Whroo Historic Reserve

Whroo (pronounced Roo) was a gold mining town in Victoria. In 1853 thousands of people arrived to seek their fortunes at Whroo and the surrounding area. In early 1857, the population at Whroo peaked at 2100, but had dwindled to 500 by the end of the year. Gold worth millions of pounds was taken out with the largest find at Balaclava Hill.

With the last residents leaving in the 1950's, and all buildings removed or demolished, little evidence remained of the once bustling and noisy mining town, which had struggled to survive for one hundred years. In 1983, government funding provided an information "hut", displaying historical photographs and information about the Balaclava mine. The mine open cut was made accessible to the public, by the provision of steps and a refurbished tunnel. This formalised Whroo as a tourist area, but it had been a favourite picnic-spot for fossickers and locals for many years.

Map of Whroo Historic Reserve

Things to Do

Go for a walk

An extensive network of tracks throughout the forest takes you to Whroo's main points of interest. Wildflowers, including wattles, provide spectacular displays during spring.

The Balaclava open cut mine is a spectacular example of early quartz reef mining. Puddling machines and the remnants of areas of quartz reef and shallow alluvial lead mining areas can be found throughout the historic township site.

A cemetery lies on a lonely hillside and contains some 400 graves, reflecting the harshness of life on the goldfields.

Not far from the cemetery, on Spring Hill, is the Ngurai-Illam-Wurrung Rock Well, reputedly used by Aborigines and later enlarged by gold miners so that they could immerse billies. It is thought the Aborigines protected the waterhole with a rock to prevent pollution by animals and debris, and to reduce evaporation.

Enjoy a picnic

The picnic area at Whroo has toilets, fireplaces and tables. Camping is available in Greens campground where basic toilets are provided.

Facilities

A small kiosk, Whroo Miners Retreat, provides light refreshments and souvenirs plus a range of publications relating to the area. The kiosk is open most weekends and public holidays or by appointment (Phone: 03 5856 1561)

History

Whroo Historic Reserve lies within the 33,000ha Rushworth State Forest. The 500ha reserve encompasses the site of the Whroo township and part of the associated goldfields.

Whroo was central to the lands of the Nguraiillam-wurrung Aboriginal people. In 1836 Major Mitchell passed diagonally through Victoria, crossing the Goulburn River some 20km south of Whroo. Settlers followed and, by 1845, the traditional lifestyle and food resources of the indigenous people had been destroyed.

By 1850 the area was extensively settled by pastoralists and, with the discovery of gold in 1853, the township of Whroo was established.

When the more easily won surface gold petered out and reef mining activity intensified, the area assumed the character it was to maintain for many years. Tents were replaced by huts of logs, slab, dry clay bricks and stone. Stores and hotels appeared, along with butcher shops, dairies, a bakery, banks and one of the first goldfields' Mechanics Institute and Library.

All of the town's 139 buildings have now been moved or destroyed, yet an atmosphere remains. Sugar-gums, peppercorns and pine trees mark where the town once stood.

Access for Dogs:

Dogs are permitted on a leash.

How to get there

Whroo Historic Reserve is located about 190km north of Melbourne. Access is along the Goulburn Valley Highway to Murchison, turn off to Rushworth then travel 7km south through the forest to Whroo. Alternative routes are via Nagambie and Graytown.

Review:

A great spot to explore to soak in elements of the area's rich gold history. The Balaclava Mine Circuit Walk is 1.2 km is length and there are other walks in the area.

Near the main car park, along Reedy Lake Road (off the main Nagambie Rushworth Road) is an area with two unshaded tables, toilets and a building labelled the Visitor Centre which was locked but had some information boards on the outside walls. This is the start of the 1.2 km Balaclava Mine Circuit walk which is a gravelly path circling the open cut mine. There are two viewing points where you can look down into the open cut mine. At one of these points there are concrete steps leading down to the bottom. Unfortunately this is no longer open and the gate is locked shut for safety reasons, presumably due to the risk of falling rocks. The other viewing point has a (broken) protective fence next to a dizzyingly deep hole (which is protected by a net).

There are a number of other historical places to explore including a puddling machine and Whroo Cemetery. Make sure you take a map since we managed to get a "bit lost" while searching for the cemetery. The area is not well signposted.

There was a fair bit of wildlife in the area and we saw an echidna and wallaby.

There are a number of information boards throughout the area to provide additional information. Some of these were:

Whroo: A town develops - Whroo is an English translation of the Aboriginal word Whooro or woorro meaning mouth or lips: The Aboriginal watering hole, near the Whroo Cemetery, being like a mouth in the rock. Whroo had its beginnings in 1853 with the discovery of gold. During the gold rush era, from 1853 to 1860, the township of Whroo evolved around the hill where the Balaclava Mine was discovered.

Three surveys were conducted to mark out land for sale at Whroo. In 1861 Whroo was proclaimed a town and at the beginning of that year there were several slab houses. A schoolhouse had been established and the new store belonging to Charles Baud had been stablished. By 1863 Whroo had 61 huts, 5 cottages and various stores and hotels. From October 1864 to June 1866, a number of allotments near the heart of the diggings, south-east of Balaclava Hill were sold. This development was to be remembered as the township of Whroo.

139 buildings were recorded at Whroo in 1871. Buildings were either constructed of timber slabs, weatherboards or hand made red brick which were made in Rushworth. Wooden water pipes carried water to every home in Whroo. Today, evidence of settlement can be seen from the remnants of underground storage tanks, constructed from bricks or rocks, to retain water for domestic purposes.

