Chewton - Pennyweight Flat Cemetery Walk
Pennyweight Flat Cemetery walk is a grade 3, 6.5km loop walk taking 2-2.5hrs along well-marked gravel and earth tracks. There are short section on bitumen and gentle hills and uneven ground. Some bush-walking experience is recommended. Mountain bikes permitted with the track rated blue / moderate.
Parking and picnic tables are available at Pennyweight Flat Cemetery.
Starting from the Garfield Water Wheel Trailhead, this loop walk explores several mining features on the way to the Pennyweight Flat Cemetery, where dreams of success on the goldfields came to a sad, and sometimes premature, end.
From the Trailhead, follow the a Goldfields Track north and east. After crossing the Quartz Hill Track, the walk passes through the Energetic Mine site.
Pennyweight Flat Cemetery Walk Map
The Pennyweight Flat Cemetery Walk Walk is labelled (4) on the map.
An energetically expanding mining empire
In 1886, the Garfield Company purchased this mine and erected winding gear and a crushing battery. Little survives except for the mostly buried stone foundations.
The Manchester Company worked another mine just to the north-east of the Energetic shaft, and in 1880, they erected a waterwheel 12m in diameter to power a small quartz crushing mill. In 1886, the Garfield Company purchased this too. Water from the Garfield Water Wheel was delivered by race and flume to the smaller wheel. Sadly, no trace of that wheel remains.
The batchelor's retreat
Leaving the Goldfields Track and heading north over Sailors Gully, you begin to climb a slope. Where the track turns sharply, you reach the ruins of a residential area known as the Batchelor's Retreat.
From 1857, after the protests and reforms to the mining licence, the holders of a Miner's Right were entitled to take out a Residence Area. Miners could claim a quarter acre of land for a dwelling and garden, and sell any improvements they made to the property, such as houses, dams and fences.
Many homes were built and settled under the Miner's Right, an easy route to home ownership.
The Batchelor's Retreat was established by Hans Christian Wind and John Warnock in 1928 and occupied until Wind's death in 1949. The side and front walls of the stone house have been demolished, but the fireplace and chimney have survived.
To the east of the house are garden terraces enclosed by stone walls, and a square dam.
Place names as windows to the past
The names of places in the goldfields provide a fascinating glimpse into their stories. Some were named for geographic features, but often they record the names and fortunes of the miners and companies that once lived and worked in them. Everyone wanted name a piece of ground, and although the people and stories behind them may have been forgotten, many of the names have survived.
Places were sometimes named after a miner or their loved ones (such as Burns Hill, Tobys Track, Daphne Reef), the places they came from (Manchester Reef, Bolivia Reef, German Gully, Italian Hill, Chinamans Flat), or the things they did (Butchers Creek, Sailors Gully, Hangmans Lane, Murderers Hill).
They might reflect the fortunes or misfortunes miners met with (Golden Point, Chokem Flats, Graveyard Gully), be a case of mistaken identity (Porcupine Flat) or be chosen to deliberately mislead other prospectors (Poverty Gully)! Pennyweight Flat was named that because diggers claimed it was incapable of producing more than a pennyweight of gold per acre.
Dirty Dicks Gully was named after someone who once lived there. In 1846 - several years before the gold rush - Richard Lowe was accused of rape, but his case was dismissed due to "absurd and contradictory statements" from the witness. He was already known as 'Dirty Dick' before the case, so we can only guess how he earned his nickname. Was it his treatment of women, because of how he earned a living, or a reflection of unusually poor hygiene?
As you explore the Goldfields, consider how other places you visit might have got their names. Why do you think this place was known as The Batchelor's Retreat?
Keep climbing in a northerly then easterly direction skirting around the south-eastern side of Quartz Hill.
Located between Sailors Gully (to the east) and Dirty Dicks Gully (to the west) Quartz Hill yielded a rich supply of gold, and you can explore some of its history on the (5) Quartz Hill Walk.
The (4) Pennyweight Flat Walk continues through regenerating Box-lronbark forest and turns west (left) onto Quartz Hill Road. The road is not a busy one, but please watch out for vehicles.
Dirty Dicks and Scotchmans Gully, which lie to the north of the road, were heavily mined in three waves. From 1852 to 1854 prospectors worked 8 foot (2.43m2) claims with pans and cradles, sinking shallow shafts to get to the gold. In 1853 they began to use puddling machines, and in the 1870s turned to ground sluicing.
What doesn't kill you...
Life was hard on the goldfields, and lives were often cut short. People died from accidents, such as falling down mine shafts, and from poor hygiene. Wounds were slow to heal in the unsanitary conditions, so even a minor injury like a bite or a cut could have serious consequences. There were few doctors, but many charlatans selling ineffective remedies. Before 1859, people didn't know about germs, or that they were the main cause of disease.
