JORDAN RIVER DIVERSION TUNNEL
RJ SPUR TRACK JERICHO, BAW BAW SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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JORDAN RIVER DIVERSION TUNNEL - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site: One of the earliest reports (dated February 1862) of the Jordan River workings reads like this:An important rush has taken place to a district ten miles from the Upper Goulburn workings, and thirty miles south of Mount Bulla, contiguous to a creek denominated by the miners the River Jordan. The river runs through a flat 500 yards wide, and already a small township has been built on its banks. The bed consists of clay, slate, and, in some instances, sandstone. The flats on each side are composed of gravel, covered with rich soil, the whole of which appears to be auriferous, although the present workings are confined to the bed of the creek, and its intermediate sides. The workings on the main creek extend for fourteen miles, besides which there are numerous tributaries which are worked successfully, particularly one named Fern-tree Creek, which is ten miles long. A party of four got here 280 oz in one week. About 4,000 persons were on the ground.The Jericho township site was continuously occupied from the time of its formation, in 1861, until the last of the sluicing operators (the Christie family) departed in the 1950s. The hotel had closed in 1938 and the remnants of the township, numerous abandoned wooden buildings, were destroyed in the Black Friday bushfires the next year.Hydraulic sluicing was carried on along the Jordan River from above Jericho to Blue Jacket from 1895 until 1950s, obliterating most signs of earlier alluvial mining on the river. An exception is a diversion tunnel cut through a river bend just below the township. No record has been found of the tunnel's construction and use. It has been alternatively attributed to either river-bed sluicers during the earliest mining period at Jericho (1861-5) or to an attempt in 1872 to hasten floodwaters away from the township. Certainly, sluicing was confined to the bed of the river until 1865; from that date sluicers spread to the spurs above the river.References: Historic Places Section (CNR) hanging filesMining Surveyors' Reports (Western Buckland Division), February 1862; (Jordan South and Part of Omeo Subdivisions), September 1864; (Part of Jordan South Subdivision), September 1865; (Matlock Subdivision), March & June 1866Heritage Inventory Description
JORDAN RIVER DIVERSION TUNNEL - Heritage Inventory Description
Features of the Jericho-Jordan River alluvial workings are evidence of extensive sluicing, a diversion tunnel, and the Jericho township site.Diversion tunnel - the tunnel is about 30 m long x 4 m high x 3 m wide, cut through rock. The river still runs through it. A narrow ledge slightly above water level provides a pathway through the tunnel.Sluicing - extensive sluicing along the river from above Jericho to Blue Jacket mine.Jericho township site - little remains of the original township. Most of the area has been heavily sluiced by hydraulic water pressure, which has disturbed the site beyond recognition. The main features of the township that still exist are the cemetery (one broken headstone plus some iron work) and site of the Police Reserve.
Heritage Inventory Significance: Regional
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JORDAN RIVER DIVERSION TUNNELVictorian Heritage Inventory
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CHINESE PIG OVENVictorian Heritage Inventory
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UNKNOWN FATHER & SON GRAVEVictorian Heritage Inventory
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