 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(December 2013) |
The Black Spur Black Spur Drive | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mountain Ash ( Eucalyptus regnans ) along the Maroondah Highway on the Black Spur | |
| General information | |
| Type | Road |
| Length | 30 km (19 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| Southwest end | Healesville |
| Northeast end | Narbethong |
The Black Spur is a road between the towns of Healesville and Narbethong in Victoria, Australia. It is also known as Black Spur Drive and is part of the Maroondah Highway. [1]
The Black Spur is approximately 60 kilometers northeast of Melbourne on the Maroondah Highway between Healesville and Marysville.
Originally known as "The Blacks' Spur", the road gained its name from the route that displaced Aboriginal people from northern Victoria used to take on their way to a settlement at Corranderrk, near Healesville. [2]
During the mid-1890s depression, German-born Melbourne photographer John William Lindt closed his studio.[ citation needed ] As early as 1883 he had been exhibiting pictures of the Blacks' Spur, where he built and moved to a guesthouse, The Hermitage, in gardens set out by his friend Ferdinand von Mueller.[ citation needed ] The gardens feature New Guinea tree houses from which Lindt made frequent panoramas of his property and surrounding primeval forest of towering, 30-metre mountain ash.[ citation needed ]The Hermitage contained a 30m x 8m studio, with a wall glazed in ground glass. In it, he photographed guests, of whom he also made outdoor portraits in the bush setting.[ citation needed ]
In 1913, Lindt collaborated with Nicholas Caire to produce a tourist booklet on the area. [3] Lindt suffered from anti-German sentiment during and after WW1, and had to defend himself when a public meeting was called at the local shire council hall to demand that he be sent to an internment camp.[ citation needed ] Lindt continued to sell prints from his older glass negatives, and from new photographs he took of his forest home, guests in his gardens, and genre scenes. Some of those prints are accessible on the sites of State Library of Victoria, State Library of New South Wales, National Gallery of Australia, National Library of Australia, and the National Gallery of Victoria.
In 2009, a large section of Black Spur was damaged during the Black Saturday bushfires.[ citation needed ]
In 2019, Angie Suryadi, a woman from Melbourne was killed on the Black Spur when a large tree fell on her family's car during strong winds. Her four year old son was injured. [4]
The road has undergone restoration and improvements in August 2006, and was widened later that same year.[ citation needed ] It consists of a series of hairpin turns punctuated by short straights. Some corners are prone to dampness due to the ferny rainforest surroundings. The surrounding landscape has tall mountain ash trees and tree ferns, the typical of southeastern Australia's temperate rainforests.
In March 2008, the Victorian State government allocated $547,000 to improve road safety on the Black Spur. Stage 1 of the works involved reducing the speed limit from 100 to 80 km/h in May 2008. [5]
Yarra Ranges National Park is located in the Central Highlands of Australia's southeastern state Victoria, 107 km northeast of Melbourne. Established in 1995 and managed by the statutory authority Parks Victoria, the park features a carbon-rich, temperate rainforest and a subalpine eucalypt forest on its northern plateau. It is home to large stands of mountain ash, the tallest tree species in Australia and among the tallest in the world. A wide diversity of fauna make their home across the park's 76,003 hectares, including kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, platypuses and 120 species of native birds. Among the conservation challenges facing Yarra Ranges National Park are climate change and invasive species of weeds.
The City of Maroondah is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Maroondah had a population of 115,043 in August 2021.
Healesville is a town in Victoria, Australia, 52 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Healesville recorded a population of 7,589 in the 2021 census.
The Black Friday bushfires of 13 January 1939, in Victoria, Australia, were part of the devastating 1938–1939 bushfire season in Australia, which saw bushfires burning for the whole summer, and ash falling as far away as New Zealand. It was calculated that three-quarters of the State of Victoria was directly or indirectly affected by the disaster, while other Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory were also badly hit by fires and extreme heat. As of 3 November 2011, the event was one of the worst recorded bushfires in Australia, and the third most deadly.
Lilydale railway station is the terminus of the suburban electrified Lilydale line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the north-eastern Melbourne suburb of Lilydale, and opened on 1 December 1882 as Lillydale.
Christmas Hills is a town in Victoria, Australia, 35 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Christmas Hills recorded a population of 365 at the 2021 census.
Maroondah Highway is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to the lower alpine region of Victoria, Australia.
Marysville is a town, 34 kilometres north-east of Healesville and 41 kilometres south of Alexandra, in the Shire of Murrindindi in Victoria, Australia. The town, which previously had a population of over 500 people, was devastated by the Murrindindi Mill bushfire on 7 February 2009. On 19 February 2009 the official death toll was 45. Around 90% of the town's buildings were destroyed. Prior to the Black Saturday fire the population in 2006 was 519. At the 2011 Census, the population had reduced to 226, by the 2016 census it had risen to 394.
Croydon is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 33 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maroondah local government area. Croydon recorded a population of 28,608 at the 2021 census.
Lake Mountain is a 1,433-metre-high (4,701 ft) mountain peak on a plateau that hosts a cross-country ski resort that is known by the same name. It is located in Victoria, Australia, approximately 120 kilometres (75 mi) north-east of Melbourne. The 1,483-metre-high (4,865 ft) Mount Bullfight, which is within the Mount Bullfight Nature Conservation Reserve, is the highest peak that can be reached by a cross-country ski trail from Lake Mountain. Access to Lake Mountain's summit is restricted to a snow shoe track in winter. The Lake Mountain Alpine Resort, located near Lake Mountain, is the most popular ski resort in Australia when measured in terms of total visitor numbers, including sightseers, due to its proximity to Melbourne.
The Healesville railway line, in Melbourne, Australia, was the non-electrified continuation of the suburban Lilydale line, extending into the Yarra Valley. The line closed in the 1980s, but a heritage railway group, the Yarra Valley Railway, is working to retain part of the line between Yarra Glen and Healesville.
The Warburton Highway is a 34 kilometre west–east semi-rural highway starting on the eastern fringes of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) at the Maroondah Highway just after Lilydale, connecting Melbourne to the Yarra Valley wine region and its towns, as well as Melbourne's closest mountain peak to receive regular snowfall, Mount Donna Buang. The entire road falls within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area and is wholly managed by VicRoads. It is a single carriageway for its entire length, being completely sealed since 1941, with one lane in each direction and occasional overtaking lanes being provided. Speed limits range from 50 to 60 km/h through townships and 70–80 km/h elsewhere. Because of the lack of the standard 100 km/h rural speed limit and high traffic volumes, Victoria Police maintain a high level of patrol and vigilance.
Narbethong is a town in central Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Maroondah Highway, 87 kilometres (54 mi) north east of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Narbethong and the surrounding area had a population of 205.
Mount Toolebewong is a bounded rural locality in Victoria, Australia 65 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Mount Toolebewong recorded a population of 119 at the 2021 census.
The Yarra Track is the former name of the gold fields road from Healesville to the Woods Point and Jordan Goldfields, in Victoria, Australia.
The Watts River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip and Western Port catchment, located in the Healesville area, in the Central region of the Australian state of Victoria.
The Toolangi State Forest region in southern Australia extends from Mount Monda in the south up to Murrindindi in the north and includes the township of Toolangi. The forest is mainly eucalypt forest that has regrown from the 1939 Victoria Bushfires.
John William Lindt (1845–1926), was a German-born Australian landscape and ethnographic photographer, early photojournalist, and portraitist.
