The angled sign on the southern side of the intersection of Cassilis Road and Great Alpine Road reads:
"The Cassilis Road follows a valley called Long Gully. With Swifts Creek as the start point, at its junction with the Great Alpine Road, the road climbs onto the High Plains beyond Cassilis at one of the lowest crossing points of the Great Dividing Range. This is the head of Long Gully. Between there and here (18 kms) were three towns, Swifts Creek, Tongio West and Cassilis. There is an opinion that Long Gully only refers to the area of Tongio West and Cassilis but the interpretation used for this signage information includes Swifts Creek on the basis that it is located at the mouth of Long Gully. That name came from an early miner who arrived in Omeo from a different than usual direction, and who, when asked how he had come, said it was via a "Long Gully". These three towns, and the road, have played an important role in the area's rich history - - -"
[Photos of various buildings]
"You are standing a few metres behind the man on the far left of the photo and would be looking at the rear of the coach. This photo was circa 1898. At this time coach and wagons were the only way for people and goods to reach Swifts Creek. The trip from Bairnsdale took two days for the coach and about a week for goods wagons (if weather and road were good). The gold mining had started in the 1850's but alluvial mining was giving way to reef mining with large treatment plants being built. The frequent dry spells stopped production for long periods with these coaches carrying dozens of men to look for other work until the mines resumed.
"Swifts Creek was first known as Swifts Creek Junction with the name seeming to have derived from the combination of watercourse and road junctions. Additionally, the area was the junction of Tongio and Ensay Stations. The first building was McClarty's Junction Hotel which was situated where the present hotel stands [Albion Hotel]. The coaches did not begin to stop here until 1882. Until this time the Omeo Highway was located on the other side of the river. The first motor car did not reach Ensay until 1905 and Omeo in 1908, the first trucks in about 1920. the Cassilis Road has been gradually sealed over the years with the final section being completed in 2002. This is in keeping with its status as an official loop on the Great Alpine Road.
"Swifts Creek butter Factory (above) around the time of its opening. First proposed in 1905, a tender for construction was let in 1907. In 1910 a flour mill was also suggested for Swifts Creek but was eventually built in Ensay and opened in 1913 using a boiler from one of the local mines, which were then in decline. With the high cost of transport it was natural that the Shire would produce it own flour, milk, butter and cream. The local population provided some product demand but most was sent from Melbourne. Butter production reached 50 tons per annum but the unreliable seasons made dairying an uncertain proposition. The butter factory persisted until 1946 when it closed.
"At this time timber milling was becoming the major industry for Swifts Creek. Tongio West and Cassilis continued to decline through to the 1950's at which time, people who were here, report that a single car travelling through was considered an "event". The Cassilis hotel was closed in the early 1950's, some of its bricks were used to rebuild the wall of the building in the coach photo - [top left]
"Sheep and cattle grazing continued to be the principal land use for the whole shire. Farms became larger, taking over the many small titles left from soldier settler programs and the mining years. Those buildings that remained were moved or demolished, some were moved a number of times. For all the hardship, the people who grew up here during this time generally remember a happy and carefree time in a scenic bush setting. Between the towns were smaller settlements or places with their own names: The Walnuts, Boucher Town, Bens Crossing, The Springs, Bagtown, Porridge Flat, Skeleton Corner, were some of these.
"In the 1800's and early 1900's, Tongio West and Cassilis were larger than Swifts Creek simply because of the number of people employed at the mines. With their closure and the consequent population decline in Tongio West and Cassilis, Swift Creek became the larger. The above photo is of Ezards Swifts Creek mill, circa 1970. The timber milling industry came to the fore from 1945 when Ezards built a modern mill which also provided good quality housing for it workers. Steady work provided a stable community. Swifts Creek boomed. Cassilis and Tongio West continued to decline as mining had only ever been the reason for their existence. The Cassilis Road was now a network of logging roads, put in or maintained, to access timber brought from the various logging areas. The Country Roads Board spent 8000 pounds to widen the bends on the Cassilis Gap for instance so that timber could be brought from the Upper Livingstone area to Burwoods Mill. Burwoods Mill was on the Cassilis Road on "Porridge Flat" at the junction with the Brookville Road.
"The mills consolidated over time and with improved transport the processing has been relocated elsewhere. Ezards closed in the late 1990's. Swifts Creek remains an attractive small town with numerous people living along the Cassilis Road. Stock and grazing are still the mainstay of the district. The road was officially called "Swifts Creek - Omeo Road" for some decades and by some as "Long Gully Road" but in 2003 the East Gippsland Shire Council approved the name change back to what (almost) everyone has always called it, "The Cassilis Road".
Visited: 1355, Monday, 16 May, 2016