The Cobungra Diggings
Published in The Argus, Monday 2nd February 1885, page 4
By Our Special Reporter
No. I
Fifteen years ago the decline of the Dargo and Grant diggings forced the goldseeker further north into the mountains, with equal success that followed the earlier discoveries on the river. The creeks and rivulets were rich in alluvial deposits, and after several fortunes had been won from the streams the gold was traced to the terraces above. The Bogong and Dargo highlands, varying from 4,000ft. to 6,000ft. above sea level, are composed of undulating plains, and are separated from the larger plateaux by numerous saddles and smaller hills. On one side the Cobungra River flows east to the Mitta Mitta, and the Dargo south to the Mitchell. The high peaks of Mount Feathertop, the serrated and scarred sides of Buffalo, the bald summit of Mount Hotham, and the granite blotched face of Mount Fainter, form prominent though distant points of the landscape. The geological history of the locality goes to prove that in the middle tertiary era the beds of the ancient watercourses were at a much greater relative elevation than the streams of the present day. Hence it comes that from the low lying alluvial deposits of existing rivers gold has been traced to the terraces above.
At the Cobungra claim the surface was only a few inches from the bed rock, and here the gold was extraordinarily rich. In the terrace immediately adjoining there are faces of wash from 20ft. to 70ft. in height, containing gold in infinitesimal particles near the surface, increasing in quantity and specific gravity towards the bottom. Up to the last winter this ground has been worked by private parties with profitable results. Dry seasons have decreased the water required for sluicing operations, and only by the aid of capital could the ground be made to pay. The gold is so widely distributed through the wash that it became absolutely necessary large quantities of the latter should be put through the boxes. To attain this object the Cobungra Company decided to construct a race between seven and eight miles in length, from the head of the river to the claim and by the introduction of the Little Giant patent nozzle, extensively used in the uplands of California, sluice away the whole side of the mountain which the lead appears to traverse. This description of mining is a novelty in Victoria, and if Kiandra, in New South Wales, is excepted, there is no other similar mode of extracting gold from wash in Australia. In New Zealand this means of sluicing has been attended with very successful results.
Last week I inspected the whole locality. From Melbourne to the diggings by the route shown on the plan the distance is 241 miles, to Myrtleford by train through Bright to Harrietville by coach, and thence by buggy or horse the road from Bright runs up the picturesque valley of the Ovens River, of which “The Vagabond” not long ago gave such an interesting description in The Argus.
Leaving the quaint and old fashioned little hamlet of Harrietville at an early hour in the morning, we commence the rapid ascent of the rugged spur dividing the right from the left hand branch of the Ovens River. Why this road was not carried round the opposite side of the hill, and thus avoid a grade of 1 in 40 for a distance of four miles, is one of those problems local residents only endeavour to solve by attaching the blame to the surveyor. In my opinion a parsimonious Public Works department is not entirely free from censure. A week before the Vice-regal party travelled this mountain road, and I can quite understand the indescribable sensation of nerve-tension that would take possession of the occupants of the drag as the four-in-hand team was gently guided around the conical curves of the track. On the right hand an almost perpendicular mountain; on the left a yawning precipice, down the rugged side of which a vehicle would crash for hundreds of feet ere it reached the river below.
As we rise the fresh bracing mountain air has a most exhilarating effect: the thermometer 81 in the shade at Harrietville, only reaches 71 at this point; and when we arrive at St. Bernards Hospice but twelve miles away, I find it barely registering 60deg. Half-way up we halt to survey the scene. Mount Feathertop away to the north, its fleecy cloud tipped pinnacle towering to the sky; in front of us and beyond the undulating ocean of hills, Mount Hotham, locally known as Baldy, forms the background to the awe-inspiring panorama, and thousands of feet below the branch of the Ovens River, here a trickling brook, winds through the forest of snow-gums to join the greater stream at the foot of the range.
