Foster - The Golden History of Stockyard Creek
Foster was originally named Stockyard Creek and has a rich gold mining history. Explore the area with historical buildings, information boards and self-guided walks of significant gold era sites.
The town is named after its first magistrate, William Henry Foster. Foster arrived in the town of Stockyard Creek in 1871. He was offended that he had to work in a town named "creek' and insisted the name be changed. Someone decided the simple solution was to name the town after the magistrate. Was it to curry favour or was it a very Australian, droll joke?
Map of Historical Locations and Interpretive boards
1. First alluvial gold found in Stockyard Creek, 1870
2. Royal Mail restaurant; proprietor Emily Cooper (martin), 1871
3. First state school no: 1172, 1874
4. First Shire of South Gippsland hall built 1895 after the separation from Shire of Alberton, 1894
5. Sportsman's Arms Hotel; publican Richard Park, 1871
6. Butcher's shop and general store; William Jones, 1871
7. Union Hotel; publican Charles Baldry, 1871
8. Clothing, drapery, outfitter and general merchant; Edwin McPherson, 1871
9. Dining room catering for 90 regular diners; George & Jane Winchester, 1872
10. Crooked Billet; publican James Johnson, 1871
11. Skittle Alley; later used as a school, 1872
12. First official Post Office; postmaster William Barry, 1872
13. Blacksmith shop; Peter McMillan & George Ingles, 1872
14. Bank of Victoria; 30,000 ounces of gold were purchased here between 1877 and 1875
15. First Mechanics Institute and Library; also used for church services, 1871
16. Patrick Silk's house; warden's clerk, musician, Mechanics Institute Librarian, 1871
17. Bank of Australasia built 1889 with dwelling at rear; first manager E. S. Whitehead
18. Palace skating rink opened; Manager Charles Langhorne, 1890
19. First public hospital, opened by Margaret McClure, 1904
20. Second court house building, 1888
21. Jubilee mine, formerly Africans' mine; tunnels from Jubilee and Victory mines joined through Kaffir Hill
22. Exchange Hotel first built on this site by William Thornley, 1871; present building erected by Anastasia Thornley (wife) opened in 1907
Located at 43 Main Street, the Exchange Hotel, built in 1907, with its unusual conical turret, was modelled after a hotel which the proprietor, Anastasia Thornley, saw in Ireland. The original Exchange Hotel was owned by William and Anastasia Thornley and called the Thornley Hotel. It started operating in 1871. William died in 1874 and Anastasia became the publican. The first hotel was burnt down in 1905 but by 1907 it had been rebuilt from shipped Western Australia Jarrah. Designed by Melbournian J. Edmund Burke it re-opened on the 20 May 1907.
23. Thomas Laughton's hotel; used as a mail terminus, 1873
24. No.1 South a quartz reef mine, the first to crush stone
25. Matthew Goy's house; miner and builder, 1870
26. Gladstone mine, one of the main mines; embraced Old Man and Prussian reefs. Principle shareholder was Anastasia Thornley
27. Charles Petersen's store, 1871; track to the store came over Kaffir Hill from Stockyard Creek Landing
28. William Crawford's house, 1870; miner
29. Sarah Cannon's house form 1880; midwife
30. Sawmill; William Davies, 1876
31. Stockyards. Between 1840s-1860s an overland cattle route ran between Port Albert and Melbourne. Just upstream from this plaque stockyards were built to hold cattle overnight, which gave Stockyard Creek its name. 3.8km south-east from the Museum, along Station Road, which becomes Fullers Road. A plaque commemorates the site of the stockyards after which Stockyard Creek is named. Just prior to this is Landing Road which leads down to the site of the old wharf where all boats tied up.
Interpretive boards (A-F)
PANEL A - A Gold Rush at Stockyard Creek
Unlicensed timber-splitters hiding from police found "worthwhile" gold at Stockyard Creek.
South Gippsland's great forests are inextricably linked with the 1870 discovery of gold at Stockyard Creek, or Foster as it is now known.
Two unlicensed timber-splitters who were felling blackwoods for barrel staves, combined with fossicking for gold, had found a little "colour" near the mouth of Stockyard Creek on Boxing Day in 1869.
They were joined by three others and together they cut trees and prospected in the district, until word came that the police were looking for those responsible for some staves that had washed ashore on Rabbit Island after a schooner was wrecked in Corner Inlet.
The five men moved further up Stockyard Creek to hide, and whilst fishing for the midday meal, they discovered gold 'everywhere', in and along the creek.
