GLADSTONE CREEK ALLUVIAL WORKINGS

FROAM ROAD BRIAGOLONG, WELLINGTON SHIRE

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    GLADSTONE CREEK ALLUVIAL WORKINGS - History

    Heritage Inventory History of Site: Alluvial gold was first worked on Gladstone (sometimes called Maximilian) Creek in 1868, and a minor rush ensued. Numerous small branch gullies were worked—all on the northern side of the creek; not a colour was obtained from gullies to the south. Ground near Blink Bonny Gully was the richest, yielding nuggets as big as 44 oz. By 1872, most miners had moved on, but those remaining soon switched their attention to reefs discovered in a gully at the lower end of Gladstone Creek. Late in the 1880s, however, the persevering Jorgensen brothers* were still working alluvial ground at the junction of Gladstone Creek and Blink Bonny Gully, a particularly nuggetty locality.Miners worked their claims by ground-sluicing—using head-races and sluice-boxes—and by tunnelling into the creek terraces. The coarse character of gold in the vicinity indicated that it was being shed from a reef close by (alluvial gold tends to be finer and more waterworn when found at a distance from the originating ore body). Prospecting failed to locate the source reef until the Boyce’s Find discovery in 1894.*The Jorgensen brothers (a mining family based in Stratford) were among the first and last miners at the Gladstone diggings, and appear to have centred their activities there. Seemingly omnipresent, the Jorgensens were among the most active prospectors in 19th-century Gippsland: Niels Jorgensen was a member of the party which discovered the first reef at Crooked River in 1864; they were at Aberfeldy in 1875; in 1884, the Union battery at Omeo was owned by Jorgensens; that same year, the brothers (‘old Gippsland prospectors’) discovered the rich Hans Reef at Haunted Stream; Niels was prospecting at Nowa Nowa in 1887; and there were Jorgensens at Bulumwaal in 1888.

    Heritage Inventory Description

    GLADSTONE CREEK ALLUVIAL WORKINGS - Heritage Inventory Description

    Features - several adits at creek level, water races, and extensive bank sluicing. At least one large sluice-hole with a 150m long tail race.

    Heritage Inventory Significance: Regional.Historical significanceùbecause of its connection with the Jorgensen brothers.Scientific significanceùas a rare type of mining site: ie., well-preserved alluvial workings.Network valuesùwith the BoyceÆs Find quartz workings

    Heritage Inventory Site Features: Gladstone Creek alluvial workings feature several adits at creek-level, water races, and extensive bank sluicing. At least one large sluice-hole with a 150m-long tail race.

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  • GLADSTONE CREEK ALLUVIAL WORKINGS

    

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  • BOYCE'S FIND QUARTZ WORKINGS

    

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