Wedderburn - Hard Hill Tourist Reserve
Hard Hill Tourist Reserve is located close to town in a natural bush setting is RV friendly and is ideal for the "On Off Road Camper" - when camping at the Reserve you must be fully self-contained. There is free camping here but you can leave a donation at the Loddon Visitor Information Centre.
Walk around the base of Hard Hill enjoying the flora and fauna, stroll to the top of Hard Hill and see the old gold mine from the diggings days including a reconstructed gold puddler, stamp battery and mine adit (no entry, locked gate).
Visitors can view the working eucalyptus stew pot at all times but days of operation are Monday to Thursday or prior group booking.
Facilities include wood fire barbecues, covered picnic area, large separate undercover area, toilets and showers (for campers' use only).
This precinct is "Home to the Minelab Wedderburn Detector Jamboree" and the "Inglewood & District Community Bendigo Bank Junior Gold Panning Competition" held on Saturday and Sunday of the Victorian Labour Day Long Weekend.
Note: No glass is permitted around Hard Hill.
Hard Hill History
The history of Hard Hill remains obscure, as little of the era regarding "The Hill" was written down or, if it was, it has not survived. However, evidence of the Gold era of the 1850's is still visible today. With a keen eye and an imaginative mind we can visualise the diggers going about their daily life in this harsh environment.
There was little or no fresh water. Supplies of meat, when arrived, were usually fly blown. How welcome the fresh fruit and vegetables from the Chinese gardens would have been. No wonder high prices were commanded and received from the diggers.
The Hill and the surrounding area had much alluvial gold. After the supply was exhausted, paddocking (as it was known) took place, the ground was turned over and small nuggets were raised to the surface and gathered.
Another practice was to remove all the topsoil and put it in the puddler, water is syphoned from the dam, the mixture is "stirred" by a rake attachment to the horse-operated pole. The top slurry is drained off and the remaining dirt is shovelled into hand-operated cradles to be washed away from the gold particles.
Chinese on the gold fields always dug round holes, because of superstition, so that no evil spirits could hide in the corners, there are examples of these holes around Hard Hill. The square holes were dug by the European diggers.
Tunnelling through the Hill took place in the 1800's, remnants of this era are still visible but most of these have been back filled as was the custom in those days.
Arthur Martin Memorial
Near the stewpot there is a memorial plaque in memory of Arthur Martin 1910- 1989. Arthur Martin was recognised as a living treasure, who was the inspiration of having Hard Hill declared a tourist reserve. With a style and wit all of his own he entertained thousands of school children and tourist with stories, boomerang throwing, gold panning and Eucalyptus distilling.
Eucy Cutter, Robbie Collins of Wedderburn
There is also an information panel about Eucy Cutter, Robbie Collins of Wedderburn. The panel text is:
Geoffrey Robin Collins better known as Robbie was born at Rathdown Street Carlton on the 3rd June 1939 to Fred and Sarah Collins.
Due to the early death of Robbie's father, his mother took him to live with his grandparents Bob, Mary and Aunty Jean Grieves at Rheola. His mother went to work in Melbourne to help support him.
At school age Robbie attended the Rheola Primary School No 59. At the age of fourteen he took his first job at Harold and Janet Prenton's. Robbie was milking cows and picking apples. My first wage in 1953 was 2lb pounds and 10 shillings per week.
In 1955 Robbie started another job on Stan and Alice Catto's farm milking cows and doing general farm duties. His wage then 7 pounds a week. Robbie milked sixteen cow's morning and night by hand which was a big job. He then had the pleasure of using the first cow milking machine in the district called a Lister which was driven by petrol cutting milking time in half.
In 1956 Robbie started a new job as a bulldozer operator for the Robertson Brothers Earth moving company sinking dams and road making. Unfortunately Robertson Brothers cease operation in 1964 and Robbie became unemployed.
During the time of bulldozing and sinking dams he met and married wife Margaret and had three children Julie, Pam and Robyn.
