Bruthen to Omeo area

[wombat digger]

Has anybody had any info on this area. I have been to Haunted stream at Stirling years ago and had a dredge but didn'y know how to use it properly. The dredge is well gone but now getting into prospecting with pan and highbanker. I know gold was mined there and also I think tin.
My question is what information does anyone have on the general area. It is quite a hike from Cranbourne so any info would help in saving time. Swifts creek is also in the general area, another spot for gold and some sort of gems. I'm not sure what gems.
Does anybody know or think the trip would be worth it. This is for future trip as I am going to Eldorado, reedy creek next week for my first real atempt at hunting some color. I have built up a good colection of gear to get into the hobby with other equipment projects planned.
I am 70 and my wife is a bit behind me but we feel young at heart and both are looking forward to getting into it. I do have problems with hips and legs but I intend to push myself to do this as we both feel by doing some prospecting at our pace it can only be beneficial to our health and is a reason to get away from home. We ar not expecting to strike it rich, we just would like to have the excitement of finding some color to make it all worth it.
We live in Cranbourne and would like to meet like minded people that we could spend time with and discuss general prospecting stuff. Don't be scared off by our age as we mstly associate with the younger crowd. If anyone is interested please message me and we may ba able to meet up and talk the talk.
By the way, Happy new year and hope this year is full of the color.
Cheers
Doug. Wombat Digger

 

[PabloP]

Doug, I have had a bit of a play in the area, but not with a pan or High banker, just using a detector. One of the challenges that you will have is that many of the historic gold bearing streams are on the exempt list, so no prospecting in the stream locations is allowed. So you need to work away from the exempt streams and that is not good for a pan or banker and taking pot luck with the detector. So far I have only found junk (shells, shot, etc) in the area.

So nowadays when visiting the area I tend to just do so more as a tourist, mainly to look at the old sites and enjoy the bush. I still take a pan in the vehicle and have a couple of streams not on the exempt list to check when I have time.

Use the following link to check if a stream is on the exempt list and there are lots of them, so don't get caught playing in the wrong stream.

http://earthresources.vic.gov.au/ea...ess-rules/list-of-exempted-rivers-and-streams

 

[Jack's Gems]

It's pretty hard to not find colour at Reedy Creek. Just test pan in the creek gravels at the inside of the bends, pan out crevices in or on the edge of the creek or dig behind large rocks in the creek. You should find something there as there is heaps of fine gold.

I haven't been to Omeo or that area before, so I'm not the one to ask, but there would be other members who go there. - Jack

 

[wombat digger]

Hi PabloP. I have checked the exempt creeks and rivers list and Haunted stream is not on it. I have also researched the gold history of Stirling, an old ghost town where they were mining gold. The old diggings at Stirling along the stream are stl there. Access is off the Omeo road just past Tambo Crossing to the left and its about 20 min in.
To my knowledge there was gold and I think silver found as well as tin. Swifts creek is the same as far as I know.
I was just asking if anyone on the formu has any knowledge on the area. Thanks for your response.
Cheers
Doug

 

[nucopia]

THE TRAGEDY AT HAUNTED STREAM - A TERRIBLE AND MYSTERIOUS CRIME.
High in the hills of Gippsland on the road between Omeo and Bairnsdale one can find a small creek with an interesting story known as Haunted Stream.
In the 1850s Haunted Stream was alive with alluvial gold mines, and quickly the town of Stirling was constructed on the banks of the creek, a collection of weatherboard and corrugated houses, business and huts. Stirling is forty-two miles beyond Bairnsdale on the way to Omeo, and is approached with difficulty. From Bairnsdale a coach runs as far as Omeo, dropping passengers for Stirling at Tambo Crossing. Then to Stirling, a distance of ten miles has to be accomplished, according to the capabilities of the traveller. If one can ride and has the nerve, will survive well enough. If not one must walk, for there is no driving track. The road is mountainous, and the bridle track at times overhangs steep precipices, where a fall would be fatal. Along the route the scenery is charming, and the hills and valleys, which are clothed with good timber. Stirling itself is on the bank of the creek, and its situation, surrounded by hills, is most picturesque. Once a thriving quartz-mining locality, but now a sleepy diggers' hollow, it boasted a population of twenty-two souls all told, and a history rich in traditions, such as are common to all mining townships. The best authenticated of those traditions, and one which' holds first place in the estimation of the "people of Stirling," because it named the Haunted Stream, is that concerning the death of Sir Roger Tichborne "Ballarat Harry." He was known by no other name, and in the early days he was a prominent character in the shifting population of the locality. He finally disappeared between the diggings and Omeo, and his mate, who had accompanied him in his prospecting excursions, returned alone, in possession of Ballarat Harry's watch and chain, some of his clothes,' and in addition an unusually large amount of money. He explained that he had won them from "Harry" at cards, and that when "Harry" found he was financially crushed he severed the partnership and started off on his own account. What became of him has never been learned. The mate was arrested and charged with his murder, but as the body could not be found the charge was abandoned.
When the case was engaging attention, up and down the little creek mysterious noises were heard at night, and ghostly apparitions were said to have been seen by lonely diggers till the creek gained the reputation of being haunted by the ghost of Sir Roger Tichborne, otherwise "Ballarat Harry."
But was Ballarat Harry really murdered......
On the 5th of January 1859 Mr Green, a gold buyer was murdered, at Swift's creek near Omeo, by Armstrong and Chamberlain, who were both convicted and hanged. Armstrong after his arrest made the following statement to Constable William Greene "About two years ago Toke, a shanty keeper at Mount Gibbo, asked me to join him and a man named Ballarat Harry, saying that Harry, had 400 with him. The idea was they would go away prospecting, kill Harry and divide the money. I agreed but at the last moment refused. Toke said, if you don't split I will, give you a 100 on my return. Toke returned in about two weeks, and gave me the money promised, and said that he had tomahawked Harry while asleep, burned his body, broke up the bones, and then set fire to the bush.' "'Toke was tried and acquitted, not being enough evidence to sustain a murder charge.
Can you believe the word of a criminal who is about to be executed for murder.....
Mr F. J. Perry, a chemist in Omeo, claimed without dealt that Toke murdered Ballarat Harry as he was the last man to see and speak to Toke alive. Toke ended his days in the Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, and Mr Perry who was then connected with that institution, gave Toke his last drink of water and listened to his dying confession.

