoir. The story of how I came to find it's true location can be found here.
    I believe that although the bend of the channel has been modified in more recent years, here is the current view from around the same spot.

        Below is an aerial map from 1945 showing the angle of view towards the southeast.

        Within a short distance, and as can be seen in the aerial photo above, Coliban Street crosses the channel here. You should turn left over the bridge (noting the remains of an earlier bridge on your right).

    After crossing the bridge turn right to now follow the channel on the west side. The Coliban River is very attractive all along the next section.

     On the other side of the channel you can see a foot track that you may choose to return by later in the walk.       

    Soon you come face to face with a gate. On it there's a sign which gives you permission to enter, on the proviso that you close the gate after passing through. As always in rural areas it's advisable to leave gates as you found them.

    You may well encounter cattle along this next section. I’ve yet to encounter any that appear threatening but it’s wise to exercise caution when approaching them. After turning a corner you now head westwards. On your left you will pass the ruins of an old windmill and, behind that, a mullock heap, all that's left of the Lord Malmsbury gold mine. 

        The next gate at Forrest Road represents the furthest point of this walk. You can either turn around and walk back the way you came or else climb over the fence (being mindful that the electric fence on either side might be turned on!) and inspect the channel a little further on. 

    This section of Forrest Road appears to fall within freehold land because a little way up the road to the north there's a gate which says 'no entry'. For this reason, in the map at the start of this article, you will see that the option of walking to the Calder Highway via this part of Forrest Road has been blacked out. Nevertheless, for those walkers who wish to go on, you can continue along the channel (Option B) but be advised that there is no walking track and there is a rickety gate to climb when you finally reach the publicly accessible part of Forrest Road, with an electric fence on either side! The channel here seems to be pretty much how it would have looked back in the 1870's.

Channel between Forrest Road and Boundys Gully

    For those who reach Forrest Rd, if you look back the way you came, you might catch a view like this, complete with rainbow!    

    But back at the previous gate, returning walkers may still like to venture further up the channel a short way to look at the remains of a feature that was once called a 'level crossing'. At various places along the length of the channel, sometimes watercourses met it at about the same height. To protect the channel from scouring in a major rain event, it was fortified with brickwork. A relatively small culvert allowed average flows to pass safely underneath but for heavier flows the covered brick-lined 'flume' allowed floodwaters to pass over the top. All that remains is a pile of old bricks to show where the crossing was.

Remains of a 'level crossing' near Forrest Road

        Walkers have the option of crossing the channel here and returning via the path that runs between the channel and the Coliban River. If cattle are grazing here it's probably best not to enter this strip of land. The channel is now high above the river and there's quite a spectacular cliff on your left. Children must be closely watched as it's quite a drop. 

    Ellis Mill, an early flour mill, was located close to the river's edge near here. Very little remains of it, just a scattering of bluestone blocks. It was destroyed by fire within a few years of opening and the owner went on to manage the Blyth Bros Flour Mill. This photo is taken from 'The Flour Mills of Victoria 1840-1990', Lewis and Peggy Jones, 1990. The cliff you are walking along can be seen in the background. It's private land below the Coliban Water Reserve and there are signs warning the curious to not venture down the track that leads to the river and the site of Ellis Mill.

    At the next sharp bend, just off the track, there's a sign telling you bluntly not to leave the Coliban Channel Reserve. It's a shame because it discourages access to nearby Ellis Falls which was once a popular tourist attraction. 

    Keep picking your way along the track and you will encounter another gate which might need to be climbed. On the other side of the gate the track turns into a sometimes indistinct footpad. 

    In about 250 m an old rusting gate is reached which can be pushed opened. You will find yourself back at Coliban Street and the bridge you crossed earlier. 

    At this point you can choose to return to the Malmsbury Reservoir carpark via a different route (see map above). Turn right, cross the channel again and continue up the hill along Coliban Street, a rather grand name for a farm track that doesn't see much traffic these days. You may need to climb the gate at the top of the hill here. 

    Now turn left (heading south) to walk along an old road reservation. This is the extension of Adamson Street. 

    The gate ahead of you can be opened (then closed) after which you enter the suburban streets of Malmsbury. Continue up to Mollison Street, the old Calder highway, and turn left towards the town centre of Malmsbury. At the next intersection turn right at Orr Street (Daylesford Rd). Cross over to inspect more closely the two storied building on the corner, these days in desperate need of some TLC. This gloriously derelict building, with a checkered history, replaced the Junction Hotel which burnt down in 1872. It was later used for accommodation under the name 'Residential Mansion'. It has recently changed hands. The new owners intend to renovate the building but I don't envy their task. 

Residential Mansion (later, simply 'The Mansions') in happier times ca. 1930

       There are a number of other interesting buildings along Orr Street, including the old Commercial Hotel complete with cantilevered balcony. I find it hard to resist glancing up nervously as I pass underneath, expecting it to fall down one day. However historic photos show that it never had supporting verandah posts. According to a Victorian Heritage report 'This was a relatively common form of construction in the nineteenth century until discouraged by regulation in central Melbourne from 1850 and in other suburbs generally from the 1870s or 1880s. It was constructed by continuing the upper floor joists straight through the front wall'

 

Commercial Hotel, Malmsbury, built ca. 1870

    Next, make your way through the Malmsbury Railway Station carpark while admiring one of the most beautiful and intact railway stations in Victoria, now restored after a recent arson attack.

Malmsbury Railway Station (opened 21 October 1862). ca. 1930

    Cross the tracks when safe to do so and walk along the road next to the main platform (the only one set up to service trains running on the single track). There was once a siding here where trains could fill their boilers with water and unload heavy freight. The base of the basalt and steel crane has survived.

        After examining the crane base backtrack a little and walk south down a grassy path towards Tucker Street. You will need to summon up a little courage to cross a plank above a small ditch! (Just kidding!). Continue down to Evans Street, turn left and admire the charming feature within the front garden of the last house before the bend. The owner has their very own creek, complete with a bridge. 

    And now it's only a short walk to the entrance of the beautiful Malmsbury Reservoir grounds where your car awaits.