Round a bend in this “land of mountain and of flood” and St. Bernard’s Hospice—a haven of rest to the weary mailman struggling through the snow, and the summer tourists resort—breaks into full view. Past the spot where poor Ireland was frozen to death, and “Sailor Bill” whose hospitality “The Vagabond” so recently extolled, welcomes us to his home. The Government has replaced the old Hospice by a new building close to the track. The change is acceptable to both occupier and traveller, but, like many other Government contracts the minimum amount of comfort is sacrificed to the maximum of profit—of course to the contractor. Since it was passed by the inspector, the occupier has been compelled to expend both labour and money in order to prevent the snow forcing its way through the crevices at the eaves and gables. The architecture is scarcely in accord with modern design, but all the defects are counterbalanced by the scrupulously clean and inviting interior.
In the visitors book I find the autograph of “The Vagabond,” attached to an entry of being the first tourist in mid winter that ever ventured to the Hospice and that of His Excellency the Governor, as the most recent excursionist. There are numbers of other entries, many of them by well known Melbourne business men; all are profuse in their commendations of the mountain air, the scenery, and the comfort of the home. The poet-fiend has not been idle. One gushes over the wild weird scenery compared to Melbourne’s dusty thoroughfares while another falls into ecstasies about the snow “he heard gently fall throughout the night clothing hills with mantle of purest white!” The mail from Omeo passes on horseback—a few month hence and the rider will struggle through drifts on foot in snow-shoes.
After an hour’s rest we leave the highest inhabited house in Australia and pass along a ridge that divides the watersheds of Gipps Land from the Ovens. I roll a boulder to the right into the Dargo—the one to the left crashes down the gully into the Ovens. The thermometer at the Hospice at noon registered just upon 60deg in the shade; the highest it reached for 13 years was this summer, when the mercury touched 74deg. This, in “Sailor Bill’s” vernacular, was a “regular scorcher.”
A few miles along the saddle of the divide and we come to Mount Hotham, and follow the new road round the side, close to the summit. An idea can be formed of the track when it is resembled to a platform erected along the face of an almost perpendicular wall a thousand feet in height. Untrained horses hug the off side, to the imminent danger of breaking the wheels, and tremble if driven near the edge. To look down into the abyss below induces a dizzy sensation that is not conducive to safety and I express no regret when “Blowhard”, as the road is termed, is passed. In winter time the wind rushes and roars up this gulch with hurricane force, and he would be a traveller of iron nerve who would dare drive a buggy around the face in one of these gales.
It is told at Cobungra that last winter two equestrians were overtaken in a storm at the worst spot and that one was blown completely out of the saddle on to the high bank. Lady Loch was driven by Mr. P. Allen, of Harrietville around the Blowhard to the top of Mount Hotham. From this spot a most magnificent view is obtained, the winding road through the mountains, the Buffalo Ranges, with their rugged, seared sides Mount Bulla, Mount Useful, and all the lesser pinnacles of the “new province” of Victoria present themselves in bold relief. Here the snow-gums, denuded of their foliage, with gnarled bleached limbs form long lines that might easily be mistaken in the distance for fencing. Leaving Mount Hotham on the right we pass the Diamantina Springs, and the site of the late camp of the vice-regal party. It was fortunate the weather was propitious when that spot was chosen. Had Blowhard not been on his best behaviour, tents, utensils and accompanying paraphernalia would have been discovered next day scattered through the Diamantina Gorge. I am not surprised to be informed that camp was broken after one night’s experience, and the shelter of the Hospice availed of.
Around Mount Hotham the Omeo track follows the main divide, and another seven miles of similar travelling brings us to the source of the Cobungra River. Below is the head race of the company, an indistinct line in the gully below. A few miles further on, a comparatively level track, and a small board nailed to a tree indicates the detour to the claims at the foot of the spur. The track has only just been cleared and this is the first buggy that has ever been taken to the mines.