In 1964 when Robbie was unemployed there were not a lot of jobs available in the area.
Robbie's luck changed when Jack Hansen approached him regarding cutting eucalyptus leaves. It was an offer too good to turn down.
So a new era began for Robbie cutting eucalyptus leaves. He had not done this sort of work before but didn't take long to find out. It was hard slogging work cutting with choppers and hoes for a eucalyptus distiller Mr Reg Matthews on Mr Reg Holt's farm.
Jack and Robbie cut leaves together for a few months and their wages were around 16 pounds a week each. In 1965 when decimal currency was introduced he was employed as a tractor driver being paid $40 dollars a week. Even when Robbie became permanently employed at the Korong Shire, he still cut eucalyptus leaves at the weekends and on holidays to make sufficient income for his family.
In 1975 Robbie teamed up with a work mate on the Korong Shire, Mr Tommy Webb. Tommy and Robbie started cutting leaves for Jim Ghan from Inglewood. Jim used to cart leaves for distilling from the Wedderburn area to his Inglewood factory. Jim payed $2.50 lb for cutting and the vats would produce 80 to 100 lb of eucalyptus oil. For one month Tom and Robbie would produce around 400 lb of eucalyptus oil. The eucalyptus oil was sold to a company in Melbourne Felton Grimwade and Bickford Pty Ltd. Robbie cut leaves with Jim for a few years. Sadly it all came to a halt when Jim lost his life in a car accident. When this accident occurred Tom and Robbie had to stop cutting eucalyptus leaves and look for a factory to distil the eucalyptus oil. It took sometime to find an old eucalyptus factory seven miles from Wedderburn at a place called Woolshed Flat. This factory required some maintenance.
Tommy and Robbie contacted the owners Les & Eric Nisbet and asked if they could restore to distil eucalyptus leaves. The brothers agreed so Tommy and Robbie set to work in restoring the old factory. It took them a few months before it was workable. Once the repairs were finished they started distilling their own leaves and made it a profitable enterprise.
Tommy and Robbie worked the factory together for a number of years and then Tommy decided to give away the eucy leave cutting and work cutting fire wood. This left Robbie working the factory with the help of his wife Margaret, daughters Pam and Robyn and an old eucalyptus cutter from St Arnard Mr Jim Hines. Jim worked and cut leaves for the factory and the Collins family were able to entertain tourists who visited the site to see the production of eucalyptus oil.
In 1997 Robbie's daughter Robyn started a business called Loddon Discovery Tours. The tours would stop at the old factory which made it very famous in the coach tour sector in Victoria.
In 1994 when Robbie retired from the Korong Shire, Les & Eric Nisbet of Wedderburn gave him a Stew Pot that they had worked in Les's backyard for many years. This was a very important gift, because it showed how the old pioneers worked over 150 years ago. It was the way Eucalyptus Oil was distilled in Australia since 1852.
Owing to the vast interest taken by tourist's visiting the old factory, seeing the eucalyptus oil process Robbie approached Wedderburn Tourism Inc about placing the Eucalyptus Stew Pot at Hard Hill Tourist Reserve as a major tourist attraction for Wedderburn. He requested the Stew Pot be owned by the community.
Robbie operated the Eucalyptus Stew Pot as a volunteer for Wedderburn Tourism Inc from 1998 through to 2006. Wedderburn Tourism Inc engaged their first contractor in 2006 and now Robbie supervises and passes on his considerable knowledge to contractors and work experiences participants about eucalyptus oil production in Australia.
Robbie is very happy that he has been able to pass on his knowledge to Wedderburn Tourism Inc about the history, heritage and culture of processing eucalyptus oil.
Eucalyptus oil is a very important part of Wedderburn's history as well as the history of Australia.
It was the first indigenous export which has been produced for 154 years and continues to be sold both in Australia and around the world.
