Yarra Track

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Yarra Track

Victoria
Upper Thomson Monument 001.JPG
A monument marking the site of The Oaks, a former shanty on the Yarra Track
Yarra Valley
Australia Victoria relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
West end
Red pog.svg
East end
Coordinates
General information
Type Track
Length193 km (120 mi)
OpenedSeptember 1862 (1862-09)
Major junctions
West end Healesville
East end Woods Point
Location(s)
LGA(s) Yarra Ranges Shire
via
Highway system

The Yarra Track is the former name of the gold fields road from Healesville to the Woods Point and Jordan Goldfields, in Victoria, Australia.

Contents

The Beginnings of the Yarra Track

In March 1862 Mr. J. Sullivan, deputised by the miners at the Jordon Diggings, approached the Victorian Government about the need for a road or track to the Jordan gold fields. [1] The Victorian Government sent Mr. J. Murphy, civil engineer and Government mining surveyor, with a party of men, to survey and mark a track. [2] Murphy and Sullivan at first travelled together however after a difference of opinion on the best route to explore, they separated and marked different tracks. [3] [4] [notes 1]

Murphy explored a track from New Chum to near what would become the Marysville Woods Point Road. He surveyed a route along the Watts River to its upper reaches, [5] from there he ascended the spurs and ridges of Mt Dismal and explored a route running eastwards, south of Mt Observation, to beyond Donavan's Creek. [6] He did not complete the survey of that explored section before being called back to Melbourne. [7] His plan of that route is dated 23rd July 1862. [8]

Plan (Compiled from various surveys, sketches etc.) and accompanying Report upon the Road from Melbourne to the Jordan Gold-Field, 23rd July 1862. James Murphy, Mining Surveyor, St Andrews Road from Melbourne to the Jordan Gold-Field, July 23rd 1862, James Murphy, Mining Surveyor.jpg
Plan (Compiled from various surveys, sketches etc.) and accompanying Report upon the Road from Melbourne to the Jordan Gold-Field, 23rd July 1862. James Murphy, Mining Surveyor, St Andrews

Mr. Reick and Mr. Stockman, who were in Murphy’s surveying party, believing that the direct road had been struck, resolved to follow it up. [9] They followed Murphy’s route from New Chum to the end of his line of exploration. [10] Reick describes their efforts:

... far from having "left Murphy's track," we were actually members of that surveyor's party, engaged in Melbourne, to which place we returned when that officer, for reasons unknown to us, was recalled, and the party broken up, but not until the general lie of the country had been reconnoitered, and some fifteen miles actually surveyed, opened, and blazed. My companion and I then volunteered to explore and mark the remainder of this lineinto Jericho, upon the Jordan; and upon this difficult service we started on the 5th July from the settled country at the Melbourne end, and arrived on the diggings, two miles above Jericho township, upon the claim of Lapraig and party, on the 30th July. [11]

They both suffered great hardships, narrowly escaping death by starvation and exposure. With a swag on their backs and using tomahawks they had cut through to the Jordan diggings, where they remained for ten days to recover their strength. [12] [13] [14]

Upon Reick and Stockman returning from the gold fields, a meeting was held at Eltham and a sum of money subscribed by residents of the district to cut a bridle path along the route. [15]

Blazing their marks over some of the previously made government survey marks, they cut a track along the surveyed section of Murphy's route. [16] After ascending the spur to Mt Dismal, they deviated from Murphy's explored route that they had followed earlier, and cut a track through the Dividing Ranges. First heading northwards and then easterly across Paradise Plains until they joined Guerin's Track, [notes 2] [19] north of Mount Observation, which in turn joined the upper reaches of Sullivan's Track to the Jordan. [notes 3] [22] [23]

In late September 1862, Reick and Stockman had cut the track about 20 miles from New Chum into the Dividing Ranges and were camped at head of the Acheron River. They expected to cut a further 25-30 miles and have the track open in three weeks. [24] Given the different blazed and cut tracks they placed notices along their route; Reick's to Melbourne via Eltham and Notice: Any persons wishing to follow Reick's track to the Jordan, must keep the longest and freshest looking tracks where the tracks differ or branchoffalong the route. [25]

By the 25th October 1862, Reick and Stockman [notes 4] had cut the bridle track through to Jordan and called it the New Jordan Road, others called it Reick's Track [27] [28] [29] This early track from New Chum to the Jordan, and subsequent deviations and surveyed routes, ultimately became known as the Yarra Track.