The township of Cobungra proper is built on the north side of a ridge from the main range leading down to the river, and in about as uninviting a spot as could be well determined upon in the ranges. A four-roomed house of galvanised iron does the duty of hotel; three stores, a bakery, a butcher’s establishment, and the huts and tents of the miners complete the hamlet. Similar in surroundings to the mining camps of the pioneers of the western wilds of California is this young settlement in our Australian Alps, but lacking that element of ribaldry and excitement that characterised the earlier days of gold-seeking both in Victoria and America. No bowie-knives, six-shooters projecting from the gaudy coloured waistbelts; no nights rendered hideous by scenes of drunken dissipation. From an early hour in the morning, when the men leave their huts, the only life in camp is the few store-tenders, and an occasional prospector from the adjacent ranges down for supplies. At night the hills re-echo the music, the songs, or the laughter shouts of the men gathered round the camp fire.
In the early history of the gold discoveries of Victoria the prospectors on the Dargo found gold in Brandy Creek, a small tributary of the Cobungra River, and from the low lying flats of the stream traced it close to the surface into the terraces above. These deposits have been followed away across the ranges to Mount Fainter, and south in the direction of Mount Tabletop, or Square Mountain, as it is better locally known. Two brothers, named White, while prospecting the neighbourhood came upon a field of payable gold immediately in the vicinity of the present township. Thousands of ounces were obtained—how many I was unable to accurately ascertain—and, after rapidly clearing a fortune, the brothers sold out to a second party, who in turn disposed of their interest to a number of Italians three years ago. Their success attracted the attention of outside speculators. The Cobungra Company purchased the interest of the Italians, and annexed the adjoining land by lease. Other companies followed, until the country for several miles, as will be observed by the above plan of the field, is now under occupation for mining. The Cobungra Company is the largest on the field, and is making preparations on a very extensive scale to sluice the whole side of the mountain, where the deposits are of such magnitude, and the gold so finely distributed through the gravels, that no other system could be made remunerative. In future articles each claim will be particularised. The present indicates the locality of the several mines, with the names of the companies interested.
The Cobungra claim is 13 miles from St Bernard’s Hospice and 25 miles from Harrietville. The race from the head of the Cobungra River is seven miles and three-quarters in length, cut round the sides of the hills and through vast blocks of basalt. In several places the walls carrying the race are from 17ft. to 20ft. in height. The pipes and patent Californian nozzle to be attached to the end of the race were on the road over the mountains as I returned, and if the same rate of progress is continued as at present, will be ready for work by the time the winter rains fall. Adjoining the Cobungra Company, on the south, is that of the Cobungra Tunnel, under the charge of Mr. Harry Whitton. The principal work done here is the driving of a tunnel from the lower side of the hill, through wash, and preliminary preparations for carrying on extensive operations.
Martin and party’s claim abuts upon the lease of the Tunnel further south, but, owing to some little dispute among the owners, very little work has been done of late.
The day after my arrival I visited the river claims. About four miles down from Cobungra is the Cascades, up to which point, from the east, the river has been worked with very profitable returns. The Mountain Stream, Cobungra Consols, Cobungra River, and Cobungra Valley, are situated about equidistant up the river.
The Cobungra Junction is on Brandy Creek, at its intersection with the main stream, and Murphy’s Creek Company takes in a portion of both streams. Active operations are being pursued upon the majority of them, and nearly all should be ready to wash by the end of autumn.
After two days’ inspection of the locality I started at an early hour for the Square Mountain Hydraulic Sluicing Company’s claim, six miles from Cobungra, at least so old greybeards of the mountains estimate it. My experience is that they are not parsimonious in the measure of these miles. Only a little work is being done here, pending the disposal of the balance of the shares offered to the public.
East of the Square Mountain, and four miles south of Cobungra, is the Boiler Plains Company’s mine, and here a race, seven miles in length, is being cut round the spurs from the watershed of the Dargo. There is a face of wash 45ft. in height, and about four miles and three quarters of the race is completed.
At dusk, after returning to Cobungra and changing horses, I start for St Bernard’s Hospice, from which point I start down the Dargo next day.
Continue to Part II: Hydraulic Sluicing at the Cobungra Mine