Gold of the Region
The discovery of Gold in the 1850's at the Korong Diggings, (as Wedderburn was then known) is attributed to a man named Brady, working as a shepherd on Torpichen Station, Welshman's Gully on the St Arnaud Road. He discovered the gold on May 10th 1852 but never claimed the reward offered by the Government at the time.
The reward of 400 pounds was claimed by four men from South Australia, Henry Thomas Cullen, Richard Higgs, Thomas White and W. Adams. The date given was 20th May 1852.
The population on the Wedderburn field fluctuated between 6000 and several hundred. It was a dry field, there being no permanent water. There was much alluvial gold with many nuggets interspersed.
In the 1890's gold ceased to be regarded as a major source of income for Wedderburn. However, there have been several revivals of gold fever since then, the main ones being in 1950 and 1980.
In 1950, several large finds in and near Wilson Street sparked a rush, in which 8000 people visited the town, many to dig and some to look. As late as the 1970's miners were still digging in that area in search of the elusive Cerchi's Reef, said to be very rich.
The discovery of the Hand of Faith at Kingower, and the Beggary Lump at Wedderburn in 1980 started another rush. For many months the bush around Wedderburn was swarming with prospectors, most equipped with detectors.
Since then there has been a steady trickle of gold seekers, and many small nuggets and some reasonably big, have been found, but not publicised.
Some of the main nuggets found in the area are:
1853 - James Bangery at Potters Hill - 96oz
1854 - TW Cosh at Possum Point - 144oz
1854 - James Rogerson at Steels Point - 96oz
1854 - ? Firth at Welshman's Point - 77oz
1856 - John Hassett at Potters Hill - 255oz
1857 - ? Jessup at Ironbark Gully - 73oz
1857 - James Lubbock at Show Gully - 72oz
1857 - Blanche Barkly at Kongower - 1757oz
1858 - James Pretty at Bocca Flat - 71oz
1858 - John Harton at Long Gully - 55oz
1859 - ? Jessup at Ironbark Gully - 192oz
1859 - John Harton at Judy Point - 82oz
1859 - Frank Gallejes at Italian Point - 192oz
1859 - William Sanders at Peep-O-Day - 51oz
1860 - John Finn at Finn's Flat (2 nuggets) - 55oz each
1862 - H Presnell at Bocca Flat - 75oz
1863 - Trotman and Hayes at Judy Point - 55oz
1866 - Phillip Archer at Main Flat - 114oz
1866 - David Strachan at Cahill Gully - 72oz
1868 - Reilly and Murphy at Ironbark Gully - 150oz
1869 - Welcome Stranger at Moliagul - 2564oz
1876 - Thomas Linkleter at ? - 70oz
1884 - George Dupay at Tinpot Gully - 55oz
1889 - Cosio Cellevich at Possum Gully - 336oz
Mar 1950 - Albert Smith in Wilson Street - 75oz ?550
Mar 11 1950 - ? Butterick (Golden Retriever) - 72 oz ?650
Mar 12 1950 - ? Butterick (Wedderburn Dog) - 145oz
Mar 29 1950 - ? Butterick (Golden Wedge) - 70oz
1970 - Lisa Roverts in Wychitella State Forest - 7oz
July 25 1980 - A Turner, R Fazzani, R Hard (Beggary Lump) - 82.2oz
Aug 8 1980 - At Hit or Miss Mine, North Beggary Hill - 10.0oz
Sept 26 1980 - K and B Hillier at Kingower (Hand of Faith)
Access for Dogs:
Dogs must be on a leash.
Review:
This is a wonderful area to explore, especially for those with an interest in gold mining history. The rexreation of a puddler is excellent. There is also the added attraction of seeing the eucalyptus stew pot on some days of the week. There are plenty of facilities such as toilets, tables, shelters and BBQs. There are also tables on top of the hill where the adit (horizontal tunnel) is located.
Photos:
Location
Wilson Street, Wedderburn 3518 Map
