WOOLSHED FALLS ALLUVIAL WORKINGS
MCFEETERS ROAD EAST BEECHWORTH, INDIGO SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
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WOOLSHED FALLS ALLUVIAL WORKINGS - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site:
The Woolshed - a section of Reedy Creek, about 6.5 km below Beechworth, was opened in 1853. Within two years, it was the richest and busiest locality on the field and was renowned throughout the colony. The Woolshed township extended along the creek for 4 km, serving a mining population of thousands.
The alluvial ground on the Woolshed was very wet and deep, making it difficult to work. Innovation and money were required to tackle the problems of drainage and tailings disposal. In the ground-sluicing claim of Bawden's (or Rawden's) Steam Co. in 1861, 'an endless band of vulcanised india rubber', 15 ft long, was employed to raise tailings and water in buckets and discharge them over the bank into the creek.' Deep tailraces, cut through rock, were the order of the day. By the mid-1860s, Chinese miners predominated: working in large parties, they were able to profitably work ground that others had given up as worthless.
The Woolshed and its tributaries yielded not just gold, but 'black sand', or tin. By 1870 tin 'streaming' was proving more profitable than gold mining.
In 1890, the Woolshed Valley Co. was formed, to re-work the creek by the new system of 'dredging'. This pioneering dredging operation employed a barge-mounted Jennings sand (or gravel) pump. The mining surveyor wrote that the Woolshed Valley Co.'s methods 'could lead to opening up of a new era in alluvial mining', and he was right. The yields from the dredge were 'splendid', despite the ground having already been worked over twice. The Woolshed Valley dredge continued work until 1911.Heritage Inventory Description
WOOLSHED FALLS ALLUVIAL WORKINGS - Heritage Inventory Description
The alluvial workings cover an extensive area, showing evidence of a range of alluvial mining methods and technology, including a creek diversion, 'surfacing', races, tunnels, and remnants of flume supports (an oblique line of steel dowells driven into the rock face of the falls).
Creek diversion - Above Woolshed Falls, the creek has been diverted to the south in a channel approximately 300 m long, cut through granite to the head of the falls. At the commencement of the diversion channel is a short adit, cut through a spur on the south side, through which water still passes. To the north of the diversion channel is the dry bed of the original creek course. Alluvial 'surfacing' - Beside the creek above the falls can be seen a patch of 'surfacing', where miners scraped out gold-bearing soil from between the granite boulders. Water races - Two levels of races are evident, the upper level retained with stone.
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WOOLSHED FALLS ALLUVIAL WORKINGSVictorian Heritage Inventory
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Woolshed CreekNational Trust
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