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Raywood Channel Water Race
Whipstick Road, WHIPSTICK VIC 3556 - Property No 198895

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Greater Bendigo City
Raywood Water Race
Raywood Water Race
Raywood Water Race
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Statement of Significance

The lack of water and the flatness of much of the landscape (which made storage dams difficult to construct) were factors influential in determining the progress of mining in the Whipstick area throughout most of the nineteenth century. Before the construction of this raceway the supply of water to such settlements as Sebastian, Neilborough and Raywood was also precarious. After its construction it provided a stimulus to mining at those sites in its proximity (e.g. Old Tom and Flagstaff Hill)(criterion A) . The site also has potential to illustrate aspects of Victoria's cultural heritage due to the intactness of the raceway and linking together of sites representative of mining in the Whipstick (criterion C).

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    • Physical Description 1

      Raywood Channel Water Race - Physical Description 1

      A trench, generally and approximately trapezoidal in section, sometimes lined in concrete, approximately 1.5 metres in width, generally open and cut along the contour, with culverts at road/track crossings, connecting Blue Jacket Gully reservoir to Cockatoo Hill reservoir, and beyond to Neilborough and Raywood, or beyond by a branch channel to Sebastian. At a point approximately 200 metres north-east of the junction of Scotsmans Track and Old Tom Road, Scotchman's Gully, there is a water race tunnel. A 40 metre-long trench leads to the entrance of a tunnel passing through a low hill. In constructing the tunnel, a series of shafts was cut down to the tunnel depth along its entire length, and the tunnel was driven from the bottom of one shaft to the next. A total of twenty two shafts were sunk, at 6 foot intervals, each having its own rectangular wooden collar. At the tunnel's east end is another long section of trench. The water race has now been diverted around the site by a concrete channel. The wooden collars of the shafts are decaying and some shafts are collapsing.

      Physical Description 2

      Raywood Channel Water Race - Physical Description 2

      The site is defined for 5 metres either side of the raceway from Blue Jacket Gully Reservoir to Cockatoo Hill Reservoir and includes all conduits, culverts, tunnels and sluiceheads.

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Greater Bendigo - Marong Heritage Study 1999

      Author: Andrew Ward and Associates
      Year: 1999
      Grading: Local

Public contributions

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