VICMining
Long Gully
A reef-mining hamlet on the road to Eaglehawk.
1854Rich quartz reef worked in Long Gully
WHAT STARTED IT
Long Gully follows a creek north-west of Bendigo, along the line of quartz reefs that run south from Eaglehawk. By 1854 claims in a reef at the head of the gully were reported exceedingly rich, and miners settled close to their shafts.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Deep reef mines such as Hustlers, Koch’s Pioneer and Hercules, backed by foundries and engineering works, kept the hamlet busy for decades, and Hercules reached its peak as late as 1933. Churches, a mechanics’ institute and a state school grew up along the Eaglehawk road, later served by the Eaglehawk tram.
TURNING POINTS
1854A 400 lb lump of gold-bearing quartz from a reef in Long Gully is brought to town as a specimen.
1856An Anglican school opens for miners’ children.
1878A brick state school with a spirelet is built high on the hillside among the mines.
1973The Eaglehawk tramline through Long Gully closes.
2009A Black Saturday fire burns more than 350 hectares and destroys 61 houses.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A suburb of about 3,400 people on the Loddon Valley Highway, dotted with miners’ cottages, old hotels and the Victoria Hill mining landscape. A fire on Black Saturday in 2009 destroyed 61 houses.