Walhalla - South Gippsland continued....

On the 25 March 2015 we went for a drive up to the historic township of Walhalla which is located in the steep Stringers Creek Valley of the Great Dividing Range near the Baw Baw National Park.

One the drive up to Walhalla

Those gold miners were a hardy lot.  In 1859 they found gold on the Jordan River, far east of Melbourne which made them follow the nearby Thomson River in their never ending search for gold. And, they were right in doing so because in January 1863 a claim was registered by Edward “Ned” Stringer.  Ned received 100 pound for his discovery, but unfortunately he died in September 1863, never being able to profit from his discovery.   Alluvial deposits of gold were quickly depleted which meant looking for underground veins of gold by tunnelling into the steep valley walls.

Originally called Stringers Creek, the settlement was renamed Walhalla in 1866 after one of the most prosperous mines but the creek running though the town still bears his name.

View Walhalla, Victoria ca1910 showing the bandstand, hotel etc.
Source: W Lee Wikimedia.or

Clinging to the hillsides, the township is built entirely on one long road due to the steep terrain.  It is a picturesque township with lovely old buildings and the residents houses are well maintained.

A home with a quirky twist....

One of the beautiful homes in the valley

Spetts Cottage today

Spetts Cottage circa 1970

Spetts Cottage is about one of a dozen original gold era cottages left in Walhalla.  It was built in the early 1870's by Swedish born Charles Spetts and his English bride Eleanor.  It was extended over the years to accommodate their family of seven surviving children.  The cottage has one of the finest gardens in the valley.  An apple, pear and mulberry tree still remain today and continue to bear fruit.  Members of the Spetts family owned the residence until 1943 when it was sold to another old Walhalla mining family.  Under the terms of sale, daughter Caroline Spetts remained in the house until her death in June 1944.

Electricity only came to Walhalla in December 1998.  Up until then each property had to have their own generator and it was actually illegal to supply electricity to your neighbour without permission from the State Electricity Commissioner of Victoria.  Go figure,  even though they couldn't provide you with electricity,  they still wanted to have control over the electricity that you generated yourself with the generator that you bought.   Nothing changes much as government entities are concerned.

See the building on the right with the people standing in front...













This is Nick, John and Deb standing in front of the same building.
Amazing huh...













There is a one hour train ride that is operated by volunteers - the Walhalla Goldfields Railway which travels through Stringers Creek Gorge across six large trestle bridges, winding its way down the hill to the Thomson Station.  Unfortunately, it was not operating on the day that we where there but we will definitely do that the next time - it looks like a great trip.

A branch of the Bank of Victoria was opened around June 1865 with the other bank, The Bank of Australasia right across the road.  The Bank of Victoria was destroyed by the major fire of 1888 and business was conducted in premises adjoining The Grand Junction Hotel until new premises were built.  The bank finally closed in 1915 .....  only thing left standing today is the vault which stored around 74 tonnes of gold.

After the gold rush Walhalla was all but deserted…at one time there was only one person living there. In its heyday (1880-1910) there were more than 3500 people living and working in the gold mines and supporting businesses. Currently it has about 20 permanent residents.





It is such a pretty place .... a 'must do' in the South Gippsland area of Victoria.

The bandstand...you can see the building in both of the black and white photos above.