NORTH WEST VICTORIA HISTORIC MINING PLOTS (DUNOLLY, HEATHCOTE, MALDON AND RUSHWORTH) 1850-1980 Historic Notes David Bannear Heritage Victoria CONTENTS: Dunolly 3 Heathcote 48 Maldon 177 Rushworth 268 DUNOLLY GENERAL HISTORY PHASE ONE 1853/55: The Moliagul Police Camp had been down at the bottom end of Commissioners Gully near Burnt Creek from January 1853 until June 1855. This camp included a Sub Inspector, two Sergeants, a Corporal, six mounted and twelve-foot Constables, a Postmaster, Clerk and Tent Keeper. For a while this was the headquarters for the entire Mining District. 1 1853 Moliagul: Opened in 1853 along with Surface Gully. Their richness influenced the moving of the settlement from Commissioners Gully to where the township is now. 2 1853: Burnt Creek, the creek itself, was so-called before gold digging started, but Burnt Creek goldfield, situated about two miles south of Dunolly, started with the discovery of gold early in 1853, and at a rush later that year ... Between August and October 1853 the Commissioners’ Camp at Jones Creek was shifted to Burnt Creek, where there had been a rush ... By April 1854 there had been an increase in population at Burnt Creek, and there were 400 diggers there in July. Digging was going on in Quaker’s Gully and two large nuggets were found there in 1854, by October there were 900 on the rush, and the Bet Bet reef was discovered. By November 1854 the gold workings extended three miles from Bet Bet to Burnt Creek and a Commissioners’ Camp was started at Bet Bet, near where Grant’s hotel was later. This rush collapsed soon after and the Camp was broken up in December. 3 1853: Burnt Creek, the creek itself, was so-called before gold digging started, but Burnt Creek goldfield, situated about two miles south of Dunolly, started with the discovery of gold early in 1853, and at a rush later that year ... Between August and October 1853 the Commissioners’ Camp at Jones Creek was shifted to Burnt Creek, where there had been a rush ... By April 1854 there had been an increase in population at Burnt Creek, and there were 400 diggers there in July. Digging was going on in Quaker’s Gully and two large nuggets were found there in 1854, by October there were 900 on the rush, and the Bet Bet reef was discovered. By November 1854 the gold workings extended three miles from Bet Bet to Burnt Creek and a Commissioners’ Camp was started at Bet Bet, near where Grant’s hotel was later. This rush collapsed soon after and the Camp was broken up in December. 4 1853: Barnes Flat: This was one of the first areas worked around Jones Creek, discovered by G. H Patterson in 1853. The original cemetery was on the hill behind the town of Waanyarra. A few were buried here before the new cemetery was established on its present site. 5 1 Tully, 1988, p.5 2 Tully, 1988, p.4 3 Flett 1979, p276 4 Flett, 1979, p.276 5 Tully, 1988, p.33 1853: The Commissioner’s Camp at Jones Creek was sited on water about one and a half miles below the town site. The place was gazetted for Petty Sessions on 29 October 1853, and named ‘Beverley’, a name that failed to stick. Commissioner Bull’s map of this area, done at the time, shows the diggings at Jones Creek as the main gully at the town site and the three gullies running into it on the west side; the site of Beverley is also shown. 6 1854: The Bet Bet Lead was worked in 1854, as probably were Barbers Gully and those closer to the railway. At the foot of the hill, during the rush, was a short-lived township. This included Tom Curran’s public house, boxing saloon and 30 yards away a billiard saloon. George Hutchinson’s Horse and Jockey Hotel replaced this in the late 1850’s and 1860’s. 7 1854: All writers mention the Hard Hill Rush on Jan 1854 at New Years Flat. It was proceeded by one that occurred about a mile from the township towards Hard Hill, and to which place the whole population of Goldsborough shifted. The Hard Hill Rush, the richest that occurred in the Dunolly area again drew the population of this locality south and stores were pulled down at the old locality and followed the rush. The new village of Hard Hills after the same time met the same fate as the others; the same lead that seemed to be broken in places being picked up again further down the creek after the Hard Hill rush had been thinned by rushes to other localities. The last resting-place of this migratory band was about a mile north of the later township of Dunolly (between the old and new Cemeteries) and here the township existed at the beginning of the Great Dunolly Rush, a long struggling street along the old track. 