A Little Bit About Blackwood's History

The initial discovery of gold in Blackwood is believed to have occurred in 1854. This has been recorded in stories recounted and published in "The Argus" however there are rumours that gold may have been discovered earlier that did not cause a rush. By December of that year the Blackwood diggings were underway. The second recorded discovery of Gold of almost the same time was January 4th 1855 by Edward Hill. Edward Hill is typically referred to as the discoverer of Gold in Blackwood as he lodged the discovery with the Government and was issued a £300 rewards.

Following this discovery, most of the alluvial diggings on the field and tributaries of the Lerderderg River were opened during the remainder of 1855. Hill himself opened Red Hill (now effectively the main town of Blackwood), with other areas such as Golden Point, Nuggetty Gully, Yankee Gully and Ballan Flat also being worked.

By the May of 1855 there were 8,000 diggers and storemen on the field, which increased to 13,000 at its height in September 1855. At this point, the township was in two encampments, one at Red Hill, the other at Golden Point, with Golden Point being officially surveyed at this time. Madame Pauline Bonfond, a French national, reputedly dug many of the Blackwood water races, particularly those on the hills on the opposite side of the gully from Golden Point. According to Buckingham (1970) Miners banded together and expended an incredible amount of labour cutting races and making dams to turn [divert] the creeks, but in every instance the races were not one-tenth large enough to carry flood waters and the many races and dams were totally wrecked.

Blackwood was not economical to mine in the winter and by 1857 the population had fallen to under 1000. Creek workings were abandoned in favour of sluicing in the flats, river banks and hill-sildes. Along gullies, very long races were cut and sluicing proved profitable. There was over 80 miles of races (one of the highest race milages in the State after Beechworth and Ballarat)