Fiery Creek (Victoria)

Last updated

Fiery Creek
Australia Victoria relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location
CountryAustralia
State Victoria
Local Government Areas
Towns
Physical characteristics
Source 
  coordinates 37°17′06″S143°14′10″E / 37.285°S 143.236°E / -37.285; 143.236
  elevation760 metres (2,490 ft) [1]
Mouth Lake Bolac
  coordinates
37°44′02″S142°52′44″E / 37.734°S 142.879°E / -37.734; 142.879
  elevation
212 metres (696 ft) [2]
Basin features
River system Hopkins River
Tributaries 
  left
  • Wongan Creek
  right
  • Challicum Creek
  • Middle Creek
Bridges

Fiery Creek is a watercourse in western Victoria. It flows generally southerly from its source on the eastern side of Mount Cole in the Mount Cole State Forest to its mouth on the eastern side of Lake Bolac.

Contents

Geology

Fiery Creek begins in hills that contain granite and erode to produce granitic sand. Much of its course is across almost-flat farmland. Towards the end of its course, it reaches a former lava flow which interrupts the course and leads it west to Lake Bolac. [3]

Water use

The Central Highlands Region Water Corporation extracts up to 419 megalitres (92,000,000 imp gal) of water from the upper catchment to supply town water to the town of Beaufort. Stream flow at Streatham has been recorded for over 100 years. It has increasing periods of zero flow, but the record flow was over 24,000 megalitres per day (5.3×109 imp gal/d) in January 2011. [4]

Gold rush

Fiery Creek was involved in the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s. The diggings were in the upper reaches near Raglan. The post office that is now Streatham was named Fiery Creek, and mail was regularly addressed and sent to the wrong place. [5]

Gold was discovered near Beaufort in 1852, in tributaries of Fiery Creek, and north of Beaufort in Fiery Creek from 1854. The population on the fields was 50,000 in 1855 [6] and reportedly reached approximately 100,000 people at its height in the late 1850s and produced 450,000 ounces of gold over a two-year period, 1855–1856. [7] The Fiery Creek gold rush started in 1854 and dissipated by 1859. Seven "puddling parties" remained by 1861. Dredging continued until around 1918. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rural City of Ararat</span> Local government area in Victoria, Australia

The Rural City of Ararat is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of 4,211 square kilometres (1,626 sq mi) and in the 2021 had a population of 11,880.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowy River</span> River in south-eastern Australia

The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mainland peak, draining the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, before flowing through the Alpine National Park and the Snowy River National Park in Victoria and emptying into Bass Strait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ararat, Victoria</span> City in Australia

Ararat is a town in south-west Victoria, Australia, about 198 kilometres (120 mi) west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera. Its urban population according to 2021 census is 8,500 and services the region of 11,880 residents across the Rural City's boundaries. It is also the home of the 2018/19 GMGA Golf Championship Final.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avoca River</span> River in Victoria, Australia

The Avoca River, an inland intermittent river of the north–central catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the lower Riverina bioregion and Central Highlands and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. The headwaters of the Avoca River rise on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees Range and descend to flow into the ephemeral Kerang Lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnett River</span> River in Queensland, Australia

The Burnett River is a river in the Wide Bay–Burnett and Central Queensland regions of Queensland, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaufort, Victoria</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Beaufort is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Western Highway midway between Ararat and Ballarat, in the Pyrenees Shire local government area. It is 387 metres (1,270 ft) above sea level. At the 2016 census, Beaufort had a population of 1,539. The town takes its name either from Rear-Admiral Francis Beaufort or a Welsh village in Monmouthshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinze Dam</span> Dam in South East Queensland

The Hinze Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with an un-gated spillway across the Nerang River in the Gold Coast hinterland of South East, Queensland, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for potable water supply of the Gold Coast region. The impounded reservoir is called Advancetown Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wivenhoe Dam</span> Dam in South East Queensland

The Wivenhoe Dam is a rock and earth-fill embankment dam with a concrete spillway across the Brisbane River in South East Queensland, Australia. The dam takes it names from the local Wivenhoe Pocket rural community. The dam wall is located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) by road from the centre of Brisbane. The primary purpose of the dam is the supply of potable water for the Brisbane and Ipswich regions. The dam also provides for flood mitigation control, hydroelectricity, and recreation. The impounded reservoir is called Lake Wivenhoe and the dam, the lake and a narrow strip of surrounding land forms a locality also called Lake Wivenhoe.