 

[wombat digger]

Some links to the history of the area.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/7893343

http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/view/...ULE_ID=10&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true

http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t12963-haunted-stream-gold-field

Ther was gold mined in the area and I would like to talk with or meet with anyone who has been there and tried.

I have been there in a two wheel drive but I think it would mainly be 4x4 access. Ground clearance is a bit tight in many spots for the average 2 weel drices.

 

[Jemba]

These may be of help. cheers Jemba

Gold field reports. Mining Registrars Victoria.

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1884No53.pdf

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1874No64.pdf

https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/papers/govpub/VPARL1861-62No100.pdf

http://www.alpineshire.vic.gov.au/Files/ThematicEnvironmentalHistory.pdf

Sketch map, Omeo and Dry Gully gold field

http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/118076

 

[Jemba]

Books to keep an eye out for. :Y:

The Bright district nugget book : including up-to-date list of locally found gold nuggets, prospective areas for gold in quartz specimens, prospecting hints, detailed goldfield maps / by R.J. Kaufman.
R. J Kaufman (Robert J.), 1953-.

The diary of Henry Morgan : a life on the Buckland Valley & District Goldfields, 1853-1909 / [[edited by] Isabel Brooks ... [et. al.]].
Henry Morgan 1832-1909.

A guide to gold fossicking around Bright, Victoria : including panning techniques & hints, historical information, fossicking maps / by R.J. Kaufman.
R. J Kaufman (Robert J.), 1953-.

1 Bright, Wandiligong & Freeburgh gold-field
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/139855

2 Bright, Wandiligong & Freeburgh gold-field
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/118105

 

[Jemba]

Books to look for.

Yambulla gold : a brief record of the colourful Yambulla goldrush, near Eden / Jack Loney.
J. K Loney (Jack Kenneth), 1925-1995

Historical maps and plans. Goldfields. GF68, Omeo-Bogong high plains [microform].
Historical maps and plans collection. GF
[between 1852 and 1906].
Available Phone 03 8664 7009 to arrange delivery from Maps Collection MAPMF Historical plans collection GF68


Sketch plan of leases and auriferous reefs at Sunnyside, Mt. Wills Goldfield, showing position of proposed tunnel [cartographic material].
[Melbourne : Geological Survey of Victoria 1905
Available Phone 03 8664 7009 to arrange delivery from Maps Collection MAPS M 823.76 GBFD 1905?(updating...)


Report on the proposed Sunnyside tunnel, Mount Wills gold-field, and on certain reefs and alluvial workings in that district, with plan and section / by E.J. Dunn.
E. J Dunn (Edward John), 1844-1937.
Melbourne : Dept. of Mines 1906
Available Phone 03 8664 7009 to arrange delivery from Maps Collection MAPS M 823.76 GBFD 1905?


Secrets of... ghost towns of the High Country : featuring 50 'ghost towns' in and around Victoria's alpine region / Luke Steenhuis.
Luke Steenhuis
Melbourne, Australia : Research Publications 1998

This is one really cool book to download.

Merrijig Creek, Gippsland. H Davies photographer.
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/401537

Maps

Omeo http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/112991

beachworth http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/139917

Eldy http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117486

Tanjila http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117486

Maldon gold field http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/139862

Warranddyte Goldfield http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117472

Rushworth goldfield http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/117541

Tarnagulla & Newbridge goldfields http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/140415

Chiltern Rutherglen goldfield http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/118107