Just shy of 14 tonnes of gold
In October 1862 when a former convict named Ned Stringer first found alluvial gold in a creek later named after him, it sparked an enormous rush to a remote corner of Victoria. The settlement that emerged was originally called Stringer’s Creek but the biggest gold mine and therefore the biggest employer in the area was the Walhalla, and poor old Ned Stringer had died of tuberculosis within a year of his discovery, so no-one really objected to the town changing its name to Walhalla. At its peak it was home to more than 5,000 people, but when the gold ran out, it was almost a case of ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ and Walhalla virtually disappeared. The name Walhalla is derived from the Scandinavian word ‘Valhalla’ – ‘hall of the slain’ and the final resting place of selected Viking warriors slain in battle. Situated roughly 200km from Melbourne, and a short distance from the town of Moe, Walhalla has a fine scenic road that winds around tortuous corners and over creeks, as well as down steep mountain sides.
The writer Anthony Trollope, who visited Walhalla in 1872, later wrote, “The mountains were so steep it was often impossible to sit on horseback.” On the northern side the valley leads to highlands that include Mt Baw Baw, which rises to 5,062 feet, and beyond that are Mt Hotham, Mt Feathertop and Mt Bogong. Nearer is Mt Erica which is often snow- capped in winter. Today the journey is as peaceful and beautiful with the roadside ferns, sassafras and musk, as it would have been before the first invasion of gold miners in the 1860s.
Walhalla was one of the first 24 claims, each of 80 yards, pegged out by miners. Others bore evocative names as Just In Time and the Jeweller’s Shop, and major companies such as the North Gippsland and the Golden Fleece employed many luckless miners who had come to the area seeking their fortune.
The Long Tunnel Extended Gold Mining Company, formed in 1865, was destined to become famous for the amount of gold it produced. It evolved out of a number of adjacent leases that were bought up by various individuals to form one company and the chairman of the company, William Pearson, held the largest number of shares (900) of the original 2,500 £5 shares. At one stage his monthly dividend was an astronomical £2,400. Pearson, who was already a wealthy pastoralist before acquiring the gold mine, built the mansion called ‘Craigellachie’ at East St Kilda, was a prolific racehorse breeder, a prodigious gambler and briefly a Member of the Legislative Assembly for North Gippsland. He died in 1893 at the age of 75.
With the continued reports of gold, people began flooding into the area and soon Walhalla had various ‘suburbs’ – Maidentown, Mormontown and Happy- go-Lucky, the latter possibly named after a mine. Although it is hard to believe now when you look at the town, there were once several hotels, around 40 shops, two banks, four churches, a post office, a police station, a brewery and a school boasting some 500 students. The population at this time numbered around 4,000 with people arriving all the time,
At its peak Walhalla was home to some 5,000 people
including the wives and children of miners. Due to the steep sides of the valley and surrounding hillsides, the houses had to be built overlooking each other, and one famous old picture of the town shows nine tiers of houses rising one above the other. One couldn’t help but look down on one’s neighbours!
As there was little in the way of entertainment, one enterprising publican cut away a quantity of soft reef to create a skittle alley where many of the townspeople could spend their time, and, their money.
In 1865, when work began in earnest at the Long Tunnel Extended, the mine’s name proved no exaggeration with a tunnel driven straight in 800 feet from the side of the mountain. A large chamber was cut out at the end of the tunnel and a shaft was sunk to a depth of 100 feet, and with the knowledge that there was a good gold-bearing reef, shares in the newly formed company began to rise. The small number of shares and the high market price meant few shares changed hands and in 1889 the holder of a single £7 share would have received more than £235 in dividends. At one stage the shares were quoted at £250 each.
Today only 20 people call Walhalla home but it manages to attract a healthy number of tourists each year
Cohens Reef, as the reef was called, was to prove richer than anyone had imagined and between 1885 and 1908 the mine was to be one of Australia’s main reef gold producers, and the top Victorian producer during six of those years. In all the mine produced 13.7 tonnes of gold which, at present day prices, equals something in excess of $1.4 billion.