8 1854-55: Jones Creek was almost deserted ... but there were large rushes in January 1856 and September-November following. No doubt Tipperary Gully, the western end of Jones Creek, was opened in 1853, and Wet Gully, Long Gully, Sawpit, Deadman’s, Specimen and Mosquito opened at the rushes in 1856: the latter places by Spaniards, Greeks, and East Indiamen. There was a township at Mosquito. 9 6 Flett, 1979, p.274 7 Tully 1988, p27 8 Flett, 1956 9 Flett, 1979, p.274 1856-1859: The great rush to Dunolly took place ... Owing to the large population in the district, a Police Camp was established at North Dunolly, while a Gold-office, Court House, Lock-Up, Police Barracks, stables, and a Warden’s office were erected in 1859 ... Dunolly was the name of the new township which had developed four miles south of McDougall’s original homestead. To distinguish between the two places, the original settlement was known as “Old Dunolly”, while the “new” Dunolly flourished as an important gold-mining township ... Later, Old Dunolly, became known as Goldsborough, after Richard Goldsborough who had a pastoral- lease in the district. A supplement which appeared in the Dunolly and Betbetshire Express on October 8th, 1866, stated that Old Dunolly was originally the post town for the area which was mainly devoted to farming, although there were numerous, valuable, alluvial workings at Hard Hill, Turkey Flat, Nuggetty, Tipperary and other gullies, and the Main Flat through which Burnt Creek wound its way. Valuable reefs in the area included the Belgian, Bealiba, Perseverance and Patterson’s Reef. 10 1856-1859: Sandy Creek: This is a series of river wash hilltops of Pliocene age ... They each had their own names including Prospect Hill (first worked 1856), White Hill (pipeclay) and Sustenance Hill ... In 1857, the European diggers were working Hard Hill, while 1000 Chinese had claims on White Hill. The Chinese Camp was along Sandy Creek. The following year, as the easy gold started to peter out on Hard Hill the Europeans drove the Chinese out of town. Most went to the Burnt Creek camp. A 56-oz nugget was found at Hard Hills in 1859.11 November 1856: Nuggetty Rush ...Another rush at this time occurred above the site of the Old Lead Reservoir ... in the gully ... that was called Nuggetty, on account of the 1856 finds, one party reported ... getting four nuggets 60, 30, 14 and 7 ounces in a week. At this time the population there steadily increased despite the smallness of the area of the diggings until there was practically a town there. 12 1856/57: Cochran’s/Bealiba: At Bealiba gold was found in Feb 1856 and there was a small rush late that year. The first rush was to a small hill about a half-mile south east of the Bealiba homestead. Late 1857: At this time, Cochran’s Rush that led to the creation of the town of Cochran’s occurred, and the lead was traced down to the flat. There were many thousands there. 1863: The present township of Bealiba centred on No 1 and No 2 hills was surveyed by Chauncy in 1863 ...It was a Shanty Town. Bealiba lived for 10 years on the rich cement that yielded 1 oz to the ton.13 1857: In June 1857, it was reported that there was a steady and permanent township at the Belgian Reef and that there were 150 people living there. Six claims on the reef at this time were paying handsomely, but there was no quartz crusher there.14 1857-1860: In 1857 Sandy Creek had 300 people; in 1858 it had 3000 and there were 850 shareholders in 176 claims on 15 reefs. A year before only 12 claims were at work. A Police Camp was established in April 1859, and an escort established in 1861, the town then from being a canvas-town was rapidly approaching the brick stage, and the wealth of its chief reefers must have been great. 15 10 Carless, 1983, pp.10-11 11 Flett 1956 12 Flett 1956 13 Flett 1956 14 Flett, 1956 15 Flett, 1956 1859: The workings here were originally called Tarnagulla Diggings. Their richness became so well known that the nearby town of Sandy Creek changed its name to Tarnagulla ... In October 1859 a 109 oz nugget was found at Halfway, where 1000 miners were working. Joseph Foo had a hotel at the rush here ... After the main rush to Halfway was over, those that remained to work the minor gullies and open the reefs were mainly Greeks and Italians.