The Blowhole--LaFranchi Hut

The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic: 1864-1946) 

Sat 11 Dec 1926, page 57 

 

DROWNED AT BLOW HOLE 

Charles Chippindall met his death at Hepburn near Daylesford (V) on December 7, in tragic circumstances. With other visitors he visited the Blow Hole at Hepburn. He was standing on a rock above the hole, to enable another member of the party to take a photograph when the rock broke away, and Chippindall fell into the water. The members of the party attempted to rescue him but were unsuccessful. Senior Constable Kiernan and Constable Dale recovered the body with grappling irons in 7ft of water, and efforts were made for an hour to restore animation, but without success. Chippindall was aged about 25 years and was employed as a music salesman. He lived at Amess St, North Carlton. 

The Blowhole Gold Diversion Tunnel

From: Jacobs, Wendy  Daylesford and Glenlyon Conservation Study Part 2, Vol 3 Individual Citation Sheets for Significant Places.  May 2000. P21  http://www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Heritage-Study-Daylesford-an-Places-May-2000-253-pages.pdf

HISTORY

The Blowhole Gold Diversion Tunnel is a creek diversion which was probably built in the early 1860’s, or a little later, when Jim Crow Creek was being extensively worked by European and Chinese miners. It is known to have been in place in 1878 – the diversion is shown in a survey map which was drawn up following Battista Milesi’s application for a gold mining lease of some 4 acres encompassing part of the Sailor’s Creek dry river bed.

This short tunnel was used to divert the waters of the Jim Crow Creek, effectively exposing a long section of the original creek. It was constructed because miners had discovered that the main gold bearing leads ran parallel to Sailors Creek, while minor ones crossed the creek.  They cut a hole through the narrow peninsular of rock so that the entire bed at the bend of the creek could be mined.  The soil in the dry creek bed was then sluiced for gold… The diversion tunnel remains in use today and it is only after heavy rain that the anabranch fills.

The blowhole became an attraction to visitors to the area in the early 1900s and figured in many postcards and advertisements for beauty spots.  It is now an attraction in the Hepburn Regional Park which nestles around the famous mineral springs townships of Daylesford, Hepburn and Hepburn Springs.  The blowhole is highlighted as one of the scenic stops along the Tipperary Walking Track which runs from Lake Daylesford to the Hepburn Springs Mineral Reserve, following Sailors Creek and Spring Creek for most of the way.

 Historical Notes on Gold Mining in the Daylesford & Hepburn District 

The following extracts come from the cultural heritage report below. The first section is an historical overview, covering the alluvial mining phase. Follow the link for additional information about deep lead mining and quartz reefing. After the overview, there are 2 Gazetteer extracts about particular sites – Boots Gully and the Charlesford Mine. 

Historic Gold Mining Sites in Hepburn Mining Division: Report on Cultural Heritage. Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Draft April 1999. Available online at: https://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/512248/Historic-gold-mining-sites-in-Hepburn-Mining-Division-Bannear-1999.pdf  

 

Historical Overview 4.2 (pp5-6) 

Shallow Alluvial Mining 

The Hepburn Mining Division was opened in 1851 by a series of gold discoveries along Jim Crow Creek. The creek and its various tributaries formed part of the headwaters of the Loddon River. It took some five years before a substantial population had assembled along the creek. The miners being hampered by the local environment - its steepness, heavy timber, dense undergrowth of scrub and fern, and cold and wet climate. 

 

The source of the gold obtained by the first miners was the ancestral course of the Loddon River. The sediments of the old riverbed had been covered by lava flows when there had been active volcanoes in the area. Over time, the water flow of Jim Crow Creek had worked away at the edge of the lava flow, washing away underling auriferous sediments, concentrating the gold in the modern creek bed. 

 

The gold miners soon opened up other new goldfields, the more notable being the Dry Diggings and the Coomoora or Wallaby Creek area. They had also successfully prospected a mile wide belt of auriferous reefs running from Daylesford to Yandoit. Miners also commenced to quarry into the ancient sediments exposed along the volcanic escarpments, tunnelling under the basalt itself in pursuit of untouched streambeds. By mid 1850s the district’s largest township, Daylesford, had been formed. By this time, the field's alluvial character had become apparent: it was a field that presented little opportunity to make a quick fortune, but was an extensive one and so promised good wages - estimated from £2 to £3 per week - for many years. 

 

From the late 1850s to mid-1860s, shallow alluvial mining preoccupied the vast proportion of the district’s mining population, which numbered in the several thousands. A network of water races underpinned the operations of these miners. Speculative miners such as Wardell, Liepold, Bianchi, Cortial, Hunt, Wilson, Crocker, and Coppock constructed these races. The race-owners sold their water to the miners for payments ranging from £3 to £4 a week. The races brought water from the headwaters of various creeks, and often run for distances of 15 to 20 miles. 

 

The initial focus for the water races were the eastern tributaries of Jim Crow Creek: including Wombat, Stoney, Spring, and Sailor’s creeks. These creeks covered the country from Shepherds Flat through Hepburn Springs to Daylesford. Both the owners of horse-powered puddling machines used the water supplied by the race-owners, and miners engaged in sluicing operations. The latter were working the creek beds and banks with sluice boxes, or were ground sluicing (washing away the topsoil to bedrock) the hill slopes. The mining registrar estimated it in 1859, that those engaged in puddling and sluicing were making good wages, averaging from 12 shillings upwards per man per day. There was a tendency for puddling to be undertaken by Europeans miners, and sluicing by Chinese. This demarcation appears to have commenced in 1859 when a number of Chinamen were observed fossicking about the old alluvial workings, waiting for an opportunity to begin sluicing or paddocking. By 1861, creek sluicing was described as being almost exclusively carried on by the Chinese. 

 

From 1861 to 1865, the race-owners extended their channels into the Dry Diggings Creek area, and the country to the west of the Jim Crow, which included Champagne, Old Tom, Sulky, German, Boot’s, Brandy Hot, Break-O-Day, Don’t-Wake-Em, and Butterfly gullies. The last major extension of the race network took place in 1865, when two channels were constructed to convey water from Deep Creek to the Yandoit Diggings. After this, the extension of the race system stalled, and shallow alluvial mining lost its vitality. The race owners considered any further extensions of their water supply schemes would cost them more money than they could recoup. The distances involved meant that the supply of water to the new country could only be guaranteed for 2 to 3 months. To extend the races beyond their 1865 limits also meant the frequent, and very costly, crossings of deep gullies and creeks, in some cases up to 200 feet or more. 

 

After 1865, shallow alluvial mining continued to be carried out in the district. Miners made a living out of it, but never again did it feature as a significant branch of mining. The district appealed to many small-time miners, especially after the 42nd section of the Amending Land Act 1865, which meant that they could acquire land and commence to farm the rich volcanic soils. This meant that shallow alluvial mining and farming could be easily and advantageously combined. 

 

It was not until the 20th century that new technology was employed to work the old shallow alluvial ground. In the early 1900s, a bucket dredge worked around Shepherds Flat as far as the Breakneck Gorge. The dredge foundered in 1903 just south of Excelsior Bridge where today trout fishermen still use part of its timber skeleton as a fishing platform.3 Another bucket dredge worked in Wombat Flat in 1905 with barely payable.4 Hydraulic sluicing also was tried in the district, but failed to prove profitable. Such was the case of a hydraulic sluicing company named Sewell's Dredging who attempted to carry on operations in Sailor's Creek, a short distance north of the Sailor's Falls. 

Lafranchi Hut

The Lafranchi Hut was built around the late 1920's by Victor Lafranchi, son of Giulio Lafranchi who migrated from Switzerland in 1855 for the Gold rush. The following facebook page shares pictures of the hut and some historic photos of family members.

https://www.facebook.com/Lafranchi-Hut-113155176826820/

A migration blog The ‘poor Lafranci’s’ by Debra Talbot gives a little more information.

https://migration.swissinfo.ch/2009/03/31/the-poor-lafranchis-publish-tues-mar-31/ 

Giulio Lafranchi was the 8th child of Giuseppe Benedito Lafranchi and Maria Terisa nee Gaspari. Giulio was born 29th March 1839 in Coglio, Switzerland. He migrated to Australia on the ship Gertrude and arrived at the Port of Melbourne on 21st May 1855 with 6 other Lafranchi’s. He married Ann Bridget Phelan at the Wesleyan Parsonage in Daylesford Victoria on 28th April 1874. Giulio and Ann Lafranchi lived at Deep Creek. They had 14 children and are buried at the Eganstown Cemetery.

LaFranchi Hut Community Facebook

This photo is of a hut that the Lafranchi boys built around 1930’s. It’s built next to the original site of their home. The house was burnt down early 1900’s. There are remains of the kitchen of the homestead still there, which is on the left side if you are standing at the doorway of the hut The Lafranchi boys used the hut on weekends and holidays to go hunting. The hut is still there.

Researched and Compiled by Anne Ottrey 2021