VICMining
Warrandyte
Victoria’s gold rush was first made public here.
1851Gold found at Andersons Creek
WHAT STARTED IT
In mid-1851 Louis Michel’s party found gold at Andersons Creek, in the hills beside the Yarra, and showed the site to the Melbourne Gold Discovery Committee on 5 July. A township formed on the river near the diggings.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Richer fields soon drew miners away, but small-scale mining continued for decades, including a tunnel driven through rock at Pound Bend in the 1870s to drain a stretch of the Yarra’s bed. Orchards spread over the better soils to the south, and from the early 1900s artists and weekenders came for the river and bush.
TURNING POINTS
1851Michel’s party shows gold at Andersons Creek to the Gold Discovery Committee on 5 July; licences are issued from 1 September.
1857A post office opens for the township, now named Warrandyte.
1870sMiners cut the Pound Bend tunnel to divert the Yarra and work its bed.
1896The Grand Hotel is built in the main street.
1939The Black Friday bushfires destroy 168 houses.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A bush suburb in a Yarra gorge, with a historic main street, a mechanics’ institute and arts and crafts outlets. The old diggings are now part of Warrandyte State Park.