Water was scarce and often contaminated from mining and human waste, and frequent outbreaks of contagious diseases like typhoid and cholera swept through across the diggings. Dysentery claimed hundreds of lives, including two children in November 1851 - the first recorded deaths of the Forest Creek rush.
For women, the most common cause of death was giving birth, and more than one in four children died before the age of five - victims of dysentery, diphtheria, Scarlet Fever, measles, whooping cough, and other diseases. Scurvy, caused by lack of Vitamin C, was common. Pneumonia, influenza, and the common cold claimed numerous lives.
If it didn't kill you, it left you weaker. Fleas and ants invaded people's beds and kept them up at night, as did mosquitoes. During the day, flies drove people mad. Sandflies stung and laid eggs in people's eye, causing 'bung-eye' (temporary blindness) which afflicted humans, dogs and horses alike. Soil was constantly being thrown up or blown into people's eyes, causing irritation. Burns from campfires and fireplaces were common.
Isolated graves can be found through the goldfields. A few have headstones (like the Escott Grave on the Evenmore Track, off the Vaughan-Chewton Road) but most would have been simply marked with a stone or a wooden cross that would no longer be noticeable.
Pennyweight Flat Cemetery, where hopes and dreams were buried
The Pennyweight Flat Cemetery (stop LT2 on the Goldfields Track) began as an informal burial ground located on a rocky hill overlooking the once bustling goldfields along Forest Creek. It was one of six graveyards that developed within a few miles of each other in the final months of 1852, at the start of the goldrush.
The Forest Creek rush lasted less than three years but had a huge impact on the people who took part - changing their futures, expectations and values. The cemetery bears testimony to the efforts and dreams of those pioneering diggers and their families. Around two hundred people, including children and babies, were buried at the Pennyweight Flat Cemetery between 1852 and 1857, when authorities closed it.
Due to the hard, rocky ground, many of the graves were shallow and built up above ground with rock walls. Without mortar to hold them together, these quickly began to fall apart. The ruined graves, and sense of desolation, have long had a powerful effect on visitors.
The cemetery was officially gazetted as a 'sepulchral reserve' in 1874, and in 1918 the Castlemaine Pioneers and Old Residents' Association was made trustee, to conserve the cemetery as a memorial. Stop for a picnic (tables are available) or take a break from your walk and reflect on the lives of the pioneer gold seekers whose hopes, dreams and hard work are buried here.
Leaving the cemetery, turn south (right) along Colles Road until you reach the junction with Farran Street. Follow the signs pointing east (left) to rejoin the Goldfields Track and the (7) Forest Creek Trail.
You can take a 300m detour to the nearby (8) Forest Creek Gold Diggings or continue along the Goldfields Track back to the Garfield trailhead.
Continuing on the (4) Pennyweight Flat Cemetery Walk and Goldfields Track the path takes a sharp bend to the north (left) cross Forest Creek and then begins to climb Manchester Hill.
The Manchester Mine, a mixed success
As you continue back towards the Garfield Trailhead, you pass a pine plantation and a very large gum tree, before reaching a large open cut on the crown of Manchester Hill, to the east (right) of the track (stop LT3 on the Goldfields Track). The surface quartz here was quarried, yielding rich rewards, however, later attempts to mine the reef underground had limited success.
Operated by the Wheal Margery Company, the mine's crushing battery was powered by a water wheel, smaller than the one at Garfield. After driving the Garfield Water Wheel, the same water was channelled towards the Manchester Mine to turn their wheel. Unfortunately, nothing remains of the wheel today.
Stay on the same path back to the Garfield trailhead, continuing straight on at the junction where you turned north earlier to start the loop section of the walk.
Loop Walks:
The loop walks can be walked in either direction, but we strongly recommend following the direction suggested on the maps and signs which corresponds with the order of features in these notes. At track junctions, look for the number of the walk you are on, as shown in the map and descriptions.
Access for Dogs:
Dogs may be walked on a lead on the tracks around the Garfield Water Wheel. They must be kept on a lead and under control at all times. Please collect and remove your dog's droppings for the sake of other visitors and to avoid stress to native animals.
Note: Dogs are prohibited in The Expedition Pass Reservoir and the Special Protection Area around the Nimrod Reef Mine and Welsh Village.
Safety:
The Castlemaine Diggings are a heavily mined landscape and contain a variety of ongoing hazards, including uneven and unstable ground, mineshafts, open cuts, quarries, and mine tailings. For your own safety, please stay on mapped tracks and supervise children. Comply with local signs and do not climb over or around barriers and fences or on the stone foundations of the water wheel.
Location
Leanganook Track, Chewton 3451 Map
Web Links
→ Pennyweight Flat Cemetery Walk Heritage Notes (PDF)
