Ghost Town

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G'day everyone.

Last week I got a book which i bought online regarding a goldfield to the north of Melbourne.

This particular area is where we used to go camping when we were kids,we would walk the banks of the local river for days on end fishing out the native blackfish and Redfin.

This goldfield Was discovered back in the 1860s and the rushes were brief and sometimes quite rich.Its still an area which you can do ok with a pan if your prepared to walk to find the colour.

After reading this book I found a spot that had a gold mine very high in the hills which was once a thriving little town with a hall,hotel ect,now a forgotten ghost town.Ha,it was once a suburb with its own name I had never heard off.

So I headed of the beaten track on Saturday to check it out for some recon.
This was a real hike,one hour walking on a 4wd track then once I had my bearings I veared right off the ridge of the mountains into a deep valley,through a narrow creek and halfway back up the other side.True mountain goat country,bracken and fallen timber everywhere.

This is where I found the mine.Quiet a few shafts and other diggings which although overgrown are still visible(just).A large quartz dump.
All in all a worthwhile trip and it does make me wonder how many other old little known and long abandoned mines are waiting to be explored. :Y:
 
Where's the photo's Mick ,..... without them we might think it didn't happen.
Just make sure they don't identify your spot is all. ;) ;)
 
Haha,yeah fair call Silver.

I was a bit stuffed to take the phone out but in hindsight wish I had of taken some photos.Interesting area and no rubbish around at all,but it is the side of a steep valley I would say well over a couple of hundred meters,not much blue sky from the creek bed. :Y:
 
Sounds like a good place to visit and run a detector over. You never know what relics you may find. Also sound like there could be a chance of finding a little gold left behind.
 
There are so many forgotten town, that you can only see, is by maybe a few things left around.
Sometimes only a very small footprint of the town, the rest has been taken back by the bush.

I have came across some of these over the years.
Some you could walk right past and not even know.
If it wasn't for an old bottle or a bit of broken porcelain, or a few old unmarked graves. ( which are to be left alone )

Great story there bud. I hope you go back and find something. Maybe take the camera out next time.
As a picture can tell a thousand words.
 
G'day Way2go.

I think they processed the quartz down on the creek line as there is a semi circular flat structure built into the creek bed,man made with a stone retaining wall about 3 metres high.
They may have also processed in the nearest main town about 16ks away.

Looking to get back as soon as I can to have a further look.
 
Thanks XIV.

I will take some snaps when I'm out there next.
The town centre was close to the mine as they all were back then,but it's so thick and dense that I haven't seen any sign of it.

It was considered a small goldfield and many of the miners took off quickly for the major goldfields when it dried up.I read the miners had their huts down on the creek line so it will be worth a look there as well as the whole area in general.

You could certainly hike right past the whole area without knowing it was there if you stuck to the main ridge line,and the lack of rubbish in the mine itself tells me that's probably what's happened over the years.
 
'Pack March'
Easy No prob

135 flights of stairs
9.8kms
As recorded by the trusty iPhone :Y:

The old diggings.

I recon there are about half a dozen shafts and other areas where the reef has been chopped out the side of the spur.
Remote and off the well worn tracks of the GT.
The spur on which the reef is on is about 100mtrs above the creek.
Some very very deep shafts to be wary of,and when I get back there I will be staying well clear of them.
There is so much quartz lying around,cricket ball size stuff.No detector holes but there are a few old vb cans around.

1503307900_img_3541.jpg


Tiny speck in the quartz contact zone :Y

1503309667_img_3558.jpg


1503309995_img_3540.jpg
 
Lately I have been too busy with work and at home with the family to get on the forum,but I have been on the gold regularly lately.

After heaps of research I thought I would head up to the same group of mountain ranges that the ghost town belongs to,and try my luck on an ancient lead.

It has remained abandoned with no signs of life that I can see apparently since WW1,having been last worked in 1915.
No beer cans.No rubbish.No dig holes.No trails in or out.

Heres a couple of grouse species that I found within minutes of getting there.
The two biggest show gold on nearly all surfaces.Not the best pics,should have taken them in daylight.
I will get back there now and start cleaning it out,happy days.

1536487392_ce78c1d1-244e-496d-b386-9090b2ada5cd.jpg

1536487393_304b7eec-2b5b-45c8-b44c-43444037a11e.jpg
 
Mick Cov said:
G'day everyone.

Last week I got a book which i bought online regarding a goldfield to the north of Melbourne.

This particular area is where we used to go camping when we were kids,we would walk the banks of the local river for days on end fishing out the native blackfish and Redfin.

This goldfield Was discovered back in the 1860s and the rushes were brief and sometimes quite rich.Its still an area which you can do ok with a pan if your prepared to walk to find the colour.

After reading this book I found a spot that had a gold mine very high in the hills which was once a thriving little town with a hall,hotel ect,now a forgotten ghost town.Ha,it was once a suburb with its own name I had never heard off.

So I headed of the beaten track on Saturday to check it out for some recon.
This was a real hike,one hour walking on a 4wd track then once I had my bearings I veared right off the ridge of the mountains into a deep valley,through a narrow creek and halfway back up the other side.True mountain goat country,bracken and fallen timber everywhere.

This is where I found the mine.Quiet a few shafts and other diggings which although overgrown are still visible(just).A large quartz dump.
All in all a worthwhile trip and it does make me wonder how many other old little known and long abandoned mines are waiting to be explored. :Y:

did you find the 2 adits ?
 
Mick Cov said:
G'day Way2go.

I think they processed the quartz down on the creek line as there is a semi circular flat structure built into the creek bed,man made with a stone retaining wall about 3 metres high.
They may have also processed in the nearest main town about 16ks away.

Looking to get back as soon as I can to have a further look.

that would have been the roasting kilns to drive off the sulphides in the rock made treatment with mercury/amalgamation a lot easier without the raw sulphides the fire would oxidise them.
 
Mick Cov said:
'Pack March'
Easy No prob

135 flights of stairs
9.8kms
As recorded by the trusty iPhone :Y:

The old diggings.

I recon there are about half a dozen shafts and other areas where the reef has been chopped out the side of the spur.
Remote and off the well worn tracks of the GT.
The spur on which the reef is on is about 100mtrs above the creek.
Some very very deep shafts to be wary of,and when I get back there I will be staying well clear of them.
There is so much quartz lying around,cricket ball size stuff.No detector holes but there are a few old vb cans around.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/8894/1503307900_img_3541.jpg

Tiny speck in the quartz contact zone :Y

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/8894/1503309667_img_3558.jpg

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/8894/1503309995_img_3540.jpg

been down the shafts ones approx. 30 meters deep and the other is 20m and the one near the road about 10m
 
Mick Cov said:
Lately I have been too busy with work and at home with the family to get on the forum,but I have been on the gold regularly lately.

After heaps of research I thought I would head up to the same group of mountain ranges that the ghost town belongs to,and try my luck on an ancient lead.

It has remained abandoned with no signs of life that I can see apparently since WW1,having been last worked in 1915.
No beer cans.No rubbish.No dig holes.No trails in or out.

Heres a couple of grouse species that I found within minutes of getting there.
The two biggest show gold on nearly all surfaces.Not the best pics,should have taken them in daylight.
I will get back there now and start cleaning it out,happy days.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...7392_ce78c1d1-244e-496d-b386-9090b2ada5cd.jpg
https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...7393_304b7eec-2b5b-45c8-b44c-43444037a11e.jpg

not bad not bad at all :Y:
 

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