Wilson's Creek Hut
Photos courtesy of Ron Dickson Copyright 2004.
Located near Taylors Creek in the Lake Eildon National Park. Is on the Vicmap "Torbeck" edition. Follow the Taylors Creek Track from Lake Eildon's Jerusalem inlet heading east to Wilsons Creek track, then SE to the Wombat Track.
Detailed instructions on how to find it:
Stop your vehicle at 55H 409471 5874442 which is at the top of a short sharp hill (just before it starts a long descent to the weir) on Wilson Track.
Look around on the Eastside, slightly up hill, and you will find between the trees a track that winds its way to the East, down the hill. Take this track, even in a regular car, though it is a bit steep, for about 300 metres (200 as the crow flies), where it stops next to some fencing surrounding old mine shafts. 55H 409618 5874589 (you can park about 3-4 vehicles and turn them around to get out).
To get to the hut it is pretty much a straight walk down the hill, fencing on the left, towards the East. There at times appears to be a track but it comes and goes, then finally goes. The walk is steep, bit of bush bashing involved, and slippery even on a fine dry day. Have a look at some of the shafts as you go down, fascinating, but don’t fall in, as they appear to be bottomless.
You walk down into a gully and if you keep a look out to the East you can pick up the Hut through the trees. As you approach the Hut you come across bits of relics from the mining days and the first thing you come across is the wooden structure that housed the gold stamper/battery.
Still more bits of mining stuff laying around and the hut is now just a little further on up the hill, about 20 metres away at 55H 409809 5874564. Wilson Creek is about 100m to the north of the hut. From the “carpark” to the hut it is 200 metres as the crow flies but probably about 500metres of solid walking. We looked around for a way in from the north as there ware “hints” of tracks/roads but these seemed to “die” in the bush.
History
Park Victoria, claim, on the information board, that the hut dates back to 1930, and the gold claim for the area was filed in 1871, worked for a few years then closed. Reopened in the 1930’s and again worked for a few years.
Construction
The Hut is somewhat cut into the hill and approximately 7x4 metres. It is made from rounded poles with the outside metal sheeting nailed to the poles. Some timber used to cover from the roof line to the metal walls. Corrugated iron roof with guttering. Fireplace has been covered internally with concrete reinforcing so it cannot be used.
Internally there is some graffiti on the round wooden beams, a bathtub, bunks, and an information board relating some of the history of the area.
Caretakers
Obviously Parks Victoria must be looking after the hut and the surrounding area (fences around some of the mine shafts). The mineshafts are now home to 3 species of bats, which are listed as endangered Gold stamp/battery is interesting in that the uprights are forked “trees” sunk into the ground to get them level then other “trees” placed across and tied down with 8 or 10 gauge wire with the corrugated iron nailed on top. Overall the hut and the wooden gold stamp/battery are in very good condition.
References
Ron Dickson - pers comm
Parks Vic - interpretive signage.