Sunnyside Mill and Yarrowee River
Yarrowee River The Yarrowee River in the long period of Wadawurrung occupation, provided fish, duck, and eels from its waterholes and swamps. The water was then clear as it meandered through the valley. From 1837, pastoralists took its water for their sheep and from the mid-1850s miners turned it to mud as the whole valley was sluiced and dredged. From 1873, the woollen mill used the water for scouring and to dispose of toxic residues from dyeing. Several tanneries also discharged poison into it. For decades the Yarrowee was the main drain for Ballarat’s streets and domestic and industrial waste. Even so, the market gardeners who lined the banks continued to grow the vegetables that fed Ballarat, and local dairy farmers watered their cows at the creek. In 1887, the Health officer declared “I would prefer to be without milk than have it from cows drinking such a liquid”. Raging floods washed away bridges, fences and gardens until the deceptively quiet Yarrowee was tamed