April 2006 - Chewton.net

GOLD PART 2
Lack of space prevented the publication of Glenn's
entire GOLD article last month. This is Part 2.
When the news of this find at Forest Creek made its way
to Ballarat, it had at that time a population on its field of
about 3000 diggers. The news that gold was to be found
everywhere on the surface at Forest Creek almost emptied
Ballarat. Some of the first party’s overlanding from Ballarat
got lost in the bush, some taking the wrong fork at the
junction of Barkers and Forest Creeks near where Major
Mitchell’s line crossed the creek. They ended up at
Harcourt which was even in those early times a small
township. Others stopped and tried their luck after getting
lost on their journey from Ballarat. At Fryers Creek, one
party tried their luck and gold was found there by mid
October 1851 as well. One party stopped before reaching
Golden Point on the hill near where Castlemaine Auto
Electrics are today and tried their luck and found gold
there too. They soon moved on to the main area of activity
which was by that time the centre of what was later called
Chewton. Gold was found all over the surrounding hills,
the ones taking their rise from Forest Creek to the south,
later called Post Office Hill and Red Hill were proclaimed
the richest patches of shallow alluvial ground ever found,
this claim still holds true to this day. In fact there is a
distinct line of these hills that run into Castlemaine. The
hills were once the bed of a river, approx. 8 to 10 million
years ago. This river was the forerunner to Forest Creek
and took its course in the same westerly direction as Forest
Creek does today. Most historians agree the discovery of
gold at Forest Creek, was the trigger for the largest mass
migration in history. In April 1852, 7 tons of Forest Creek
gold arrived in several ships on the river Thames in London,
proof positive the big finds in Victoria were no hoax. The
huge alluvial deposit of gold, its close proximity to the
surface and the fact anybody with luck on their side could
find a fortune with little or no mining experience was so
attractive to the poor people of Europe that they left their
homelands in droves for the new world. Glenn Braybrook.
A WALK BACK IN HISTORY
A guided walk at Tunnel Hill
around the historic Junction/Railway Dam area
Thursday 11th May - 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
MAS Heritage Festival May 2006
DOWN MEMORY LANE...
...IN EUREKA STREET
Well known local eccentric
and collector of
local history Elaine
Appleton is not writing
her life story. Oh no!
Elaine has decided to
do her story using the
fabulous photos she has
collected since child-
hood. Elaine explained
that in her
younger days the Jury
and Schultz kids all
Elaine, Val, Merle,
Bill and Lorna on
the old stone wall.
played together and they often ended up walking along
the double stoned, earth filled wall on either side of the
railway line toward what is now Loddon Prison (and yes,
it’s still there!). The photo shown is a re-enactment taken
recently. Elaine was about 7 or 8 when they played in this
area and every year they would drag bushes, branches
and old stumps and pile them together for their annual
bonfire (sorry Noel!). On one occasion Val Schultz was
standing up a tree, legs apart for balance, and was passing
branches down to Elaine when she got the giggles.
Elaine, was standing directly underneath her piling up
branches when she felt a warm wet sensation on her shoulder.
Yep, you guessed it! Val had laughed so much she
couldn’t contain herself.
Elaine has since taken Val to the People and Places Display
in the Chewton Town Hall where they met up with
another well known local Frank Benbow. Val was delighted
to find her name and photo in the old school records.
Needless to say the three of them spent quite a few hours
in the hall remembering and catching up on the latest goss.
Val’s father, Fred Schultz, worked at Wattle Gully Mine
and he always took two bottles of cold tea in his crib to
work and Val and Elaine would be excited if he came
home with any left. They were allowed to have the left
overs out of the two screw topped bottles.
A lot has changed in childhood behaviour over the years,
but I know I would still prefer ours. Out in the bush, riding
bikes for miles, swimming in the res and the only time you
went home was for meals.
Memories, memories - how precious they are. A2.