Word soon got out and the Stockyard Creek gold rush began. By 1871 there were hundreds of miners working at Stockyard Creek, with three tonnes of gold found in and around the district by 1879
PANEL B - With Pan, Pick & Shovel
The early prospectors of Stockyard Creek found tonnes of alluvial gold washed from the Strzelecki Ranges by South Gippsland's waterways
Over eons alluvial gold was deposited on the streambed, banks and floodplains of Stockyard Creek.
From 1870 when gold was first discovered in the creek, prospectors came in their hundreds armed with pans, picks and shovels to win the easily accessible alluvial gold.
The natural course of Stockyard Creek was altered several times over the next decade as the miners dug, dredged, sluiced and cradled the rich soil.
The miners also turned their attention towards the nearby Ophir, Kaffir and New Zealand Hills as well as Whipstick Gully and Cody Gully, in their quest for gold.
Their efforts were rewarded as one claim after another yielded gold, including a number of large nuggets weighing almost two kilograms.
The Madam Henty claim was one of Stockyard Creek's deepest alluvial workings, reaching a depth of 19 metres by the time it closed in 1880.
PANEL C - Lasseter Our Eternal Optimist
Hubert Lewis Lasseter aka Harold Bell Lasseter of Lasseter's central Australia golden reef fame lived in Foster-Toora area from 1918- c1923.
Lasseter is well-known to many people as the man who perished in the Central Australian desert in 1930 whilst on expedition to find a fabled golden reef.
Lasseter undertook many activities during his life in Corner Inlet district including, survey work. He was also responsible for constructing and repairing timber navigational beacons and channel markers in Corner Inlet using a boat named Victory to float logs down Franklin River to his work-site. No-one else would undertake this dangerous job.
Lasseter had grand ideas to boost Corner Inlet district. An original signed blueprint of his project is at the Foster Museum as is his workboat Victory.
PANEL D - On the Goldfields
Map detailing the gold town of Stockyard Creek (now Foster) is located beside the battery outside the Foster Museum.
PANEL E - Digging Deeper
The concentrated alluvial workings around Stockyard Creek prompted miners to dig deeper in search of gold-bearing quartz reefs.
By 1871 the goldfields at both Stockyard Creek and its nearby hills and gullies were alive with prospectors after alluvial gold.
Miners began to dig deeper in search of gold-bearing quartz reefs, with shafts lined with local timber for safety, sunk deep into the ground. The pounding of rock batteries soon became as common as the sounds of sluicing and dredging.
Some of the shafts, including 150 metre deep Victory, were amalgamated as the veins of gold were followed deep below the surface. Falling gold prices and increasing water problems saw Victory close in 1908 after the longest life of any reef mine at Foster. The golden dream was over!
PANEL F - Three Hills
North-east of Stockyard Creek three hills were the locations for some of the richest reefs and mines. Kaffir Hill was chosen by seven experienced African miners for a deep shaft that led to a reef running north-south below the village. Ophir and New Zealand Hills were more suited to alluvial mining.
Physical evidence of the mines can still be seen along the Brataualung and Hayes Walks.
The Golden Trail
A series of walks in the former gold mining area.
1. Hayes Walk at the southern end of Foster public car park, near the rear entrance to Exchange Hotel. The 900m walk goes over Kaffir Hill which was part of the alluvial field. Remnants of the Victory mine shaft remains visible. The Victory mine drives or galleries which followed the gold bearing reefs extended below Kaffir mine, the current shopping centre and Stockyard Creek. Operating between 1887 and 1908, it was the deepest (492 feet - 150m) and richest mine yielding 26,000 ounces (737kg) of gold before closing due to water seepage and the falling gold price.
Hayes Walk finishes at McDonald St. and just across the way is the start-of-the Brataualung Walk
2. Brataualung Walk named for the clan of the Kurnai (Gunai) who lived in South Gippsland. The start of the trail is located near the intersection of McDonald and Power Streets and is 1.9kms long. Made up of two tracks, 1km Cody Gully and 0.9km Ophir Hill, the claim had a shaft 150ft (45.7m) deep. Evidence of mullock heaps and shafts remain.
Continue across the South Gippsland Highway to New Zealand Hill.
3. New Zealand Hill Gold here was located in rounded quartz gravel rather than deep shafts. A later mechanical puddler for sluicing and washing can still be seen as can the exploratory trenches of various depths. Head back across the Highway to Whipstick Gully and Cement Hill.
4. Cement Hill and Whipstick Gully area had good reefs of gold bearing quartz and was heavily mined from both the surface and underground. Horse puddlers and mining shafts are still very much in evidence throughout this area but the area is very fragile with the wooden walls supporting edges having completely disintegrated.
Cement Hill gravel was used for ballast in the building of sections of the Great Southern Railway in the 1890s. Purportedly up to 8 metres was removed from the top of the hill for this purpose.
