Gold Prospecting - Stringybark Creek, Vic, Australia
S 36° 52.576 E 146° 11.933
55H E 428603 N 5918553
This Historical Marker details the importance of the soils and the gold rush which occurred near here.
Waymark Code: WM10NTT
Location: Victoria, Australia
Date Posted: 06/03/2019
Views: 0
A rectangular printed metal sign is mounted between painted metal frame on two square posts between steel post railing near the Stringybark Creek site of some historical significance in regards to Saturday 26th October 1878, when three policemen were shot and killed within a kilometre from here - with a fourth policeman who escaped giving testimony that Edward (Ned) Kelly was the shooter. This sign explains how the area had importance before that fateful event.
GOLD PROSPECTING
"Gold prospecting began in 1858 and continued into the 1890s. The Toombullup gold field extended to Stringybark Creek where the area's rich volcanic soils were formed from the weathering of the ancient volcanic capping on a ridge that formed a watershed line between Hollands Creek and Stringybark Creek.
"On the eastern side of Stringybark Creek the flats rest on red sandstone that overlays granite. The Police shoot-out in the Stringybark Creek valley is close to the areas where alluvial gold was mined. Small amounts of gold were found by a mining method called 'sluicing', whereby gold-bearing earth from the surrounding creek banks was ladled into a sluice box and mixed with running water. This gravel mix was then agitated to extract the precious material. The limited and sporadic yield in the area meant that the gold fever only lasted a short period of time.
"Other methods consisted of panning for gold in the creek, or sinking deep mine shafts into the ground. Deep shafts were dug, shoring up the sides using forest timbers, which often led to fatalities when the shaft sides collapsed.
"Throughout the areas, remnant mine shafts can be seen and deep cuts entering into the creek provide evidence of sluice mining."
Off to the right-hand side of the marker sign is drawings of 'Panning for alluvial gold', 'Mine shaft digging for gold', and 'Sluicing for gold'.
Visited: 1627, Sunday, 6 January, 2019