ZULU CREEK GOLD MINING LANDSCAPE
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Statement of Significance
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ZULU CREEK GOLD MINING LANDSCAPE - History
Payable gold was discovered on Zulu Creek in 1879. By March 1880, about 300 oz. of gold had been obtained from the creek in the preopvious three months (Morrow, J. 1989). The Just in Time Company was operating on Zulu Creek in 1880 – 1881 (Bannear, D. nd). It was worked (intermittently) throughout the 1880s and then was revived during the depression era in 1936/37. Bannear’s historic notes state: At Zulu Creek, ore from the Just in Time mine was treated from 1936 by crushing and cyanidation, with plant including a 25ft-diameter waterwheel, five-head battery, cyanide tanks, smelting furnace, laboratory, and blacksmith shop.38 The outcomes of these operations must have been unsatisfactory, for in 1941 the Dart River goldfields virtual abandonment was again blamed on the complex nature of its ores and the absence of suitable plant. The water wheel that once operated on site is now located in Omeo. It was removed in the 1970s. Local historian (and District Forester at Corryong) John Morrow writing in the 1980s concludes his history of the with the observation that: “The example of the action taken to preserve the Zulu water wheel is one of destruction of an item of national heritage in that by removing it from its original site, all the wonder, and conjecture with regard to [it] is largely lost.” The Zulu Mine Track, as at May 2022, has been closed to the public since the 19/20 summer bushfires making the site inaccessible. The site is in DELWP-managed State Forest.ZULU CREEK GOLD MINING LANDSCAPE - Interpretation of Site
Archaeological remains of the Zulu Creek Goldfield, including alluvial workings and the Just In Time Battery Site. Gold was first discovered in 1879 and worked intermittently until c.1936. A bulldozed track off the side is all the evidence of a failed revival of the site in the 1960s. One of the main features – the waterwheel -was removed in the 1970s and is now on display in Omeo. The site, while known locally, was first archaeologically recorded after the 2004 fires by Robert Kaufman and Andrew Swift. Their photos and site plans are attached.
Heritage Inventory Description
ZULU CREEK GOLD MINING LANDSCAPE - Heritage Inventory Description
The site covers an area of alluvial gold workings and sluicing operations as well as the site of the Just In Time company’s battery and waterwheel. The machinery has been removed, but rockwalling, adits, mullock and the 1930s cyanide vats remain. The sites were initially surveyed after the 2003 fires by Kaufman and Swift and they documents two sites - the Just In Time Battery site and the Zulu Creek Alluvial Workings. These two sites were subsequently added to the Historic Places Register managed by the then DSE (now DELWP) but not the HI. Proposed track works and removal of hazardous trees after the Black Summer fires led to the sites being audited by Heritage Victoria's Bushfire Recovery team in May 2022 and the current condition documented. The audit sheets are attached to provide the full description of the site and its current condition. It is proposed that the two sites be recorded as one for the HI given they are better understood in context together.
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NORTH MELBOURNE POTTERYVictorian Heritage Inventory
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STONY CREEK SLIPWAYVictorian Heritage Inventory
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SEASONING WORKS SITE AND TERRACOTTA LUMBERWALLVictorian Heritage Inventory
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