The Fall of Whroo - In 1953 all that remained of a once bustling township was a weathered Church of England, Mechanics Institute, a few dwellings, and only three residents.

Lack of finance to purchase powerful machinery to prevent water rising in the shafts at deep levels saw work in the Whroo mines case.

Whroo was almost deserted and over the next years buildings were moved away or demolished. Remnants of fences, fruit trees, grassy clearings, peppercorn trees and
underground wells indicate the sites of early buildings. This, along with the Whroo cemetery, is the only evidence of a once thriving township where residents could purchase all of their daily requirements of food and supplies.

General History - Alluvial gold was found at the present sites of Rushworth and Whroo in August 1853, and the resulting gold-rush brought thousands of hopeful diggers into the area almost overnight. What eventually set Whroo apart from the many other goldfields of the district was the discovery, over a year later, of the Balaclava Reef.

The Balaclava Mine was first developed using shafts to follow rich veins in the gold-bearing quartz. Just north of the open cut, deep fissures (called "stopes") slant down into the rock where miners removed whole veins of quartz and left the mountain propped apart with timber. Later, an enormous charge of explosive was used in an attempt to shatter the hill and enable open cut mining. This was not entirely successful, and unfortunately made further shaft mining unsafe. However, a convenient opening was made in the side of the hill, and material from the open cut was conveyed by tramline to steam-driven stompers. The spectacular open cut, some 25 metres deep, remains today, as does the horizontal tunnel through 100 metres of solid rock where the tramway once passed.

Balaclava Mine - John Thomas Lewis and James Meek Nickinson, both sailors, discovered a large nugget of gold in the grass on top of the highest hill at Whroo on 25 October 1854.This was the same date as the Battle of Balaklava in Russia during the Crimean War, hence the name Balaclava Mine.

It was the most famous, extensive and richest mine in the north eastern district with 15cm gold veins crisscrossing through the quartz, producing over 1,000,00 pounds worth of gold.

The mine was first developed using shafts to follow the rich veins of auriferous (gold bearing) quartz. The main shaft was sunk to a depth of over 400 feet (122 metres) with levels opened at various depths.

In 1863 Lewis hired some men to drive a tunnel from west to east through Balaclava Hill to build a tramline. Gold bearing quartz was carried along the tramline to nearby steam driven stamping batteries where the hard rock was crushed to a fine powder to release the gold. The remains of this process are piles of fine grey sand called 'mullock heaps'

To try to save money, the company blew up the mine workings with a large charge of dynamite. They hoped this would enable them to quarry the mine, but the blast only made it unsafe to continue shaft mining. However, a convenient opening was made in the side of the hill and the whole body of the hill was conveyed by tramway to the nearby steam-driven stampers.

Mining was frequently hampered by a shortage of water. Between March 1865 and April 1866, work stopped for 6 months due to lack of water. Then rain fell so heavily that all the races leading to a partially built darn were broken and only enough water for two months was collected. The dam was finally completed and by August it was full of water, with only an exceptionally dry season stopping work again.

The mine worked on and off for many years depending on investors. Dick Bell and his father were the last people mining at Balaclava Hill, with their shaft being filled in by the Mines Department's shaft filling dozer in the 1960s.

Puddling Machine - Later, puddling became the main method for working the alluvial fields and were often owned by cooperatives. Large quantities of gold bearing clay were taken from the gullies and mixed with water in the puddlers. A single horse would drag harrows around the circular trench to break up the clay and allow the heavier gold to settle to the bottom of the trench.

Today, Whroo has one of its many puddling machines restored. Originally owned by William Puckey, this horse driven puddling machine is situated near that owned by James Cooper, shown on the 1857 survey map. Over the years Charles Bell and Rushworth Lions Club have been responsible for its restoration.

1863 records indicate that there were 17 puddling machines at Whroo. The Chinese operated four puddling machines around Rushworth and eight around Whroo.

Cyanide Vats - Later techniques such as cyaniding were utilised as a more efficient chemical means of extracting gold by leaching mine tailings. This method proved to be successful in extracting gold from tailings left from the stamping batteries.

Gold mining at Whroo - At the Whroo goldfields, gold was first mined from the surface deposits of gravel and silt found in shallow gullies around Whroo using portable table tub and cradle equipment. A miner would rock the cradle, washing and sifting out the lighter materials until only gold was left.

Diggers to the goldfields seeking their fortune needed basic equipment to find that elusive gold. Items such as a pick, shovel and tin dish were basic tools. If a miner could afford some better equipment he could buy a cradle or build a puddling machine or own a steam powered crushing battery which consisted of stamping feet and shaking tables.

Mining companies owned stamping batteries which consisted of large stamping feet and shaking tables, that would crush the quartz, separating the gold. As well as crushing their own quartz, the companies would charge miners 1 pound sterling per ton to crush the quartz from their mines. 1863 records show that three crushers owned by Renison, Lewis and Law & Darroch operated at Whroo.

Whroo and Rushworth miners were constantly plagued by problems with water - either through shaft flooding or in summer, miners did not have enough water to drink or to wash gold from alluvial diggings. Diggers at Whroo had to walk 10kms to a lagoon to wash their dirt. Water Was carted 20kms from the Goulburn River and the Waranga Lagoon to Whroo.

Photos: