Scotch College

Sugarloaf not to you liking? Then chew on Chewton

Join the bushwalking club and see interesting parts of Victoria. That has certainly been borne out by recent Old Scotch Bushwalking Club visits to the Sugarloaf Reservoir and Chewton goldfields.

Twenty-four walkers met in the Sugarloaf Reservoir car park for the start of the 18km circuit of the reservoir, which is located picturesquely in the Christmas Hills north-east of Melbourne. Enjoying the beautiful views, we trekked across the dam wall, and then through forests of flowering wattle trees and bluegums, alive with cheerfully noisy birdlife.

Layton Moss' radio and GPS tracking system expertise was then put to good use, when a tail-end group failed to notice the turn in the track and extended their walk with a steep climb up a hill, before noticing their mistake!

The next hill afforded magnificent 360-degree views towards the distant Melbourne skyline, the Dandenong Ranges and east to Mount Donna Buang. Now hundreds of startled kangaroos made a mass exodus, leaping up the grassy hills. Shades of Jurassic Park! Five hours after starting, we returned tired but happy to the car park.

The club's late winter walk attracted thirty-seven bushwalkers to Chewton, near Castlemaine. This excellent walk was devised by Richard Piesse, who remarked on the appropriateness of a walk in Scotch's 150th year, in an area where, one hundred and fifty years ago, the gold rush was taking hold. Chewton attracted thousands of gold-seekers to the richest alluvial goldfield in the world - now the population is one hundred and fifty!

The walk began along English-style lanes, bordered by yellow gorse and brilliant wattles. Next we came across the Pennyweight Flat Cemetery where lie the remains of over two hundred children, who perished during the tough mining days.

After lunch at Expedition Pass Reservoir (1869) and under a bright blue sky, we continued to the remains of a Welsh village, where gold, and then slate was mined.

We came across the enormous brick supports of a water wheel, the remains of a puddling wheel, water races, brick bridges, deep shafts lined with wooden supports, and masses of untidy mullock heaps scarring this beautiful place. It had been a memorable and historically enriching walk.

Margaret Moore and Jan Ward