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associated with the Warratta quartz reefs. Evaluation of the probable
route to Mount Poole diggings suggests the site is on or close to that route.
To the north-west is rising ground, and to the east the flood plain of
Bendigo Creek.
There is an operating windmill at Chinaman's Well. According to oral
history (Blore: 1985) the bore which this pumps is sunk adjacent to the
original well. Harry Blore, the informant, was responsible for erection of the
mill and associated sheep watering facilities.
7.1.2 Site Features
Beside the windmill already mentioned is a large rectangular stone tank.
The outside of this is formed of roughly dressed stone, and tapers inwards
from bottom to top. The inside, which is cement rendered, is vertical. One
side of the tank is built over the remains of a much smaller tank or cistern
of broadly similar construction. Blore suggested this dates from the original
Chinese occupation of the site. He also suggested that when he was small
(during the 1930s) the remains of a wooden fence still stood around the
area he pointed out as being the site of the Chinese gardens here. Blore
also stated that during the 1970s he was contracted to remove an
accumulation of flood debris from around the tank, and to build new
watering troughs for the sheep. At that time he graded quite a lot of
material from the vicinity of the tank. The material so removed forms a low
mound some distance away. However, examination of mounds remaining
near the windmill and tank, and in particular, of one quite tall mound,
suggested that they may originally have been the floor and walls of tamped
earth structures. If so four or five such structures may have existed in the
vicinity of the well. A short distance west of the well is an area of more
firmly packed earth. Associated with this are a number of post stumps and
some wire netting, suggestive of a small yard or pen.
Adjacent to a depression beside the present windmill are the remains of a
whip, presumably the means by which water was previously raised from
the well. The depression, again according to Blore, was the original well,
and was filled by him with debris during the construction of the new
facilities.
However, the main structural remnant at Chinaman's Well is the ruin of a
stone hut. The is located south-west of the well and appears to have been
a one room structure. Associated with the stone hut is a sparse artefact
scatter.
Photograph 7, a view of the ruin from the east, was taken in 1988.
Photograph 8, taken from the south, dates from January 1994.