The Survey and Construction of the Yarra Track Begins

The Yarra Track had several different routes over its life. The tracks and roads from New Chum to the gold fields were some of the earliest.

New Chum was at the furthest point coaches could travel along the route from Melbourne. From there Murphy’s Track, a packhorse track climbed through the mountains to the diggings. Murphy’s Track was surveyed in mid 1862 over the spurs of Mount Monda on the northern side of the Watts River. [30] [31] [32] The track was still in use in late 1863. [33] [34] However by October 1863 an alternative route on the southside of the Watts River had also been blazed by Mr. Farrell, Assistant Road Engineer and was in use by foot traffic. [35]

In December 1863 several government contracts were awarded and road construction commenced along this alternative route that had been blazed by Farrell. [36] By early 1864 this route of the Yarra Track from New Chum to what would become Fernshaw had been cleared for about four miles. At 5 miles the track again returned to the Murphy’s Track. [37] [notes 5] By February 1864, R. W. Larritt, Inspector General of Roads reported 8 miles had been marked and about 6 miles cleared. [38]

This alternative route of Mr. Farrell, Assistant Road Engineer, was the earliest route of the Yarra Track constructed by the Victorian Government.

Early Tracks Bypass New Chum and Shape Healesville

McDonald, G. July 1864 Survey Plan Evelyn showing early tracks to Woods Point Gold Field McDonald, G. July 1864 Survey Plan Evelyn VPRS 8168P0002, GF44; EVELYN.pdf
McDonald, G. July 1864 Survey Plan Evelyn showing early tracks to Woods Point Gold Field

In late 1862 the shortest route to the Jordan Goldfield from Melbourne was via a good dray road to New Chum, beyond which the Yarra Track became a bridle track. [39] Over time more prospectors and miners travelled along this route to the Jordan Gold Fields. Not all these miners travelled by horse or coach and large numbers travelled by foot. [40] [41] Tracks soon developed that bypassed New Chum and took a more direct route to join the Yarra Track further along the Watts River Valley.

George McDonald's July 1864 Survey Plan of Evelyn documents these early tracks. [42] About 4 miles before New Chum at the Hit and Miss Restaurant the tracks diverged. [43] [notes 6] From the restaurant, crossing the Yarra River at Nicholson’s Bridge, Cameron’s Track headed north east to the Glenwatts Store and then on to the Yarra Track. Further downstream, crossing the Yarra River at Castella’s Bridge (December 1863), [45] and Rourke’s Bridge (March 1864) [46] other tracks head northwards to join Cameron’s Track and ultimately the Yarra Track. [42] [notes 7]

These early tracks and bridges that bypassed New Chum, were the catalyst for later deviations of the Yarra Track by Government surveyors and the selection of a new site for a township that would be named Healesville. [notes 8]

History

With various deviations, the Victorian Government continued to construct a 193-kilometre (120 mi) road along the route. Its original width varied between 4 and 6 metres (12 and 20 ft), and was designed to accommodate horse-drawn vehicles. This track involved the climbing of the Black Spur, descent into the Acheron Valley, and then through Marysville to the Cumberland where it followed the existing route. The old route through Paradise Plains subsequently dropped out of vogue.

Two main construction camps were established in new localities on the Yarra Track at Healesville and Marysville. These were surveyed as towns to serve as base camps for construction teams and as staging towns when the coach route was completed. Marysville was founded and surveyed in August, 1864. Healesville was surveyed in September 1864, which resulted in the deviation of the settlement at New Chum. Shanties were built every five or six miles from Healesville to the diggings. Accommodation houses and stores were strung along the rest of the road.

As construction of the road progressed, smaller allotments, settlements and rural land was surveyed and the land auctioned in Crown land sales. The Glenwatts Store,Hit or Miss Restaurant, Jefferson's Store, Marysville, Healesville, Mt Arnold, Granton, Fernshaw, and Maytown were progressively surveyed from 1864 to 1866. [50]

In 1865, the first drays and wagons reached Woods Point via the Yarra Track, but they could only get through during the summer months. The Yarra Track shortened the trip to Woods Point from Melbourne to a little over 161 kilometres (100 mi), compared with 354 kilometres (220 mi) via Jamieson.

