Three walks around Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park

As part of the review of Heritage Action Plan, Jade Harris from Parks Victoria has invited interested people to three walks in the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park on Wednesday 16th & Thursday 17th November 2016:

Parks Victoria are currently reviewing the Heritage Action Plan for the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park and as a part of this review we are undertaking a number walk overs to find out about issues that may concern and to explore ideas for themes, stories or aspects of the Park which could be shared with others.

As part of this consultation process we are organising three half-day walks at specific locations within the park, with the aim of engaging invited stakeholders in sharing their concerns and values of these areas to help inform their future management (see below itinerary for outline of the half day walks). These might touch upon indigenous, natural, social or community values, as well as the significant gold-mining heritage, which together will help us present a holistic approach to the management and presentation of the Park’s landscape.

The walks will be led by Chris Johnston and John Dyke of Context Pty Ltd., who are helping Parks Victoria review and update the Heritage Action Plan.

Itinerary

Walkover 1: Garfield

Date: Wednesday 16th November 2016
Time: 10am to 1pm
Meet at: Garfield Wheel car park at 9.30am

 Sites on itinerary include:

• Welsh Village
• Scotchman’s Gully
• Quartz Hill
• Garfield Wheel and environs

NB: this is a one-way walk with the idea of sharing a number of vehicles to drive to the start of the walk near Welsh village.

Walkover 2: Spring Gully
Date: Wednesday 16th November 2016
Time: 2.30pm to 5.30pm
Meet at: Spring Gully car park at 2pm

 Sites on itinerary include:

• Eureka/Poverty Gully
• The Monk
•  Old Coach Road/Goldfields Track
• Spring Gully No. 1 mine and battery site

NB: this is a one-way walk with the idea of sharing a number of vehicles to drive to the start of the walk at the Eureka Reef site.

Walkover 3: Vaughan Springs

Date: Thursday 17th November 2016
Time: 10am to 1pm
Meet at: Vaughan Springs car park at 9.30am
Sites on itinerary include:

• Vaughan Springs
• River Loddon
• Tubal Cain Mine
• Helge/Italian Hill Track
•  Chinese cemetery
•  Irishtown (optional) 

The walks will take approximately 3 hours with regular stops to enable us to record conversations and there will be an opportunity to fill in a record/comments sheet as we go or at the end of the walk.

Strong footwear is advised and bring water and refreshments as appropriate, and a water-proof just in case! 

We hope you or one of you colleagues can take part in one of these walks, although as an organisation you may like to nominate a different colleague for each walk or you may prefer to pick one walk more local to you or of interest to you. The aim is to keep the walking party to a modest number if at all possible.  

Whichever occasion you can make, your contribution will be very valuable in helping us to prioritise actions for managing and interpreting the Park in the future.

If you are interested in attending or need any further information about this invitation, please contact Jade Harris on any of the contacts found below.

Once you have confirmed your interest in one or all walk over, I will send you a separate calendar invites to be able to prepare for vehicles etc (I hope that this will work, but just in case you have all the information you need above, if there is any additional information I’ll send this through at a later date via email). Please make sure that you RSVP by no later than the Wednesday 9^th November to allow for appropriate planning of the walk overs.

 Any issues/questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

 Regards,
Jade Harris
Area of Work Coordinator, Visitor Experience and Historic Heritage I Northern Victoria Region
T (03) 5430 4672 I M 0429 384 133 I Skype (03) 8427 3374
E jade.harris@parks.vic.gov.au
Parks Victoria
Box 3100, Bendigo MC, VIC 3554
www.parks.vic.gov.au