Eureka Reef Walk

Mt Alexander Diggings

Length:  2 kilometres
Walk:  2 hours
Track:  Good
Grade:  Gentle slopes
Start:  Eureka Reef car park
Finish:  Eureka Reef car cark
Nearby:  Castlemaine.

This short walk around the Mt Alexander Diggings takes you through Box and Ironbark woodland, and gives you a fascinating insight into the miners’ struggles, and the different methods used to extract the hard-won prize of gold.

In 1851 thousands of hopeful gold miners from all over the world rushed to this quiet forested valley in the Mt Alexander area, determined to share in the fabulous wealth of what became the richest shallow alluvial diggings of all time. The frenzied activity continued into the next century, with intensive mining of the gold-rich quartz reefs taking over as the surface deposits became exhausted.

Wander through Poverty Gully and Cobblers Gully, past the site of the original Eureka quartz reef and the remains of mine shafts, puddling machines, water races and the tall chimneys of old boiler houses. Evidence of much earlier occupation is here too, in the small rock wells used by the Dja Dja Wurrung people to collect life-sustaining rainwater. Wildflowers bloom across the diggings in spring.

Further Information
Mt Alexander Shire Council
Ph 03 5471 1727 or 03 5470 6200

Discovering the Mt Alexander Diggings is available for $9.95 at the Castlemaine and Maldon Visitor Information Centres