Clement Wilks, an engineer with the Victorian Department of Roads and Bridges, was a member of the Yarra Track Committee responsible for building this coach and dray road, designing a number or small bridges and culverts including the Wilks Creek Bridge, [51] [52] on the Marysville Road, and the Big Culvert. [53] [54]

The Black Spur section became a popular tourist destination and sought after location for notable early photographers in Victoria, such as Nicholas Caire and J. W. Lindt. In 1916 a bus service was introduced, taking travellers over the route in two twelve-seater Buick charabancs. The journey from Melbourne took four and a half hours.

See also

Notes and References

Notes

  1. ↑ Sullivan went on to cut a track further south along the Warburton Valley of the Yarra River and into the Dividing Ranges.This track became known as Sullivan's Track as described in "The Herald" Sat 21 Feb 1863  Page 6  THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS.
  2. ↑ Thomas Guerin was exploring and blazing a route from the south in mid September 1862. [17] Guerin wrote on the 1st November 1862 that he had cut a track for pack horses to Jordan. He was also aware of two private parties cutting tracks. [18]
  3. ↑ Sullivan began cutting a track in April 1862. [20] He announced completion of his track on the 16th October. [21]
  4. ↑ The Age in April 1863 reported that both Reick and Stockman were amongst people that received a reward for opening up practicable tracks between Melbourne and the Jordan gold fields. The complete list includes: Sullivan, £75 ; Connell, £60; McEvoy, £40; Walsh, £30; Ganley, £50; Ryan, £30; Rucke [sic], £10; Storkman [sic], £38; James, £28; Butcher, £28 ; Strickland £28; M'Cormack, £28 ; Robley, £25 [26]
  5. ↑ The Viator’s letter to the editor of the Age refers to having travelled along the route early last month. The letter is published on the 1st of April, which suggests that the letter to the editor was written in March 1864. On the basis that the letter was written in March then the reference to early last month would be to early February 1864.
  6. ↑ The Hit or Miss Restaurant was on the road to New Chum, about four miles distant. On the 25th June 1864 two allotments were surveyed at the Hit or Miss Restaurant by George McDonald. The plan shows the Hit or Miss Restaurant restaurant near these lots. A track from the restaurant, crosses the Watts River via Stevenson Bridge and joins two tracks; one heading north east, To Woods Point via Glenwatts’ Store and the other heading south east, To the Aboriginal Station. [44]
  7. ↑ George McDonald's 16th July 1864 Survey Plan of Evelyn marks the early tracks bypassing New Chum with dashed lines. Notably only some tracks have their irregular route overlaid in red with formal survey lines and points. This indicates the tracks existed prior to the survey being undertaken. The common ‘hand’ of the draftsman or surveyor suggests contemporaneous addition to the base plan.
  8. ↑ George McDonald's 16th July 1864 Survey Plan of Evelyn details what existed at that date. The Hit and Miss Restaurant, Cameron’s Track, Glenwatts Store, various bridges and other features are shown. George McDonald as well as surveying many of the existing tracks and features, surveyed a route that bypassed New Chum and would become the government’s preferred route for the road to Woods Point via Healesville. He also indicatively marks the proposed site of an unnamed township. This township would be surveyed later and named Healesville. The Glenwatts Store was also referred to as Cameron’s Store and Cameron’s depot for goods and pack horses. Four months before the date of George McDonald's plan, Inspector General of Roads, R.W. Larritt suggested a deviation to bypass New Chum. Later on the 9th July 1864, Larritt wrote to the Surveyor General and followed up his suggestion. In that letter he refers to the proposed deviation rejoining the Yarra Track at the present cleared road at Cameron’s Store. George McDonald reports on the proposal on the 16th July 1864. [47] The store is used as a landmark at this time, further demonstrated by an application approved on the 27th July 1864 for a rural store allotment located 6 miles beyond Cameron’s depot for goods and pack horses [48] and the reference to the store in the Plan of Allotments at the Hit and Miss Restaurant. The survey plan, letter and other documents indicate that the store and tracks predate McDonald’s investigation of the deviation shown on the plan and the selection of the site for Healesville. The Glenwatts Store and Cameron’s Track were likely established after Oct 1862 when the Yarra Track was opened, and certainly existed by July 1864, the date of Inspector General Roads R.W. Larritt's letter and George McDonalds Survey Plan. More so, the alternative route of Mr. Farrell, Assistant Road Engineer for the Yarra Track, blazed in October 1863, led to the Glenwatts Store and then on to Reicks Track further along the Watts River Valley. The allotment plan for the Glenwatts Store shows the existence of a structure at right angles to Farrell’s alternative route but parallel with Cameron’s Track. The orientation of the building and the observation that some government surveys followed the tracks of prospectors and miners suggests that Glenwatts Store may predate October 1863. [49]

