There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills

We went on a Gold mine tour. There’s a little town called Yackandandah which was part of the Victorian Gold Rush around 1852. After the initial rush where everyone was finding the gold in the creeks and rivers, they had to start mining it. 13 tin miners from Cornwall in England came over and used their geological knowledge to locate the quartz vein on the ridge and for 17 years worked the mine and pulled 12 tonnes of gold out. All dug by hand. An amazing feat. We spent 3 hours learning all about their adventures and we went down in the mine. The kids thought it was totally awesome and I managed to keep my claustrophobic thoughts and tendencies to myself 🙂

We were 160 metres underground and about 60 metres inside the side of the mountain. The original tracks and little carriages were still inside the mine. There were a few artifacts left there and even the candle pegs were still in the walls.

Greg, our tour guide, is obviously very passionate about his mine and he has got it heritage listed. He has the lease for 20 years and he hopes to find someone to pass it onto to keep it for future generations. He does tours on the hour on weekends and by appointment during the week. I can highly recommend the tour to anyone interested in history. It even kept the kids enthralled.

http://www.uniqueyackandandah.com.au/index.php?page_id=81 http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/07/13/1978130.htm