The Blue Mountains Dams are a series of six dams in the Blue Mountains which supply water to the Blue Mountains and Sydney, Australia. The Dams are managed by the WaterNSW. Water in this scheme may be supplemented from the Fish River Scheme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopkins River</span> River in Victoria, Australia

The Hopkins River, a perennial river of the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, is located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wimmera River</span> River in Victoria, Australia

The Wimmera River, an inland intermittent river of the Wimmera catchment, is located in the Grampians and Wimmera regions of the Australian state of Victoria. Rising in the Pyrenees, on the northern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, the Wimmera River flows generally north by west and drains into Lake Hindmarsh and Lake Albacutya, a series of ephemeral lakes that, whilst they do not directly empty into a defined watercourse, form part of the Murray River catchment of the Murray-Darling basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrenees Highway, Victoria</span> Highway in western Victoria, Australia

Pyrenees Highway is a rural highway in western Victoria, Australia, linking Glenelg Highway in Glenthompson to Calder Highway in Elphinstone. It intersects with the region's major road freight route, Western Highway in Ararat, in addition to Midland Highway in Castlemaine and Sunraysia Highway in Avoca. It was named after the Pyrenees ranges the highway runs through. This name covers many consecutive roads which are not widely known to most drivers except for the easternmost section, as the entire allocation is best known by the name of its last constituent part: Maroona–Glenthompson Road, Mortlake–Ararat Road and Pyrenees Highway proper. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Nerang Dam</span> Dam in South East Queensland

The Little Nerang Dam is a concrete gravity dam with an un-gated spillway across the Little Nerang Creek that is located in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for potable water supply of the Gold Coast region. The impounded reservoir is also called Little Nerang Dam. The dam was closed to the public in 2013 due to safety concerns.

The Biggera Creek Dam, or formally the Biggera Creek Flood Mitigation Dam, is a dam established for flood mitigation purposes over the Biggera Creek, located in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The dam is situated approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northwest of Southport in the suburb of Arundel. It is operated by the Gold Coast City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shire of Ararat</span> Local government area in Victoria, Australia

The Shire of Ararat was a local government area about 200 kilometres (124 mi) west-northwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of 3,657.06 square kilometres (1,412.0 sq mi), and existed from 1861 until 1994. The shire did not cover the town of Ararat, which was managed by a separate local government authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streatham, Victoria</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Streatham is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, located on the Glenelg Highway, 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Ballarat, in the Rural City of Ararat. At the 2021 census, Streatham had a population of 158.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raglan, Victoria</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Raglan is a town in western Victoria, Australia. It is located 177 kilometres (110 mi) north west of the state capital, Melbourne in the Shire of Pyrenees local government area. At the 2006 census, Raglan and the surrounding area had a population of 456.

Crowlands is a locality nestled on the Wimmera River and is located approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi) northeast of the town of Ararat, in the state of Victoria, Australia. It comprises a small village area of scattered houses and larger farms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navarre railway line</span> Former railway line in Victoria, Australia

The Navarre railway line is an abandoned railway that ran between Ben Nevis railway station and Navarre, in the Wimmera region of the Australian state of Victoria. The settlement of Navarre is in the Shire of Northern Grampians. It was surveyed in 1855 and named after the medieval European Kingdom of Navarre.

The Connors River is a river and anabranch in Central Queensland, Australia.

References

  1. "Background". Friends of Mt Cole & the Pyrenees Ranges. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  2. "Map of Fiery Creek, VIC". Bonle Digital Atlas of Australia. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  3. "Fiery Creek (and its catchment)". Beyond Bolac. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  4. "Fiery Creek flows". Beyond Bolac. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. "DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE". The Argus (Melbourne) . Victoria, Australia. 13 November 1855. p. 5. Retrieved 31 May 2020 via Trove.
  6. "Colonial News". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser . New South Wales, Australia. 3 November 1855. p. 3 (Supplement to the Maitland Mercury). Retrieved 3 June 2020 via Trove.
  7. "History". Pyrenees Tourism. Pyrenees Shire. 2006. Archived from the original on 21 February 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2006.
  8. Ballinger, Robyn; Westbrooke, Samantha (March 2016). "Ararate Rural City Thematic Environmental History" (PDF). Rural Ararat Heritage Study. Ararat Rural City. pp. 43, 46. Retrieved 3 June 2020.