References

  1. ↑ The Age Mon 17 Mar 1862 Page 5 THE NEW JORDAN DIGGINGS
  2. ↑ The Age Thu 20 Mar 1862 Page 5 THE NEWS OF THE DAY.
  3. ↑ The Age Tue 17 June 1862  Page 5  NEW ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.
  4. ↑ The Age Fri 30 May 1862 Page 5 UPPER YARRA AND JORDAN GOLD FIELDS.
  5. ↑ Murphy J., Jul 1862, SURVEY OF A PORTION OF THE DRAY ROAD TO CONNECT MELBOURNE AND THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD, VPRS 8168/P0004, Plan: 306: Melbourne - Jordan Gold Field Sheet 2
  6. ↑ The Age Tue 17 June 1862 Page 5 NEW ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS
  7. ↑ The Age Fri 29 Aug 1862 Page 4 THE NEWS OF THE DAY.
  8. ↑ Murphy J. Jul 1862 PLAN compiled from various Surveys, Sketches & ACCOMPANYING REPORT UPON THE ROAD FROM MELBOURNE TO THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD VPRS 8168/P0004, Plan: 302: Jordan Gold Fields - Melbourne Sheet 1
  9. ↑ The Age, 29 August 1862, Page 4, "THE NEWS OF THE DAY".
  10. ↑ The Age  Thu 9 Oct 1862  Page 6  GUERIN AND THE JORDAN ROAD.
  11. ↑ The Argus  Fri 22 Aug 1862  Page 6  THE NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN.
  12. ↑ The Argus Fri 22 Aug 1862 Page 6 THE NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN.
  13. ↑ The Age  Fri 29 Aug 1862 Page 4 THE NEWS OF THE DAY.
  14. ↑ The Argus Tue 19 Aug 1862 Page 6 NEAR TRACK TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.
  15. ↑ The Age  Fri 29 Aug 1862  pp. 4- 5  THE NEWS OF THE DAY.
  16. ↑ The Age Mon 10 Nov 1862 Page 5 NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN.
  17. ↑ The Age Mon 29 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE FROM MELBOURNE TO THE JORDAN
  18. ↑ The Herald  Mon 24 Nov 1862  Page 5  THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN.
  19. ↑ Dickers Mining Record, April 1864, p.59, A Visit to the Australian Alps
  20. ↑ The Age Fri 30 May 1862 Page 5 UPPER YARRA AND JORDAN GOLD FIELDS.
  21. ↑ The Argus Thu 16 Oct 1862  Page 7  RIVER JORDAN GOLD-FIELD.
  22. ↑ The Herald, 21 February 1863, Page 6, "THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS".
  23. ↑ Edwards Rev. E. George, 2013 "Making Tracks" - In the Beginning, p.8 Marysville & District Historical Society
  24. ↑ The Argus Tue 30 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.
  25. ↑ The Age, Mon 10 Nov 1862, Page 5, "NEW ROAD TO THE JORDAN".
  26. ↑ The Age Wed 29 Apr 1863 Page 6 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.
  27. ↑ The Argus Tue 30 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS.
  28. ↑ The Argus Fri 31 Oct 1862 Page 5  NEW TRACK TO THE JORDAN.
  29. ↑ The Herald Sat 21 Feb 1863  Page 6  THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS.
  30. ↑ Murphy J., Jul 1862, SURVEY OF A PORTION OF THE DRAY ROAD TO CONNECT MELBOURNE AND THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD, VPRS 8168/P0004, Plan: 306: Melbourne - Jordan Gold Field Sheet 2
  31. ↑ The Argus Tue 30 Sept 1862 Page 6 ROUTE TO THE JORDAN DIGGINGS
  32. ↑ The Herald Sat 21 Feb 1863  Page 6  THE ROUTE TO THE JORDAN GOLD FIELDS