The best years were 1896 and 1897 but the mine continued to produce right up until 1913. When operations ceased in 1914, the depth of the mine had reached 3,675 feet. At Walhalla’s Bank of Victoria building a notice appeared claiming that during its years of business, the vaults had stored some £10,000,000 – quite an astonishing amount.
The townspeople of Walhalla were known to be friendly and pleasant; a close community. There were two major events of note in the town, the first in 1887 when a big fire broke out around 8pm on a Saturday night. By 5am the following morning much of the business area of the town had been destroyed, a loss estimated at £40,000. Fortunately, no lives were lost. The great flood of 1891 was not so forgiving, four people drowning when Stringer’s Creek rose suddenly. The water flowed into the mouth of a mine tunnel but by quick action the lives of the men working below were saved. Four thousand pounds was later granted by the government of the day to engineer the straightening of the creek and improve its course. The Walhalla Fire Brigade was also the direct result of the 1887 fire with its unique building straddling the creek. The building was opened in 1901 and is one of the few to survive. The doors are opened daily for visitors to view the restored fire- fighting equipment.
Noted author Anthony Trollope visited Walhalla in 1872 and was more impressed with the steepness of the terrain than the gold that was being won.
Unfortunately, Walhalla was largely dependent on one industry and with the collapse of mining, the whole population suffered with many being forced to leave and make their homes elsewhere. By 1920 the once thriving township had dwindled to a population of less than 250. The railway with its locomotives (the same as those used on the Puffing Billy line in the Dandenongs) closed in 1944 but by this time many of Walhalla’s buildings had been transported by rail to other prospering towns. And gone were the Chinese market gardeners who supplied the township with their fresh vegetables grown on the creek flats.
Today with a population of around 20 permanent residents, Walhalla’s main industry is tourism. The dramatic scenery and the historic buildings and sites attract many visitors keen to see the ‘ghost’ town. And there is much to see. The Mechanics Institute once housed Walhalla’s historic records but was destroyed in a fire in 1945. It was rebuilt and opened in 1988. There is also the famous band rotunda, once a focal point of the town where the Mountain Brass Band played on Saturday nights and special occasions. The old cemetery contains 1,100 graves, and many of the headstones speak of the hardships of the mining era.
There are daily tours of the Long Tunnel Extended Mine
During the 1980s the reformed Walhalla Mining Company reopened the Long Tunnel Extended Mine and also started exploratory drilling into Cohens Reef. The results were unsatisfactory but the mine reopened as a tourist attraction under the Walhalla Board of Management on behalf of the people of Victoria. Underground tours are conducted daily. The mine’s 8.5 kilometres of underground workings extended to a depth of 923 metres below the machinery chamber, which in turn is some 150 metres below the natural surface. The tour takes visitors 300 metres into the huge underground machinery chamber hewn from solid rock more than a century ago. Old mining methods are discussed and a large outcrop of the famous Cohens Line of Reef is exposed in the mine.
The current railway station is an exact replica built to the Victorian Railways plans of the original station building (now located in the Melbourne suburb of Hartwell), although the interior is different from the original configuration. It is on the opposite side of the station yard from its original location because the main road into Walhalla was realigned over the culvert across Stringer’s Creek in the 1960s. Train rides are operated by the Walhalla Goldfields Railway over the restored section between Walhalla and the Thomson.
The Walhalla Corner Stores were purchased by the Walhalla Heritage & Development League (WHDL) in the early 1970s and were restored to their original design. The Corner Store now operates as a Post Office agency, shop and Tourist Information Centre with the adjoining shop housing a museum.
So, although the lively days of Walhalla are long gone, the old town is not as deserted as it was when the mines closed down. In fact, it’s one of the most interesting places to visit in all of Victoria... and you can still find traces of gold in Stringer’s Creek!
Long Tunnel Extended Mine