YACKANDANDAH CREEK GORGE GOLD SLUICING WORKS

BELLS FLAT ROAD YACKANDANDAH, INDIGO SHIRE

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

YACKANDANDAH CREEK GORGE

Statement of Significance

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  • History

    YACKANDANDAH CREEK GORGE GOLD SLUICING WORKS - History

    Heritage Inventory History of Site:
    An 1860 map included a notation describing the position of 'One of the expensive tailraces mentioned in my reports blasted thro' granite' . Its position corresponds with that of the present-day upper gorge. A mining surveyors' report of December 1859 appears to refer to the same tailrace: 'Messrs Edwards and party's tailrace at the bridge, near the Bridge Inn, on the road to the township is completed. The greater portion was cut through granite, and boxed throughout its entire length.' In 1854 a sawmill had been erected on Yackandandah Creek, and Edwards' claim (worked from 1857) took in the 'Falls of sawmill tail race'.
    The lower gorge was apparently constructed when the Premier GMC (Jessop & Fletcher) excavated a 100m-long tailrace in 1882, cut through hard rock to a depth of more than 2m in places. The Premier Co. had a sluicing lease at Rowdy Flat, on the creek just north of the township. The race was extended in 1885.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    YACKANDANDAH CREEK GORGE GOLD SLUICING WORKS - Heritage Inventory Description

    Yackandandah Creek Gorge- 1996 site description Yackandandah Creek Gorge tail race comprises two channels, an upper and a lower, and stone-retained dam embankments. An interpretive trail has been established for the site. Heritage Inventory Significance: National Estate. The site has scientific potential because of its rarity and educational potential. Heritage Inventory Key Components: Upper channel - Stone-retained walls and channel cut through granite, 10 ft deep, 8 ft wide and runs for approximately 200 ft. The channel is dry, blocked off from the present course of water by a concrete wall. The north end of the channel is completely obscured by blackberries, making it impossible to establish its relationship with the lower channel. Several dumps of pebbles are located at the northern end of the upper channel. Lower channel - Cut through granite, 10 - 15 ft deep x 8ft wide x approximately 600 ft long. The lower channel now forms the present course of Yackandandah Creek. Embankments - A stone-retained embankment runs across the dry original bed of Yackandandah Creek, on the eastern side of the tail race. It is 75 ft long and 6 ft wide and constructed of granite blocks and clay mortar. A second, smaller embankment has been placed across the mouth of a tributary to the creek. Yackandandah Creek Gorge Gold Sluicing Works- 2020 site description The whole of the area alongside the Yackandandah creek, within Crown land, between the Yackandandah Gorge site (H1254) to the north and Bells Flat Road, where the creek turns south east, represents a landscape impacted heavily by gold mining activity, especially sluicing. Gold mining sluicing activity took place here in the later phases of Yackandandah's gold mining history. The edges of the creek valley were all cut away by the sluicing though probably exacerbated by subsequent erosion. Mounds of soil, pebbles and gravels were noted throughout on the valley floor and in the creek, likely deposited during sluicing as sludge. Several soil ditches or channels (water races) were also noted that are likely associated with the gold mining sluicing activity. There were several in the middle part of the subject area and another set at the southern end. There was also a set of terraces possibly used for supporting sluice boxes. These features and the potential for deposits and buried artefacts throughout mean this area should be listed as an archaeological site.
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