  33. ↑ The Age, Mon 26 Oct 1863, Page 6OPENING UP OF THE GIPPSLAND GOLDFIELDS.
  34. ↑ The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Sat 6 Feb 1864 Page 5 WOOD'S POINT, AND THE WAY TO IT.
  35. ↑ The Age, Mon 26 Oct 1863, p.6, OPENING UP OF THE GIPPSLAND GOLDFIELDS.
  36. ↑ Report, John F. Waghorn, Yarra Track Victorian Collections https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/63bb4abb4f6c082a8cca82b4 Accessed 7 June 2025
  37. ↑ The Age Fri 1 Apr 1864 Page 7 MELBOURNE AND WOOD'S POINT.
  38. ↑ The Argus, Thu 25 Feb 1864, p.5, THE ROADS ABOUT WOOD'S POINT.
  39. ↑ The Age Fri 3 Oct 1862 Page 6 THE MOST DIRECT ROAD TO THE JORDAN GOLD-FIELD.
  40. ↑ The Age Mon 26 Oct 1863 Page 6  OPENING UP OF THE GIPPS LAND GOLD-FIELDS.
  41. ↑ The Age Wed 1 June 1864 Page 7 THE JORDAN ROAD, VIA BRUSHY CREEK.
  42. 1 2 McDonald G. July 1864, Survey Plan Evelyn, VPRS 8168/P0002, GF44; EVELYN; MCDONALD; at https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/90DD5E1C-F841-11E9-AE98-A57A070C551C?image=1 Accessed 6 Sep 2025t
  43. ↑ Allotments at the HIT OR MISS RESTAURANT ON THE ROAD FROM MELBOURNE TO WOODS POINT, McDonald G.T., 25th June 1864. Illustrated in Edwards Rev. G. 2013 Making Tracks – In the Beginning Marysville & District Historical Society p.38
  44. ↑ Allotments at the HIT OR MISS RESTAURANT ON THE ROAD FROM MELBOURNE TO WOODS POINT, McDonald G.T., 25th June 1864. Illustrated in Edwards Rev. G. 2013 Making Tracks – In the Beginning Marysville & District Historical Society p.38
  45. ↑ The Argus  Sat 4 June 1864  Page 6  NEW CHUM TOWNSHIP, WOOD'S POINT-ROAD, VIA BRUSHY CREEK.
  46. ↑ The Age  Wed 1 June 1864  Page 7 THE JORDAN ROAD, VIA BRUSHY CREEK.
  47. ↑ Edwards Rev. G. 2013 Making Tracks – In the Beginning Marysville & District Historical Society p.40.
  48. ↑ Record in Public Records Office, Victoria referenced in Mitchell A. Fernshaw the Forgotten Village. The story of the Village 1864 - 1890 and Fernshaw Park Healesville and District Historical Society Inc Healesville 2001 p.13
  49. ↑ Plan of allotment at the Glenwatts store on the road from Melbourne to Woods Point [cartographic material]. (1860). Melbourne: [Dept. of Lands and Survey,]. Online at State Library of Victoria https://rosetta.slv.vic.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_func=stream&dps_pid=FL16082621 accessed 7 June 2025
  50. ↑ Edwards Rev. G. 2013 Making Tracks – In the Beginning Marysville & District Historical Society
  51. ↑ National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Register: B6439
  52. ↑ "Wilks Creek Bridge, Triangle Rd, Marysville, VIC, Australia (Place ID 102643)". Australian Heritage Database . Australian Government . Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  53. ↑ National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Register: B5804
  54. ↑ "The Big Culvert, Marysville - Woods Point Rd, Cambarville via Marysville, VIC, Australia (Place ID 5720)". Australian Heritage Database . Australian Government . Retrieved 20 March 2020.

Bibliography

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